A Rough Day

Yesterday was not one of my best! Wednesday night ended with the Bobcat stalling in the midst of scooping up some dirt. I thought I might be out of fuel (even though the gauge showed "full") so I picked up a gas can and bought a couple gallons of diesel. In the morning I tried started the Bobcat again with the fuel, but with no luck. I called the rental company and they sent a repairman who bled the fuel line, eventually getting it started! I learned something new, don't run a diesel engine until empty!

I finished filling the truck and closed up the fence. I started down the hill to take my first load of the day to the dump. As I was heading down Chevy Chase Drive the truck suddenly came to a stop right in the middle of the street! I hopped out and started directing traffic around the truck and called the rental company to have the repair man come back out! While I directed the rush hour traffic, a passerby called the police, and soon a motorcycle officer came and directed traffic while the repairman and I got the truck to the side of the road. The repairman took me back up to Buckingham and I spent the rest of the day doing what excavating I could for the garage footing.

A few other things happened earlier this week:

The steel arrived! Although it is just the steel for the garage footing and walls, it sure seems like a lot of metal!




The Glendale Water and Power crew came out on Tuesday to set the riser on the power pole. My electrician and I will be attaching conduit to the riser that will eventually run to the permanent electric meter, and will also supply the temporary meter.



Today (Friday) I rented another dump truck and was able to get rid of a lot of dirt, enough that I should be able to dig the footings without having to export any more. At the end of the day I returned the truck and rented a generator. Tomorrow I will be jackhammering the trench for the conduit and the "pull box" a very expensive concrete box that will be recessed in the driveway, and will be the connection point between the temporary and permanent meters and the power supply from the pole. Once it is inspected and approved I will finally be able to have electricity at the lot, and will be able to run my jackhammer (and other tools) without renting a generator!

Now to the Details!

The last 2 weeks has been very productive, if a bit slow, because I am pretty much on my own! After the grading contractor finished his part of the job, I still had a lot of clean up to do, and a lot of loose dirt still to remove in the garage area. I rented a Bobcat and a dump truck and took turns loading the truck then driving it to the dump. It has been dirty and exhausting work, but I've been able to see progress every day, which is good.


The Scholl Canyon dump only takes free dirt from 8:00-10:00 each morning, so I can only get 2 loads there if I am fast. After that I have been driving all the way to a ranch in Sun Valley near the Hansen Dam that is charging me $20 a truckload. The money is not a problem, but the drive is long, sometimes about 90 minutes round trip!

Both of the boys have helped a few days this week. While I'm loading the truck they help level the load, and while I am gone to the dump, they have been assembling the first ICF blocks.


This is a time consuming process, but one of the reasons I chose EcoBlock was because they came unassembled and I was worried about storage space. Thank goodness I did, because even unassembled, the blocks take up a lot of space!

Here is a video showing me loading a truck, and a view of the garage cut from the inside!


Next week, I will set the steel and hopefully pour the first concrete!

A Slow Week on the lot...

Not a lot has happened at Buckingham, but much has transpired behind the scenes. The temporary electric meter has required a few meetings with city inspectors on site, and hopefully will be installed next week.

The permanent water meter has been applied for. It takes 8-10 weeks to install, but I needed to get the grading done before I applied for it, because I needed to mark the exact location and couldn't do that with the cliff in the way! The placement is now marked so the city can start the process.

The steel order for the garage footing and walls has been submitted and the steel should arrive mid next week, just when I will be finishing the detailed footing cut.

I am using a new forming techology for the suspended floors and roofs. It is similar to the ICF walls in that it is a modular stay-in-place foam form. I met with the Am-Deck representative, a very helpful gentleman named Simon, who went over my plans in detail and has come up with the order. I will place the order next week for delivery in 2 to 3 weeks. This will give me time to pour the garage footing and build the walls.

I am also working out a detailed pour schedule based on the final plans and conditions on the site. It will be a very complex series of pours, and the more pre-planning the better!

Throughout the week I have been in touch with a number of people looking for free dirt. I advertised on Craigslist, offering the remaining loose dirt, and even offering to rent a Bobcat and help load if someone wanted to take a large quantity. I got a lot of interest, but so far have only gotten rid of about 4 small buckets full! If I don't hear from anyone over the weekend, I will be renting my own dump truck on Monday and taking it away myself!

Final Major Grading!

The last 2 days of major grading are complete!


On Thursday and Friday Mike cut the rest of the Cellar level, and most of the Garage cut. The Geologist made another inspection, and again we were lucky to have nice solid rock! It's been hard to cut, but will make for a great foundation!


At one point we had 13 dump trucks working!


There are now 6 different levels cut into the hillside. It is much easier to imagine now that you can stand at the exact level of the cellar, or the kitchen, or the livingroom. The bedroom levels are all on the 2nd floor, so that still takes some imagination!


There is still quite a bit of loose dirt to remove in order to pour the garage footing, but I will do that myself to save some money!

Here is the last movie of Mike at work:

Grading Days 11 and 12

It's been a very busy week at Buckingham! The 11th was another big exporting day, while the 12th was spent with Mike excavating and replenishing the big pile of dirt he had just gotten rid of!



The first load of ICFs (Insulating Concrete Forms) arrived on Tuesday. These are what will make up the majority of the walls.




Kyle and Evan spent some time unloading after school.




On Wednesday, I got some help unloading the trailer in the morning, then Kyle came back and we hauled the rest of the load up to the top of the excavation.






This movie shows the many "up hill" challenges of working on our lot!

Grading - Days 8,9, and 10

The top cut is almost finished and leveled, and Mike moves the excavator down to the street to load some more trucks.





Here is a movie for the past few days. No movie for Saturday, but Mike did get a lot done!



However, I do want to share a special movie that has NOTHING to do with building our house! Enjoy!