Breaking Ground

Batter Boards and strings are setup to establish square and correct levels.

A Bobcat skid steer is used to clear the top soil from the area. We took off about 8-10 inches of top soil.

The back form is setup. Note: The top of the form is not the top of the slab.

Back corner of the house. The kitchen is located in this corner.

This shows the foundation fill going in (6" lifts) and being compacted. This is the front of the house. The Master Bath is located in this corner.

Most of the house is sitting on a rock layer. The stakes for the forms had to be drilled first and then driven into the rock.

Workers had to use a hammer drill to drill 1.5" hole through the rock for the stakes.

Back of house. This is Gilbert of Lopez Construction & Concrete Design compacting the fill.

Back of the garage. Gilbert continuing to compact the foundation fill. You can see the excavator that was used to dig the trenches for the beams in the background.

The is the front of the house. Looking at the office. You can see the trenches have been dug and the remaining pads have been covered with plastic sheeting.

This is the front of the house. Looking into what will eventually be the courtyard.

The excavator was used to dig trenches through the Master Bath area.

NE back corner of the house. This will be Alyson's Sewing Room. Workers continue to add fill to the forms.

This shows the 12" wide beam trenches and the rock layer that we encountered throughout most of the house.

The excavator is cutting trenches through the Sewing Room area. Some pads have already covered.

The excavator had to be returned the next morning, so workers continued digging beams and plumbing trenches through the night.

This shows some of the plumbing installed and we are continuing to dig the beams and finish for the night.

Gilbert and his crew worked pretty hard that night!

Gilbert's crew cleaning out the beam trenches.