And moved vast amounts of it around, too.
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| That's Mark Feldman, the architect/builder on the left. |
Photos just simply do not convey the amount of digging and change to the landscape that have occurred in the last 2 weeks. After excavating the required 2 feet below ground level, the County-required geologist decided that 4 feet would be better. This made a hole that was about 70 by 100 feet, 4 feet deep. All of that space had to be filled with a mixture of the caliche that had been dug up and a sandier fill from elsewhere.
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| This was the hole when it was only about 1-2 feet deep |
Also, the house has to be elevated 2 feet above ground (flood) level. The rest of the remaining caliche has been spread around the house area. Picture about a half acre of land now covered with 1-2 feet of extra dirt.
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| This is after the hole has been filled, and the 2 foot elevation created for the house, with lots of extra dirt to be spread |
Having lived in adobes that were built directly on the ground (one without a foundation), I'm a little skeptical of this approach, but we need a permit to build this house. . .
Of course the "we" in this case is not really us. The man in charge of all this is an 80 year old with a front loader accompanied by several dump trucks and a water truck.
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| Amazing to think what was accomplished with this front-loader in a few days. |
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| This is Michael trying to demonstrate just how much dirt got moved around |
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| Some of the neighbors didn't seem to be disturbed |
