September 16, 2011

Porta Potty arrived at the site!   Very exciting, I know.  Problem was the Ricky's Porta Potty truck got stuck trying to turn around.

Luckily my Dad and I were there. Hooked up the tow strap and my dad pulled the guy out!  Good Dodge Ram commercial I think :)

September 15, 2011

Foundation hole finished today!  All dug and ready for forms and concrete which is scheduled for this coming Tuesday or Wednesday :)

Check it out!

Tom is on the dozer grading the front yard.

Joe and Dillan Casassa in our hole checking the depth to make sure it is right. Foundation is going to have 9' basement walls.   Joe works part time for Tom. He has been running an excavator since he was 15 years old. He's now in his early 70's. I know this job is done right.  Dillan works full time for Tom.  I've know Dillan and his family for about fifteen years. He is our friend Cathy Schantz's cousin.

September 14, 2011

Lots going on this week!   The tree clearing is complete and all the logging equipment is gone from the site.   Tom Fredo (site manager) brought in his bulldozer and excavator and the driveway is taking shape.  This past Tuesday, D.L. Bean Surveyors were on site staking out the corners of the house for foundation prep.

On Wednesday, Tom continued pushing dirt around for the site prep and then he started digging the foundation hole.

Tom's truck broke today :(    But, we did not let that ruin the progress. The 8,000 lb tracked skid steer  was loaded onto a trailer and then I dropped the entire 11k lb load on the Ram and away she went to the job site!

After a few passes with the bulldozer the driveway started to take shape.

The dozer created a nice bed for the base material that started getting hauled in by the end of day.

Tom with his skid steer. Brand new machine. The special bucket allowed Tom to clear the surface of the top soil of roots and rocks. The dirt falls through the open slats in the bucket while the junk gets gathered and piled for later disposal.

Matt Gaugh trucking out several loads of the stump grindings.  The truck that is driving away in this shot just dropped a load of base material in the driveway. Tom is running the dozer and just smoothed out the base so Matt could drive out with the stump grindings. Busy, busy, busy....  :)

And so the foundation digging has begun!

August 31, 2011

Well the driveway and lot are just about all cleared and stumped.  The brush and stumps have been chipped and ground. A couple more loads of logs have to be trucked out and then it will be complete.  This weekend the builder will start stripping the top soil to prep the driveway and then soon will be digging for foundation!

Here the log skidder arrives.

At the same time the skidder arrived, the huge excavator also arrived and was unloaded. This excavator will be used to pull stumps and also to feed the chipper.

Clearing away!

Skidder pulling brush towards a large pile for chipping later on.

Shannon at driveway just before it opens into the main lot.

Logs and stumps...

Chipping brush.  The chips come out of the chipper and go up a conveyor belt, dumped directly into a box trailer.

After the truck is loaded, the chips and grindings are removed from the site.

This excavator has a special attachment that cuts up the stumps prior to placing them into the chipper. This makes for less wear and tear on the chipper that I am told has a price tag of around $600k! I say being easy on it is a good thing.

Pulling more stumps for grinding.

August 31. I brought Grandma Herzig up to the site in the Rhino so she could check out the progress. She was pretty excited to see it all!