Excavation and rock hammering

As I write this post, the excavation is completed and the foundation work is scheduled to begin next week. The hole seems huge. As we look at the hole, we have to keep in mind that it is deeper and wider than the final house footprint (space is needed for foundation work and the footers go below the level of the floor). And the house footprint itself is large because of the ranch design.

While digging we hit rock. Yuk. Not totally unexpected, but it will add to the expense of the excavation. Below is a video of "rock hammering," which is used to shatter the rock. Fortunately, the rock was weak enough shatter, otherwise we would have needed to blast.

Below are a couple of shots with of the nearly final excavation.

If you see where I am standing in the top photo, just below me will be the walk-out part of the basement. This still needs to be dug out and there is lots of "final" grading to do once the foundation is set.