Big Picture: Where are we?
Weather has improved and we are making forward progress.
Corp Update
- The weather has definitely improved and we’re making forward progress. We had *three* excavators on site this week (plus a dump truck). For a while, it was like playing big-boy-tetris, moving each one around to get the right tool to the job, but we’ve made great headway. The parking pad is roughly at grade, and the entire patio area is at grade. They also excavated the area behind the walls so that we will be able to lay in the geo grid. This week, we will spend Monday doing some final prep and laying in the 2a base for the main retaining wall. Then we’ll launch into the actual construction of that wall. Likely that will consume most of the working days this week.
- I continue to be impressed with the accuracy of the equipment operators. In the photo below, we’d marked out with blue paint where the edge of the wall goes. Note that he split the line. That’s a heck of a thing to do with a 12,000 lb excavator and a boom that reaches 20′ from the cab. They also gently pulled soil away from the foundation of the neighboring building without disturbing the downpipe and the stone foundation. Looking at the photos, one might be forgiven for imagining that we did some hand digging, but there really wasn’t any.
- Macro level, the schedule remains the same. I expect the entire project to take a couple of months, assuming we get decent weather.
- I hope that we can get the walls all set by the end of February. Then we’d pour concrete some time in March, assuming we get some warm weather. On the other hand, if we keep getting really cold weather, it’ll slow our progress.
- My own estimates of this work are as follows:
- demolition: ~4-7 days (1 day remaining)
- Foundation prep: 2 days. (1 day this week, 1 day next week)
- lay block: 5-7 days (Block arrives Tuesday Feb 6. Will start setting this week)
- Patio base prep: 2 days
- Patio stone setting: 3-5 days
- Concrete forms and pouring: 4-6 days
- (no change to the vestibule door this week)I completed the work on the vestibule door and brought it back over to the house to install. Unfortunately, i’m not pleased with the results. The door has a definite twist to it (sticks out about 3/4″ on the bottom, and is recessed about 1/2″ at the top). This could have been the case for a while, or I may have actually introduced this twist in my glue-up process. Either way, it’s “in” for now, but I’m going to take it back over to Hack and redo the repair. The jamb is also a mess- the stop isn’t straight, and the jamb itself has been sanded back so far that I’m going to need to patch in a piece so that the door latch works correctly. However, Kath has asked that I make the floating shelves first, so I’ll focus my efforts there before getting back into the door repair.
(We will underpin tihs)
“Split the blue line”
Goals for January
- Demo all of the retaining wall and the concrete parking pad and patio (100% complete)
- Excavate dirt and dig footers for retaining walls. (85% complete)
- Get gravel installed for all footers.
- Complete rehab of inner vestibule door and mount it. (complete, but redo)
- If possible, start making some of the trim for the outer vestibule door on the Hack CNC.
Entropy Properties LLC 