Laser Levels and Straw -- Ready for Footings

I said yesterday that the crew was doing "detailed excavation."  I was wrong. They were just getting close.  Today the guys brought in the laser level and cut the base of the excavation to a level where footings can be built.  The little Cat scraped the earth to the exact elevation that was verified by use of their laser level system.

The laser level was brought to the site to make sure the floor was at the right elevation and level.

The crew is working along the south footing line to make sure its is at correct elevation.

The Cat carefully cut the floor to the required grade.

Once the entire floor was cut to the proper elevation it was ready for footings to be formed and poured.  But the masonry sub-contractor wont begin that work until Monday.  And, since it is expected that the sub-freezing temperatures will last through the weekend the Deitz crew wanted to protect the excavation from frost penetrating below the footing bottom elevation.  To do this they covered the entire excavation with straw.  Bales and bales of straw were brought to the hole and spread to a depth of about six inches.  

The crew does almost everything with the little Cat --- including delivering straw bales to the hole.

I didn't count the number of straw bales that were used. But I guess there 15 or 20 of them  total.

It seemed to me, from up top, that the guys were having all too much fun spreading the straw.

Our new basement floor is covered with straw to keep it warm for the weekend.

So...at the end of March 22nd Patrick, John and RJ completed the excavation work under the existing structure.  They still have to return to excavate for the addition. But, this won't be done until the house is back on the new foundation and support beams are removed.

I hadn't thought of the work proceeding in "phases."  But if you look at it that way I guess Phase One is complete.  Phase Two begins Monday when the masonry sub-contractor begins building the new basement walls.  Stay tuned.

At the end of the day today 3283 looked a lot different than it did three short weeks ago.

Straw covered excavation in the cold sunshine of March 22nd.

Besides finalizing the floor elevation and straw-coating it,
Pat filled in the ramp to the southeast corner of the house.