Plans and a driveway

We finally got our finished plans from the architect. He’s a pencil and paper sort of guy, so there are no fancy 3D renderings. But I’ll share the elevations, because they’re still kind of fun.

Things will change, slightly, because they always do. But for now, we have a start on the project.

Speaking of changes, the excavators were out to do some preliminary work. They dug out the existing culvert, which was collapsed, and put in a new one. Then they did some clearing. So, we have a usable driveway, for the moment.

And there were the typical small snags. That power line? Super low. Too low to get cement trucks under. So we’ll have to see if we can get the power company to come out and put a pole. The excavators also permitted the septic system. That will, somewhat unfortunately, need to be 2 feet above the current grade. Which means the house will have to come up somewhat more than expected to allow a gravity feed to the septic. It should still all work out, but we’ll likely end up with a small pond toward the back of the property where all that extra dirt will need to come from.

Either way, everyone is pretty sure it can get done and still spare my apple tree. I marked it so the excavators would know to avoid it. I might have gone overboard just a wee bit.

I doubt much more will get done until Spring, now that the polar vortex has everything frozen solid. But it’s nice to get a little bit of a start on things.