Foundation Drains & Insulation

Foundation insulation and drainage pipes installed in preparation for today's back-fill and delivery of the pea gravel. The foundation drains are really nicely designed. The black flexible 4" pipe is pretty standard stuff, but I was impressed by the white PVC drains installed to receive water from the downspouts. They are all nicely sloped and tie into the foundation drains at the SE corner of the house, from which a drainpipe will run the water back into a low spot about 30' away. I was lucky enough to get to the site before the guys had finished laying the fabric over the drainpipe, so Steven showed me the system. Looks like the foundation should stay nice and dry.


View to the SE, you can see where the drains all come together and turn away from the house.


The openings in the uprights are all capped with duct tape to keep dirt & gravel out during the backfill and further construction.

Stem Walls Poured

Stem walls are what the walls will attach to. They rest on top of the footings. The excavated area will be filled back in to a foot or so below the top of the stem walls. On the inside the stem walls will be insulated with rigid foam, then center of the foundation will be filled with pea gravel. On top of the gravel, and inside the outline created by the stem walls, our radiant-heat slab-on-grade floor will be poured.


Mom, Grandma & Cary review the progress.

Septic Installed & footings poured

The drainfield is built, inspected & approved! In the background you can just make out the house site. It's fair distance away, down what little slope we have on the property. The soil here is almost totally clay, so drainage can really be a problem. It took quite a while just to find a place on the property that was suitably percable to get a septic permit. But now here it is! Wonderful.



The septic tank itself is just off the southwest corner of the house. The excavator also dug out the foundation area, and the concrete guys got right in there and poured the footings, as you can see. These guys aren't wasting any time! In the background you can see the tank & drainfield.

First step - we're gonna need a road...

June 15 - 18 Dad built the driveway.

First he lays the culvert...


Then brings in the gravel (luckily we've got a gravel pit just 2.5 miles to the north, so he was able to turn around the loads really quickly.)


Spreading gravel over the road liner (logging road tough!).


Graded super smooth with the Kubota...


...and then raked by hand for that zen-garden perfection.


Schramer Construction's sign next to the new driveway makes it official!

Before the ground was broken...

Permits achived! All set and ready to go.


Looking Southeast across the field. The house site is in the center, just in front of the fir tree.

Welcome to the Site!

The story so far...

In December, 2002, I bought 7 slightly damp acres in Whatcom County, about 10 miles northeast of the city of Bellingham. Since that time I have been working on preparing a site, designing the house, and obtaining all the permits required to build a house on it. It's taken a looooong time to get all the peices in place, from the bank to the county to the wetland delineation to the army corps of engineers. But at last, on June 15th, we broke ground. And boy, are things ever moving fast now!

I've been taking and e-mailing pictures of the progress to family and friends. This blog is designed to eliminate the "need" to e-mail loads of photos every day. Instead, you can check in for the latest building progress whenever is convenient, without finding your e-mail box crammed full of pictures every time you log in. You can thank me by buying me home furnishings later. :)

P.S. Yes, I know it isn't August yet. But since this software wants to organize everything by date, the only way to keep this "welcome" post at the top of the page is to date it into the future. Actually, I'm pretty proud of myself for thinking of it. I even re-dated the posts of the older pictures (you know, the ones you already got via e-mail) so now everything is in the correct order. Yay!

Much Later P.S. I'm changing the date on this post to move it back to the begining of the blog, since it's served it's "welcoming" function now and it's time for the new stuff to go to the top of the page.