Filling in the Void

Today they began filling the area in between the structural beams. John thought it would require around 40 truck loads of fill to cover the entire house and inside the retaining wall. But George, from Taribo Ind., thought it might be closer to twenty loads, not forty. George won. And so did our pocketbook.

Now they will start tamping down all the loose fill dirt to make the pad for the house floor. Then they will construct the wood forms around the perimeter of the house, so they can start the pouring the cement for the floor on Saturday. After this point, the house walls should go up rather quickly and they will probably start that part of the project on Monday.

And other good news is that George will pull up the tree stumps in the beach area when he has the equipment here to do it. These are the remains of previous times they tried to remove these trees and now just the stumps remain. And they continue to try and grow again and again.

I have spent many hours trying to cut all of the roots that I can find, but there is no way for me to pull the stumps out and load them on any kind of truck or trailer. But once they are gone, it will be easier for me to decide what I am going to do with the beach area.

The Money Pit-continued

After looking over the options available to us after the excavation of the money pit, neither is very good. Do we crush in the cavern then fill it with rocks and marl or do we drive pilings and add a substantial amount to the build cost. Our neighbors next door, that were having their lot cleared when they came across the cavern, have decided to use rocks and fill to level the lot so they can start building.

Next door neighbors' lot

We are working on the design for the house, but things have slowed down a bit. With our contractor busy with the neighbors house and the new surprises on our lot, changes will need to be made.

The size of the cavern and the amount of water that was flowing out to the ocean side of our property last November, makes me think if I really want to block that flow of water with rocks and fill. The pictures below show the stream coming out from under our property during the time when I visited in November '08, after heavy rain the weeks before. In the last picture you can actually see ripples in the water from the amount of water flowing out into the ocean. I would conservatively estimate the water flow at 5+ gallons per minute or at least 72,000 gallons a day. That is a lot of water to block or detour.

With our neighbors deciding to fill their lot, it will push that water to one side or the other, or both. If we fill our lot, that would only add to the blockage and push it further on to our neighbors lots. And our future neighbors may also opt for fill, which would only seem to compound the problems. Could there be enough water to undermine the rocks and fill? Nobody seem to know for sure. Are we willing to take a chance that it won't? I don't know right now.

But if we decide to go with pilings, it adds to the cost of building and may also bring the wrath of the neighbors who don't want pilings driven at the Shores. But it can keep our house stable and not affect the flow of the underground river. It will require a redesign of the plans to incorporate pilings, so that will also add to the cost factor. We will seek opinions, but in the end it will be our decision to make.