We have Walkout Walls.

The foundation scare turned out to be for not. Pat Thomas lasered the footing layout, again, and it was within 1/8" of the design.

When we arrived on Saturday morning, Pat and his crew were taking down the forms. The concrete was very "green" in that it was the dark gray and looked moist. It will need to be a light gray before the next step can start, but more on that later. It took the crew about three hours to complete the teardown and then they were off to another place. Pat did have time to give me the bill. He came in at his bid with no extras.

Marlys and I delivered the porta potty on Saturday, starting what will probably be an every two week rotation for the next 6 months. This was none to soon as we had an incident that would make a great episode on the Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs". Marlys was damn proud of her ability to move the crapper around with her developing new muscles.

Next Steps.

The next two and half weeks are going to be hectic with the house and Derek's high school graduation on the 26. It was all the makings for a little stress session.

The next major milestone will be the delivery of materials and David Jones crew moving in to start the framing. The day we are targeting is June 5. Two weeks from tomorrow.

This is what has to happen between now and then:

1. I need to waterproof the walkout walls and place the french drain.
2. Tim Longsdon needs to cover the french drain in gravel.
3. Tim needs to backfill the floor and the frost wall.
4. Johnny's Plumbing needs to complete the underslab plumbing placement and get it inspected.
5. Tim needs to form and lay the slab and backfill the walkout walls.

I am currently the long pole in the tent (meaning holding everything up). I am going to try and get up there on Wednesday, and do the waterproofing and drain placement.

I gotta tell you though, seeing the walkout walls up really makes the progress very visible. We are no longer digging into the ground, but coming out of it. No longer is the house just lines on a drawing or a lists of parts and prices. It is a now a "thing" that you can put your hands on and feels it mass and permanence.