SITE 1.9 - THE GARDEN PORTAL

The best part of winding the year up was the raising of the garden portal.  

As I have noted in previous posts, we are striving for sustainability on a lot of fronts.  I currently have an overflowing box of old nails, screws and fasteners I have kept while de-constructing the cabin interiors.  I am keeping track of the weight for future reporting purposes.

Part of our effort is the artistic side of the sustainability effort:  The garden portal.

Moving the steel

After some discussion our excavator - Matt Johnson - Johnson Excavating and Telecommunications of Eagle - determined the mini-ho would be the machine to move the steel - with help from the architect guiding it to its final location.  

And so on a reasonably warm late fall Friday morning we began the process.  

It involved moving the steel to previously dug holes for the main uprights,   I built a steel re-bar cage for each vertical leg and attached it prior to setting the steel in the holes.

Re-bar cages at the portal base with Matt Johnson supervising.

Temporary support of the portal

Once the steel was set in the holes and after the crew was fed a grilled burger and sides from the on-site grilling device we proceeded to pour the concrete foundation.  Rather than bring in a concrete truck we (Johnson Excavating, Hedrick Concrete Construction, and Ago Studios) mixed and poured 1-1/2 pallets of quik-crete bags in the holes.  It was a well orchestrated operation.  Matt cut the bags and poured them into the wheelbarrow.  Ron Hedrick and I than mixed the concrete and poured it in - 3 bags of concrete at a time.  We were done in about an hour...and it was a good pour.

Ron Hedrick of Hedrick Construction - Chris Green - Ago Studios after the pour.

To be sure everything set well and safely we left the mini-ho support of the portal in place for the weekend while the concrete cured and set.   I calculated that we poured about 2 yards of concrete at the portal.  It isn't going anywhere.

So as we move into 2014, the garden portal is in place ready to receive the fencing, gate assembly and to signify we are getting closer to getting onto the site.  

One of the best comments I fielded from one of the business folks in the town that came to visit was something along the lines of...'what the heck is that...it's like burning man!'.  

I'll take it.

...and as we exited 2013 the portal (re-purposed mobile home steel structure) stands on the site ready for duty!

Here's to 2014!

SITE 1.8: UTILITIES - WELCOME TO THE 21ST CENTURY

We completed the work on utility infrastructure by installing new electrical and communications conduits.

A new utility junction box was installed on the utility pole by our utility provider that will allow for new conductors to be installed from that junction box underground to the cabin and the new residence - two services. 

Additionally communications conduits were installed to provide flexibility in future communications links providing options for cable / internet / connectivity for both the cabin and new residence.

So the strategy was to provide one electrical conduit to the cabin, rough-in one conduit for connection to the new residence.  Communications conduits were installed from the phone pedestal at the street to rough-in to the new residence and also the cabin.  Conduits were also laid to the cabin to accommodate satellite cable access or pole mounted communications lines.

Finally - as the last portion of the work - we laid a water line for a future hose bibb in the new garden area.

This was a major effort to upgrade the utility infrastructure for the site and prepare for future construction and systems.  

Conduit sizes were coordinated with utility providers, code requirements with electrical conductor sizes and communications cabling.

The idea was to think ahead toward future communications needs and provide a reasonable number of options to help accommodate current and possible future needs to the degree we are able.

The garden portal is next.

SITE 1.7: UTILITIES

We have completely overhauled the site utilities.  In the previous post I noted the new water line.  In this post I'll discuss both the new sewer lines.  The next post will discuss the electrical and communications infrastructure.

Now...I know this will expose my incredible grasp of the obvious...but there are a lot of piping, construction, and other assorted assemblies that have been built outside of the permitting process.  This cabin is no different.  In fact I am quite sure that nothing in the cabin and on the site was originally built with a permit.  I have pulled permits for building, plumbing and electrical.

That said, the original sewer line that served the cabin was done in the same vein.  I had the sewer line scoped a year ago in order to understand what we had.  Why?  It turned out no one had a real clear idea where the existing sewer line was...and that can be problematic.

I had the site surveyed in order to really understand the topography and the property line relationships, setbacks and planning criteria for the new home we are planning on constructing. Getting accurate utility locations on the survey was important for me for planning purposes.  It should be for anyone.

When you purchase an old property there will be surprises and the sewer line was the big surprise.  The sewer line was a 4" thin wall (really cheap) pvc pipe buried anywhere between 2' and 3' below the ground.  There were multiple breaks in the line and the tree roots had successfully invaded the pipe cavity requiring us to water jet the line to get it to a point of temporary usability.  It was a long private line that went down the street about 1-1/2 blocks tying into the Town system at that point. 

