With excavation underway, it was time to position the concrete blocks that will shore the soil along the property lines. These ultra-blocks (such a cool name) weigh 2,200lbs each.
About half of them will be left in the ground after the foundation is poured and back-filled. Why? Cheaper than removing them. One truck can only carry about 4-5 at a time and we need about 50.
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| Staging the ultra blocks while they dig out the back wall. And correct, they're basically just large legos. |
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| The blocks here represent the NE corner of the house. Many roots died to make this wall. |
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| It was pretty incredible to watch them dig this part. The soil becomes very hard clay that far down. That's great for our foundation, but tough to dig in, even for the equipment. It was slow going. |
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| The workers were using lasers and receivers (is that the right word?) continuously to tell the operator how far down to dig. They'd walk over with a little pole which would beep whenever they raised it to the level of the laser being shot across the property. Lasers are pretty cool. |
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| The white pipe you see in the lower right leads to the 30' long buried infiltration trench we now have in our back yard. Don't get me started. |
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| The ultra blocks will line most of the north property line, all of the east wall, and most of the southern property line. |
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| I'm sorry, but it's starting to look like a medieval fortress wall. Awesome. |
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| Gotta have that crushed rock underneath the ultra-blocks! And anyone who has played with legos knows this strategy for building walls. #masterbuilder | |
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| End of the day now. Time to go home and get ready for Christmas. Work will start again January 2nd. Merry Christmas! |
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