I went and picked up the trencher last night, so Matt and I could get started right away. He came up because he apparently likes physical labor or something. It is a good thing too, I don't think I could have gotten this out of the truck in one piece by myself. It is heavy.
We got started early. I ended up not sleeping up there. If I had a bathroom I would have.
Because of the proximity to the waste pipe, Matt dug the trench over near the pipe by hand.
The trencher made surprisingly quick work of the driveway.
When I got here, things took a sideways turn though. While the trencher had no problems chewing up the asphalt, when it got to rocky soil it really started to struggle.
This rapidly became a common occurrence. Trying to adjust the chain.
I got a little bit further, but it threw the chain a couple of times.
The last time it threw the chain we noticed this. Hint there is a problem in this picture.
That link in the chain is broken. I called Home Depot and they said to bring it back and take the other one. To get my truck out though, we had to lay the wire down for the part we had done. This is what it looked like all dug up. I went off to the side like that to hopefully minimize the amount of driving on it.
The wire laid down pretty nicely; it just unrolled and stayed where it needed to be. Even though it is an 18" trencher, the trench was only around 16" deep. I don't care about the last two inches though.
Matt cleaned out the corner so it is a nice not sharp bend.
After picking up the other machine, and realizing that it would solve all our problems, I decided to not trench all the way. It would require a backhoe or excavator. It didn't help either that the other machine was so rusted up that the throttle cable on the handle didn't work, and when I tried to tighten the chain on it, I ended up wrecking my Allen wrench. It is badly rounded, and the end is all twisted. Time to find out if the Craftsman warranty is still valid now that Sears is bankrupt.
So we ran it up off the driveway and through the woods on the ground. Matt went and buried it just enough so that it isn't readily visible. The hope is that if it is out of sight the town won't ask any questions.
This is the only place it is readily visible. When the leaves fall, I expect that to change.
It turned out it is a good thing I got the extra length. I thought I had bought waaaaay more wire than I needed. Turned out to be just enough.
The wire is done though. I also put in caution tape where it wasn't butted up against the slab. Code requires it, and it is a good idea. The idea is that if someone goes to dig there, they will hit the caution tape (which is only two inches-ish down) and realize that there is something there and they shouldn't dig there.
We did a better job leveling and smoothing than the other contractors I hired too.
We finished up the electric at around 3:30 to 4. The picture is awful, but Matt finished the electric box underneath.
I worked on the plumbing. Have I ever mentioned that I hate plumbing? The plumbing is completed to the axles, and I put in the fittings to get the pipe under the axle. I have enough pipe to finish the job. I will probably need a 45 elbow since the pipe doesn't line up over the hole.
After that, Matt took off to go back to civilization. I put the final touches on the plumbing, and cleaned up. Some other updates: they weren't kidding about the well. It is a true flowing artesian well. Flowing means that the water pressure in the aquifer is enough to push the water above ground level. You can see the water shooting out from the cap.
The town redid the sharp dropoff at the edge of the road when they installed the new culvert. It looks nice.
The culvert is big. It drains the brook when there are storms. Courtesy of my well dumping water into the stream now, there will be more water than what used to be normal too.
On an interesting side note, even though the first one that broke was returned completely coated in mud and was really crummy, there was a different person there when I took the second one back. She looked at it and said it was good enough and that she needed something to do anyways (the tool rental is empty after about 6, and they close at 10), so I didn't get charged a cleaning fee. So I have managed to weasel out of an 80 dollar cleaning fee. And this was on top of the fact that I only got charged for 250 feet of wire (I got 270) since the guy made the tag wrong.
A very productive day, courtesy of Matt. You may have noticed me in a couple of the pictures; he was also the photographer for most of these pictures. The electric was definitely a two person job. I will have to go back and bury the rest of the wire next year, but for the purposes of this year, it is done. Once I have Barry come up and assist with installing the new electric boxes, I will have power.
With regards to the checklist, the electric is now mostly complete, I have started on the waste PVC line. The well prep work is complete. The well itself is slated for Monday. Tomorrow is supposed to be cold, but I still hope to finish the waste line. If I do that, that means the only outdoor thing left is the skirting, which I still have to find, and honestly can be done by flashlight if necessary.
Before Occupancy:
Install paneling on interior walls.- Build floor pan for the bathroom
- Install bathroom fixtures.
- Install electric.
- Complete interior plumbing and test it.
- Finish running the waste PVC line.
Well prep work.- Get well installed.
- Get hot water heater installed.
Install flooring.- Install skirting.
- Install some form of cabinets in the kitchen.
- Install kitchen sink.
- Install kitchen appliances.
- Install enough driveway to satisfy the apron requirements.
- Build bed frame.
- Build closets.
- Install table.
- Install heat tapes.
- Build some sort of porch.
- Smooth driveway enough to plow/clear
- Fix snowblower.
- Winterize equipment (mower, undercoat the truck, etc).
- Clear slab
- Shed work
- Extend roof to prevent snow pushing on the side.
- Fix pilings
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