Day One in the Basement: Excavation

Given what I came home to today, I think it is good that I wasn't around for the first phase of the work.  My plumber was nice enough to give me regular e-mail updates: "we're locating the pit in the corner", "we have to replace a pipe because the pitch isn't right", "we have to replace a fitting because it didn't meet code", etc.  None of them were the magical, "you know, we don't have to do this work because we found a real easy way to fix everything.

Note: in the above photo, they are just storing the pipes in the trench.  They will not be laying nine pipes together in the trench.  At least I think they are not...

So the basement is now dug up.  They saw-cut a series of trenches and excavated out the dirt where the new plumbing is going.  In the process, they changed the location of the pit.  It is actually not that bad where it will end up but it still takes up a decent chunk of space. 

The architect side of me finds all of this fascinating - particularly how thin the basement slab is.  "Hmm, maybe I can break this sucker up and dig down a few inches to get more headroom in here."  (wife slaps me across the face).  Actually, that didn't happen but the thought did cross my mind for a second.  As for the work at hand,  I realize that I haven't given a full description of what is going on.  I was hoping that once they get the piping in, I can take pics and it will be easier to explain.  I guess we'll find that out tomorrow. 

It is wild yet disconcerting that you can see the water level as well.  It's a couple feet below our slab.  Nice thing to have in the back of my mind during the next 100 year flood. 

For most of the work, I give the guys an A+.  It seems to be going well.  For the protection end of it, I give them a C-.  They did cover a lot of the delicate electronics and tried to seal off the area where they were doing demo but there is still dust pretty much everywhere in the house.  It doesn't help that they are working in the same room as the air handler for the house.  I really should have thought better and shut it off for the day.  My lack of thinking is what saves them from getting an "F". 

The basement looks scary.  Not as scary as a foot of sewage but still pretty scary.  Hopefully we see things come together quickly tomorrow.   

I am not sure if I have mentioned this before but my wife has a weak stomach for renovation projects.  She clearly married the wrong guy.  She went nuts with the few weeks where I was working on the wood upstairs.  I think if there is another day of this, she may end up at a local hotel.