Plan "B"

Our original plan was to have the shell of the house built by the end of October so that we could work on the inside all winter. As Robert Burns said : "The best plans of men and mice often go awry"

Due to the unfortunate chain of events, we haven't been able to get the house completed as originally planned. Cousin Rob did get the lot excavated. Stoneridge Guy and Cousin then finished up by getting in the septic tank.

Stoneridge Guy driving the back hoe to dig the hole for the septic tank

The guys successfully get the tank in place

We then sub contracted out the concrete work for the footings and stem walls of the basement. It took Glenn and his crew about 3 days to build the forms for the footings. Then they poured the concrete.

Day 1: They dig 4 feet below the surface so the footings will be below the frost line.

Day 2: Start building the forms

Day 3: Completing the forms

Day 4: The trucks come in to pump the concrete for the basement footings

Once the footings were poured we had to wait a few days for the concrete to set. They removed the forms for the footings and then they started on the stem walls. They had to build the forms for the 9ft. high stem walls. These are the walls of the basement and they will eventually be buried.

When the stem wall forms were built and re bar placed they called in the BIG concrete pump truck. As you can see below, this truck was equipped to maneuver the hoses up and over the walls so they could get the concrete between the forms.


A wait of three more days and the stem wall forms came down. Glenn and his crew packed up and now await our call to start on the slabs for the basement and the garage.

Our next job will be to waterproof the footings and stem walls, put in drainage and then finally back fill. Right now our obstacle is the weather. The waterproofing material is applied like paint and the recommended temperature for application is 50 degrees minimum. Right now it's 49 degrees and the material is too cold and gummy so it won't apply correctly. And so we hope for warmer temperatures so that we can get this done before the rains start.