When we scoped the old line we were able to document the location and transfer that location to the survey.  (I would recommend PSI in Avon, CO for this type of work - Aiden was great)

Aiden scoping the existing sewer line - spring 2012

The evaluation of the system set into place a number of discussions with the Town regarding the existing system.  Turns out there were a couple of issues that impacted the direction we finally chose.  

First:  Our line was one of several in the town that were considered orphan lines.  These lines were never correctly connected to the town lines, were non-compliant with existing standards, and the town knew of their existence.

Second:  The town indicated there was the possibility of new sewer work being done in the neighborhood to address this situation and a few others within the same couple of blocks.

Fast forward to October, 2013...and new sewer line here we go.

The new line is a schedule 35 pvc pipe with welded joints to meet Town of Eagle code requirements.  Welding in this instance means the joints are glued together (welded) with pvc cement.  Why welded joints?  Welding the joints together means the tree roots cannot infiltrate the pipe unless there is a break in the line.  We went right by one of the elms on site and elms have very invasive root systems.

New trench and existing elm tree

One of the considerations in line placement was the location in relation to tree roots.  Why is this important?  My landscape architect colleague Terrill Samura of Samura & Associates has -  during the course of working with him over time - educated me on tree roots.  As a result I generally get site surveys that document the drip lines of trees because that is usually the outer reach of the tree roots.  

In our case the new sewer line ran adjacent to a beautiful elm tree that we quite enjoy now that we have taken down the trailer.  I field adjusted the location of the sewer line and staked the general location of the new line so it would have a minimal impact on the tree roots because we were digging down 4 1/2 feet which would sever important roots if we got to close to the core of the tree.  We want to keep this tree and want it to be happy.

With the town bringing the new sewer line in this allowed us to bring lines from the street to both the cabin and the rough-in for the new residence.  The lines were buried to at least 4' below grade and the grade set for a gravity flow down hill from each structure.  Stuff flows down hill you know.

New SDR 35 sewer lines

The Town of Eagle Public Works Department has been outstanding to work with.  Probably doesn't hurt I am an architect with site planning knowledge.  Never-the-less, they were great.  The planning was excellent, communications outstanding, and executing was very smooth.  Compliments to them for a very professional project.

Finally, and once again, the planning of the crawl space excavation at the cabin paid of in spades.  I located the entry point for the excavator on the exterior of the cabin.  He was able to quickly bring the line into the cabin.  Access from the inside of the cabin to set entry points, and access the pipe was spot on.  No problems.

So we now have a new code compliant 4" sewer line from the cabin.  All that is left to do is hook up the waste line inside the cabin to use the system.

Yippee!

SITE 1.6: SITE UTILITIES - WATER

Every now and then a serendipitous collision of timing, opportunity and planning occurs in a construction project.  This happened within the last couple of months and we seized the opportunity.

We replaced the old galvanized water supply to the cabin with a gleaming new 1" copper water line.

The old water line was 3/4" in diameter.  It was  in the ground for at least 30 years if not longer - we don't know.  I think it was older than that.  

Our excavator (really good - Johnson Excavating - Eagle, CO) pointed out a break in the old line he found about 40' from the cabin as the new trench was being created.  

Not only did we have a break in the line, the line at the street meter was 50% clogged up with corrosion and stuff.  

So the water pressure we were getting at the cabin was compromised at the meter by 50% and at the break in the line by an unknown percentage.  We were probably getting 30% of the water flow we should have been getting.

I was asked what kind of water line I wanted into the cabin.  My choices were copper or a poly pipe.  The poly pipe was the less expensive option...but....

When I investigated further the differences between the two one particular fact made the decision easy.  The excavator and the town public works folks both indicated the poly was a good system with one exception:  it has a tendency to not hold a connection at the street.  What this really means is that the water main to street connection can fail, or become loose causing water to flow through the connection, into the dirt, causing all kinds of problems.

...and with my luck it would happen when the weather was below zero requiring additional funds to re-hire the excavator to dig down and re-connect the line.  

The question I asked myself:  Why would I put a pipe in with this connection?  I don't want to buy a problem because I saved $300 in materials.  

Copper connections are solid, time tested, cost a little more, and generally don't fail.  SOLD.

The new water main in the crawl space.

 One of the cool aspects of this project was doing all the planning, digging in the crawl space, and prep and then seeing all that pay off.

The pipe came right through into the crawl, exactly where planned with no issues.  Exactly the way we wanted it.

The next day, the plumber (Tim Burch - Burch Plumbing - Avon) came in and in five hours set new valves, the water meter, drain back connections and re-connected the existing lines and roughed in a line for a new water heater and a line to connect to the new bathroom and a new 3/4" water supply for the future garden water supply.

