Things you do when you're NOT framing

We were supposed to start framing today, and I was disappointed when my framer, Rick, called to notify me he couldn't start until later in the week.

When I arrived this afternoon to survey the progress, I noticed a LOT of water pooling at the entrance. A few moments later, a neighbor arrived saying they thought the water was due to an irrigation line break. They'd fired up the pump that feeds irrigation water to the whole neighborhood and it was obviously flooding from below.

As the minutes passed, more neighbors arrived. At first, we just made attempts to get the culvert open so the water could flow back to the pond. I was not dressed for a foray into the mud, nor did I have the tools. (I'm glad I had those excuses. I'm still embarrassed about admitting my limitations after my fusion surgeries last year. I feel like a weakling with a million tired excuses)

But as you can see, Conner and Karli had no problem putting those worries aside and diving in. Literally. A few neighbors arrived with shovels and we started digging where the water seemed to be boiling out of the dirt.

We never did find the leak, so we turned the main pump off and plan to get a digging crew together for Saturday.

So, instead of framing today, we learned what we'd already suspected: We've got some great neighbors! (oh, yeah, and a broken irrigation pipe)

Let's hope we start framing tomorrow!

So, I'm a rookie and it shows.

Everything on the build went smoothly until we changed trades from excavating to concrete. Apparently, a person (me) is supposed to read the tiny print on the side of the engineered prints. Doh. In this tiny print, it says that the soils engineer must come and inspect the open hole to see if the dirt looks good. (Imagine the fun of that job, eh?)

We had a hole, but no engineer to inspect it.

Whoops.

After the engineer came, we thought the concrete would be poured in four consecutive stages:

1. Set Footers
2. Pour Footers
3. Set walls
4. Pour walls

So far, we have 2 out of 4. Which is bad news for my schedule because I have workers coming to put a damp-proof product on walls that aren't there yet. Sheesh. And then I sent guys out to measure those invisible walls and looked like a complete idiot! (So, I'm a rookie and it shows)

Whoops. 

In addition to that little snag, we lost our FRAMER! So we scrambled to find someone else. (Granted, the foundation walls are poured)

Thankfully, we found a framing crew. Albeit, they cost more, but we're getting desperate here and the guy said he could do the whole house in 8-10 days!

It's been 2 very stressful weeks! Add in a little tiff with a neighbor who disagreed with our property lines/rights...Maybe it's good we've had a delay so we can catch our breath and live to fight...ahem...build another day. 

Next week: Framing