We had hoped to be done with excavation in early July. Then in late July. Now, the deadline for pouring concrete was the end of August. Our biggest problem was still water – we had a seep in the back corner of the building pad where we dug into the hillside, and despite our efforts of trying to scrape and dry it, it was still leaking water. This hole would refill every few days:
Another Geotech Visit
We got another visit from our geotech, who suggested digging trenches along both sides of the building pad to try and pull water away from the pad itself. The results were not entirely encouraging. Here, you can see the water seeping into the trench, and the clay calving into the hole:
Not particularly encouraging.
As before, we could still dig the wet soil and run a pump continuously, so it wasn’t a technology problem. But going that route would be more expensive than having a dry pad, and it also raised concerns for whether we’d have an unintentional swimming pool in our crawl space.
We brought another geotech back in to take a look at things.
Book Review: But Where do I put the Couch?
But Where do I put the Couch: Answers to 100 Other Home Decorating Questions is a nice little interior design book. As you may gather from the title, it presents information in a question-and-answer format. Which flooring options are best? How can I decorate with fabrics? Does a TV have to take over a room? It reads less like a handbook and more like a new homeowner’s search history. Not a bad resource, especially if you dig the format, but not a must-read.