What Should We Worry About Next?

We were wondering if the guys were going
to make like the bears... then this showed up.

It's been almost a week since our last post and other than a few minor problems over the weekend, things are now progressing nicely.  Last friday the concrete guys showed up to start on the forms for the foundation footings.  We were quite excited to see this as this somehow made the whole adventure real in our minds... it was no longer just a pipe-dream,  it was actually happening!  The excitement lasted about a half a day when Jordan (concrete guy) informed me that the foundation excavation wasn't correct for all the necessary footings and we'd have to get Neal back to widen it.  We managed to talk Neal into coming early Sunday morning and Dan also showed up to mark out what need to be removed.   Above the front door, protruding forward from the porch roof overhang, there is a small gable that will have vertical supports on both sides;  it was for these two supports that we needed to do some extra excavating for their footings.  It took Neal about an hour to dig the area out and also scrape a little off the wall on the opposite side to give the guys more room to lay drainage pipe.  After finishing, I think everyone was a bit anxious to get on with their Sunday plans... Dan promised Neal a case of beer for dragging him out so early on a sunday and then they were on their way.

Pumper Truck.

Monday morning came about and Jordan and his crew arrived at first light.  Trouble does a fantastic job of letting us know when they arrive... he runs down the hall with a vibrating growl that grows louder as he gets to the front window, it then turns into three loud barks followed by silence... just enough to end whatever sweet dreams we may be having and remind us of what's happening out back.  We thought we were going to see some real progress on Monday only to find out that things still weren't quite right with the hole and that Neal was going to need to come back and scrape a couple other areas.  This had me worried because Neal is also working on the new Port Mann bridge and was going to be unavailable for a few days.  At 2:30 that afternoon I was suprised to look out the window and see Neal throwing a ball for Trouble.  When I went out and asked if Dan had called him about the problem, Neal had not talked to Dan yet and knew nothing about it, he had come to replace an alternator on his bull-dozer... it seems for every mishap we have, a little bit of luck accompanies it.  I quickly got Dan on the phone who was able to make it out 30 minutes later and once again a bit more material was removed.  Dan also brought a couple of workers to cover our back-fill piles with plastic so that if it rained, we wouldn't be trying to back fill with wet mud.

Filling the forms with concrete.

Tuesday morning came with Trouble's familiar growl and bark routine which, being the ever optimist that I am, didn't seem so bad because I knew today was going to be the day we'd really see some progress.  Jordan and his crew once again arrived at first light and this time I could hear them working furiously.  By 1:30 they had most of the forms for the footings completed and right about then, Dan arrived with the engineer who had a look and approved everything so that concrete could be poured the following day.   Shortly after, Jordan and crew finished up and were on their way out, it was at this time I mused that this had been our first debacle free day.

Forms, ready to be filled with concrete.

  Today was the big day, Jordan arrived at his usual 7:30 am and did a last inspection of everything in preparation of the concrete arriving.  I think they had hoped to pour early in the day but because of the nice weather, every contractor in the Fraser Valley was probably wanting to pour their slabs, so the concrete trucks couldn't be here until noon.  The clear skies brought about some cool temperatures so Jordan and crew got out some lawn chairs and lit up a fire to keep warm.  Trouble went out to keep them company and I contemplated hotdogs and beer but it didn't seem quite right at 9:30 am.  Somewhere about noon the forms for the basement walls arrived and a bit later in the day than expected, the pumper truck arrived.  He had just finished setting up the outrigger supports on his truck when the first of two concrete trucks arrived.  If you've never seen concrete poured, it's somewhat fascinating seeing hundreds of pounds of concrete pumped forty+ feet into the air and back down into the forms.  The pumper truck operator uses a remote control to move the truck's boom overhead while one of Jordan's crew uses the hose to fill the various forms... They emptied the truck suprisingly quick (less than ten minutes).  While one guy operated the hose, two others used trowels to smooth the concrete level with the top of the forms.  The second truck arrived moments later and the whole process repeated itself.  In all it took less than forty minutes to empty the two trucks. 

Footing forms filled with concrete.

    Sometime later this week the forms for the basement walls will start to go up and I will probably update this blog again.  In the meantime I urge everyone to consider the privileged lives we live because of the sacrifices made by all the Canadian heroes who went to war.