Ground-breaking was nine days ago but the guys were here for only the first two. I was grateful that they were not available as it gave me time work on my own. Having learned how to build a form I set out to complete the footing frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I quickly realized that the trench was not square and had a minor panic attack. Fortunately my time is my own and the weather was perfect. So I puttered around measuring squareness and adjusting the forms and trenches gaining an understanding of where and how big the problem was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the end of day three (Sunday) I started to build the final form. Then I realized that the first thee forms were not the correct sizes to mesh together into a square. WTF! Although tired and frustrated I couldn’t stop until I knew how to fix this. Google SketchUp to the rescue and I quickly had a corrective plan for the next day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had to adjust all three of the existing forms. That went well but not without rookie errors of my own and so humbled I remembered that everyone makes mistakes. These two days on my own were excellent preparation for the construction to come. My neighbour helped my move the fourth form in place and I could then see how much earth was in the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My neighbour had the perfect tool, a steel rod, for eating away at the trench wall and for extracting the numerous rocks that were encountered including one that was too large to lift. Simple machines (lever, wedge, inclined plane) to the rescue and the trench was squared up in short order. My reward was total joy when the final corner of the frame matched up squarely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tuesday it rained and I was in Vancouver Wednesday-Thursday. My objective Friday was to level the forms. This was an easy task as the guys had left their tools including a laser level. Couldn’t have done it otherwise. Also that day I cut 48 rebars using their grinder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I appreciate greatly that the workers I hired allow me to participate and that they have left their tools. Tomorrow (Monday) Marcel returns and my objective is to complete the forming to be ready for inspection. We will check the level, pin the forms in place, and hang the rebar. Not sure we’ll get it all done but I expect to learn enough to finish the work on my own if not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not insignificant is learning to deal with stresses of the project. I feel vulnerable not knowing how to build the foundation and having to rely on others. I don’t have control of the schedule and am uncomfortable with the expenses, especially now that the stock market has sunk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ground-breaking was nine days ago but the guys were here for only the first two. I was grateful that they were not available as it gave me time work on my own. Having learned how to build a form I set out to complete the footing frame. I quickly realized that the trench was not … Continue reading “Lots to Learn”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-garden-bay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashworthdavidg.duckdns.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashworthdavidg.duckdns.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashworthdavidg.duckdns.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashworthdavidg.duckdns.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashworthdavidg.duckdns.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ashworthdavidg.duckdns.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1646,"href":"https:\/\/ashworthdavidg.duckdns.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions\/1646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashworthdavidg.duckdns.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashworthdavidg.duckdns.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashworthdavidg.duckdns.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}