Mud Wrestling

The water table under our house is pretty high (we do live on a sand bar island, after all). To add insult to injury, the rain has been coming down at a good rate, too, drenching everything and everyone.

All of the digging of the previous day cleared out enough room to get a small "bobcat" under the house:

Material was scooped up with the small bucket and dumped onto the ramp to the downstairs:

From there, the big "bobcat" scooped it up and piled it in the yard:

All of this digging down has to be done so we can provide a stable base (at finished depth) for the shoring. (The desired goal is an even surface of undisturbed soil.) By the time I got home, one-third of the basement had already been dug out. The contractors fabricated a wood frame to hold back the earth and installed a sump pump to remove water (sorry for the blurry picture):

As I took pictures, they completed the next hole and sump. Here they are, carrying a new frame downstairs:

Positioning the frame:

Dante and Hipolito go at it (well, not really -- they were trying to stay upright):

The guys look on, up to their knees in mud, while the "bobcat" digs out a space for the sump:

Scott fastens some geotextile fabric around the sump box. The fabric allows water to pass through, but blocks particles (like sand and dirt):

posted by noel on 02/15/05