Tuesday, December 30, 2008

There is a hole (although it's not very deep).





Above is the water that is still left over from the previous day's debacle with the drain tiles. Called the developer today, but haven't heard back yet.


Jack likes the rocks ("big rocks") that make up the temporary driveway.


It was snowing a bit and it got dark early so it was hard to get any good pictures, but it looks like there is a real hole there. It is not as deep as we expected, but we think it's because a lot of the dirt that they are digging out will be used later to build up the lot to the acceptable grading level as called for in the development plans. We'll ask about that tomorrow or Friday.


There is a bunch of hay put down to protect the area from the weather.


Jack enjoyed the experience of "looking at the dirt"


Above is the dirt! (and in the background you can see our neighbors to the west.


Hay!




These are pictures of the excavators preparing to leave our lot earlier in the day (right before dark).


Monday, December 29, 2008

Day 1: Breaking ground on December 29, 2008.

Today the excavators (Pat and his "sidekick" Mike who Jason talked to) were supposed to break ground and dig a really big hole. Instead they ran into what looks to be a really old version of a drainage system. The system wasn't even on the city plans. So it looks like nobody knew about it. There were at least six rows of drain tiles and there was a lot of water that came gushing out. Who knows how long the water was in there. Because the area has such thick clay that far down, the water couldn't escape anywhere. The water had to be pumped out. Along with the city's advice, the builder and excavator decided to smash the tiles, trench out the area and then dam it up with the clay they dug up so that there wouldn't be any water draining back into our foundation. So they dug it up and pounded the dam down so the water doesn't come back. They also searched around to see if there are any other tiles anywhere else. It looks 90% certain that everything else is good to go. We get to pay for the extra six hours of work unless the developer agrees with us that it is part of his responsibility. We'll see what he says when we call him about it.




The lot and preparations before breaking ground.



Above is the silt fence and a preliminary pile of dirt from the top layer of the lot.
Above is the silt fence around the west end of the lot.
Above is the "tractor" (according to Jack), the silt fence, and the temporary driveway on the east end of the lot.
The two pictures above are of the lot when we purchased it (4-10-07). Also pictured are Chris's mom and Jack...sold separately.