things to look forward to...

http://brengelmannoblehome.blogspot.com/
checking out their blog has me completed excited to move past all this foundation business and get this show on the road! ryan, you have to check this out because there are a lot of little tricks that they are discovering that will help down the road.

as of today

i spoke to kenny about waterproofing. everyone on cape knows about my foundation. it has a bad rep. anyway, he is checking it out. i went over this morn and shoveled dirt away from the foundation. i also noticed that the gas lines were already marked on the far side of the street where we need to go for the electric. there's a pole directly across from the small cleared drive jimmy put in for utility trenches. still need to get ahold of the water dept. to see where the water main is. but the kit is ordered and unless the foundation is condemned i suppose we are moving forward. here's the pole for posterity, and the number.

the foundation fairy

the one positive note

in a complete reversal of her former self, friday is actually starting to like contractors.

the issues

many things in the works

well. the foundation is poured. the waterproofing is ordered and going on next week. the foundation survey is ordered. as soon as that stuff happens the foundation needs to get inspected, then the electric can get ordered. the footwork is under way to get a good price on moling under the street for electric. the plumbing pipe is supposed to be dug-in next week. and the joists and framing is about to begin (as soon as i get the as-built approved). i need to find out from ryan if he needs me to get the corrugated flooring that goes over the joists and takes the cement before backfilling takes place. still haven't ordered the kit (gulp!). here's what it looks like right now.

here's a close-up of the ICF's (insulated concrete forms). they look just like styrofoam packing material. because basically that's what it is.

so actually work did continue today...

um. snow.

a lot of freaking snow. like a foot of freaking snow. heavy, wet, sticky snow. (which is beautiful to look at, but kills transmissions on plow trucks and makes a nasty burning transmission-y smell, and if you couple that with the smell of pickles... well, let's just say it's a very questionable combination)

the upside to the snow was that i got to ride shotgun with the plowmaster. this was very cool for many reasons. i love nasty weather, i love riding around in nasty weather, i love trucks, i love trucks that kick ass in nasty weather, i love getting ideas for paintings while riding around in trucks that kick ass in nasty weather. i don't love pickles. so kudos for jimmy for not kicking me to the curb until almost 2am. because i know i am a pain in the ass but he is just starting to find this out. (revised plow lessons i learned last night. 1. things break 2. you can sing the plow song you made up for 7 hours straight 3. keep the plow driver awake without touching him)

i do very much hope i still get to ride shotgun the next time it snows.

oh, so basically there will be no work on the foundation, and for how long, i don't know.

they started the foundation...

waterproofing quandry

i am on the fence about my foundation waterproofing. i don't know whether to go the way of a spray on waterproof or a peel and stick rubber membrane. it seems to me there are pros and cons on either end of this. cost being one of them. i have about a week to decide what to do. if anyone has any opinions on this... please let me know. i do have tons of info on both products, just no real world experience with them. thank you jimmy for asking around for me on that. and thank you for going back and pulling the dirt away and not punching anyone in the head, namely me.

in the meantime... they are delivering the forms this morning and should be cranking on assembling a foundation this afternoon. the window bucks need to be set into the forms before the concrete is poured, that's how i will get those cool windows going down to the studio level. ryan busted those out this week. thank you ryan. at some point i am supposed to meet sanchez or junior or someone at the site to talk shop on the electric service and what kind of damage i am looking at for going underground.

damn

a punch in the head

ok, so there will be earth moving this afternoon. and hopefully there will be no foundation dudes present at the time.

the very tiny cave in

i was hoping to save jimmy from a trip to the lot by taking these pics...

now some gratuitous dog pics...

oof

so i just got a call from bo the foundation dude and he needs jimmy to go back and pull more dirt away from the foundation on the driveway side because of a small cave-in that could become a bigger one... eesh. also found out the foundation is even more money with waterproofing stuff. eeeeesh. jen not happy. jimmy really not happy. i am going to run over there and see what's up right now. then i am going to go to dinner and eat copious amounts of raw fish and seaweed and drink myself into a sake stupor.

footings

after i was told that jimmy did the most perfect job on digging the cellar hole (no, i had no doubts that he would have) by one of the foundation dudes named bo, they put the footings in.

uh... wow

ok. here is what happened over the course of about 2 hours, or how long it took me to go see a movie that was supposed to be about vampires, but i instead spent the whole time worried that the dog would die and then when she did, i cried my eyes out.