Short Work Day -- But More Milestones

A lot of progress was made between 5:00 last night and mid-afternoon today.  When I left the site yesterday most of the Deitz crew had left. Dan was still there in a loader to "clean up some last stuff."  Boy did he.  When I arrived this morning the excavation for the addition -- which hadn't been started when I left -- was 90+% complete and sand had been stockpiled on the west side of the building for backfill and rough grading.

The excavation for the addition as it was this morning -- looking east.

The excavation -- looking west.
[Note to photographers: try not to have your shadow in the picture.]

Patrick, Jeff and John brought the excavation to proper grade using both the small loader and by hand.

Once the excavation was ready the work was turned over to Fred and the masonry team for forming and pouring of the addition's footings. The construction of footings for the addition is a small job compared to the footings under the cottage. Forms were set quickly in the new hole....and the guys also formed two small strip footings inside the basement that are needed to support the north wall of the stairway.  They weren't poured previously because a support crib was in the way.

Final grade for footings is being set by the block crew.

Footings were formed and ready for concrete.

The readi-mix truck was able to extend its chute far into the excavation.

Footings were finished and ready to accept block....probably tomorrow.

This footing will support the wall on the north side of the stairs.
When the floor joists are cut to make the stairs they will rest on this new wall.

While one crew was working on the footings, the other was finishing up the backfill on the south side of the cottage.  While the grading is not yet complete, at day's end you could get a pretty good idea of what the south wall of 3283 will look like when completed.

Patrick negotiated a very narrow space south of the structure to backfill the excavation.

On many building sites backfill material this good needs to be hauled in.
Our sand is so good it could  be used with no problem.

Still somewhat rough....but the general "look" of the side yard can start to be seen.

Tomorrow the block should be laid to create the last part of the basement.

And the addition will start to take space.