The Foundation Continues

After a delay to fix the expansive soil problem, we are back on track. In one area, 7' of soil under the foundation had to be excavated and replaced with "engineered fill", basically the fine rock you put on a non-paved road. As the fill was added, a little bit at a time, it was compacted and tested for sufficient compaction. Once this was completed, the trenches for the footing could be dug in the new fill. The plan has the next concrete pour, for the footings for the covered patio, garage, and shop, being done next week. That will be followed by the stem walls and finally the slabs (garage and covered patio).

The backhoe is sitting on 7' of fill.

Digging the trench for the footings in the engineered fill. The large wall in the background is the near wall of the main house foundation.

In the meantime, the foundation for the main part of the house has been waterproofed and readied for "ratproofing". Ratproofing just means that the space between the foundation walls has a layer of compacted fill then a non-structural layer of concrete on top. I'm not sure how effective it is at keeping at rodents but it does make the crawlspaces drier and more usable.

The foundation of the main house, waterproofed and ready for "ratproofing"

One additional problem we had to solve due to the expansive soils was that the pool had to be moved about 17’. The new location actually has some advantages since it provides a good place for both the hot tub and an outdoor shower. (The latter has always been one of Holly’s requests.) For some reason, the pool contractor likes to do the excavation and primary gunite layer early, then let things sit (a fill with rain water) until the house is close to finished. The only thing I can think of is that the excavation is messy and requires heavy equipment, not a situation you want to deal with close to a finished house. In any case, he is slated to start his work soon.