Water Meter Moved, Gravel Delivered

Our new excavator moved the water meter out of the driveway this week. Now we're ready for gravel for the driveway, walkway from the porch, and patio in back. We really wanted to have the gravel here before the snow hits hard so we have a place to walk and drive through the winter.

The Dingo and the Vibratory Compactor

On my way to the equipment rental place in Jim's truck, Jason's brother called me (not sure why Jason didn't) to say that the gravel guys now said they could come on Monday. Too little, too late.

Here is a picture of dad operating the Dingo. He seemed to really enjoy it. He moved many, many buckets full of gravel to the spare gravel pile at the back corner of the garage, then dug out the extra dirt the excavation guys put in the porch area where the ramp should go, then did quite a bit of work grading the driveway area and filling in the front. The gravel part took longer than the first four hours of the rental, which meant we could keep it until 9:30 tomorrow morning. Even in the area where we could dig with the Dingo because of pipes, it was still very useful as a power wheelbarrow.

When we did finally get enough gravel moved out, and the remainder mostly leveled back out, I started laying out the insulation panels. I found that because I had raked the gravel to level it out, that left the surface very jagged, which made a lot of air space below the insulation. I walked on a couple pieces, and heard gravel popping through the foil on the other side with every step.

During our dinner break we decided to rent a vibratory compactor to squish the gravel. Jim came over after work to help out, and seemed to also have a lot of fun running the compactor. It made an amazing difference, as you can see in the picture the contrast between the rough, uncompacted areas and the areas he had already covered. By dark we laid out all of the whole pieces of insulation we could. Tomorrow we'll return the rental equipment, fit the rest of the insulation, and start laying out the tubing.

Arrrrrg! Too Much Gravel

I took a half day off today to start laying out the radiant floor heating system, and dad came to help. Imagine my dismay when I discovered upon arriving home that the gravel guys, instead of filling to 5.5" below the foundation wall like I asked them to at least three times, filled right up to the top of the interior footings, leaving no room at all for the 1.5" insulation that's supposed to go below the slab floor. I left two messages for Jason, and finally called the guy at the gravel company directly. He says he didn't hear about the 5.5" until they were halfway done. If so, why did he keep doing it wrong? He says all of his guys are now gone on four-day weekends, and he can't have anybody come fix it until next Wednesday. Having already taken a vacation day for tomorrow, and having dad here to help, that just won't do. And with the slab pour scheduled for Wednesday, I can't afford to waste the three solid working days between now and then.

Since there didn't seem to be any help coming, dad and I headed over with shovels and the wheelbarrow to start removing the 1.5" of extra gravel across the entire floor. We started by digging down 30" along the wall between the mud room and garage where the gravel guys allowed some gravel to get behind the wall insulation, leaving a dead space behind the insulation. After we fixed that problem, we started in the entry way, removing several wheelbarrow loads, and seemingly barely making a dent. It's amazing how many loads it takes to go down a tiny 1.5 inches.

We worked until dark. Rather, we worked until the wheel on the wheelbarrow became completely inoperable, which was almost at dark. With several man hours already spent on this unplanned project, and so little of it done, I left a message for Jason letting him know that if he can't send someone first thing in the morning to help dig us out, that I'm going to go rent whatever equipment I need to do it, and I'll expect whatever the rental amount is off of my bill.

First round of fill in place

The guys came today to put in the first layer of gravel, up to 14" below the foundation wall. That leaves 4" for the slab and 10" for interior footings. Around the footings we'll use another 8" of gravel and 2" of insulation for the radiant floor. Here you can see the gravel guy with the controller at his waist shooting the gravel into the hole from behind the kitchen.

There were what I think were two eagles circling above in the dust could while the gravel guys were there. I tried to get pictures, but my camera phone only showed indistinguishable dots in the solid blue sky. No zoom capability.

I decided to go with option #2 from below for the insulation. I cut the top at about a 60 degree angle all around the family room, living room, and office, in case we ever want to attach tack strips in those places.

Here's the whole place from the corner of the mud room after the gravel was done. At the front you can see my hastily-assembled box for the elevator pit.

Engineered Fill vs Gravel

I emailed Eric at Farmington City to ask for a definition of "engineered fill", and he said it's anything that comes from a gravel pit that has a Proctor number. I stopped at Lakeview Rock Products on the way home tonight to find out what a Proctor number is and to see if I could get enough answers to decide between using engineered fill and just using gravel. Turns out a Proctor number is a rating of compactibility.

The least expensive compactible material is 4" bank run, which is $5.35 per ton. The cheapest gravel, which doesn't have to be compacted, is $9.30 per ton. I figured out the volume we'll need for the first round of fill, and calculated it would cost about $1000 more for gravel. However, the other fill would have to be compacted every eight inches, and would have to have compaction tested every eight inches, which would be slow and cost a lot in labor, likely eating away any savings. Since gravel is preferable for drainage and for placement time, and doesn't appear to be significantly more expensive, I think we'll go that way.