Foundation

Well, lookie, lookie.....we arrived at the property to see this...

That my friends is the beginning of a foundation.....we are moving along.  This is the begining of the slab.
For those that aren't familiar with just how a slab is built...let me explain.  A simplified version as you will.
First you decide where you want to put it....now for monetary sake ideally you want to find as flat a place as possible...that's because the more uneven the site...the more the whole thing is gonna cost....more fill, more concrete = more money.
So what happens first is you figure out where you are going to build.  Then you hire a concrete contractor who has a crew and they take over.
The shoot the site for level and then they place what they call batten boards up in four corners.  You see those in the foreground of this shot....it's to the left of the sight level....3 boards vertical and one board horzontial.  On to that vertical they put in a nail and on that nail they tie a string....that string is run from one corner to the next ....this becomes a rough area of where within they will build.  Lots of measurements are taken and they decide with the measurements of what you want how to put up the boards that will hold in the concrete to form the slab.
There are 2 kinds of slabs....one has a grid of rebar that runs all the way through it....the other is done with a couple of trenches and wire cables placed within.  The rebar is an old fashioned way and although the cable kind has its advantages...we prefer to have the old fashioned rebar.

These two pictures above just show the foundation from a different angle.
After they get up the outside boards and supports the bring in fill called "screenings" to level up the pad.  It's not exact but its pretty close.  Kinda amazing.
After they shoot it again with the site level they are ready for plastic and the rebar. 

There it is, ready for the concrete trucks.

Ain't she a beaut!  There she is in all her glory.  Lots of troweling going on after this is all said and done.

I just thought that I'd insert this video in case no one as ever seen a concrete pour. 

The slab has to "cure" for 5 days before you begin to work on it.  So this is day 5 and we are going to start building the framework for the shop/living quarters.

Corner posts are up and we've just begun to add the center posts.  Next picture shows just more of the framing.
The vertical picture is of the 2 rafters that will be evenly spaced from each end.  The end  rafters are made out of something completely different. 
Last picture is just more of the framing. 
The next thing we will do is rent a lift to begin placing the rafters.  Once all the rafters are placed we begin to put on the purlins.  Those are the supports that go between the rafters.  After those are placed we can begin to put the tin on. 

The Well

This is a momentous day.  That's the well guys truck.  Yep, we'll have water soon!

That's Charlie Ward.  One fine individual.  We had his father first as our well man and Charlie was always his helper.  When Leroy passed away Charlie took over the business.  A good well man is hard to find, but when you've got a great well man you thank your lucky stars.

The person in the purple shirt is Charlie's wife Stacy.  She helps Charlie out from time to time.  Today was Sunday and we did not expect to see them out here today.  And when they drove up we told them to head back to the house...it was Sunday after all and they needed to be home with their family.  They insisted on staying and getting some work done.

That long silver thing is a water well pump...not what you expected I suspect.  Neither did I when I first saw one but that's what that is.  Now you know.

If you blow up this picture  a bit you can see that they are putting the sticks of pipe together and putting them down the well hole.  That's how it all works.  The silver cylinder is attached to the first stick of pipe along with all the wiring and when they get to the end of the pipe (one end of the PVC has a coupler and one end is threaded.) they thread on another one, attach the wiring and so on and so on.  Interesting....isn't it.  So much is taken for granted when you live where all you do is turn on the tap.  But somewhere down the line....this is how it begins.
Here's a look at the inside of the building.....

Ok...going left to right...white PVC pipe at the bottom of the picture  is coming out of the cistern...the cistern holds water that comes directly from the well.  That pipe then goes to a Pressure booster pump, that's the greenish thing and from there it goes into the pressure tank (That's where your water pressure is made). And then from there the water is diverted to ( right now just to a water trough for the cows) the house, shop and outside faucets. 

I know this looks kinda messy but there is a method to the madness.  Ignore ( for now) all the stuff on the ground and concentrate on the boxes on the wall.
First box closest to us is the breaker box for the well itself.  The next box beside that is the Well Control Box.  It has the starting capacitor in it.  And the last box is a safety measure for that " just in case" moment.  One of those " just in case" moments is if the water in the well itself should drop below the pump then it shuts off the electricity to the pump in the ground.  That way you won't burn up your well pump if there is no water.
And there you have it...water from the hole in the ground to the surface.

Great Weekend

We had a great weekend and made a lot of progress.

We finished laying the PVC for the waterline and another PVC line that will contain the electric lines
We were then able to back fill the trenches up to where the fittings will connect them to power and well.

We also got the cistern moved to what will be the well house.  No sides on this yet as we want our well guy "Charlie Ward" to have plenty of room to put all the " guts" in and be comfortable while he's doing it.
We also were able to get the Tposts set and the hot wire strung for the cows that are going to be out there just as soon as we get the water flowing.  We still need to put the insulators in a few trees that make up this temporary pasture and tighten up the wire but that shouldn't take much time.

Moving along....We also heard from the bank and our line of credit was approved so we'll  be rockin and rolling fairly quickly.  Money will be available  sometime after Nov. 3rd.  Then it's time for slab for our shop that we will live in so we can get out of this house and put it on the market.