November 17, 2012

Another busy day. With the foundation holes dug, we were ready to drill holes into the rock for the rebar. The rebar is to reinforce the concrete and to anchor the piers into the rock so they don’t slide.

Once the holes were all drilled, Tayler and I measured and cut rebar to the correct length while Chandler got the rock grout ready.

Sparkly

Thankfully, that was a quick and painless process. Our next step was digging holes for the sonotubes. It was starting the get dark at this point, so everyone was helping to fill in the holes and pack in the dirt. Chandler’s uncle came over for dinner and showed up in time to help also. We ended having to get the flood lights out so we could finish the work in the dark.

November 18, 2012

Concrete day!

Except we had a few minor adjustments to make first. Because we had finished setting the last two tubes in the dark, we discovered one was way out of place. So Jeanne and I spent about half an hour digging the tube out, expanding the hole and resetting the sonotube. The guys got the concrete mixer and the threaded anchor bars ready.

Finally ready to pour cement

Power break

Before anything could be done, we had to settle a question that everyone but Tayler and I were concerned about: was everything level? The site is on a slope and the front row of piers appeared to be higher than the back row to the naked eye. Chandler’s uncle had brought over a surveyor’s optical level which I used to do a basic survey of the area. I used that info to do some calcs on the heights of the tubes and rebar. Everyone was still not convinced, so, they checked several different ways, but every time, the tubes turned out level. Good thing there was a professional to do the work.

Is it level?

Finally time to pour the concrete.

Chandler hard at work

I actually left after the first pier was poured to have lunch with my step sister. It was nice to take a break and catch up with her. When I came back, all the work was done. Lucky me!

November 15, 2012

Before the road trip even began, we had discussed building a cabin on Chandler’s parents’ land. This would be a place for visitors and maybe a temporary place for us to live in when we get back from our bike trip. We don’t know where we will end up but we assume we’ll need a month or two before we get readjusted.

The first day was spent clearing the area, deciding the orientation of the cabin and staking it out.

November 16, 2012

We decided to put in a sonotube foundation with 6 piers. The next day we made a few adjustments to our staked points and went to rent a gas powered auger. The auger was used to dig out the holes for the cement piers.

Our goal was to go down 4 feet or get to ledge. We hit ledge on all holes except one, which we got down to 4 feet.