Building our new retirement place

[skyking1]

Last weekend we got seven loops and 1370 feet up.
I'm aiming for about 200 ft per loop.
The last one was 165 ft for the main bathroom because I have a heated towel rack on it. I don't know how much of a load its going to cost but my gut said shorten that one up.
Looks like I may have tomorrow to drive up there by myself and just do layouts and drill holes.

 

[skyking1]

we got all but 4 loops up last weekend, and my brother and I got 3 of them yesterday and today.
I ran out of pipe I could put a splice in above the lid but no, thank you. I ordered another small roll for $147 of peace of mind.
These were the worst yet and we had been training in Festoonery all along in anticipation of the final exam under the Sun Room.
It has a popped lid section for headroom over a landing, has only one route in and out and was a general PITA.
Graduate level Festoonery

This involves lots of head scratching and drilling holes and missing nails, and threading through without making knots.
Then you figure out the return length, set that pipe and work your way out.

 

[skyking1]

I emailed the PUD engineer with some questions. I had a suspicion that phase 3 of the development was getting delayed, and she confirmed it.
I was getting a side sewer from the developer, and power through an easement I had negotiated.
Not any more. I will not wait for them to start in spring of 2026, because the final plat might not happen until fall. I can't get occupancy until that sewer system is turned over to the city in the final plat.
Now I have to go back to plan A, bringing my own transformer in, and installing a pump to send the sewer to a nearby main.
It is unfortunate in one sense but the big advantage is the uncertainty is gone now.

 

[street]

I emailed the PUD engineer with some questions. I had a suspicion that phase 3 of the development was getting delayed, and she confirmed it.
I was getting a side sewer from the developer, and power through an easement I had negotiated.
Not any more. I will not wait for them to start in spring of 2026, because the final plat might not happen until fall. I can't get occupancy until that sewer system is turned over to the city in the final plat.
Now I have to go back to plan A, bringing my own transformer in, and installing a pump to send the sewer to a nearby main.
It is unfortunate in one sense but the big advantage is the uncertainty is gone now.

Darn you have had a lot of hos to jump through. We don't have never the requirement here to build a home. Inspections and code to follow but not what you have to go through. Wow!!!

 

[skyking1]

don't fret it, Street. I am now back to the original permitted plan for power and sewer. The route through phase 3 of the development was going to be an improvement, but not worth waiting for.
It was my choice to build on this big piece of property in the city.

 

[skyking1]

My brother and I dug the last of the ground source loops in last weekend.
It was originally going west of the rest on the north, but the digging got silly hard there and we had a spot next to the carport to use. The excavator had to go do work so we are just getting back at it.

it is a 10 pass in an 8'6" x 44' trench @ 12" OC.

Then I moved a large quantity of soil out of the way for the umpteenth time to get the side sewer extended from the house to the pump location. I bulked it down and built this little mountain, making a slot that I dropped down into to dig the rest.

 

[steady saver]

Your progress is just incredible, wow!

 

[skyking1]

I twisted my knee in all the ups and downs and in and out of equipment. My nephew answered the call to come help me put the side sewer in. With him doing all the running for parts and in and out, my knee did not get any worse at least. My brother and I dug it out Monday morning before he headed back to Seattle on the bus.
My nephew came out Wednesday on the first bus and knocked it out, and got him back home that night on the last bus.
I went to the concrete and gravel plant and got 6 tons of buckshot pea gravel, swung by the plumbing vendor for the pipe and parts on the way to pick him up from the bus.

Never Fear, Harry is here! It was a typical training experience for him. I showed him how to glue the pipe, how to grade the trench with the laser. It was all hands on with my supervision. This is how I pass it along when I can.

Even though I am pumping to a main, there is the possibility of a gravity sewer and the city requires a backwater valve to protect the home from a catastrophic sewer backup event or a jetting mistake.
I showed him how to prime and glue in the riser without damaging the valve seating surface on the right.
Get your dobber dry before heading around to that side of the pipe.

 

[skyking1]

It was a long reach with the big bucket to get pea gravel down there and it is soft and tippy up there on the pile. I got up and down and showed him how to grade the gravel and we laid the pipe.
Then I said "you want to have a go up there sending me the gravel?" Oh no, that's OK he said I'll pass.
We did a little more and I mentioned it again and he decided he could give it a try. He had sat in the machine a couple of times and moved some dirt, but nothing like this and the pucker factor was significant.
I got him up there and he rode along as I explained the physics of it, then into the seat. I had no concerns about it. The lad is overly cautious and listens to instructions.

He did well. It took time but we had time before the last bus out of town.
Here he is dipping the gravel out of the dump truck with my instruction.

We got it shaded and then graded above that pipe for the vent at 0.50%
I have the vent pipe and will put that in Sunday.

 

[skyking1]

I got the vent in and backfilled the first lift, and now I am working the rest of the sewer installation, backfilling that last loop and placing a couple of risers and pipe for RV dumps. They come in handy and now is the time to do it.

Access is tricky to that back trench so I am working backwards on the pipe. I can fill all that in and then sit there to reach the rest.

The black drain pipe is for watering the soils over the ground loops.

No day is complete without a consultation with the big pack.

 

[Koolau]

^^^^^^^

They look imminently qualified to me! Carry on.

 

[street]

Looks good! I'm not sure I could go through being the general contractor these days. I have and the home I'm living in now I was the general contractor didn't 90 percent of all work myself. Of course I didn't have all the extra add on you have so things were way simplified.

You have come a long ways my friend and a lot of hoops you had to jump through.

 

[skyking1]

I spoke with my framer friend Brandon who was on the first push getting it dried in. He is becoming available next week and I am thrilled. We are putting the band back together!

 

[skyking1]

Yesterday I brought the RV drop around, working backwards. There are 4 different layers in this cake, I want to keep the ditch open.

Loop 1, then about a foot and the sewer pipe. I put it in and hammered to grade with the hoe pack.

That black drain pipe was a casualty and it will get tied on to for layer 3.

I dry fit everything and cut the stack to length, then filled in that crater with buckshot gravel and 18" of clay.

It was an awkward reach with the cantilever above and the riser there.