Deck House project 9961 Archives - Page 4 of 4

Foundation work almost complete!

Went over to the Bedford road construction site this morning and the foundation work is almost complete. The major concrete action is done and I believe we are waiting for inspection. Paul Hebert (my general contractor) and I finished (I hope) the paperwork at Salem Five Bank for my construction loan. I think things will … Continue reading “Foundation work almost complete!”

A really, really professional job on the concrete from what I can see. Very neat, smooth and square.

Panoramic (so double click on this to get the up close details) - foundation is in place and awaiting inspection. A very professional job! — Panoramic (so double click on this to get the up close details) – foundation is in place and awaiting inspection. A very professional job!

Foundation for the garage (left) aka - The Shop - and the carport on the right — Foundation for the garage (left) aka – The Shop – and the carport on the right

Forest of columns - viewed from the future front door. The house will be elevated on these columns as the hill slopes away. How high, I am not sure at this point. — Forest of columns – viewed from the future front door. The house will be elevated on these columns as the hill slopes away. How high, I am not sure at this point.

The round tubes are for bearing the weight of the house. The square concrete structure is a corner that is going to take later thrust as well as bearing weight. In the back is the foundation for the chimney stack - I am putting in a Rumford Fireplace — The round tubes are for bearing the weight of the house. The square concrete structure is a corner that is going to take later thrust as well as bearing weight. In the back is the foundation for the chimney stack – I am putting in a Rumford Fireplace

Looking down the big pile of rubble towards the driveway - my Dad in the middle distance — Looking down the big pile of rubble towards the driveway – my Dad in the middle distance

Big rocks and dirt pile - this is actually over the property line and the Kimballs have been quite gracious in allow us to store material there while construction is going on — Big rocks and dirt pile – this is actually over the property line and the Kimballs have been quite gracious in allow us to store material there while construction is going on

Looking out towards the Mill Race and outflow pond from the Old Saw Mill

Blasting movie, site work and getting ready for the house foundation

In this prior post, you can see the site work prep for blasting of the rock ledge in order to prep it for the coming foundation – a rounded dome of hard rock with a 140 holes drilled into it for explosives Here is a video, shot by my EXCELLENT General Contractor – Paul Hebert … Continue reading “Blasting movie, site work and getting ready for the house foundation”

Here is a video, shot by my EXCELLENT General Contractor – Paul Hebert – that shows the second of two shots going off. There is a number of mats laid on top to hold down the debris. These mats are made up old car tires. In the video, they bounce about 25′ into the air. As Paul says in the video “Wow!”

In this video, shot by me on Saturday, you can see the scope of what was done. I find it very, very reminiscent of the broken rock you find in rock falls in the High Sierra when hiking in the back country of California.

Me, not having a lot of experience with this stuff, assumed that we were going to be shaving the top off the ledge and mounting the house on it. We are doing that kind of from what I can see – but we went a LOT deeper than I expected. Below are photos of the in progress work that my Dad took during this past week and some up close shots I took on Saturday. Serious movement of materials!

My parent's Subaru in the foreground. Up on the hill, the excavator is clearing out rubble — My parent’s Subaru in the foreground. Up on the hill, the excavator is clearing out rubble

Watch the video and you see that this is clearly a needed and necessary sign!

One of the remaining drill holes - interesting how it popped the rock up and out and the hole itself is intact — One of the remaining drill holes – interesting how it popped the rock up and out and the hole itself is intact. The hole is about 3 or 4 inches in diameter

standing at the well head, in the near distance is where the living room will be (on concrete piers). Where the rubble is will be the concrete slab for the garage

Panoramic shot (double click to open it full and pan around). Taken near the future front door of the house

Happy Memorial day and photos of blasting prep

Beautiful day here in Carlisle today – cool (60’s) and windy. Did some mowing, some roof rack prep on the cars, bought a dump sticker for my car, got gas for the tractor and dropped by Bedford Road to see the prep work for blasting They were drilling holes last week and ended up with … Continue reading “Happy Memorial day and photos of blasting prep”

They were drilling holes last week and ended up with 140 of them. Paul told me that they wanted the pieces to be small enough that they would be easy to take out. He was unsure what the material would be like but he is planning on using it in the driveway and for the stone patio at the front door – unless it is all dust.

Some of the blast holes with their black paper funnels. On the left is the stack of used car tire mat that is used to contain the blasting. Holes are all drilled and supposedly they are blasting Tuesday after Memorial Day

140 holes for the explosives, drilled into the Gneiss rock. The black 'spikes' are tarpaper funnels inserted into the holes. The color contrast doesn't do justice to the pure white rock dust/gravel from the holes. It reminds me of sea salt — 140 holes for the explosives, drilled into the Gneiss rock. The black ‘spikes’ are tarpaper funnels inserted into the holes. The color contrast doesn’t do justice to the pure white rock dust/gravel from the holes. It reminds me of sea salt

The machine that has been drilling holes for the explosives

Marking out the house foundation and rock – LOTS of rock!

