October 30, 2018: Contractors aren’t like office workers. I’ve been asked more than once to meet “at first light”. Dump trucks began arriving before dawn from a sand pit at the base of the bluff, just north of town.
The sand was spread and compacted around the outside of the foundation to bring grade within 8” of the top of the concrete wall. Inside the walls, the sand was compacted more thoroughly in preparation for the next layer: a gravel bed.
A seriously deep trench was dug from curb to south house wall for the water and sewer laterals. 
Plumber Gerry Thuli arrived from Dodgeville with coils of copper for the water lateral, lengths of 4” PVC and sundries for the interior plumbing, and a big, black grinder pump—a machine I’m not too happy about having to buy and hope isn’t too noisy when in operation. All the homes in my subdivision are required to grind their waste before sending it through the municipalities pressurized sanitary sewer system.
POEM HOMES 