log home and pond

[Knight9]

Laurence,

Where abouts in Saskatchewan are you located?

[laurencen]

hi again, we are located on 80 acres east of Saskatoon Sask, we have the track hoe digging next week for the basement, the home is complete except the second floor and roof beam, sorry the home is being built some 100 miles north, once the basement is done the home will be dis assembled and trucked here, then I will take lots of pictures, still looking for the best product to treat the inside and outside, is a darker stain better than a light one outside, the home is 2750 sq foot one bedromm, time for the kids to leave and now they are on notice, hope to be living there by Nov 15th, will keep you posted and pictures soon

[laurencen]

Well its been a wile but things are moving along, excervated the basement and poured the grade beams, the CK20 spent all day removing a seam of gravel from the site, looks like with enough digging a seam of gravel about 3 feet down 2 feet thick is on the site, at least where the house sits, grade beams and colum pads were poured, will take pictures of progress now its under way, our log home is complete about 150 miles away, once the concrete and basement is complete it will be taken apart, shipped and re assembled on site

[patrick_g]

Sound good. I'll bet your excitement level is building up. Waiting for pix.

Pat

[laurencen]

just a few pics of the pond, sunset from the soon to be sun room and foundation, forming the basement this weekend

[laurencen]

for anyone curious why we poured a grade beam and wall below the basement floor in the 2 pictures, when drilling piles we ran into gravel at about 5 feet, there was no way to drill piles without it filling up so we dug footings and poured a wall, look at the picture 95 on the left lower you can see the gravel fallint into the trence leaving the 4 to 5 feet of clay solid, on the other side of the property I have been digging with the CK20 removing lots of gravel to build the road, there its about 2 feet down and the seam is at least 4 feet thick, who knew.

[patrick_g]

Originally Posted by laurencen

just a few pics of the pond, sunset from the soon to be sun room and foundation, forming the basement this weekend

Picture # 95 with the sun behind the great pyramid of Saskatoon is quite spectacular!

Pat

[3RRL]

laurencen,
It is interesting to see your log home and mine are at about the same stage now. It is neat for me to see the progress and compare the two....to see what your builder does vs mine at similar stages.

[patrick_g]

Originally Posted by laurencen

I have been digging with the CK20 removing lots of gravel to build the road, there its about 2 feet down and the seam is at least 4 feet thick, who knew.

Yes who indeed? I hired a soils engineer (PE) who brought out a sub with a drilling rig (for 6 inch diameter bore holes) and we took samples every 6 inches in depth. The idea was to be able to design a foundation from a position of knowledge and not just some good ole boys guess (standard practice around here is the good ole boy method). The engineer, his PE stamped report including the drilling sub's equipment and crew, lab work.. the whole enchilada.. was less than $1000 and bought a lots of peace of mind. It also tapped me into the PE's E&O insurance if there were some unforeseen difficulty.

We didn't find any useful materials, no free gravel, just ground water 5 ft below original grade where we were to dig a 12 ft hole in which to build a basement. We just had the wettest spring and summer since records were kept and the basement walls and floors remain bone dry. I credit this to the drain design the engineer recommended.

Pat

[3RRL]

Pat,
You should have turned that into an indoor swimming pool!