#8: Site Prep

Construction on the barndominium (phase 1) began in the summer of 2022. We hired it out, but there were stretches of times that the crew just didn’t show up or didn’t build according to spec, so Nick jumped in and got his hands dirty, which happened a lot more often than we would’ve liked.

By mid-October of 2022, we pulled Bambi (what we call our travel trailer) under the roof of the barndo porch, after making sure that the design of the barndo’s columns were just right so that Bambi’s porch, slide-out, and the doors could still be opened. It made the most sense to us to live onsite where we’d be constructing the boat.

In 2023, progress at the barndo included a lot more sitework, like hauling in more dirt to raise the land, building a wood fence on a couple of sides of the property, and most recently, pouring concrete pads for the driveway. Our site looks a bit choppy right now, but it will all come together. In the past couple of weeks, we’ve poured concrete three times. The first pour was 6.5 cu. yd, which was just about the most we could’ve poured all at once for our very first time as a four-person concrete-pouring team. It was Tristan and Calvin’s first time helping with a pour, at 14 and 12 years old, and they got to do a little bit of every part of the project! Nick and I are so grateful to them for their back-breaking work, conscientiousness, and willingness to help.

As soon as the concrete truck arrived, we got busy pouring, screeding, troweling, floating, edging, and finishing the concrete pads for over 3 hours, just stopping for quick sips of water. It turned out to be a hot day too, but I’m so glad it wasn’t middle-of-the-summer hot.

The next pour was 3.5 cu. yd, and it was much easier because it was just one big pad nestled in between pads from the first pour. (We waited to pour this one so that the concrete truck could back up into that space during the first pour.) That second pour must’ve been too easy, because Nick already had another 5 cu. yd ordered for the next day! That one was the first of many pours for our horseshoe drive.

So far, we’ve celebrated great success with getting the site in order before Felicity’s parts and pieces arrive (fingers crossed for mid-December). We have several more pours before we’re finished with concrete, and then we’ll be adding rocks and grass and trees. We can’t wait to cover our dirt!