Friday, I met with the building inspector (Dale) to discuss his notes, especially about the footings and “special 3^rd party inspections”.  I also wanted to discuss the alternative to the step footings that my concrete footings guy wanted.

Dale started the meeting by saying that he had read my email (which included a detailed description of “frost protected shallow footings” and all the codes related to them) and that frost protected shallow footings were fine.  I guess the plans simply had not been detailed enough to show that they were “frost protected”.  Great.  We got thru his other notes just about as quickly.  I told him I would happily do the concrete encased electrodes, but since my footings should stay dry, I would also be putting in conventional grounding rods.  He said, “of course.”

Then we discussed the “special 3^rd party inspections”.  He simply didn’t feel qualified or comfortable signing off on those parts of the construction.  These included things like my precast concrete ribs, the rebar in the vaults and the shotcrete.  He wants me to hire a 3^rd party engineering company to certify that these are built correctly.  Of course, this will be additional expense for me.

I tried to explain that I had already paid the engineer a lot of money to certify the design of the rebar and that it was normal to trust the strength of the concrete from the mixing truck.  All the building inspector had to do was compare the engineers instructions with what we did.  The inspector was not quite convinced, but said I could hire my previous engineer to help him with the inspection.   Unfortunately, my original engineer (Ken) has closed his practice.  I did try contacting Ken anyway and he told me he couldn’t do it.   My inspector gave me two other large engineering companies to contact.  The first, PSI USA, told me they wouldn’t work on a residential project and the other (SME USA) has simply not got back to me (it has been more than a week as of this writing).  I asked my architect for suggestions and he gave me a name, but I have not managed to call that engineer yet (I have been traveling for work myself).   I spoke with my shotcrete guy (Nate) to find out who he had worked with.  He said that building inspectors never have trouble inspecting his pools.  My inspector had already said this is different because the pool is up against earth, the water has no where to push the concrete.  In my house, the earth is trying to push the concrete down onto peoples heads.  Nate said that special inspections are sometimes done for large commercial jobs, but it would really cost me, both for the inspection and for his crew to make the test panels (tested destructively).

The notes Dale made on my plans also included a list of “additional” inspections.  These were additional inspections that he wanted to do because my construction was so unusual.  They included inspections when I set the concrete ribs, added the waterproofing umbrella, etc.  I got the impression that I would not be charged for these, but maybe I am naive.  I will ask directly the next time I get a chance.

Last, but not least, I asked about Doug’s plan to change the step footings into doweled footings over fill.   Dale said he didn’t like footings specified by the engineer because they had a sloped bottom.  He said footings should always be flat on the bottom (which does make reasonable sense even if sloped footings are actually approved by civil engineers.)  He said Doug’s plan was fine, but I needed to extend the lower footing out by a foot and put a pilaster on it to better support the doweled footing.   I asked about the fill and he said the footings could span a 2ft section of fill, but any more than that and I would need the fill to be “engineered”.  I guess I will need to get that done, hopefully it is not to expensive.  At least my sand should be easy to compact.

In the end, I updated my model to facilitate communication with my footings guy (Doug, sounds more like the name of an excavator doesn’t it?).  I hope to meet with Doug tomorrow to come up with a plan of attack.  I have agreed to start with just the basement footings and get the basement walls up and backfilled before working on the other footings.  It changes my schedule a bit, adds an additional concrete pump rental and an additional footing inspection, but it does seem easier than trying to work around that sloped sandy excavation.  Including that basement in the design really has complicated things.  I will ask Doug about doing the garage footing at the same time so I can start on that Quonset hut sooner.

Buying the land, hiring the architect and getting all my permits were each big steps toward this earth sheltered home. But, digging a huge hole makes those other steps pale in comparison.  Things are now very serious. Where I once had a nice green rolling hill, I now have what appears to be some sort of ecological disaster…  Actually it looks a lot like a sand quarry.  I look forward to restoring it again as soon as possible. There is no way to turn back now, I have to push through.

Prep

We only had to excavate the partial basement portion, just over one third of the site.  The shape of the basement is like a half circle with a few bumps on it…  Sherri and I started the day by staking out the perimeter of the footings.  Then I had a chat with the excavators (Roe Brother Excavation).  I had invited the footings guy (Doug Dysert of Dysert Concrete) to join the conversation so that the excavation would be done according to his needs.  Since my footings are curved, he had already told me that he would rather have the excavation down to the bottom of the footings (easier to build curved forms on the ground rather than dig them out).  But now I wanted his input on how he planned to create the step footings that would transition from the full depth basement footings to the slab on grade footings and how that would affect the excavation plans…

Doug said he didn’t like engineers “sloped” step footings.  He said, “Maybe that’s how the specify it on government jobs, but that is not how we do things around here.”  He would prefer that we build the basement footings and walls first and then back-filled before working on the slab on grade footings.  I was concerned about building footings over fill and about making any changes that the inspector wouldn’t like.  Doug said I should make sure the inspector likes those footings and everyone agreed my sand would compact very nicely.  Doug also sketched me his plan for connecting the basement footings with the slab on grade footings.  The next day, I took those to the inspector, more about that in a separate post.

Anyway, back to the excavation…  Doug didn’t want a sloped excavation, but I was concerned about needing slope for the footings specified by the engineer.   We agreed that a “double over-dig” would be OK.  We would over-dig 4 ft around where the footings would go, and then step up 4 or 5 feet and then over-dig a second 4 ft out from the first.  I figured it would give the shotcrete and waterproofing people space to work and would allow me to easily excavate for sloped step footings if I needed to.   Even if it crumbles, it is essentially a 50 % slope, so it should be OK.  Doug sprayed the 4 ft offset line (curving) around my original basement footing stakes so everything was marked out.

