Cold in the morning, cool all day, but warm in the sun. That describes yesterday, and probably today. It was gorgeous and sunny though the breeze was stiff and chilly at times. It made working outdoors very pleasant.
Spent the day doing what I could to help the guys keep moving, and knocking off little tasks on my list. The big thing I did was removing a 4 foot wide strip of decking from the dock so the guys can access the bulkhead today. They are supposed to do the foam reinforcing and backfill later today.
Speaking of which, the sand fill under the house is so soft it’s essentially liquid. The “Dingo” tracked machine can barely stay upright on the sand as it shifts around. If I hadn’t been told to leave as much concrete as possible, they wouldn’t be able to use the machine. Stabilizing the sand will move up my priority list. Short of remove and replace, I’m thinking the foam injection makes sense. Some sort of geotextile in layers might be possible but it would mean moving a bunch of the sand anyway. Stabilizing the hill and the retaining walls was always on the radar, but the actual soil being wrong is a bit over the top…
I note that even if we’d scraped the house and started fresh, we’d still be facing some sort of soil and retaining corrections. Ditto for the septic system. And as an aside, the neighboring HOA park and boat launch is actually 2 lots, so I have even more distance on that side from any neighbors than I initially though. You just don’t get that kind of space normally. There is just a lot more up front work and expense than we’d have liked.
Today the guys will continue setting the helical piers, hopefully the foam guy will get started on the bulkhead, and after around noon, I’ll be headed home. I’ve got a couple of pickups to do, some material to buy, some tools I need to get from home, and I’m missing the kids. After dinner I’ll drive back up tonight so I can be here for the guys first thing on Thursday.
I should be able to bring up some more food stacks and maybe some medical as well.
Always be working to improve your position, and keep stacking!
nick