May 2011 - Parge and Tar

Once the water situation was (somewhat) under control, we could start parging. Work was hit or miss because we were still fighting rain. So when it rained - we pumped water and cleaned the footers. Then we might parge some. Then it would rain again and the process started all over.

Here is a shot of the parged foundation, along with 1 of the pipes along the outside to help with the water.

View of 1/2 parge, 1/2 tar. Again - the painting of tar (or foundation sealant) was often delayed due to the rain/pump/clean cycle.

Shot of the front wall, parged and tarred - almost to grade. This was as high as we could reach without using a ladder. We will finish the rest after gravel is in place and we can stand on it to reach the top.

April 2011 - Foundation

Masons started laying the foundation in the middle of winter (2010-2011) on some warmer days. Turned out there weren't enough warm days so we had to wait until it warmed up. They were able to finish by April 2011.

By that point we started the Spring of constant rain. We was wonderful for the foundation! We spent a long time finding water, hopefully diverting what we can, and eventually it dried up enough to move onward.

Here's the completed foundation. Note the 2 pumps that were (heavily) used to pump out water throughout all the rain.

Here's a view of the outside of the foundation. This must have been a good day because the footer was dry in parts. Guess that meant Charlie and I were out shoveling mud before I took this picture.

Some of the effort to find where the water source was underground. I love that backhoe. Can't imagine how much money we would have spent to get this kind of work done for us!