Cool in the morning but rapidly warming.\u00a0\u00a0 Some small chance of rain, or overcast.\u00a0\u00a0 Overcast would be welcome as we will be in the sun otherwise.\u00a0 It got up to 99F in the shade yesterday and well over 100F\u00a0 in the sun.\u00a0\u00a0 Where we were.\u00a0 Working.\u00a0 In the sun.\u00a0 The hot sun.<\/p>\n
Moved a ton of dirt yesterday.\u00a0\u00a0 Had to reduce the height of the front yard by about a foot and a half to correct slope and water issues.\u00a0 Over time, or just through poor design, the yard had become raised, and about half sloped toward the house.\u00a0\u00a0 This contributed to the foundation issues and needed to be corrected.<\/p>\n
While digging we found landscape drain lines, sprinkler pipe, the copper gas pipe, and a small diameter plastic pipe we can’t identify.\u00a0\u00a0 What we did NOT find was the outflow from the septic tank.\u00a0\u00a0 By all logical layouts we should have found it while trenching.\u00a0 Maybe we’ll find it today when we dig the big hole for the new tanks.\u00a0 We also found random lengths of steel angle iron, some rebar, and various other chunks of metal.<\/p>\n
The biggest issue was massive root balls from some long dead trees or bushes.\u00a0\u00a0 They were co-joined and huge, one spanning about 8 ft by 5 ft, and a good foot thick.\u00a0 They were just under the soil and had to be removed.\u00a0\u00a0 We ended up nibbling away from the edges to get enough cut loose that the big machine could pry up the rest.\u00a0\u00a0 Took most of the effort of the day.<\/p>\n
Some construction notes for the DIYer.\u00a0\u00a0 Sand is not just sand.\u00a0\u00a0 Sand has very specific characteristics, some of which are suitable for construction use, some not.\u00a0\u00a0 Fluffy soft sand is not suitable for fill under anything.\u00a0\u00a0 It will not compact or lock together, it will squish and slide out from under any load.\u00a0\u00a0 You want “sharp” sand for something like that.\u00a0\u00a0 You do not need a vapor barrier under an outdoor slab.\u00a0\u00a0 Rebar is engineered and shaped to do its job.\u00a0\u00a0 Smooth hot rolled “pencil” rod is not.\u00a0 They are not interchangeable.\u00a0 Random lengths of angle iron have no place in a concrete slab. \u00a0 Wire reinforcing panel works only when properly embedded into the concrete.\u00a0 If you can’ t use “chairs”, then use a hook to pull it up into the mix and don’t walk on it after that.\u00a0 Finally, if your original patio slab sank 6 inches, simply putting another 6 inches of concrete on top of it won’t solve the underlying problem and may make it worse.<\/p>\n
And people, if you are going to use bare copper tube with flare nuts as buried gas pipe, DO NOT make a\u00a0 SPLICE with flare nuts and a short iron pipe nipple and then BURY THAT.<\/p>\n
More hole digging is on the agenda for today.\u00a0 As is running gas pipe.<\/p>\n
Stacking up the knowledge.\u00a0 Stacking up the skills.\u00a0\u00a0 Stack some of each.<\/p>\n
nick<\/p>\n
(and today’s title courtesy of the pop culture intersection of pirate metal music (Wind Rose<\/a>), online gaming (minecraft) and youtube content creators making vids about playing games<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cool in the morning but rapidly warming.\u00a0\u00a0 Some small chance of rain, or overcast.\u00a0\u00a0 Overcast would be welcome as we will be in the sun otherwise.\u00a0 It got up to 99F in the shade yesterday and well over 100F\u00a0 in the sun.\u00a0\u00a0 Where we were.\u00a0 Working.\u00a0 In the sun.\u00a0 The hot sun.<\/p>\n Moved a ton of dirt yesterday.\u00a0\u00a0 Had to reduce the height of the front yard by about a foot and a half to correct slope and water issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n