Today we finally broke ground. We met Armin’s worker, Pedro, who will be helping throughout the project. Seemed like a nice guy. He’s from Ecuador. One thing I can say is that they move pretty quickly. As soon as they arrived they hit the ground running, getting shit done.
Some key things that happened today:
Excavator Rental
They ordered an excavator, which arrived around 10am. It was pretty small, which makes sense for the job. They’re planning to only rent it for today, since they plan to finish digging today.
Digging the Trench
Pedro worked the excavator mostly. I wish I helped strategize at the start, because he started by digging the far wall first. After dumping all the dirt on the side, later he realized he doesn’t really have room to position the excavator in the optimal way to dig the side walls. He ended up spending some extra time shoveling the dirt out of the way and getting the right angles to get the job done.
At one point I told Armin that he could shift the Pioneer ductless unit over to the side, and also remove the large post from the old divider that rotted away. That gave them some valuable space to get better angles for digging.
Dig Depth
Armin explained that, per the approved plans, he will need to dig down to the foundation depth where the trench is within 5ft of the wall. We suspect that won’t be too far down for the south side, since the crawl space below the great room is very shallow. However, for the north side, that wall is walk-in depth, so we’ll probably have to dig down around 8ft.
Too Much Dirt
The one worry that Armin communicated was that he’s not sure where he’s going to relocate all the piles of dirt left over. I told him that we’re not too picky about that, as long as it’s done with proper grading in mind.
Surprise Electric Line Unearthed
At one point while Pedro dug out a chunk of dirt with the excavator, he revealed a large electric line. It was alarming at first, but I new for sure that Pepco already moved the line, so we decided to move forward guessing that it was the old line.
New Verizon Line Unearthed
At one point I noticed that a portion of the new Verizon line had been unearthed. I noted it to Armin and explained how there is a new (disconnected) line going through the ground, and how we’re waiting for Verizon to come remove the temporary line and connect the new line finally. He noted that he understood and will make sure to put it back as it was.
Lots of Roots
There seems to be a lot of roots throughout the area, as the pictures will show. Armin assures me that it’s nothing to worry about. I just hope they’re not bamboo roots.
Plans to Get Rid of Cobblestones
We plan to order/rent a dumpster (I think when we begin the actual demo). I asked Armin if we could just toss all the cobble stones in there too. He said that shouldn’t be a problem. However, after seeing all the piled up dirt, I wonder if I’ll be able to dig them all out. I guess we’ll see.
