Starting the Foundation

Finally, we have started to build and of course every building starts with a good foundation.
There are 3 types of foundations: Full basement, crawl space and slab foundation. We have decided to go with a slab, which is as it sounds; no space beneath, the house rests on a solid bed of concrete. It made the most sense to us as we both agreed that we wouldn't use a 3' crawlspace and didn't want the maintenance required (heat and ventilation) and the possibility of flooding.
A slab will provide a good solid base for in-floor radiant heat and the polished concrete will be our final floor. A wood burning fireplace will provide back-up heat. Remember that winters here are not as long or severe as in Ontario, wet snow does fall but rarely stays for long.


Above, Peter Mason, surveys and stakes the corners of the house and workshop/carport as a rough guide for Steve and his excavator to dig down a couple of feet. We know that the soil is sandy down to about 9' where you hit water. Once the shallow hole is dug, the trucks start to arrive hauling a mixture of fine gravel and sand called "pit run". This mixture is dumped, spread and compacted, layer by layer building up a solid base for the footing and walls that will be the slab. Below, Steve digging and the trucks dumping the pit run.


Roy rented a machine and took on the 3 day job of compacting the layers - below left. Lots of shakin' going on and Roy is exhausted at the end of each day. Below, right - the end of day 3 - we have what looks very like the beginnings of a parking lot. Peter the surveyor came back near the end of the day and again marked the corners of the house. Tomorrow the crew arrives to start building the forms that will hold the concrete footings.