The prep stage for any project always seems longest – but it is where a project is made or broken. This past week or so the foundation was marked out at my house site and then the last of the topsoil was removed – bringing forth a dome of rock ledge right below the surface across a very large portion of the site. We had suspected that this would be the case by looking at the geology and folds of the ground when I first bought the property. That was a major thought process in my head when I decided to go with concrete piers and elevate the house – instead of a conventional basement. Go with the site instead of fight it.

My dad and I were over this weekend looking at the site and it has definitely changed. The entire hill area was rock ledge under a narrow coating of sandy topsoil – that soil has now been removed as of this weekend. The rock ledge humps up out of the ground at the common driveway, dissappears (where I put my septic system) and then reappears where the house is going to be (all the photos in this post), dissappears for about 20′ and then reappears and meets up with pages brook. There probably was a natural small waterfall on the site in colonial times and was the reason that a mill was established so early in the town’s history (1660 actually being very early in the Massachusetts Bay Colony history since Boston was founded in 1630).

My dad did some research and we think this a portion of the Gneiss that makes up the local Nashoba/Shawsheen or Fish Brook Gneiss formation(s) in the local area. The literature on the geology around here seems to spend at least 1/2 the time talking about which geologist has name rights – lol. Gneiss is a metamorphic igneous rock (ie – from the mantle/core instead of laid down like sandstone or limestone) and according to the blasting folks, the species in Carlsle is HARD (ie – shaping it with explosives is more expensive than normal). It is also extremely interesting looking up close and the “banding” at my site is very, very interesting. Gneiss on Wikipedia – look to the section on Scotland for the banding that is similar to my site. Hopefully things will be easier to photograph when the site is cleaned up or I will do a false color overlay.

On to the pictures!

March 2014 view of the rock ledge under the knoll at my house. Pictures in May 2015 after fully excavating the site show that it is an enormous bubble of rock covering most of the site. The plan to mount and anchor the house on concrete piers pinned to the rock is turning out to have been a great idea — March 2015 view of the rock ledge under the knoll at my house. Pictures in May 2015 after fully excavating the site show that it is an enormous bubble of rock covering most of the site. The plan to mount and anchor the house on concrete piers pinned to the rock is turning out to have been a great idea

March 2015 looking from the knoll, back over the septic field with driveway starting from the left side of my dad and curving around to the right (behind him). This area turns out to be 100% rock ledge under us

Dirt that has since been moved - note the orange stakes - this is where in the other photo the orange painted rocks are — Dirt that has since been moved – note the orange stakes – this is where in the other photo the orange painted rocks are

All rock ledge under there - tremendously difficult to photograph properly - but all the 'scrapey' areas are sheer rock with a fine layer of dust on them. The rocks with orange paint on them are the locations where orange stakes used to be - corners of the foundation locations — All rock ledge under there – tremendously difficult to photograph properly – but all the ‘scrapey’ areas are sheer rock with a fine layer of dust on them. The rocks with orange paint on them are the locations where orange stakes used to be – corners of the foundation locations

The dark iron pipe is the well head for the standing water column geothermal well (providing both heating/cooling and drinking water - 600' depth. The big rock was moved out of the way from where I am standing as the engineering firm of Stamski & McNary laid out the locations for the concrete piers for the house. Contrast to one week latter — The dark iron pipe is the well head for the standing water column geothermal well (providing both heating/cooling and drinking water – 600′ depth. The big rock was moved out of the way from where I am standing as the engineering firm of Stamski & McNary laid out the locations for the concrete piers for the house. Contrast to one week latter

Note – in the photo above of the well head – directly behind this on the other side of the silt retention hay bale retention system is the rock ledge over by the old dam. When I bought the property, this rock ledge was the only rock exposed. We guessed the rest of the rock system was there by the lay of the land and my Dad using some of his archaeology tool kit to probe under the topsoil (ie – hammer steel rods down in a grid pattern and see when/if you strike something. He did and it was pretty consistent, so we assumed rock – 100% on the money!!)

More footings locations - after removal of the last layer of soil - in the foreground is rock — More footings locations – after removal of the last layer of soil – in the foreground is rock

Rock ledge emerging from the hillside as you come up the driveway. The plan is to leave this undisturbed and curve the drive around this outcropping. In person it is super interesting looking with wide streaks of light and dark stone (a bit covered up at the moment). Lots of rock on this site :-) — Rock ledge emerging from the hillside as you come up the driveway. The plan is to leave this undisturbed and curve the drive around this outcropping. In person it is super interesting looking with wide streaks of light and dark stone (a bit covered up at the moment). Lots of rock on this site 🙂

And now for something completely different (to steal a phrase from Monty Python). Part of the communal conservation land at my house. This was taken looking north from the footpath along Bedford road, about 50' to the left of my common drive. If you read my post on the old mill operation at my property ( http://sixthelement.org/wordpress1/2015/05/03/carlisle-saw-mill-pages-brook-historical-start/ ) ? this area here is part of the field complex that would be flooded in winter and folks used to ice skate on the flooded area. — And now for something completely different (to steal a phrase from Monty Python). Part of the communal conservation land at my house. This was taken looking north from the footpath along Bedford road, about 50′ to the left of my common drive.
If you read my post on the old mill operation at my property – this area here is part of the field complex that would be flooded in winter and folks used to ice skate on the flooded area.