Making forms

Not much excitement.  We laid in the first of 2 drain pipes, the gravel, and the drain cloth.  Other than that it looks more like a carpentry site.  Form walls are being built to support the wall.  These will go into place today.  Hoping to pour Friday - if we get lucky.  

40 yards down...

Someday someone will be crawling around under Oma's cottage and here is what they will find:

 Looking at the footer after the pour.

Finishing the last bit.

Starting early

At about 7 we heard a tape measure in the back yard.  It was the pumper trying to figure out how he was going to get concrete pumped all the way to the back.  The pump is in the street and the hose goes up the driveway, through the garage, along side the house and all the way up to the build site.  

At 8 sharp we started pumping concrete.  I am sure our neighbors are very happy campers.  10 minutes in the hose head blew off at the pump.  Imagine the pressure in the hose to pump concrete 200' uphill.  Just the weight creates a ton of pressure.  The break sprayed concrete all over and caused quite the stir.  Everything got repaired and secured and we were off again.  

Here they are pumping the lubricant through prior to the actual pour.  

Pumping in the concrete.

Truck #2 in waiting.  

Let's fill in that hole....

The dirt moving is done for the time being.  No pile in front of the house today.

Today was about getting steel into the back yard and building the mat for the footer.  

Here is where we were at the end of the day Thursday.  Just under 1/2 the mat is completed.  

Looking the other direction, this will be done by noon on Friday.  

 Today we will have an inspection by the structural engineer to approve the placement of the steel and then the city will come out.  We pour on Monday.  

Rain or shine the dig continues

We had a little rainstorm predicted for overnight and into the day. Turned out to be no big deal but we had to prepare anyway. So yesterday afternoon we piled up the file and put plastic over it. The driveway was swept as good as it could get and we are ready for rain.

 It rained a bit last night and spit on us a couple times throughout the day but really barely got the dirt wet. The most fun was trying to get the BOBCAT  up the driveway. On the 1st try it went up about 10 feet and slid down about 10 feet. The next try was more successful and more exciting. He started on the far right side of the driveway and put the pedal to the metal. It got three quarters of the way up and then started sliding sideways. But we made it. We put some dry dirt on the driveway that was the end of the  rain from our perspective.

 We took out another 5 trucks of dirt today but it looks like we have reached the end of that process. The cut in the wall is complete, the footer is complete, and the key is done as much is going to be. We ran into some significant rock but the soils engineer said it was okay.

 By the end of the day we're actually starting to build forms. Not much but a start.

Looking from the garage to the street.  At one point we had 3 bobcats and 3 10 wheel dump trucks as well as all the guys trucks parked out front.  

Here is looking from the street to the house.  Looks the same as it has for the past week or so.  

Up the path in the back to the building site.  Please note the pile is a bit smaller.  What is left will be used to fill after the foundation is completed.   

Here is looking along the new retaining wall.  The guy in black is standing in the key.  The flat area to his right  is the footer for the wall.  The actual wall will start at about the bottom of the other guys back pockets and go up 9' from there.  

Same view looking toward the back.  Expect to see wood and steel in the next day or two.  

We have also found that construction is a fun way to meet the neighbors.  Beyond the tours, we get to hear the stories of the history.  Here is a picture back in the 60's when the original landslide took place.  

The little engine that couldn't

The damn bobcat broke AGAIN.  This stops us from getting the dirt out from the back so it piles up in the back and stops the digging on the footer and key.  Very annoying.

Friday and Saturday

Sometimes you wonder if anyone reads this drivel.  Then when you miss a couple of days, the complaints start rolling in.  "Update the blog, update the blog".  Well hold your horses and we will get to it.  

We just keep moving dirt.  Friday we began to get ahead and then the digging began again.  We are now digging the 18:x8'x50' footing for the retaining wall.  It is about 75% done.  After that we will do the 3' key under the footer and be done with that.  Of course this created more dirt so we were just able to maintain our removal efforts.  Saturday was a half day and 2 truck loads but we see significant reduction in the pile leading me to believe that it may be gone Monday, Tuesday at the worst.  

We expect to begin forming and placing steel on Tuesday and hope to pour the retaining wall by the end of the week.  Of course that will involve lots 'o concrete trucks, a pump, and some big hoses.  

As much as we need rain in California, I would appreciate everyone making it clear to the powers that be to hold off until that wall is poured.  

