The foundation situation!

I am absolutely beaming over the fact that the foundation was completed this weekend. Actually, crew was done by 12:45 pm on Saturday afternoon. The plan was for them to be sitting at the bar by 1:00 pm and they kept to the schedule. Sam (from Marblehead) was a phenomenal mason - great price and outstanding quality work. I would highly recommend him to anyone needing concrete work in the area.

Day one - setting the first course on the bedrock.

No need for footer due to natural glacial smoothing less than one inch off level - amazing!

Day two - three walls done, moving along...

Day two - foundation complete!

Floor clean and temporary sump pump installed.

Done. Beer time. View from neighbor's cottage.

Slowly but surely

Bonnie and I had a fabulous weekend up on the island. We managed to get a lot of work done despite the rain. This upcoming Friday, our block layer is supposed to start working the corners of the foundation. The plan is to have all complete by end of day Saturday, weather permitting. Too busy to post any pictures. Next time for sure!

Birthday weekend fast approaching

Looking forward (as usual) to going to the island this weekend. Bonnie and I will be heading up early Saturday morning to work on the site as well as spending some much needed time together. I am excited to show her the progress that has been made so far. The temporary electric service has been turned on, so we will finally have power. Also, the block guys may start laying the foundation depending on availability and weather. More to come!

Foundation dry and temporary electric roughed in

Super productive weekend... On Friday, (Friday the 13th!) I cleaned the remaining dry mud from the bedrock and was very pleasantly surprised by how uniform, level and blemish free the bedrock looks. The block and mortar was delivered by Menard's by an enormous boom-truck and placed down in the hole for installation later. On Saturday, we were able to set-up the temporary electric service pole, meter box and wire for hook-up from Hancock-Wood Electric.

Block and mortar delivery

Bedrock clean and dry

Temporary electrical service on pole

All good in the hood

We were able to open up Cedar Cottage and all mechanicals worked as expected the weekend of Mar 30th - Apr 1st. The mild winter certainly helped as nothing seemed to be damaged as a result of freezing or excessive water exposure. I was able to make progress on the Lower Cliff property by draining the three-foot-deep foundation pond down to less than 1/4 inch of wet mud using 2 pumps for ~12 hours. Heading back up to continue site work on Friday, Apr 13th. See ya on the rock!

Pipe contraption that I hooked up to move water from the foundation pond

 Water down > 12" since starting the pump(s)

Next morning, looking much drier!

Cottage opening weekend approaching

I will be heading up to the island to open the Cedar Cottage and work on the "Our Little Cottage" project build. The temperature has dropped this week, but I am seriously looking forward to my first trip to KI in 2012. The plan is to drain the pond where the new cottage will be built and other miscellaneous planning activities. Needless to say, I can't wait to get on the ferry this upcoming Friday!

Water front property

All of this unseasonably warm weather has given me a severe case of KI fever. Unfortunately, I have not made it to the island yet as we are planning to open up the Cedar Cottage the weekend of March 30th. My neighbor was kind enough to send me a picture of our lot on Saturday, March 17th. You can see the excavated area for the cottage structure is completely filled with rain water. This obviously will need to be drained and cleaned before the foundation can be started.

Well, I guess I always wanted a lake view!

I've got approximately 7 weeks to get the foundation completely finished before our builder starts framing. I am somewhat stressed but excited.