We started working on the final step and lowest level today. Jim got the back wall set and then used that to help get the corner at the right height.
Working on the step down area...
Attaching the gusset plate to hold the two pieces together.
Then moving over to the buttress wall and getting that started.
After lunch, we loaded the generator back on the truck and drove it up the hill to get some pails of water (hmm...that sounds similar to Jack and Jill of nursery rhyme fame!) It takes awhile to get everything set up to get some water, but those nice cold pails of water felt amazing to use to rinse your face off. We drove back down the hill with me sitting on the back of the truck trying not to let two pails of water totally slosh out on the way back down so that we can use them to rinse off when we want to.
Then Jim decided that the side wall where he did some crumbing yesterday really needed to be taken back a couple inches. Jim said he tries so hard to dig perfectly and next time he's definitely leaving more wiggle room to begin with! He marked the couple inches with orange dots and then brought the excavator over to dig it out.
He could only reach half the wall with the excavator but it certainly saved us a ton of really hard labor doing the whole thing by hand.
All done with the excavator work...the rest of it, Jim used the spud bar to loosen it all up and then I dug it out while he went back to some framing work.
As will happen with hot days, we got a few stray pop-up showers. They felt good while we were working but we had to scramble to close windows, get sensitive tools and lasers put away, and then the sun would come out until we had to repeat that cycle a couple of times.
The buttress wall area is all done and we'll be able to turn the corner and do the inside back wall next.
All finished with this section. We are getting desperately low on supplies like more wood for forms, concrete stakes and plywood to finish off some of the step areas. That's probably on the agenda tomorrow.
Where there's a will, there's a way. After the concrete is poured, we will put the perforated drain pipes (the ones we picked up the other day) on both the inside and the outside of the footer in case any water would ever accumulate there. Then they will connect to the drain pipe we put in last week which will drain off into the woods. There is enough room on the outside footer to run the pipe underneath the concrete and connect. However, if you look on the inside wall, there is a giant rock there when the drain pipe needs to go. Jim had tried getting it out when he dug but could tell it was really big and didn't want to have that giant hole in the footer that he would just have to fill up with concrete.
Jim got his brick and block saw out and decided to try and slice part of the rock off.
He made cuts in the rock...
And then took his 2 pound hammer and tried to break the slices off.
It took a lot of cuts and a lot of hammer and chisel work!
But eventually he got it flat enough that he thinks he'll be able to make it work. Whew...that was a dusty, messy, back-breaking task!
It's always so good to clean up and come home and be able to relax at the apartment. But the inside and outside temperatures are pretty much the same, so we are relying on fans. No matter - it's good to be home!
Luke might want to try a tender....tendon motif...mortise thing with miters in those corners. All I can say is that you two ROCK! I get sooooo frustrated trying to learn this stuff. I might....I said might......get the basement done before your house. I am picking up the hickory baseboards on Tuesday. Almost ready to start putting in the floor then the stone. Hope al is well with you two!
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