closed

It's official; construction loan closed this afternoon.  Let the build begin!

As soon as this rain lets up I'll start working on the home site again - last weekend was a freaking muddy mess.  As soon as I dug a stump or dropped a tree it'd rain.  As soon as it'd stop, it'd rain again.  Regardless I still made great progress.

The next task scheduled is removing the top soil from the home site.  The idea behind this is to expose the subsoil so that drainage and site grading can be done.  Since I lack the experience needed to "shoot" the elevations with a transit, I'll have Rob and Adam come back up to the mountain before I start the grading/leveling.  I plan on having dad up there as well so that he can help as we grade.

I spoke with Tim, our soil guy, and asked about repositioning the house today.  Based on the well/septic permit, the house needs to be turned and moved a bit to achieve the proper solar positioning.  I inquired about moving the septic field to an area that has already been cleared because digging stumps and dropping tree is getting a little old and expensive with fuel prices nearing $4.00/gal.

Tim said we can move the house provided it's not drastic.  He said all we need to do is maintain sufficient slope and distance to the drain field from the home site.  As far as the moving the septic, no dice.  If we move the drain field, we'll have to reapply for the permit.  Tim said to avoid dropping any more trees in the drain field until we've consulted with our septic contractor.  He said they'll often work around the trees that are currently standing.  Not bad news I suppose...

After we've marked the site and our initial grading efforts commence, we'll schedule the well to be drilled.  That's the last unknown, will we have water?  How far will they have to drill?  Is an artisan well in the cards?

Keep your fingers crossed and stayed tuned for video updates also.  I'm anxious to start documenting this build via HD video for prospective passive house owners.