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.