The neighborhood kids are not the only ones that appreciate a good pile of dirt.

Day 4 - moving dirt

With our equipment running we ran scoops of dirt from the back to the front all day.  We are currently at 5 trucks taken out with more to go.  Not too exciting really.  

Casey was getting a little concerned about the foundation work.  He wanted to see if we could get more equipment working on it.  I went our for a couple of hours and ...what the hell...

This is the real big dig that Annette sees every day out her window at Packard.   The actual foundation work is moving along slowly but surely (not to be confused with the car).  

After the A team left, Casey kept running dirt for an hours or so.  Down the hill....

Across the bridge.....

Around the front....

 And onto the pile.  Repeat 500 times.

Our little project is creating lots of positive interest in the neighborhood.  I spent a chunk of the day talking to the neighbors and giving tours.  No issues on that front.  At the very end of the day, we also had some visitors from across the street.  Time to make a little boys dreams come true.  

 And here is what happens when they get to drive by themselves.  Just like a jet ski but with wheels.

Day 3 - Equipment problems

Day three was supposed to be about getting out pile o' dirt from the back to the front so it could be removed.  Alas, the bobcat blew a hose about 1 hour into the effort. Fix #1 failed.  Fix #2 held but the day was essentially done and not much dirt was moved.  Boo hoo.  Pictures didn't really tell the story.

Day 2 - the big dig

We need bigger toys.  Enter the bigger backhoe.  We only had to cut off a small piece of the house to get it in.

Fortunately we made this corner without issue.

Crossing the boardwalk 

Now let's get that footing out of there.

 At the end of the day we had a large cut in the hill and an even larger pile o dirt.  One more day and we will start forming the retaining wall.

Looking from the back to the front over the pile.

Day 1 with permits....

We were attacked at 8 am sharp.  Up the road came trucks, men with tools, and equipment.  Before we said "now wait just a minute" there was a bob cat in the back yard and some guy jackhammering the stairs.

First the lower set by the pond....

Then onto the upper set.

And everything in between...

At lunch I went out and got the last of the paperwork for the permit.  When I returned an excavator had been added to the mix and had driven up the newly formed path all the way to the building site.  They immediately went to work on taking out any and all remnants in their way.  The slab of the garden shed was taken swiftly but that retaining wall Annette and I built stood it's ground.  They had to jack hammer every steel and concrete reinforced block.  And then they found the footing.  Still in place as the sun set ;-)  A little pride in workmanship.

While the jackhammer was running on the wall the excavator started clawing at the hill.  The good news is that it is not all rock as was feared.  That said, we need a bigger excavator which will arrive tomorrow morning.  All in all a good first day.

We like Tyler....

There are certain advantages of having a professional video editor living with us.  Check this out.....Our Back Yard.  For those who don't know Tyler, he is a great kid who lives with us and works for GoPro. His passion is photography.

Go full screen and crank up the volume.  It is high def, DUH.  Enjoy.

A few more pictures....

Just a few more pictures with some explanation of exactly what you are seeing.

Here are Robert and Casey walking up the stairs to the back area.  This brick path will be eliminated and turned into a gently sloping ramp to the back.  This will make getting materials up to the back and Oma's trek easier.   

A shot by Annette from the top of the pergola.  She is looking down onto the pond/lower back yard area.  Casey has built ramps to protect the flagstone from cracking.  The bridge over the pond has sides so stuff will not fall into the pond.

Same view but pulled back a little so you can get a better sense of the wooden pathway going around the house.

Looking the other way we can see the building site on the upper back yard.  The old guest house and garden shed are gone.

A closer view of the remains of our guest house (aka bungalow, playhouse, workshop) and garden shed.  This is where the new cottage will go.  If you look VERY closely you can see a pink string along the bricks at the edge of the grass.  That is the edge of the front porch.  up on the hill at the grass line is another pink string.  That is the back retaining wall.  Step one, take out the dirt and build the retaining wall.

You may be wondering what is going to be built.  Well here are a couple of shots that should help with that.  It is about 1000 square feet in total size.  The front is mostly glass looking out over the valley and it has a nice wrap around porch.

This is the view looking north into the hill.

This is the view looking west from our house.  This is also her new front door.

 Here I am widening the wall going up to the build site.  The new sloped path will go through here.