What a difference! All the clay that was excavated is now back up against the foundation, revealing contours for the final grade. It is beginning to take on the appearance of a house and the whole project seems much more tangible.
After placing the exterior fill we installed hydronic loops inside the garage at footing level. These loops will be used to dump excess heat from the solar thermal system and to pre-heat the air as it enters the ERV during the heating season. An accompanying photo shows these loops as they were getting covered with sand. The sand fill in the garage then got compacted to a final grade for pouring the concrete slab (see Nicholas with plate packer).
After all the interior and exterior grading, Doug moved on to preparing for the septic tank and notching out the septic field. Hopefully it wil
l be inspected by the Health Unit early in the week so he can finish the work late next week / early the week following. That will take care of the water leaving the house, so the following step will be getting water into the house. The pressure pipe and power cable are already laid out to the corner of the house, thereby making the connection a little easier and quicker when the well is ready. What I’ll need to do that is unique to this job, however, is to find a driller who is willing to work with me on the specific pump that I want. I’ve selected a model that is extremely efficient and does not cause a power surge; both very important features for the grid-interactive (off grid capable) power system that the pump will be on.
Next steps for myself and the boys is to insulate the foundation floor, walls and tanks with EPS (expanded polystyrene) insulation and a vapour / airtightness barrier, or in the case of the tanks, a liner. I’m anticipating that it will take a couple weeks, including pouring the concrete radiant floors, but we’ll have to play it out to be sure. We have done work of this type before, but not on this scale. Stay tuned to find out how it goes!
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