The Excavation
Today the stars aligned for our excavation. Andrew, our contractor, was back in town and had brought with him Juan, who will be helping with the framing. Jerry, our excavator, was available, and it was a beautiful sunny day. After confirming the corner locations of the house with us, and establishing a plan for the foundation depth, Jerry began to dig at the southwest corner of the house.
As you may be able to see from the picture, Jerry only had to dig about a foot down before hitting impenetrable rock -- bedrock, or ledge, as they refer to it around here. It is not uncommon in this area, which was covered by massive glaciers in the last ice age, to have bedrock very close to the surface of the soil. Until you actually start digging it is near impossible to tell how close that ledge will be, generally speaking. Fearing the worst, we asked Jerry to explore around a bit with the excavator, to try to get a sense for where the ledge was. We had some flexibility in exact house placement, so we were prepared to shift things around if necessary if it meant we would be able to dig deeper.
The ledge did drop off somewhat to the east and north, but then flattened out again. It was enough however, to make things work. As Jerry dug out the rest of the foundation, we kept our fingers crossed that the ledge would not rise up again in the middle of the house, and I breathed a sigh of relief when Jerry finished digging out the rest of the footprint with no nasty surprises. In the picture below (click for a larger image), you can see the rock all along the left (west) side with hard clay as the bed for the rest of the foundation.
Here's a closeup of some of the ledge that kept me so nervous all morning. It's beautiful rock, worn very smooth by glacier action.
Jerry finished up by digging a trench in which to lay the pipes that will drain water around the foundation out to daylight.
Tomorrow morning, Jerry will bring in a few loads of gravel to enable the concrete truck to get close enough to pour the footings. Now once the rain gods give us another break, we will be able to pour.
As you may be able to see from the picture, Jerry only had to dig about a foot down before hitting impenetrable rock -- bedrock, or ledge, as they refer to it around here. It is not uncommon in this area, which was covered by massive glaciers in the last ice age, to have bedrock very close to the surface of the soil. Until you actually start digging it is near impossible to tell how close that ledge will be, generally speaking. Fearing the worst, we asked Jerry to explore around a bit with the excavator, to try to get a sense for where the ledge was. We had some flexibility in exact house placement, so we were prepared to shift things around if necessary if it meant we would be able to dig deeper.
The ledge did drop off somewhat to the east and north, but then flattened out again. It was enough however, to make things work. As Jerry dug out the rest of the foundation, we kept our fingers crossed that the ledge would not rise up again in the middle of the house, and I breathed a sigh of relief when Jerry finished digging out the rest of the footprint with no nasty surprises. In the picture below (click for a larger image), you can see the rock all along the left (west) side with hard clay as the bed for the rest of the foundation.
Here's a closeup of some of the ledge that kept me so nervous all morning. It's beautiful rock, worn very smooth by glacier action.
Jerry finished up by digging a trench in which to lay the pipes that will drain water around the foundation out to daylight.
Tomorrow morning, Jerry will bring in a few loads of gravel to enable the concrete truck to get close enough to pour the footings. Now once the rain gods give us another break, we will be able to pour.
posted by Noah at
7/20/2009
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