Backfill Complete

George and Carlos worked hard tag teaming the huge pile of fill left at the back of the house in order to get the narrow West side backfilled.  We are on schedule to start framing tomorrow, thanks to their hard work.

Foundation inspection passed

The City inspector was in today, checking out the waterproofing and inspection.  He gave us the go ahead to do the backfill, so by the end of day tomorrow, we should be completely back filled up to the walls of the house, which makes me breath a little easier.  Fingers crossed, we start carpentry on Wednesday.

Footings and taking care of water

A bit of a whirlwind day onsite! In addition to the framers arriving to set up the footings,  Juvee was in helping me set up an interior weeping tile system to dry out the place.  In the end, we were successful in diverting the ground water away from the edges of the excavation, an into the new sump pit where the pump takes over.  We just need some good days of sunshine now!

Excavation and Shoring

Today we finished the excavation and got that concrete under the walkout footings poured.  We have quite the water issues on the property, and with a weekend of rain in the forecast, we've got a high powered pump on site to hopefully keep things dry.

By the middle of the day, it was clear we would need some good shoring to protect the side wall excavations.  With quick team work between Juvee, Downtown Lumber and George, we had 8 foot sections of angle irons driven in to support 3/4" plywood shores. 

Digging Deep

The excavation was on today!  George was moving fast, and before you knew it, it was time to tackle the walkout.

Because the walkout is at the level of the basement, the footings required need to be four feet deeper than the rest of the footings - which means, in most of Etobicoke, you strike water.  Sure enough, we were well into water, so we have to dig a 4x5x4 hole, pump the water out and fill it full of 8 meters of concrete.  This walkout will be on nice, solid footings!

On to masonry removal

George finished up removing all of the garbage this morning, and began removing all of the stone, block, brick and asphalt.  Can I just stop there and say how amazing this guy is... most people have little or no appreciation for the "rough" guys that do demolition.  I have know George for six years, and have come to really respect the job he does.  

You see, it's not just picking up the house and putting it in the garbage... George uses the 40+ tonne excavator like a surgical tool, separating waste from masonry, and masonry from clean fill.  Those three components all get disposed of in different ways, and sometimes, if there's just one stick of wood inside a masonry bin, the whole bin can get rejected.  The guy is efficient, careful and a true professional! 

Day 1: Demolition!

Always a sad day for the owners, and a happy day for me... demo day!

At first, I thought the whole thing was going sideways.... (sorry!):

By the end of the day, the house was done, and most of the waste had been hauled out to Shorncliffe Rd where most of the West end disposal companies are.  It feels good to be underway!

Pre-Demolition Day

A busy day!  While the owners continue to pack while juggling work and family, we also had the temporary toilet arrive, the security fence go up, Enbridge come to cut off the gas service and hopefully Toronto Hydro and Water will be in to cut off the electricity and water respectively.  If all goes well today, this house is coming down on Monday!