So Many Questions

Patrick, the biggest fan of this blog, had a lot of questions after my last post.  They tie into the second phase of the foundation, so I'm going to answer them in this post.  Patrick asked:


So where's your cellar going to be?


There isn't going to be one.  I guess the water table is too high in this area to have a basement or anything like it.




What's going on top of the black tarps?


Those are just to keep the snow out of the pit.  Keeps it neat, tidy, and dry.  They'll be taken out when they are actually working on the project.  Or... they are the vapor barrier to keep moisture from rising up out of the ground into the crawl space.  More will be revealed, those pics were taken at the end of the day and the only guy there was a worker I didn't know, so I didn't ask too many questions.




What's up next? 


This stuff:

They put this in today, must have been early in the morning because they were done when I got there mid-afternoon.  It's kind of ironic, but they dig a big hole, then partially fill it back in with this gravel/sand mixture.  Apparently it provides a more solid foundation - keeps the house from settling too much or something like that.


Monday should be an interesting day - I heard they are going to get started on the concrete footers.  The frames haven't even been started yet, but as you can already tell, once these guys get rolling they move fast!