I arrive at the site to finally see a big plastic tarp covering the mound of dirt near the street. The inspector had repeatedly asked us to cover the mound in case it rained. This morning it rained. It was more of a drizzle but it rained. The inspector also asked us to fix the silt fence along Rosser St. as it was tipping over. Nothing a few more stakes and staple gun couldn't fix.
Plastic in case it rains.
Before I left two truckloads of #8 gravel arrived for what I thought would be enough for all the footings and slab. Those two trucks carried 40 tons of gravel. To be exact is was 41.80 tons. As soon as the gravel was delivered I knew that there would not be enough for both the footing and slab. When I made my calculations I did not take into account construction tolerances. Excavation has a tolerance of 2" - 3". I guess I will find out how far off I was. Refer to Day 5 for gravel calculation.
First truckload or gravel arriving at the site. Those black tubes in the foreground is the 174' of 4" perforated pipe that will keep my basement dry.
Last night I went with Pedro and bought 175' of 4" perforated pipe for the underground drain. It turns out that 175' is a lot. Almost too much to fit into a SUV with your son, a stroller and a bunch of otgher stuff in the car that should have been taken out. Somehow we figured out the Tetris and made it all fit. Good thing because today they have to lay the drain tile with the filter fabric. The majority of drain tiles are just laid flat and water will find the way of least resistance through the drain pipe and find its way to the sump bump. However being an architect we are anal and like to slope things according to best practices. We gave the drain a 1" drop every 8 feet. That made us drop the drain 9" at the sump basin. This is turn led us to find a basin 44" deep. Turns out those are expensive and hard to find. Jose the excavator gave me a good idea of buying two 30" basins and stacking them. Once the slab is poured we will cut a hole at the top and figure out how to insert a lid. This saved me lots of money. As silly as it sounds I can can't wait till my sump pump is fully working.
As can be seen there are three elevation heights that have been excavated. The deepest excavation is for the footings and for the location for the sump basin on the left hand side. The Bobcat is finishing removing the dirt from the slab elevation.