Progress Report

After we finished the site prep and had a base to put our foundation on, we needed a plumber. I thought I had one locked up, but he didn't call me back. After that I started calling many plumbers. I'm not sure why, but at first I couldn't get anyone to call me back. I was an inch away from getting some books from the library and doing it myself when the clouds opened up and a ray of plumberness shone down from above. All of a sudden I had four estimates to look at. There was one clear choice at the end of it all. They happened to be the lowest bid, but more importantly, they asked the most questions and I just had a gut feeling about them. So, to be ready for them we oiled and set the footing forms in order to have our proper measurements in line.

The only bad thing about the perfect plumbers was they couldn't get to it for a week. That was Mr. Murphy and his law punching me in the gut. Then, after I was standing upright again, I calmly told Mr. Murphy that I had plenty of other work to do in the meantime. So, we decided to pick rock. We took the trailer and the pickup to a friend's farm (thank you Allens!) and got a load of rocks.

During the week, the plumbers came followed by the inspectors. During that time, I decided that the foundation pour would go more smoothly if we would pour the masonry heater (did I mention our house would have a masonry heater?) footing prior to the foundation pour. I was worried that our lack of experience would show if we needed to set screed rails in order to cover the distance from one end of the house to the other. The masonry heater footing in the center of the house would give us an edge to screed off of, thus shortening the distance between screed points.

Next, I constructed the heater form, read the code book and calculated the amount of concrete it would take to make the hefty footing for the masonry heater. After we determined the location, we marked it and began digging it out.

We dug it out so that the total depth would be 12 inches. Next we need to get the rebar cut and ready. We'll put the insulation and rebar in place and use our cement mixer to pour the heater footing. After that, we'll pour the rest of the foundation.

By the by, I haven't had time to report on my hybrid poplar cuttings. I will do a full report, but for now I can report that I have approximately 225 mini hybrid poplar trees in grow bags.