bordeaux mountain: It's a New Year

Home was wonderful. Family and friends and X mas.

The view from our roof deck. Alcatraz with the larger Angel island in the background

Our future view....

A new year with one last big push to finish the majority of the concrete work and finally start on the house. Thor is expected mid January. Between us we should knock it out in a couple of months weather permitting.

I changed my mind again. The septic doesn't work as planned. I'll never be able to get it serviced. No current company will run 200' feet of pumping pipe down to it. Even Jeff, the concrete pumper, will not run pipe down that far. I have to build a sluice from the lower deck. With all that in mind I now plan on building another cistern. It fills the hole solving a safety problem for people and animals and provides another six thousand gallons of storage. In addition at some future date I can put a small in-law unit on top of it. I now have to change the rebar again and enlarge the footprint. No big deal in the grand scheme of things.

Throwing down the plywood from the deck

Ultimately these will be ten foot walls

We made sure everything brought down the hill was the worst of the lot, plywood that normally would be never be used again. Why? Because nothing is coming back up that hill. It is one thing to drag/throw wet ply down but it is a whole other matter trying to bring it back up. This stuff is going to the termites after the pour.

While it is hard to imagine now, originally the driveway was ending at this wood pile. Had it, the lower cistern would have remained a septic. The original "black diamond" driveway cancelled that idea.

That solved one problem. Next, where to put the septic, how to dig the hole and how to get the equipment in place? Yikes.

I brought Elvis up to run my ideas by him.

His small track hoe can weave its way around the new site.

I decide the only real place the septic can go is down and to the right of the cottage. Among other reasons, really the most important, it will allow any future servicing from the driveway above.

Everything went according to plan. Elvis came without making too big a footprint and he started digging the hole. A few hours in and we hit rock. Not blue beach but hard enough such that the baby track hoe was over its punching weight. The real problem, we were near the maximum extension of his bucket to begin with so that he could not get any leverage to break up the rock as he pounded it. With just another foot to go down so we opted to rent the jackhammer--again!

We have at it for a couple of days in shifts but I had enough. I call Jose with the big cat.

Godzilla arrives....

Why didn't I call Jose to begin with? For one thing he's not available on short notice and when he does show up it is like having Godzilla rumble through the property. Among other things it also means there is a good chance my thin concrete temporary driveway is going to suffer some damage. Not to mention a $500 delivery charge. For that money I have to think of multiple tasks before I commit.

Plan K!

Dig septic, grade side of cottage for future steps, level upper patio and ready for rebar/concrete, build temporary wood retaining wall and back fill it with the patio dirt. Reshape lower driveway and raise the turn so I can back all the way down to the cottage to deliver materials, steel, siding etc. Add four feet to upper retaining wall for the future driveway turnaround.

Someday I'll get to the house itself! None of this was in Building for Dummies!

Grading the upper driveway and patio. We put in the steel floor during the two weeks we waited for Jose. Remember everything has to be carried by hand down the hill.

Now I'll be able to back down with supplies. While we waited for Jose's schedule to clear we formed up another four feet on top of the existing driveway turnaround retaining wall, some 70'. At some point down the road the entire bottom of the driveway will be raised four feet allowing for a reasonably level turnaround while taking a chunk out of the steepness of the upper driveway.

The finished look. As usual, very steep. When the house is done a retaining wall will cut across the driveway starting at the blue tarp. Stairs and a walkway traversing the hillside will then lead down to the patio and front door.

Finishing the septic, breaking through the rock.

The graded upper patio with the beginnings of a house.

Jose took ten hours at $125/hr plus delivery spread over two days which allowed us a late afternoon to build the 8' high wood retaining wall. Ultimately we had to rebuild it the next day when the rebar spikes gave out. Dig out the back fill, take it apart and sink the 4x4's in post holes. Put it all back together and hope like hell it holds all the tonnage. Jose got a nice two hours talking on the phone.

Now the original concrete pour is getting very large. Twenty yards jumps to forty eight at the new $260 a yard plus $1400 for the pumper and crew. Thor and I start forming up everything using every scrap we have. All new ply went into the septic so we could use it again.

From the septic we jumped over and finished the jacuzzi that I had started last November and laid the remaining rebar for the lower patio.

the jets and the rebar on the lower patio

The rebar on the upper deck. We got in line for concrete right after being inspected. Of course the usual delays set in. Jeff the pumper said yes then said no--of course on the day he was due!

The view from the bedroom downstairs. Eight foot doors, seven and half feet across.

There is water out there!

Leo, who has the only other truck that can make it up the mountain, once again became the back up guy. This time I called his uncle ahead of time and got the pricing straightened out beforehand. As usual I had Leo provide the extra crew that I pay once the concrete starts pumping and not a moment before. Laying pipe etc is on his dime. My clock stops once the concrete does.

During the scheduling wait we put more steel up and spread plywood around for walking and safety for the upcoming pour.

The block and tackle I brought from San Francisco made quick work hoisting the steel. The posts weighed about 140lbs with the beams around 175. The cross beam in the pic was over 400. I had it made in two pieces so that I could drag it down the hill/driveway. The ridge beam still to come is the monster, one piece 400+. My erector set design is working!!

Still to be put in are floor joists over the cisterns. I found the pool ladder in the dumpster while diving!

Once again we are in a race with the concrete delivery and Thor's having to leave. If there is a delay Thor is gone. This is how he generally leaves or comes. This is how he came from Maine.