Ditching

We dug a couple hundred feet of ditch today. When I say ‘we’ I really mean the rented Ditch Witch — a very clever (but 1940’s, not new) invention that digs about a 4” wide trench using a chain very similar to an Oregon Chipper chain saw. Plus a lot of hard work by the crew to widen the ditch for the sewer pipe, straighten some segments, and connect parts that could not be done in one swipe. We even built a bridge for the machine to pass over a previously dug ditch.I spent much of the day raking rocks from the newly dug dirt. The first trench we dug was mostly rock! The other sides of the house were mostly silt, but still with a few rocks. By mid-day I was pretty tired!

This was the first time that Eli had used a Ditch Witch and he had fun! He dug trenches for electrical, communications, gas, and sewer. The electrician showed up and connected the power, but it still has to be inspected. The plumber came and ran the yellow plastic gas pipe to the meter location at the street edge. He plans to come tomorrow to run the sewer pipes from the house (two locations: kitchen and bath) to the town sewer connection.

Then we need plumbing inspection and framing inspection before we can cover the walls. Of course, before covering we need to test for air leaks, then insulate on the inside. There will be insulation both inside and outside of the sheathing and roof decking. We will insulate the roof deck tomorrow, in hopes that the weather forecast is correct and we don’t have rain tomorrow evening before the roofers arrive on Thursday. We can add the insulation boards to the outside walls most anytime, but we have to acquire the material first.

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