Dave arrived bright and early Friday morning, did a little fishing and awaited the arrival of Eric Riley and his crew from Superior Walls Foundations. Although overcast, it was a beautiful morning on the lake, the early fall air cool and quiet. I stayed behind to get Max off to school then headed down, not wanting to miss out in witnessing the first level of our log home being put into place.
The crew arrived at 7:20 to prep the ground before the amazing production began.
The crane and two trucks carrying our foundation walls arrived soon after.
The crane made it safely up the steep drive, but now it was time to get the heavy trucks, weighed down by the heavy concrete walls, up top to the home site.
- Eric and George discuss how to get the trucks up the hill
- Eric watches as the truck tries to back onto the drive
- and tries again…
After several attempts, it was clear that the heavy truck was not going to make it up the hill. All seemed lost for a moment. But wait…
- what’s that I see in the distance…it’s….it’s….it’s GEORGE, come to save the day on his mighty bulldozer!
- never fear, GEORGE is here!
- one of the crew pulls the tow chain from the bulldozer to hook up to the truck
- Eric helps secure the tow chain
- I think I can…
- I think I can…
- I think I can…
- I KNOW I can…
- I KNOW I can!
- Eric supervises as the truck successfully makes the steep turn in the drive
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Todd Hawkes, who had previously put in the ATV trails for us, popped by to watch. We had yet to meet him in person so we were very happy to finally meet him face to face. He will be taking over as contractor for the mechanicals so we will be seeing a lot more of him in the coming weeks! It was much fun having our three trusty contractors all on site at the same time.
- Dave with Todd Hawkes
- Todd and Eric head up to the work site
- Todd and Eric deep in discussion
- Eric and George…
- Dave and Todd
- and George…
Having successfully pulled the trucks to the top of the hill, George takes off and Eric Riley and his team from Superior Walls take over the production.
- Eric and his crane operator discuss where the crane should be set
- the crane is put in place
- we brought chairs to sit in but were too excited to sit down most of the time
- the first wall is put into place
- Dave takes a break from watching and checks in with his office
- the last wall is lowered
- and, the outer walls are in place!
- Eric watches, pleased at the progress
–
While Eric and his team were busy putting our foundation in place, we received a call that our port-a-john had arrived. Hooray, no more potty tent for us!
Meanwhile, Eric’s crew puts in the fireplace foundation.
- the final wall is lifted
- one of the crew members draws the short straw and has to stay on the inside as the last wall comes down
- nope, wouldn’t want to be him
The last wall in place, we head inside to check out our new basement!
- Eric and Dave check out the completed foundation
- meanwhile, the crew member that had been sealed into the fireplace chase, finds his way out
- me, standing infront of what will be french doors leading out onto the old road
- our breakfast room will be on the floor above this spot so we should have a beautiful view of the lake from there!
Three hours from start to finish, our foundation is complete and Eric and his crew, take off.
- Eric poses for one last photo with Dave
- the crew load up their gear and take off down the old road toward the dam
- Dave demonstrates what the walls will eventually look like once we cover them with stone
As usual, I couldn’t resist taking a few more photos of the lake before we left for the day. The cloud cover had lifted, leaving a beautiful deep blue sky overhead…
- have I mentioned how much I love this place?
Going to be fantastic!
Thanks! The logs will be here in a week so we’re getting close!!!
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