May 24 - fun times! Shooting gravel and sand!

Now that the bricks have been removed, it's time to place the drains and sump pump and otherwise prepare for the cement floor to be poured.

Dave, our machine operator wasn't available today, so Dan got in that cab and worked on out!

From that smile, you'd think he had done this before - but, he had never been in the cab of one of these machines before!  He did really well!

Here are Horace, Roy, and Dan getting the drain pipes in place and leveled.

Now, the coolest machine arrives - watch what it does!!

The guys are making the last minute corrections to the basement drains.

 

This drain is ready!

Ok, guys - get out of the way!!

AMAZING!!  This operator was able to put those stone chips pretty evenly all over the basement floor.  Really fun to watch.  Imagine the backbreaking labor and time this eliminated!

All done - just some leveling with a rake and a tamper to make it level and as solid as possible.

The machine of the week!

This is one of the pads holding a column.

Now, the chuter truck is back, now shooting sand (total of 80 cubic yards) for backfilling the basement walls.  Dan is holding a piece of plywood for the sand to hit at that far wall - kept the sand from going into the neighbor's yard and made it go down into the trench.

See how the sand is filling that trench!

Horace is coming out of the basement via the opening for the Bilco doors.