Excavation underway

With survey work complete site excavation is now well underway.  Once footing depth was reached, we were able to arrange a site visit by the geotechnical engineer.  His inspection of the soil horizon led to the conclusion that the silty clay layer at depth was more than adequate for the wood shoring design he had submitted to the city at the building permit stage.  Our original shoring plan was overly conservative so we are adjusting it to account for actual conditions observed.  Our initial fears of a $12,000 shotcrete (a spray on concrete used to stabilize a cut slope) shoring job are now alleviated in favour of a much more economical wood post style system.  Given the soil conditions at site, a collapse appears less likely than at many sites around the city where no preventative shoring system has been deployed.  We will provide an update once actual shoring begins.

the changes in soil are investigated as the cut has reached the final elevation of the basement footing.  The bottommost layer is a 'silty clay' thus a good base not just for the shoring piles but also for our house

The machine is ready to begin excavating again following the geotechnical engineer's visit

At the end of day the basement is approximately half dugout.  With the easter long weekend now underway work will likely slow