A New President.

So, we got Obama in the White House, and so far I can't notice any change yet. At least we're still going trough our tasks.

Monday and Tuesday night we worked on getting more waterproofing up on the foundation. We have the plastic dimple board installed. We need to cut it to match the slope of the ground around the house, and install the scraps onto the areas where the plastic wasn't tall enough to reach all the way to the top. Then we have to apply caulk to seal all of the joints, and put some flashing tape to seal the top edge, so water doesn't sneak behind the plastic from the top. Then we need to cover the bottom with pea gravel and put landscape filter fabric before we can backfill.

The framer is still working at the other house and said he can't start on ours for another two weeks.

Also, the excavator can't come until next week to backfill, and Shawn is thinking he will rent a skid loader and backfill the areas where he doesn't want a bulldozer to get near the house, since we don't have the first floor deck in place before we backfill. It's slow gowing now that it gets dark earlier with the time change. Shawn also wants to use the skid loader to backfill the inside of the garage.

On one hand we wish we could move faster, but on the other hand, the longer the concrete in the walls has time to set up (it doesn't really achieve full strength until 28 days), the better it will be for it to hold the earth pressure from the backfill. This will also give the slab time to cure at least a week, since it is the slab which locks the bottom of the basement walls from buckling in from the earth pressure.

Once we have the backfill in place, the flatwork contractor can get the stoop poured. So the main project right now is to backfill. We also need to build some boxes for the window wells for the office and back bedroom before we can fill with dirt. We also have to put some pipe to drain water from the window well so it won't flood in through the windows.

I keep forgetting to take some pictures, but I'll try to remember for tomorrow.