Gravel and Grading

June 11
Today was another exciting day where we could really start to see the house take shape and get a feel for how we will be able to use and utilize our lot.  I'm still in "Goldilocks" mode...

The house is too big ...

The house is just right.

The lot is too big ...

The lot will be just right.

I went up first thing in the morning and they were just starting to grade the lot and bring in the gravel.  The guys from Savage were super friendly.  They introduced themselves and answered the two quick questions I had.  Then we chatted for awhile about what was happening.  I could tell they really liked their work.  I like that the people who are building our home take pride in their work.  It makes us feel good about the quality of work they bring to this job and I believe it leaves good vibes in our home too.

Watching these big trucks maneuver is pretty amazing.  I don't even like to back up in our little truck and have never backed up a trailer in my life.  I also realized that I'm glad we were the first house built on our corner of the street.  I don't know how many times these trucks drove up onto the lot next door, but that can't be good for their soil compaction.  (remind me I said that when the trucks and machines are working next door making noise and dust)

I wasn't able to stay long enough to watch them throw the gravel into the basement.  They use a big truck that basically is a super conveyor belt and the driver has such good control of the flow and the direction that the guy in the pit just has to do a little raking.  We had a crazy busy day, our lights were being delivered, I had to run to Sam's Club to get dessert for our FHE group (which meant I also had to make time to clean the house before they arrived) so I had to leave just as they were getting the conveyor truck loaded up.

But, the light delivery went easier then expected (except for the damaged lights - but that's another post),  the trip to Sam's was successful and living in a small apartment means we can get it spic and span in almost no time (hmmm....back to "the house is tooo big"?). 

So, Rob & I headed back up to see the progress.  When we got to the lot there were only two men left with their front loaders working on the grade.  (hah - I had to google to find out the difference between bulldozers and front loaders - these have wheels, not tracks so they are loaders)

I had so much fun watching these guys work.  They know exactly how close to get to the edge of the foundation before turning.  They can dump their load with precision.  They work at an area for a while and when they are finished we have a lovely, useable space.

This first picture is the loader that was working at the bottom of the lot.  Here you can see he is just starting to create the pile that will be on our property line.  He'll move the dirt piled up by our gully.  He'll move the dirt piled up behind Rob's office and will attack the pile behind the family room from the bottom.

This guy is moving the dirt from the top of the lot.  He's taking the dirt and putting it near our property line and a little bit onto the lot next door. You can see he's already moved the pile behind the garage and is starting to work on the pile behind the family room.



The loader working on the bottom of the lot again.  You can get a better idea of the soil he has to relocate.  Once he had the pile near the gully area moved he started to work towards the house.  He kept the dirt out of the gully, he didn't break any of our tree branches off AND he didn't fall in the gully.  Somehow, even when he was backing up he knew exactly where he was.  I didn't see him turn around once.  He just kept moving (except when he stopped to take a phone call).  The pile closest to the family room is partially carried away and partially knocked down into the gap.  They really want to fill most of that gap with gravel so he was pretty deliberate about how much soil he allowed down in that gap.  Again, the control of these operators is astounding.  If I were responsible for moving that dirt it would be in the gap, covering the nice level gravel in the family room, or I would have backed up into the gully and fallen in. 

I thought these two pictures were fun because you can see the grade change from the garage level to the walk-out basement level. 

And, Look! 

We have our own little Alp.

Of course it didn't last long.

Here you get a nice overview of the basement floor.  With the gravel down we had a much better idea of what we needed to do when it was time to lay down the XPS insulation.  We will have to fit it around all of those monolithic footings and the plumbing stacks.  I am standing in the single car garage, looking over the wall where the tv will be.  You can see the corner of the double car garage and the outline of our cold cellar. 

This is a quick picture of the thermostatically controlled vent that will go into our cold storage room.  It will automatically close when the temperature drops below a certain level (we still have to find out what that is).  I forgot to ask if it runs on batteries.  There will be no power in that room so it must.  I am so new to the idea of having a cold storage room that I didn't even realize we had to open and close the vent depending on the weather.

Here we have a nice shot of the front of the house with the preliminary grade finished.  The horizontal black line is the approximate level of the sidewalk from the driveway to the front porch.  There will be one or two steps from the sidewalk to the porch.  (Jesse promised!)  I didn't want to have to climb a bunch of steps to get into our house and I didn't want to have to worry about shoveling them in the winter either.

The arrows indicate the slope.  The yellow rectangle is about where our front door will be.  We'll have a nice rock retaining wall where the yellow blobs are.  Hooray!  My desire for a rock garden is going to be more than adquately satisfied with this yard.  In fact, we'll have to add some rocks in the back too, next to the deck area.  I want to be smart when we landscape this yard.  I want it to be water wise and practical. 