My favorite quote of the day (paraphrased)…   “The problem with dirt is that is is all in the wrong place.  For instance, here we have some dirt where there should be a hole.  Some times you have dirt where there should be water.  An excavators job is to fix these mistakes.”  I would add to that every earth sheltered home owners fear…  “Some times there is water where there should be a hole”, fortunately, that is probably not going to be an issue for me on this sandy hill site.

Dick Roe (an original Roe Brother) got thinking about how to approach the dig (you don’t want to dig your self into a corner) and Marty (a Roe Son/Nephew) got busy on my drive way.  Meanwhile Sherri did the smart thing and quietly added center-line stakes well beyond the excavation area.

Lesson learned

We had made things hard on ourselves by outlining the curved project with curved offsets.  Once the excavation got started and the stakes were dug out of the hole, it got harder and harder to remember what was going on.  I couldn’t visualize it anymore and I have been staring at the plans for years, so I am sure my excavator had no chance.  The hole ended up looking somewhat like an amoeba as the excavator tried to dig just the right amount, but not too much.  It was also a challenge to deal with the growing piles of dirt around the hole

My excavator was kicking himself for not laying out the overdig with a rectilinear shape (like a trapezoid) around our curved plan.   He would have been able to stake out the overdig easily and then dig it out with much less time spent scratching his head.  Make sure to tell your excavator “the footings may be curved, but the excavation is all straight lines.”

The Excavation!

Here is a video of Sherri and I laying out the basement stakes and then the digger getting to work.

With the extra head scratching and time spent on my driveway, etc., they didn’t manager to finish the excavation on day 2.   They came back the following morning and took care of it.  By the second day, the excavator had decided that the site was too sandy for stepped sides and put in a slope for most of the way around (which is what I had originally asked for).  He also added a ramp to make it easier for us to get in and out of the hole. He said that if Sherri and I found it was too small, he would come back and make some final adjustments.

We have a Bulldozer on the property!

It is just sitting there, very peaceful.  I didn’t see any broken ground, but it is still pretty significant. There was also some mystery to it because we had not actually hired anyone or setup a start date yet. I had called Roe Brothers Excavation company a few times trying to ask them when it would be a good date for them to start.  I had left several voice mails and emails, but not heard back at all…  I assumed they were taking the whole week off (it is a holiday weekend here in the USA).

I have heard of sending messages by bottle or with smoke rings or even, in extreme cases, with bullets, but this was a dozer message.   I called them up and cleared up the miss communication.  They had planned to start first thing Tuesday morning (Monday is a holiday).

A catch…  In our state, you are supposed to call “Miss Dig” before you dig.  They mark all the buried wires and pipes.  Sherri had already called them, but with the holiday weekend ahead, they said they might not get out there until Tuesday or Wednesday next week…   There are power boxes strung along the roads, so I am pretty sure I already know what they will tell me.   There are almost certainly lines buried under where the drive way will cross, but only right by the road.  There shouldn’t be any lines under the home site, which is essentially in a corn field.  The excavator says he only needs to go down a few inches for the driveway and the wires and gas pipes are located at least 2 ft below that.

Another catch, we haven’t actually closed on our loan yet (see the hurdles from a few days ago)…  We don’t even have a closing date yet, but we are close enough that I am willing to go ahead anyway just to avoid losing more of the summer.

The weather forecast isn’t being very helpful either.  They are calling for thunderstorms for most of this week.  Next week, I am going to Washington state to visit Boeing (for work), so that won’t be good either…  Anyway, I hope to post that we broke ground soon.

In the end, we setup a start date of Wednesday morning. ;^)

Picked Up My Building Permit…

I was only visiting the property because we were required to post a sign with our address and the permits clearly displayed.  This is to help the inspectors find your lot.  I picked up the “official” plans along with the permit.  These need to be kept on site also, but probably not until things really get rolling.

The inspector had written notes on the plans, but fewer than I had expected.  A couple were not a problem.  For instance, he wants me to make sure that the ducts under my floors slope to an accessible point and to make sure that I have a good system of french drains.  These were things that I planned to do, but were not spelled out clearly enough in the plans.

A few of the other notes don’t go as well with my unusual construction and I will try to talk to him about those over the next weeks.

The biggest issue was that he didn’t like my Frost Protected Shallow Footings.  I sent him info on the ICC (International (building) Code Council) and ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) outlining how to properly apply this method. Hopefully he appreciates that because I planned to offset the additional cost of insulation with the reduced cost of shallower footings.

Another smaller issue was the specification of a “concrete encased electrode” in the foundation (aka Ufer ground).  He probably recommended it because he could see how much rebar I already had in my foundation, and it is probably a good idea to tie my grounding system into all of that (although there have been cases when lightning strikes actually cause the moisture in the concrete to rapidly expand, crack and occasionally explode).  Normally, a concrete encased electrode is a very effective grounding system and the NEC allows it to be used as your only grounding, but since my umbrella will be keeping my foundation very dry, it will not conduct electricity as effectively, I will probably still want to include more traditional grounding rods outside of my umbrella perimeter and also tie my ground wire into my well casing.

The inspector also added a number of additional inspections for the footings, arch placement, etc. including some “special inspections by a third party” for my arches (I assume before each is poured), my rebar and my shotcrete.  I have no idea how these “third party inspections” will work, or who will do them, but I am guessing they won’t be cheap…  I still need to talk with the inspector about it.