Prior to this, we did a lot of prep, a lot of paperwork, a lot of design and a lot of cursing. Then we did a lot of demolishing of old house. That was awesome and fun. However, we looked like criminals:
Two Friends building a house together.....
Yesterday, the Sunday of Labor Day, we started in Ernest. The rental company delivered a mini-excavator to dig out the footing trench. I worked the previous night at the UW Husky football game. I ended my broadcast and got home at about 3:30 am. Slept for a few, then got up at about 7:30 am to prep for Team DBC to start work at 9am sharp. My guys at DBC construction showed up an hour late on to start due to a blown out tire. This should have been an omen. Yes, I did see the tire, and no they weren't making it up. These guys are really good. They've been about the best contractors i've dealt with, well, ever.
We get rolling. We decide to re-route the fresh water supply to the studio to avoid hitting it with the bucket. The plumber was not on site due to my missing 3 voice mails from him (thanks ATT. This was squarely an ATT iPhone voice mail failure.). Instead, I cut some pex, bought some shark bite connectors and shut off the water supply to the house. DBC started the archeological dig. After about 2 scoops of earth, we discovered there was no way all the dirt removed from the footing trench would fit on site without some creativity. So we piled dirt everywhere we could as we dug.
DBC carried on around the footing until they came to the money corner. this is the South East corner of the foundation. This is approx. where the fresh water and waste water trench will cut under or through the foundation out to the studio.
As we very carefully scooped bucket after bucket around the now exposed sewer main and fresh water main, we were prepared for one last bucket move to clear out to the corner. Everything was lined up, everything was good, and all of a sudden there was a loud 'shhhhwwwhh' sound, the operator, Derek, jumped up out of his seat and yelled what I guess were curse words, but I couldn't understand him. A main hydrolic hose from the arm had blew and sprayed him with hydrolic fluid. However, he was very clearly under the impression it was raw sewage from the sewer main. Funny now, not funny then. Note to Caterpillar mini excavator design crew: put a damn shield on the floor board where the lines go into the body of the machine. When they break, they spray directly up into the operator. Here is the view from my front door:
So, now we wait for the machine repair team before we can move the machine. The machine that is parked directly in front of the door of the studio, of course. Day one of positive motion! Delayed by at least two days. The theme of this project was created by my friend Brian (more on him later) - "Knock Knock. Who's There? Two friends building a house together"
Now it's "Well, it's always something, and thank god that something isn't raw sewage".
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