2012 June « The Homestead

Rough-in Plumbing

Reworking the plumbing

This week has been a very hot and tiring week of plumbing work. After trenching the main lines for the plumbing plan (6″ wide and up to 59″ below the surface of the slab as the trenches sloped toward the septic tank) the real work could begin.

New fittings required by universal code

We began by taking the difference between the elevation of the slab and the depth of the entry pipe into the septic tank. That difference was 59″. Since the ground slopes toward the septic tank, there was a natural slope […]

Form Board Panorama

I’m a bit slow in posting updates (we’ve been really busy!), but here is a panorama shot of the house with form boards in place.

Form Boards in place

Amazing Panorama – Smoke in the Air

This summer has already brought huge forest fires to New Mexico. The nearest fire, near Ruidoso, altered the sky even 70 miles away… The following three shots were taken from our land toward the northwest turning toward the west…

Smoke on the horizon

Final Footer Cleanout – Video

I immortalized the final bit of footer cleanout with this video:

Footer Panorama

Overhead view of footers

Just a quick post to let you see how the footers looked just after digging with the Ditch Witch. Since then, they’ve been completely cleaned out and form boards are cut… another update picture to come.

Book Review: Foundations and Concrete Work

We decided to tackle our own foundation. The estimates we are receiving for much of the work on the house are in most cases double the cost of doing doing it myself. The cost for labor is very high, and sub contractors are adding a percentage on top of the cost of materials. As a result I have decided to manage my own monolithic foundation pour. I will do everything except the actual pouring of concrete. I have a sub who will inspect the pre-work, make recommendations for improvements, if any, and bring a crew to mash the mud into […]

Footer Cleanout

Now that the Ditch Witch work is complete, there is quite a bit of hand work still to be done on the footers. Cleanout of the remaining loose dirt, redistribution of all the augured dirt on the pad and cutting a 45 degree bevel on the inside top of each edge of the footer require some sweat.

Here is a drawing to illustrate the footer/slab plan:

Footer/Slab Details

Photos of non-cleaned out section of the footer:

Lots of pickaxing still required…

No beveled edge yet.

Photos of cleaned-out sections follow. Note the 45 degree […]

Footers – The First Cut

Ditch Witch Machine

After a few weeks’ delay, we are back on track with preparation of the foundation. Friday and Saturday we were able to get all the footers dug with the help of a rented Ditch Witch. This machine will dig the 24” x 12″ footers using modern building methods.

Through planning the order of the cuts, we were able to minimize the amount of hand work that will be required to fully prepare the footers to support the foundation. We had to go through a slight learning curve as we began the work. Discovering the best […]

Tarantula!

As we arrived home one evening, we spotted something moving… upon closer examination, we discovered this:

Tarantulas are not deadly; in fact, you can read more about them at this website that has lots of interesting facts about tarantulas. We like the idea of them eating pests around our place and find them very entertaining.

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