latest update about the garage...
OK, where did I leave off…oh yeah, the watering hole…
Well, seems like all that running around that the contractors did to appease the inspector regarding the footings and the soil were for naught.
Can’t use the existing footings – they are too shallow. Soil is about 60/40 clay/sand, which I guess is good to some and not so good to others. They needed to dig all new footings – and they are DEEP! In some areas, 6 feet deep. Wanna come over during the next nuclear attack? You’ll be safe, I promise.
The footing drawings will have to be redrawn by our architect; hopefully not to our expense. I guess we’ll see about that.
So yeah, because they decided that they would not dig out the old footings, they needed to move the garage over 2 feet to the right (west) and 2 feet back (to the north) – I guess to avoid the current footings and to get into “virgin” soil. This meant that they had to dig away more of our hill.
Oh, and all of this (not including if we need to pay more to the architect) is an additional $1200.00. But no worries, we have been informed that the contractor and the cement guy are “eating” a ton of costs.
So, last week they dug and Friday they poured the new footings. Yesterday they poured the walls.
A lot of people, equipment and trucks were in our yard yesterday. One cool thing is that we’ve set up the webcam to record all of this. On an overcast day, we get a really clear picture – but on a nice sunny day, there is about 3-4 hours that we just can’t see anything; it’s bleached out.
Well, seems like all that running around that the contractors did to appease the inspector regarding the footings and the soil were for naught.
Can’t use the existing footings – they are too shallow. Soil is about 60/40 clay/sand, which I guess is good to some and not so good to others. They needed to dig all new footings – and they are DEEP! In some areas, 6 feet deep. Wanna come over during the next nuclear attack? You’ll be safe, I promise.
The footing drawings will have to be redrawn by our architect; hopefully not to our expense. I guess we’ll see about that.
So yeah, because they decided that they would not dig out the old footings, they needed to move the garage over 2 feet to the right (west) and 2 feet back (to the north) – I guess to avoid the current footings and to get into “virgin” soil. This meant that they had to dig away more of our hill.
Oh, and all of this (not including if we need to pay more to the architect) is an additional $1200.00. But no worries, we have been informed that the contractor and the cement guy are “eating” a ton of costs.
So, last week they dug and Friday they poured the new footings. Yesterday they poured the walls.
A lot of people, equipment and trucks were in our yard yesterday. One cool thing is that we’ve set up the webcam to record all of this. On an overcast day, we get a really clear picture – but on a nice sunny day, there is about 3-4 hours that we just can’t see anything; it’s bleached out.
We got a good amount of footage yesterday – with the crane bringing in the forms and the guys building the forms for the walls and then bringing in a cement pump truck. Really cool.
We were told yesterday that the project should be completed in 5 weeks.
The property is a disaster. There are stones and cement, piles of dirt, piles of old shingles, piles of boulders, displaced bushes and plants, a tarp covered tent and a tarp covered pile of crap we couldn’t fit in the tent, ladders leaning up against the house, rebar, chains, material…our driveway is WAY more cracked up than it was before (no surprise). There are random old nails all over our driveway just asking to be placed in a car tire (please, please!). Our neighbors are allowing us to park in their driveway for the time – Thanks neighbors!Then there are the plants that were “safe”…they’ve walked all over my peonies, the greens to my Siberian irises and they totally trampled 2 of my Chicago Peace roses. WTF!!! They’re moving sh!t around, like my container plants – but there’s no real good place to move them – they will always be in the way. I can only hope that next year, these plants will come back. Other than the roses, I’m sure they will. The roses are flat.
Comments
I think all your herbaceous plants should be OK. Your roses are hard to say. Maybe if after the construction is over and you can trim off the damaged parts, that would help.
I have such a hard time with roses other than my Knock Out that I would be crushed if a healthy rose was trampled.
Are you going to put the web cam on your blog???
Do they know they are being watched????
I have already dug them up, replanted in another "safe" place and put some banana peels in the soil. I'm hoping for the best.
I would say that since I've been taking care of this garden - I've lost a good 10 or so rose bushes, so I guess if I want them to re-pay me for these two, I'm being petty.
Once everything is captured on webcam film, we're going to make a short movie and most definetly will put that on the blog.
Should I say this?...no, they don't know they are being watched. We do have an outdoor security camera (shell) that is pointing in the garages direction, so they could get a clue.