CONCRETE FORMS

Now that the foundation footer excavation is complete the concrete crew returned to start prepping for the eventual pouring of the foundation.  A level foundation is always important but since we are going to have exposed concrete floors precise measurements are even more important.  All the wooden forms are screwed onto metal spikes and then braced to ensure the tops of the forms remain level.

House foundation and SW corner of the casita looking southeast

Concrete foundation forms for the house looking west

 Concrete forms being installed for the casita looking north.
(Notice that nice vertical rock face under the palo verde tree?)

A complete site view looking south.

Since the garage will sit in the northeast corner and thus the main access point to the pad, we decided that it would make sense to build the garage after the majority of the work on the house and the casita are complete.  This will make it easier for the concrete trucks and everyone else to access the build site.  While we still had the big green hammer on-site, Evan completed the excavation of the foundation footers for the garage but then back filled them with dirt.  We'll just have to dig out the dirt and not hammer out the rock when we're ready to pour the garage foundation. 

A LEVEL PAD LEADS TO MORE DIGGING

A level pad

On May 6th Evan completed the preparatory work on the pad.  The northeast corner behind the casita caused the biggest delay as it was solid rock and Evan had to spend some extra time with the 5,000 lb hammer cutting the embankment back a bit and getting it vertical.  By raising the elevation of the southern edge of the pad by a few inches we were able to avoid having to bring in any outside fill dirt during the pad prep portion of the build.  This was a good thing as it keeps with our overall vision statement.

2nd Meeting of the Minds

We had a second meeting of the minds, this time with the addition of the concrete team, and made the final decision on where each building would be located.  After we had painted the outline of each building on the ground we decided to rotate the garage 10 feet towards the house to provide a little extra room for the electric utility trench on the north side of the garage.  We think we have it all planned out on paper and then when you put it into the real world there always seems to be a need for a tweak or two.  So now that we have a level pad and the building locations decided, the excavation of the foundation begins.

Foundation footer trenches for east end of the house

Foundation footer trenches for west end of the house

OPERATIONAL WELL

Chad and his crew were out bright and early to beat the heat.  The goal for the morning was to get the well pump running off  just the sun.  First task of the day was to install the gimbal bracket on the top of the pole they had installed earlier.  Once that was in place they attached the brackets that hold the solar panels

The crew installing the brackets

As the solar panels were being installed, they were also running the wires through the conduit from the panels to the control box on the well head.

One Panel

Two Panels

Three Panels

By 10:00 AM the system was up and running ... literally!

We have water!

The system is complete!