I'm a List Guy

Today is a snow day; catching up with paperwork, revising and clarifying the plans, and planning what to tackle next, etc.. I have come to the conclusion that I am a list guy. I always have some sort of "To Do List" that I am working from. It keeps me organized and on track. Plus it feels good to check things off, especially when you feel like you aren't getting anywhere:-) Here is what I have learned over the years:

• Write down all your things to do as they pop into your head
• Organize and prioritize them after you have got them down.
• Break down complex things into multiple steps to tackle individually
• Check things off, cross them off, IT FEELS GOOD!
• I keep my list in the same place always, a Steno legal pad that I take notes in also. That way you don't lose it.
• By putting together a list I clear my head so I can focus.

I am pretty sure I wouldn't get much done without my lists! :-)

My Latest List

Cover the Drive in Snow! (and plastic)

Another wintery day in Kirkland, 2-3" of snow overnight!

Drive covered in snow plus I covered the compacted area with visqueen to minimize erosion and help the compacted area dry out.
Got an additonal 25 yards of topsoil material for free! This will go in the garden area that needs filling in along the retaining wall

Driveway Compacted

We hired the dozer operator to spread out the fill and compact it yesterday. This was the guy who drove the dump truck, Tight Quarters Excavation & Trucking, great guy! To do this they respread the dirt in about 1' lifts then compact it with a special vibrator. This will minimize major settlement over time, especially because of the overall depth of the fill we are doing.

The driveway area is now filled evenly and compacted. It will need some additional final fill by the wall but this will work great for now.

View from the side. I have some rocks to dig out and move further out of the way ;-(

The fill is packed smooth by the compactor machine. I need to cover this with visqueen so the frequent Seattle rains don't make it into a muddy mess :-)

MORE Fill Dirt

Another 5 truckloads today. It's starting to look like a front yard/new driveway.

I might be able to get a couple of more truckloads tomorrow and then we need to get this all properly compacted and spread out. This should be enough to lay the base for the whole drive area which will provide good construction access as we move forward.

Fill Dirt & Craigslist!

I have been keeping an eye on Craigslist for some clean fill dirt and last night I found some. What a great deal, only $30/truck load! That's about 12-14 yards of clean structural fill super cheap. I got 7 truckloads today and still need some more but this got us well on the way to filling in the front yard. I will need to spread and compact the dirt next. Considering the slowdown in construction I feel lucky to get so much fill for such a great deal. Gotta love Craigslist!

Seven Truckloads or 85-90 yards of fill so far.........

Ready to be spread and compacted under the new drive area.

Still need a bit more but you can start to visualize the new front yard

Snow Again!

Suprise snow this morning. It did seem a little cooler yesterday but I did not expect the white stuff today. Just a light dusting so it shouldn't stop any progress :-)

Continued the footing drain from the new retaining wall to the east side of the house. This will run down the side of the house and in to the backyard eventually.

Leveled out the garage area to rough grade so it is ready for the new slab and started breaking out the old foundation where the master walk-in-closet will be.

Used the fill to start levelling the area where the Storage Room and Media Room (otherwise know as Tif's Meditation Room) will eventually be located.

A Front Yard

I have completed lots of cleanup out front. The drain is finished and now buried under the dirt from the piles in the front. I also finished removing the last of the rockery and piling it up out front for use later. There is still lots of fill needed but you can start to get an idea what the yard might look like.

I am thinking of putting a pond with water storage in the lower garden to the left of the wall.

(This will capture all the roof runoff from a drain by the house entrance)

The far end of the yard is about 2-3' below the final grade.

(the ramp is ready for future use!)

10 Yards of Gravel

Soooooooooo, 10 yards is a lot of gravel. Especially if you have to move it into the trench at the bottom of the foundation wall to surround the footing drain. I am about halfway done with moving the gravel and it should be done tomorrow. Then I can put some fabric on top of the gravel to keep soil out and backfill a little to keep it in place. We shouldn't have any water problems down the road :-)Half the pile is gone already

Footing Drain and Gravel going in