Once the plumbing was complete I turned on the hose bibb at the cabin and it felt like I was opening the line on a pressure washer.

Mission accomplished.

SITE 1.5: PREP FOR UTILITIES - STEEL

Last year when we removed the trailer we were left with a steel trailer skeleton.

Computer model of trailer steel

There was never really a doubt that we would re-purpose the steel.  We just weren't sure exactly how it would be re-used.  Sustainability and re-use of materials has been a key element of this project and the re-use of the trailer steel fit directly into that paradigm.

So one late fall afternoon as we were walking around the site and the steel, my wife Gay turned to me and said, "Why don't we cut the front of the frame off and tip it up as the garden gate?"

There was no other response that was more appropriate than, "WHAT A GREAT IDEA!".

As part of the site prep the trailer steel needed to be cut up.  It was in the way of the new utility trenches that were going to be created for new sewer, electrical and communications conduit to be installed at the site. 

Additionally, the steel - besides the garden gate - is intended to be re-used on part of the structure for the new residence.

So, Gay dusted off her oxy-acetylene tanks and cutting torch and began to take care of the steel structure.  She is a steel girl...disguised by her alter professional life of Senior Administrative Guru for one of the valley's exclusive real estate firms.  She likes steel and metal...and liked this task.  







It was an effective afternoon's work on a warm September afternoon.  The front of the trailer was separated from the rest of the pieces, ready for the next round:  re-positioning the steel and the garden gate (blog entry coming soon!).

Site prep takes a while.  Getting steel cut, moving materials out of the way to accommodate excavation equipment, verifying entry points to a building for new utilities, and miscellaneous important coordination items. 

The steel cutting was fun to watch and a clear sign that progress was imminent.

SITE 1.4: PREP FOR SITE UTILITIES

It has been a while since the last entry.  There has been a lot of work taking place.

Beginning in late August we took out three trees.  We like trees and this site had a lot of them.

Part of what I do as an architect is assess the site:  It's assets, liabilities, opportunities and options.  As part of the analysis, one tree was in the way of the proposed new residence.  It is no longer in the way.

Two other trees were in the way of foundation excavation.  We had initially determined to eliminate at least one tree to maintain the health of the others.  The second came down to make way for a larger more gracious outdoor living space to be made outside the future kitchen. 

The photo below shows the site just after the three trees were felled.  These trees were then cut and the wood stored on site for future use in the firepit.  The trunks were left a little high so the excavator could get them out reasonably easy.  I didn't want the stumps to remain as food for carpenter ants.




As hard as we try to anticipate the implications of site work such as this there are surprises.  In this case the surprise was a really good one.



The removal of the tree where the new proposed residence will be built completely opened up the sky revealing a big Western Colorado sky for sunsets.  Magnificent.  And the evening stars will also be quite stunning.

Progress.

CABIN 1.8: CRAWL SPACE EXCAVATION - PHASE 2

With the primary excavation completed it is now time to take control of the crawl space.  What does that mean?

It means getting control of the structure, the building systems (sanitary sewer) water supply, air movement (ducting) and framing of new and existing openings for crawl access.

The first priority was the structure.

Beam at left to be replaced

It helps to have a friend like Duane to assist

New Beam and columns.

The floor beam below the joists that was buried in the dirt was found by the architect to be deficient.  It had been an on-going snack for carpenter ants.  Replacing the beam required new footings for columns, temporary shoring of the existing floor, jacking up the floor to relieve the load of the joists on the beam. a new beam and columns.

Once the prep was done, the beam took about an hour to replace.

The beam that was replaced

The picture above illustrates the condition of the beam we removed and replaced.

The next effort took place beneath the main area of the cabin.  New concrete footings were set in place to receive new columns to support the existing 4 x 6 beams that were resting on some concrete block and a strategically placed stack of field stones as the supports.

The existing beam was reinforced with two 2 x 6's with 1/2" threaded rod through bolts at approximately 24" oc, a new treated 4x4 column with side supports glued and bolted to specifically support the new beams.

Column and beam reinforcement

The existing beam was reinforced with two 2 x 6's with 1/2" threaded rod through bolts at approximately 24" oc, a new treated 4x4 column with side supports glued and bolted to specifically support the new beams.

While we jacked up the floor to relieve pressure on the existing beam we also had the opportunity to adjust the level of the floor which is now more level than when we originally acquired the structure.

Just the addition of the one column mad a huge difference in the solid feel or bounce (deflection) of the floor.  It is really solid.

One more column needs to be installed to complete the task.

The photo above is the finished column to beam connection below the guest room floor.

With this phase of the structural work done it was time to move on to the plumbing and sanitary waste line - that will be the next blog entry.