Shaky Start, Solid Now

We took a nice, long break from the home building over the holidays, but no need to fret – we still got shit done (pun intended!). We brought the septic system up to code, which allowed Tache to run the sewer line to our future house and to our current trailer. Do you know what this means, people?!? It means, for the first time ever, Tache and I – as a couple – are using our very own “real” toilet. Real as in trailer toilet real, but still more real that a composting toilet or boat toilet or porta-potty. Moving on up!

There was a minor setback the day he was looking for the water line. When I say minor, I mean MASSIVE, but Tache was cool as a cucumber. Honestly, I have no clue how he didn’t totally lose his shit (septic pun!!). First, we knew he found said water line when a geyser erupted as he dug around with the mini-excavator. Unfortunately this wasn’t where we wanted it, so he kept digging around until he busted the newly installed sewer line. But that wasn’t the end of it! As he went to fix that mishap, he sawed through the electrical lines he had just put in. Whoops! (See photo above of the ditch where the disastrous trifecta took place.) With the help of headlamps, we had the whole mess fixed by the end of the day. We’re hoping if bad things come in three, we got them all out of the way and the rest of the home building process will be a breeze!

We brought in 16 tons of rock (that’s about 4 elephants’ worth!) to build a wall in our lower terrace. See Groundbreaking Ground Breaking post.

With all the underground work complete, it was time to focus on the physical portion of the house that, well, will technically be underground. The foundation! Last week we rented the same calamitous mini-ex to dig a 2-foot deep by 3-foot wide trench, officially mapping out our future home. Thanks to the relentless drizzle of Pacific Northwest winters, the trench filled with water thus creating a moat… which I believe makes our future home a castle! (Let’s be honest, it wouldn’t take much for me to feel like I’m living in a castle after boat and trailer life!)

Tache had a few extra hands help him build the forms for the footings. Everything went smoothly… from what I could tell as I watched them out the trailer window. We scheduled our first building inspection for Monday, only to remember it was MLK Day after no one showed up. The inspector arrived the next day and signed off on the septic, building setbacks, and footings. Meaning, we got the green light to pour our first round of concrete!

The concrete truck arrived this morning, along with the pump truck to help maneuver around the building site. They pumped the concrete into the forms, creating what will be the foundation footings. We let them set all day and then by the dim light of the misty sunset, I removed the cleats across the top of the forms. Tache followed to create a smooth finish and ensure the rebar was sticking up straight.

We had a shaky start, but I’d say we’re feeling pretty solid now.