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Waterproofing the foundation for the aspirational cabin

Mike, Rob, and Mike's spunky puppy Murray came up today to plan more excavator work -- digging the septic, backfilling the utility trench, and backfilling the foundation. We can't do much else with the foundation, on account of still not having a building permit, but we can get it ready to have dirt piled against it.

That means adding a layer of waterproofing membrane to guide water down over the footer to the french drain system and adding a layer of dimple drain board over that to provide a low-resistance path for water to get to the drain. Eliot and I spent most of the day cleaning the foam, and then fighting with the gooey waterproofing membrane. It's fantastically sticky. It sticks to your fingers. It sticks to itself and doesn't pull apart without distintegrating like putty. And yet when some of the styrofoam has a thin layer of UV damage that comes off like dust on the membrane, maknig the membrane not stick to the south wall. We got it stuck well enough, and once the dirt's pushing on it, it won't go anywhere.


Due to a change of plans on the height of the dirt around the foundation, we actually ran a little short of membrane, so we'll need to finish the last 15' with another roll from Seattle.

Near sunset, we moved our stacks of lumber and rebar away from the building site to make room for the excavating equipment.

We started working on the drain board, and that went up with much less fuss. We got about a third done before dark got in the way.

Tomorrow morning we meet the engineer from PSE for electrical service, then we head home for work and school.

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