Leach Field Construction

This was the day the trucks started coming with the sand.

2 days and 32 dump truck loads later...

Guaranteed Septic Sand

After the sand field was put in, I dug out a required amount of holes the required depth according to Health Dept. regulations. The County Guy came out and passed the perc test on the sand. If it didn't pass I would have had to have all the sand removed...Yes, all the sand removed and get different septic sand and do the entire leach field installation again. And, have it perc'd again.

This is why it is critical to purchase guaranteed septic sand. If the company guarantees it it means that if the sand fails the perc test the company will replace it at no cost. I never did find out if it means they will pay for removal and all redo excavation. The County Guy told me that there were two people that year that failed the perc and had to redo the entire field. One had sand not guaranteed and the other had sand that was. Must have been a nightmare.

Gratefully the sand I got is all good.

There has been some erosion since it has been a year and a half, but the new excavator guy said it isn't too bad. Of course I need more sand to make up for it and also to finish grading the slopes properly.

Home Construction Time

It has been a year and a half since I last posted...a lot has happened. In the past few months things have picked up and I wanted to start where I left off, but that requires too much brain power, so, instead I will tell you today's thoughts.

Home construction time isn't the same as Eastern Standard Time and it doesn't have 24 hours in a day - 7 days a week. Construction time is it's own thing.

I met an excavator at the property and can't wait to hear back from him on estimates for his work. He said it will be this week.

Last August I met with five excavators and spoke with another guy just about the septic. This is how that went:

Two separate guys each who were to price up the septic, stumping, and digging the hole for foundation never got back to me. A third, was way to expensive, so he was out of the running. A fourth was hired for the septic work (put in pipes) and told me he would start on Sept. 12, he has never been in touch with me. The fifth, was just in it for the stumping and foundation, he was hired to stump back in August and never came. And that one septic guy I spoke with about septic only and mailed septic requirements to, never got back to me.

Can you believe it? Are they all on some other time frame? Does this September mean next June?

I really hope this new guy works out. Pray for a good low price and that he is on my time.

Otherwise, I may chase down one of the ones that was hired and never showed up. I mean how many excavators do I have to talk to?

Septic Field

To wrap up the sand post from July 2010... all the sand trucks came in over a two day period delivering guaranteed septic sand. 32 truck loads!

The road had a tough time holding up to all that tonage. The excavator had to continuously dig up shale out of the hillside and dump it in the ruts. All the drivers were great even though they had a tough job of getting in and out of the site.

The excavator told a driver we were going to need about four more loads when I had told dispatch two. It was pretty funny that the company took his word instead of mine, but I found out about it before the delivery was loaded, so I was able to stop it. I have to remember that construction places are used to the male excavators or male GC's calling for deliveries not the girly homeowner. lol

Of course without fail there was equipment trouble with the excavator, some hoses blew. Time was lost with that one, but it all worked out. Good thing my instinct told me to only get two last loads because the excavator wasn't working to spread any more than that.

Why I didn't post

By summer, when the sand came, I was so worn out and I kept thinking the months of busting my butt, working at the site and at my job were responsible. I had a harder and harder time standing up. I had to sit down.

All the time.

I had had two different weird rashes under my armpit and it was diagnosed as one thing then another.

In August I finally went to the doctors and I had strep. While at docs, I had a few blood tests, too. One came back positive for Lyme disease.

Again!

No wonder I was sicker and sicker and soooooo tired.

Then I had another throat infection, then infection in the glands of my eyes, then a reaction to the eye drop medicine...

End result, I wasn't posting.