October, 2018: It’s been a month of slow—but steady—progress at the site, as contractors schedules back up due to heavy rain and end-of-season demand. I keep in touch, trying to entice them to my dry “beach” lot. Up in the surrounding hills, soils are heavy, rocky, clayey, and saturated.
Neighbor Lew Lama of Wood & Stone Works from Spring Green helped me stake the house perimeter and highlight the outline with spray paint. Slaney Excavation dug for footings.
Then, footing forms were set, poured, and stripped by Matteson Concrete from Spring Green. Next, wall forms were set, poured, and stripped. A boom truck had to be called in from Reedsburg to reach all the way around my unusual turned-90 degrees-to-the-street design. The wall pour took a mere hour.
The Concrete Remover came from Madison with his special curb-cutting rig. I’d never seen that done and it was pretty cool.
Good friend Mark Morgan from Bear Paw Design & Construction came down from Eau Claire to help me improve the look of the concrete walls where they show above grade. Usually, this area is left as-is—-leaving not-very-attractive ridges every 2 feet where a form panel butted the next. He took on the hard work of power grinding while I knocked off form ties and patched them with a cementitious product that will prevent the embedded steel from rusting out.
Temporary electric was installed by good friend Bob of Rowen Electric from Dodgeville. I helped him wire up the box in the shop and install the post on site. It took real effort to pound down two 6′ long steel grounding rods—once again I was grateful for my sand.
Things get messed up, but also utility flags expire so Diggers Hotline had to be called back before Slaney Excavating could start to move dirt. It will take 3-4 days to lay base for the driveway, fill in foundations, compact for slabs, and complete rough grading.
POEM HOMES 