27 May 2014

While waiting for all and sundry to arrive this morning, drilled the hole for the sauna French drain and lined the bottom of the barrel with previously washed stones.  Sean showed up shortly after 8, just as I was finishing that job.  Chuck Ringer from Ryan’s Plumbing got here around 9 and we began laying out the under-slab waste drains that will convey liquids to the septic tank.  Dennis Senesac made his appearance mid-morning to consult on the piping layout.  On a very positive note, Dennis had been in touch with his geothermal guru and preliminary indications are that a ground-loop energy recovery system is possible, the trenches may be shorter and the depth shallower than I had expected, but there is concern about putting the coils under the driveway.  More to follow…  After Dennis left, I used the backhoe to dig the first trench for Chuck, for which he was duly appreciative, since normally all under-slab trenches have to be dug by hand… his hand.  Sean and I set chalk lines around the exterior foundation walls to show the limits of where we want the waterproofing sealer to be applied.  Steve Poplawski from Ryans pulled in early afternoon to help Chuck.  I continued digging trenches with the backhoe, seriously disrupting the compacted stone that Jimmy Ploof and I had put in on Thursday last.  Jason Day and Nate Pettys from Northern Vermont Pressure Seal arrived at 3.  They quickly prepped the exterior walls for waterproofing.  Just as they were about to start spraying sealer, a thunderstorm came rolling though… ending all work for the day.  Everyone left.  Wisely, I had put my computer and camera in the back of Chuck’s truck in case it started to rain.  Not so wisely, he drove off before I remembered that minor critical detail.  I chased him all the way up the driveway and (seemingly) halfway to Fernville Road before he spotted that he was being pursued by an arm-waving drowned rat carrying a broom (don’t ask) in a completely ineffective yellow raincoat.  Crises averted, took shelter in the RV, replacing my outer clothing with drier versions.  At 5 the sun came out, so went back to work.  Installed the sauna drain.  Then spent some fun time removing from the house cellar all the large rocks I had dredged up from today’s excavations and rough backfilling the first couple of trenches.  Quit when it started raining again at 7.