Jesse asked us some very specific questions about the final grade we want on the lot and since we didn't realize we had control over that Rob and I were both a little caught off guard.  Oh boy!  Another thing to study and imagine and plan.  Luckily, he said we have a little bit of time to think about it. 

Anyone know a landscape architect who works for free?  Or for really good cheesecake?

Isn't this pretty?  Just a nice view of our garages, dropping down to our basement and look how lovely the valley is this spring.

Snapshots before Digging

We closed on our lot on Friday, May 11.  We were very glad they could get us in and closed before we left to take Alaina to Florida. 

Now we are waiting for permits to come back from North Logan City and then the big dig will begin. 

We kind of hope that even though we closed on the construction loan a week early the dig will wait until we are back in town.

Following are some of my favorite images from visits to our lot and why we are excited to build here.

I love these trees! 

Rob calls them Scrub Maple but I don't care.  They are mature and lovely and add character and privacy to our lot.  I'm looking forward to seeing them change with the seasons out the kitchen window and as we sit on our deck.

We still have a nice view of the valley and the Wellsville's.  This view will be from the front yard instead of the kitchen window and the back deck, but I'm happy with that. 

This is the view from the west side of our property.  This may change as we get neighbors, but for now it is lovely, peaceful and pastoral.  We aren't close enough to actually visit the horses, unless we go for a walk down the hill, but they will be pretty to look at.

Rob is down in the gully facing south.  Look at the natural rock formation behind him.  We would have had to spend a fortune to recreate that in Illinois, and here mother nature did it for us.

 This view is standing in the gully looking east. The trees are growing at the edge of the gully and have created a small grove of trees in that area.   

 These are actually two different wildflowers.  The orange ones above were blooming near the end of April and the bright yellow ones below were blooming in mid-May.  It was a wonderful surprise for me to see them growing.  One more small "nod of approval" and a happy welcome sign.

Bluebird of Happiness

Choosing a lot to build on has been a long, drawn-out process for us. 

Initially I thought we'd live somewhere between Salt Lake and Logan, but Rob felt so much at home in Cache Valley that we decided to focus our search here.  We looked in Wellsville, Providence, and a little bit in Millville.  I did not want to live north of Green Canyon - especially because Rob WOULD be traveling and I felt that was too far away from the airport AND my family. 

We found a lot in Logan, pretty close to Rob's folks and his sister's home, that we liked.  Unfortunately, it was sold out from under us just as we were beginning to put together an offer.  Our builder was less than enthusiastic about building in that neighborhood for some reason and asked if we'd consider looking a little further north. 

This was a brand new subdivision that had been developed a few years ago, just before the housing crash.  Nothing had been done beyond the basic improvements and the road.  The land owner was anxious to sell so our builder negotiated a pretty good price for us.  We picked out a lot, made an offer and continued working on the floor plan and home design.  In discussions with the builder we realized we were putting a lot of money into site specific costs.  This basically means that we were spending a lot of money to get the property ready to build a house on.  It was also going to be expensive to landscape because of the need for some major retaining walls. 

To be honest I have to admit that I never loved that lot as much as Rob did.  I kept trying to tell myself it would grown on me once we actually started building and I had a chance to start planning the landscaping.  I was willing to grow to love it because I felt like I had really driven the decision on the location of the last two houses that we've lived in and thought maybe it was his turn to fall in love with the location. 

I was getting discouraged as I saw the costs creeping up and I think our builder recognized this.  We asked if the site specific costs would be less if we chose a lot further down the hill.  In an odd twist of fate, the costs dropped more by going up the hill.  We met the builder and our sales agent at the property so we could walk it together and talk about how to site the house on the lot and how that would impact the layout. 

We had finished walking the lot and had walked across the street to get a different perspective when a mountain bluebird flew down and landed on a dried stalk less than five feet away.  He cocked his head and looked directly at us.  I didn't even think to take out my phone and try to get a picture of it.

(this is not the actual bluebird but is a lovely picture I found on the website http://www.burdr.com/)

Our builder said, "Maybe this is a sign that you've made the right decision".  I laughed and said, "I'll take it".  I am a believer in signs - not big earth shattering signs, but little gifts, tender mercies and quiet nods of approval.

You know, ever since that day things have been moving steadily forward and falling into place.  I don't feel like we are spinning our wheels anymore.  I like to think that maybe it was a little nod to us that it was a good decision and that it is time to plant our roots here and look forward to our future.