Meat (dig) and potatoes (foundation)
Well folks, we’re on to the meat and potatoes now.
As I think I previously mentioned, it takes a lot of prep work to get rolling on a house build when you’re building a “custom” house (read: not a cookie-cutter pseudo-pre-fab subdivision house. Not that there’s anything wrong with that)
Between initial conversations with trades, getting a rough idea of where your finances are at, getting plans done and revised, applying for a mortgage, build permits, waiting for build permits, crossing your fingers for build permits, getting mortgage approval, on and on, at some points you kinda lose track of what you’re actually doing.
Here’s me on the site after I found out that the equipment would be there in a couple days to start digging. Good times. The cottage that was on this pad was moved a week before Fiona so we had a good chunk of time to clean the area of any remnants of that.
And then the moment happens. Equipment arrives and you suddenly have, at first, a big hole in the ground, and then a solid red earth pad, and then another hole in the ground. It’s a glorious sight and feeling after a good chunk of time working behind the scenes to get there.
This was one of what would come to be a few times where I sat in the grass staring at the mounds of earth and debris and equipment and thinking “well, I guess we’re building a house.” Great times.
Moving on - once they get in there and dig things around a bit, they start forming and compacting the pad where the house will sit. A solid base to start with - gotta dig down to make sure things are square down there. Since we are putting the house almost exactly where the cottage was, removal and landscaping and all that wasn’t really necessary. Plug and play, to an extent.
Once the pad is solid, that’s when they start digging out for the footings for the foundation walls. This part moved quick. One day we had a mound of dirt there, a few days later I came back to concrete walls.
quick sidebar - it’s also exciting when your first deliveries show up. In this case, some foam
Sit. Pause. Stare. Think. “Yep, we’re building a house out here.”
This one’s a little on the shorter end as it’s not super exciting to talk about and I also don’t know much about concrete or foundation work. If I already made a fool of myself above - you’re welcome! Plenty more of that to come, I ‘magine.
One thing I’ll add separately for now is this past week we were in to see the fine folks at Corrigan’s LINK to pick out our wood stove and lemme tell ya - that’s what Island businesses are all about right there. Friendly, knowledgeable, and as-is the island way, we found our 2 degrees of separation pretty much instantly. Juanita and the gang are wonderful to deal with. We’ll talk more specific wood stove stuff when we’re ready for it down the line! Might be one of my favorite parts of the whole house.
As always, any questions or comments, drop em below.
Much love to yas,
Al
