We have initial foundation outline in place.

    We have the outline of the foundation in place.  They will be working on the forms this week, with an estimated day to pour concrete of  Monday May 19.

There's more to this foundation than just setting a perimeter form and pouring the concrete.  There are some conduits and pipes for water and sewer that need to be put in the correct locations, and there are a set of  beams that need to be dug beneath the load-bearing locations. Plus there are horizontal tension wires through the concrete (7 wire strands with tensile strength of 270K psi), and of course the rebar.

   This is a small version of the foundation plan, but provides some cross-section views of the beams that will undergird the slab.

While we're waiting for the permit to finalize...

Every day is an adventure and there's plenty to do whenever we drop by the address 134 MIE Drive, the lot previously known as 9 (and the drop-bys are now multiple times per week).

There were piles of sand to look at and argue over whether it was enough.  And now there's a smooth, raised rectangular pad to sit in beach chairs and sigh over.  Plenty of ducks and herons and swallows and meadowlarks to identify. There was even a sudden need for an intervention for a special plant.

Yard sitting:
Beach chairs... check, breeze... check,
smiling... check.

And there's yard sitting.  Much like our water sitting days in the hot tub of the past, but drier and with clothes on.  Here we and our shadows  sit and jump for joy.

More yard sitting:
All of the above, plus
we can also watch our shadows lengthen.

Is Ray happy? Oh yes he is!
Did you even know he could jump for joy
 this high?

So, there's been a delay...

Have you been wondering why we didn't have photos up of the foundation forms or the concrete pad?  Well, we also were wondering why there was nothing new to photograph.  We found out Tuesday afternoon.

Apparently, the basic concern Nick had in taking on projects in Corpus Christi was proven correct.  The City permitting group contacted Nick and told him there were additional building permits required.  I don't know all the details, but one was a permit for building on the dunes.  Another for being within 1000 feet of the water.

Nick decided he couldn't resolve this on the phone, and so had to travel to downtown Corpus to meet with the permit folks.  Nick knows what the rules are and had to explain it to the folks who do this for a living.  Apparently, they made phone calls to some agency to verify that Nick was right.  He's been doing this a long time and is also on the Port Aransas Zoning Board.  Yet another confirmation that we selected someone who knows what he's doing!

The next day, on Wednesday, we received a message forwarded from Nick saying the permits would be ready for pickup, but Nick had to travel again downtown to pick them up.

For you who don't know the local geography, that means a 50 minute commute each way.  Nick is based in Port Aransas, which is on the North end of Mustang Island.  Our lots is about equi-distant from the JFK Causeway -- the overland route from Corpus and from downtown Port A.  If you choose to leave for downtown Corpus heading West from Port A, the route starts with a ferry ride across the channel.  The problem, especially when there are tourists or at commuting time, is that there's a wait to get on the ferry.  There are electronic road signs along the way that post the ferry wait-time. It is never less than 15 minutes, but it can be 45 minutes or longer!  The Port A Chief of Police once said, if the wait is 45 minutes or more, it's better to take the overland South route to Corpus.

Here's the link to one of the ferry cams to check the wait.

We now have a pad....

 Last week after the scraping of the vegetation, we were waiting for our fill to be delivered.  But nothing happened during the rest of the week....  Well we didn't go out on Friday or Saturday, and were surprised on Sunday to find a pile of sand on the lot.

It was either 3 or 6 truck loads.  Alese was counting the piles but I was thinking that it took two bumps to empty a load, so each pile only represented half a load.  In any event we had sand, and stakes with the height flagged.

Neither of us believed that there was enough sand to bring the pad up to the required height.









So, on Monday we went back, and we discovered the piles had been spread out, and were at the specified height.  Not only was the sand spread out, it was packed down hard!

Next step, forms for the foundation.

♫ We've Broken Ground ♫

Grub and Grade

April 9 was the day we officially broke ground.  Late afternoon, the back hoe did the grub and grade, taking off all the grass from the pad that will become the foundation.  All the vegetation was dumped along the back of the property line.  

Alese was working, and so was unable to attend the event in person, but I provided her with some live video via Skype, from my iPad.  I was also sending her still images via Voxer over the ~60 minutes the work was done.

Yes, the grubbing does reduce the topography, but we can't build a foundation on grass, and we need to bring in some fill (sand) to get the whole pad up so the foundation will be at 11 feet above sea level. Obviously, we can't just drop fill on top of the existing vegetation.  Now Alese is thinking we should raise the foundation another foot, given the latest UN statement on climate change.

Work done!

Alese has been concerned however, about the overall slope of the land, not wanting the house to appear to be at the top of a mountain, or dune as the case may be.  One of the changes I proposed in the site plan, was to move the start of the driveway closer to the corner of the lot, from where the photo at right was taken, which would make it a bit longer, but that length would allow for a slightly gentler slope.

Survey elevation mark.

Next step -- happens today (4/10) -- we will meet with the builder late afternoon.  A surveyor was in earlier this week, and took an elevation of the corner of the utility box.  That will give Nick the starting point for determining the amount of fill as we lay out the topography.