A couple of easy jobs

Over the weekend, our basement flooded for the second time this year. The good news is that it is not finished and is only used for storage. So, no damage besides losing the water heater for 12 hours or so while waiting for the sump pump to catch up. I really need to install a second pump to assist when the incoming water exceeds the main pump capacity and I also need to raise the height of the water heater to prevent it from going out. But at the moment, it's not a priority.

Anyway, since the basement floor was wet and I had nothing better to do I thought it would be a great time to open up the power panel and tie in the power supply to the shed. That was a bit nerve wracking, but everything worked out and I now have 125Amps available to the shed.

I also tied in the water supply which was SUPER EASY thanks to those "SharkBite" or "Push To Connect" type fittings. If you've never used them before, I highly recommend them! It took no more than 5 minutes to install four fittings (Two valves & Two "T" fittings).

Next on the list is tying in the gas line supply for the furnace.

Weekend Stone Sculpter

This past weekend was really nice. I was able to spend the six or so hours required to cut and clean up the bowed ends of the first pour. I rented an electric saw with a diamond blade for the job. it did a good job, but was slow and kept popping the 20Amp breaker if I pushed it too hard. The saw was able to cut a maximum 4" (100mm) deep, which forced me to clean up the last 1.5" (38mm) with a small diamond grinder, chisel and hammer.

I'll clean up the pieces of foam and glue those back to the slab before protecting with some aluminum fascia and back filling the trenches. When this is all done, you won't be able to see anything but the straight lines.

I also got to measure and drill the foundation bolt holes. Hoping to get that done next weekend when the weather is forecast to clear up for a couple days.

Building delivery date

The vendor contacted me a few days ago with an estimated steel delivery date of middle July.

Yesterday I received my shipment of foundation bolts and epoxy, so as soon as it dries up out there I'll have to go out to measure and drill the holes.

Cement Surface Grinding

This building project is taking forever, but the weather is really NOT helping.
It was recently reported that May 2015 was the wettest month in USA history!

I didn't think we got a crazy amount of rain or anything, it just seemed to always be coming at the wrong times. Anyway, I checked the forecast early this week and found a mid-week window before another five days of rain is predicted. So I took the day off yesterday to rent a cement grinder to get the slab surface cleaned up a little bit.

I got started at 0830hrs and ran that thing for just over twelve straight hours. My back and legs were so sore!! However, the result is a MUCH better surface.

Now it looks like the town handyman did it instead of the town drunk. Still a long shot from a professional job, but I didn't have to pay a professional fee either. At any rate, the smoother surface will make sweeping up a lot easier in the long run.

Next step is to get a concrete saw so I can cut out the bowed sections on the first pour and clean up some other smaller sections of waviness.

Then I need to measure, drill and set the foundation bolts.
After that, things should finally start to move along at a better pace.