Kona Earth Coffee - Farm Life

Barn Foundation

High-res version of music video. (9.34MB)
Low-res version of music video. (1.74MB)

The book	The movie	The soundtrack
The music for my excavation video is from the movie "Holes" which is an excellent family movie. We've watched it several times. The movie is based on a book which is also very good. You can hear the entire Holes song here (5.43MB).

I reviewed my previous posts to discover that it has been four months since I started digging the barn foundation. I said it would only be a couple months before I was ready to pour concrete. Four months is kind of close to a couple months. It only took twice as long as expected. My excuse is that the harvest season has been keeping me busier than expected. My other excuse is that digging a foundation is hard work. Even with the help of heavy machinery.

The building inspector has approved my work and the concrete has been ordered. Now I'm just hoping that the work crew will show up on pouring day. The problem with concrete is that it dries whether you're ready or not. So it pays to make double sure that everything is in order before the cement truck arrives.

I found a couple really good books on the subject, I've talked to several experienced contractors and I hired a hard working crew. I'm confident that there won't be any serious problems with the pour. This is only the first pour of three. Once this concrete dries I have a couple hundred concrete blocks that need to be put in place before the next level can be poured. I'm still hopeful that progress will speed up again soon. If every stage takes twice as long as expected then this barn may never get built.

Forms

I've looked at many different construction books and this one is by far the best. It's not a how-to but rather a comprehensive collection of concise technical drawings. If you're building anything larger than a chicken coop, whether you're a beginner or an experienced contractor, I highly recommend this book.

This book on foundations is also quite well written. It is a collection of articles about foundation work. The book is usually available at Home Depot near the contractor desk. It cost me $16 (free after discovering a gift card I forgot I had tucked away in my wallet) and it will easily save me $16 worth of mistakes.

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