Saturday, September 20, 2008

A Family Affair

This set of photos truly captures the amount of work that went into the foundation and retaining wall. Rob got some help from his Dad, Lou, who cut and bent most of the steel, while his daughter, Siena, made sure the pouring of the concrete went smoothly. Speaking of smooth, the retaining wall is as smooth as silk thanks to Mr. Meticulous (Rob).

The last couple of photos show the site completely graded so only the deck piers and the retaining wall are visible now.

















Sunday, September 7, 2008

World War III?

It looks like a battle zone but these are the trenches for the foundation and deck footings...and the black wall with what looks like red arrows is not art work; it's going to form the 25' retaining wall. We are in total disbelief that Rob has done all of this in just two weeks and, mostly, by himself. Rob is on the left with our engineer, Tony (who Chris likes to call one of his 'smart' friends).




A "sh*tty" job

We came across our first major glitch and realized why the house was settling in one corner. As Rob, our contractor, was digging for the foundation, he discovered that the house was built on top of an old septic tank! The result: a 7' wide x 8' deep hole with some 'remnants.' After filling it with 8.5 yards of concrete, the only hole left now is in our pockets. The digging continues and we're praying for no more surprises...