It's a Dirt Job, but Someone has to Do It . . .

3rd Week of October

With all the activity and progress on the house it's easy to overlook the "infrastructure" - those things that you don't see when the project is done, but are absolutely necessary.  The utilities.

I could probably write a book about the odyessy of our wells.  But it's almost in the past, which is the best thing I can say about it.  The well was dug several months ago.  We had to prove we had water on our site before our building permit would be issued.  And they wouldn't let us continue to use our original well because it was too close to the house by the newer County requirements.

Installing the well pump

The company who dug the well is also installing the pump and the line to bring water from the well to the house.  Unfortunately the recent rain has delayed getting this groundwork done.  You can see the water line in the picture below, coiled  up on the ground.

Well with the water line coiled on the ground

The very next day the trench was dug and the water line went into the ground, connecting into the house.  I haven't check inside the house, but an electric line to connect the pump to the electric panel board was installed in the same trench as the water line.

And speaking of electricity, the electric service and our new meter have been installed for a few weeks now. We were lucky that the power company did not push to get the meter located on the front of the house.  Our Builder had warned us that the power company might insist on locating the meter at the front of the house, but in the end they were happy to have the meter located very close to where the original house meter was located.

Rear of the Garage

By the way, there will be a concrete pad at the back of the garage, that will be one step down from the garage door.  We will probably put the grill there.

There are two more utilities to get into the ground - the septic field and the gas line.  I have been working with the gas company for months, to get the new service installed.  We were told the line would be installed the week of October 8th, but that was a very rainy week.  It is now two weeks later and I have called the gas company several times trying to get someone to tell me the new installation date.  I'm frustrated that they have not been very communicative.  Hopefully it will be done wihtin the next two weeks.

Front yard, where the septic field is to be re-built

Meanwhile we have Great Falls Septic lined up to re-build our septic field, which is basically the entire grassed area of our front yard.  They are supposed to start sometime this week; we shall see.  If you look carefully at the picture above there is a pink tag on the tree trunk.  Three trees have been marked this way.  I'm pretty sure it just means that roots of these trees will be cut as a result of re-digging the septic field.  I'm okay with that.  Just so long as I still have my trees.  I hope I don't have to stage a sit-in.

Front part of the yard and septic field - the leaves are starting to fall!