Forming the walls

The weather has been funny lately... rather then those cool, crisp late fall/early winter days, we are getting mildish wet weather that has caused a few delays with the walls.

However, Kevin, the lead hand from one of the Rock Concrete crews, was in today during a blowing mist, to get things started on the walls.  Hopefully we'll be able to pour on Friday, but it will depend on this unpredictable weather.

Survey for repinning

Tom Senkus was in today to repin the wall locations on the footings.  This step is sometimes not done by some builders, which can lead to big problems - once the walls are poured and if they are found to be in the wrong location it can have very serious implications.  With the footings accurately nailed with the wall locations, we eliminate a lot of potential problems.

Stripping the footings

Before the next step, forming the walls, the strippings need to be stripped of any "organic" material.  We got in there and cleaned things up this morning.  We now wait for the surveyor to come repin the wall locations on to the footings, which should be done by Thursday.

Footings poured

Rock concrete was in today to clean and pour the footings.  The soil conditions are unbelievably good for the winter - no signs of water and lots of clean sand.

Footings

Before I could even bring them coffee, Phil was in and out with his crew, completing the footings in record time.  Very clean, professional job.

Soil Engineer

Muhammed from Haddad Geotechnical was in today to provide a report on the safety of the excavation for workers to work at the bottom of the pit, as well as to check the floor of the hole for a minimum soil bearing pressure.  This beach is perfect for building a house on.

Shoring Installed

We installed shoring along both sides of the excavation today, installed tarps where necessary and by the end of the day, Tom had staked out the footings.  Looking good!

Excavation complete

George finished the dig by the end of the day today.  Tom Senkus is scheduled in to do the pin locates for the footings tomorrow, so before that happens George will have to start putting in some protective shoring along both sides of the hole.

The pit!

A nice sandy bottom for this excavation... no sign of water - that's good news.

Last of the foundation

Ah... the familiar site of Etobicoke-green painted blocks.  The foundation is quickly disappearing!

Demolition Begins

Nothing to see here... the demo of the house was very emotional for the family.  I even had one of my other customers come by with his kids on the way to school and give the owner of the house a big hug.  Sorry!

Site Prep Starts

Count down to demolition.... we've been asked by the Ministry of Labour for a DSR (Dangerous Substances Report), so we had a lab tech come take samples today.  We'll find out in a couple of days if we'll need to have someone clean it up before demo.

Kevin was in, installing a temporary power plug (well, permanent for the neighbour!) at Ed's house next door - what a great guy this neighbour is!

And just in time, we had Enbridge come by and disconnect the gas!  Check, check, check!