Footings finally




It took two and a half weeks, but the footings are poured. First, there was the county inspector demanding a letter from an engineer that the footings would be on sound ground. Mind you that we excavated tons of dirt to pour the footing on very solid ground. After that we had to get back on the waiting list for the crew to return. When they did return a week ago, the pump truck arrived on time, but the cement truck got lost -- both from the same company!! By the time the cement truck arrived it started raining and he could not get to the top of the work site because the first inch or so of soil was very slick. So, finally on Monday they poured the footings.




We finally got a heavy rain last evening. My neighbor records all rainfall and that was the most rain we have received since March -- 2 inches. First time since March that any water has flowed into the ponds. The smaller one dried up a month ago and I had the dozer operator deepen it.




The rain caused some erosion problems and Ron and I worked on it tonight as the water was draining into the excavation and footings. The crew is scheduled to return on Friday to put up the forms for the poured walls. We are supposed to get the walls poured on Monday.




The photo is of the pump truck that pumps the cement from the cement truck and spreads it around the footing. The pump truck will be back for two more times-- the walls and then finally for the foundation. That's $550 a visit!!




We closed on our construction loan on Tuesday, so the clock is officially clicking.

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Family,

I am new at this, so hope this works for you to keep up with our house construction.

We are waiting on an engineering report before the county will OK the pouring of the footings. We are not pushing too hard because we don't have a construction loan yet!! Power lines are up and ready to connect to temporary pole and to barn. Need more work on electrical panel inside the barn before we can get inspection passed on the barn.


We have TWO wells: one at house site and one at the barn -- right where the fire ring was. Both wells are 200 feet deep. We are grateful that we got good water in both.


The back fence is finished, and we separated the cows and calves yesterday. There is much baying and moaning between the cows (with swollen udders) and the calves (separated from mommy), and I am sure our neighbor will be glad to hear that sweet music stopped in a couple days. I paid a neighbor to build the back fence. He and his son did it in about 30 hours. If I had continued doing it myself hiring a laborer to help me and taking the same amount of time, I would have saved $180 ONLY. That's about $6/hr for my time. It was definitely a bargain, and I am happy to have it done.
Mom saw this house in northern Maine on our trip and it is very similar to what we are going to build. This one has a prow on the front -- comes out to a point in the middle-- and ours will be flat across the front. I will figure out how to get the plans on this blog site. Where the garage doors are will be bedrooms in the basement.