Getting the Footers Dug and Putting the Plumbing in the Ground

Back to 11-9-17.

The concrete crew came and hand dug the footers around the perimeter of the pad.  That took them all day.  Thankfully that will give Mike and I a full weekend to do all of the plumbing before the concrete is poured.


11-10

The metal/rebar delivery which will be in the footers and the slab:

It's time to get to work and Mike is really going to have to put on his thinking cap.  A lot of calculations need to be done to make sure "all" of the plumbing is on before the concrete is poured.


First we laid out the 4 inch pipes to the side of the pad.  Then we started digging.  At least it is easy at this point as it is just sand:

You can see behind where the septic will be located:

In between this we are still getting sand delivered and Mike has to make sure it gets pushed down the hill before a new delivery:

It's getting bigger.  We need about 25 feet by 50 feet on the top...so about 20 loads of sand:

Mike grading the top in preparation for the next truck load:

And back to plumbing:

Just the beginning of getting the pipes cleaned and glued:

Now there's a configuration.  This is for the tub drain, 2 inch, and the toilet, 4 inch:

Those pipes are in the sand and time for the next section:

Tub, toilet and sink pipes are in.  Moving on the utility room:

And then the kitchen area.  Using level to make sure all pipes on the end will flow into the main 4 inch pipe and then out the end:

Adding the extensions to run the pipes inside the walls:

Covering what we completed:

And just when things were going smoothly.  The tractor got a flat tire and our sand man is going to meet us early the next morning:

We must be tired, lol.  We dragged out the jack when we could have lifted the tractor off the gorund using the bucket.  Sometimes, lol:

The tire came partially off the rim.  We had to clean all of the hardened much off first and then use the compressor to blow all of the sand out and fill with air.  Mike used a hammer to bang the tire to pop it back onto the rim.  Hopefully it holds until the morning.

We are back the next morning and the tractor is good:)

This is the last section to do.  It is for the second bathroom which is a repeat of the first section in reverse.  The digging is getting harder as we need a slope going down to this end.  We are now in the hard/clay/much stuff:

Getting the trench dug for the pipe to exit out and into the septic lines:

Vanity sink pipe in and toilet pipe ready to be installed:

Two out of 4 are done:

The main 4 inch pipe making a turn to go out to the septic tank:

Mike working on the 2 inch pipe for the tub drain:

We had a few minor cave ins with the sand while working so close to the footer edge.  We fixed it all up when we were finished:

Yay...no more pipes on the "inside":

All done and cleaned up:

Whew we are ready for the concrete crew.  Mike was worried until we got it done.  It was a lot of work and we didn't want to hold up the contractors:

Just another few days of work being completed.  Next...the foundation...and then we can start to build.

Getting Our Well and Water

It's always exciting when the infrastructure goes in.  We were pleasantly surprised when the well truck showed up earlier than expected.

Mike watching them start to drill:

The rig is set and ready to go:

They use foam to assist in the removal of cuttings and help with the water flow.  This is new to us.  It will dissolve after a few days:

The well here is 90 feet deep.


Since the well men showed up early we weren't quite prepared so we had to order our well pump and wait for that to arrive.  The well drillers usually do that for you but we want the same pump we have in TN which is a solar pump and can be run in emergencies and without much electric.


Finally it's our turn to work:)

We stretch out the water line and get ready to connect it to the pump.  Mike uses the torch to heat up the pipe.  It makes it more pliable and easier to work with:

Working on the electrical:

And:

We will run the electric wore down the length of the water pipe and tape both together:

Adding the torque arrestor.  This is to protect the well pump and electrical wires from the casing:

Mike feeding the pump into the well:

Mike working o the bladder tank:

And

He does such a nice neat job.  Now we just need ot build a house for the well:

Oh happy day...we have water:)

It will take about a week to clear up after all of the disturbance of the underground limestone and sand.

Next up...the footers for our building.

Getting House/Building Pad Ready, Road Clean Up, and Temp Solar Set Up

Going back my days have gotten mixed up a bit but needless to say we have been busy.  At the moment we are all over the place.  This post will take us into the last week in October.

In order to establish a location we had to get a 911 address which finally came and a new mailbox.  The mailboxes are on the main road.  Since we don't get much mail we just bought a basic one.

Everyone's mailboxes:

We cleaned the area up and added ours to the mix:

The sand delivery for the pad is finally here.  There are 5 full loads of sand that need to be graded out.  We let the concrete man use his man since he has a box blade on his tractor:

He has a bigger tractor than Mike....hmm....maybe an upgrade, lol:

The sand is almost level:

and:

I'm jumping here but after the sand was leveled the concrete crew came back to stake out the site:

And this is ready for Mike and I to add the plumbing pipes:

While all of that was going on Mike and I had to be out by the road working on the ditch.  Mike has put in so many hours grading it all with his tractor.  We have about 400 feet on the road to fix:

Mike taking a break after he did such a nice job grading out the "smaller" side:

Mike seeded and I added the hay:

Back inside we have a couple of things going on.  First we had an issue with the trailer we brought down being too small to work out of.  We found a larger trailer to use as a work shed while we build.  You will see it in the background pictures.

Mike also likes his tv and since we have no electric yet we will set up a temporary solar system.  Yes we brought 3 solar panels, a charge controller and an inverter.  We did buy a battery large enough to keep his tv running at night for when we move over here.

Building a very easy panel holder:

For now...two are on:

And back out front for the larger section:

This section is about 300 feet:

Yay...Mike seeding:

And me adding the hay:

Now we just wait for some grass to grow:

That is all for now.  Next story we get a well and water:):)