FRAMING PREP, GARAGE EXCAVATION AND DIRT & ROCK RELOCATION

Now that the lumber has been delivered there are a few other items on the the schedule that need to be completed before they can start framing and pour the concrete for the garage slab.  But as we mentioned in a previous post one always has to keep an eye to the sky.  As Tom and Jeff were trying to get things prepped for the upcoming framing they were treated to multiple flyovers of Marine helicopters heading east.  We assume they were all headed back to North Carolina after the completion of the Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.  Jeff was able to show Tom the type he used to fly, the UH-1Y "Yankee".  This will undoubtedly become a semi-annual event as they have a WTI class in the spring and fall each year.  It was cool to see some Marine helicopters instead of the usual Air Force ones.  

Two UH-1Y "Yankee" and an AH-1Z "Zulu" flying over

Tom has many years of framing experience so the preparations went pretty smoothly.  He is also our building inspector so there are a lot of things that he needs to ensure are completed correctly. The first step in the process was marking all the wall locations on the floors with chalk lines.  Then they cut the cedar 2x4s and 2x6s to the proper lengths and marked on them where    the vertical studs would be located.  Cedar is used on the base plates as it is the most rot resistant (hopefully we get the plaster applied correctly to keep the water away!) and the least appetizing to termites.

Chalk string outlines on the floor of the house

Framing laid out on the floor of the casita

The next item on the "to do" list was repainting the outline for the garage footers.  We say repainting because if you remember the garage footers were hammered out at the same time as the footers for the house and casita and then were back filled with dirt so they could be easily dug out later.  So now that we are ready to get the garage slab poured the footers need to be excavated.  Due to the size of the garage door the southeast corner of the footer needed to be extra big to act as an "anchor" to add strength to the garage structure or something to that effect.  Tom explained it all to Jeff but this is all that he retained. 

Painted outline for the garage footer excavation

Painted outline for the southeast corner of the garage footer

Evan brought out his small excavator to dig out the garage footers.  It was a quick job that only took a couple hours.

Garage footer excavation complete

As the build site gets more developed the room to maneuver large machinery becomes less and less.  So we had Evan's crew come out with a backhoe/front loader to move some dirt and rock from the build site down to the well pad.  This coincided with the second cold front of the fall, which actually helped keep the dust down during all the earth moving.

Tight fit on the lower road to the well pad

Because of the location of the rock piles and the narrow access path on the east side of the house, they had to use the excavator arm to move the rocks so that they could then be scooped up in the front loader's bucket.

Rearranging the rocks for easier loading

Moving rock from the build site

Before they could move the rocks down to the well pad, they had to move the big dirt pile a little to the north to make room for the rocks.  Don't worry, we still have PLENTY of rocks up at the build site for future landscaping projects and gabion style rock walls.

Creating a new rock pile at the well pad

Not a lot of room to work!

Trust us when I say we have a view with mountains

Next on the schedule is the framing.  We're excited to see the buildings we have only seen on the plans start to take shape!