Getting the sand into the foundation is no simple task. Low telephone wires along the road restrict any dumping in the front yard. The soil in the front yard is also soft restricting access from that angle. The side yard to the east is less of an option because of many neighbor's trees. The back of the new house is only four feet away from the old one. No access there - especially from big machines. The only real access to the new house foundation is via the carport which is four feet higher than the current driveway which is to be raised as part the building process.

Gravel trucks are backing up our 14' wide driveway and dumping load after load after load of sand and gravel in many piles - up to 14 loads per day.

We then ferry these loads up the ramp into the new carport area and dump the sand over the wall into the foundation. Peter is running the bobcat for the most part although I've logged more than a few hours in the bucking machine.

Once the sand is over the wall it is my job to use our small front end loader to ferry the sand around the foundation to be levelled out and then packed into place - all 550 cubic yards or 55 truckloads. This is on top of the hundreds of yards of engineered gravel fill we put in the hole before the footings.

I'm getting more than a little tired of moving plain old gravel and sand day after day but it is a job that needs doing. Every project we tackle has plenty of behind the scenes and plain work underneath. The house is just a little larger than most meaning the non-theme work will take a little longer than usual. Pretty soon we will get to the fun stuff!

-grampa dan