Road

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Redoing the Road

Ed Building a House , , 0 Comment

We’re still waiting for water at the site, but now the trench for the water line has been dug. I hope this means the line can be completed and connected soon, so Francisc doesn’t have to continue to truck in water.

After all the rain and snow in January and the work on the trench, it was time to regrade the road and the driveway. It’s great to see the structure of the house at the end of the driveway.

House construction site at end of driveway
Down the Driveway to the House
 Click image to enlarge
Reinforced columns complete
Ground Floor Columns Complete
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Here are all the pictures.

An Update

Here are a few more from a day or two later. I’m not sure why the are so tilted.

Revealing the Columns

Ed Building a House , , , , , 0 Comment

On another gorgeous February day in Le Marche, they began removing the concrete forms from the columns. They had poured the concrete last week and let it set for three days.

They also showed us some of the building materials they recovered from the ruin, which we hope to use in the new house.

The views across the valley today are excellent, and you can meet our geometra Jimmy.

View of column forms and panorama
Column Forms with View
 Click image to enlarge
Geometra and Columns
Geometra Jimmy with Columns
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Here are all the photos:

Excavation Begins

Ed Building a House , , 0 Comment

The earthmoving equipment is doing its job. Let’s get an update and look at some pictures.

Kevin reports: “The road is MUCH improved in terms of grade, width, and overall ease of transit. Various vehicles have had no problem getting to the site.”

Now that there is easier access to the site, work has begun excavating for the base of the foundation. A lot of earth needs to be moved, since the plot is on a downhill slope. Some of what’s dug out is moved down the hill, creating a series of levels on the property.

Here are some photos of the road and excavation. (You can click on an image to enlarge it.)

Progress on the Road

Ed Building a House , , , , 0 Comment

We just gave approval to start improving the road a couple of days ago, but they’ve already made good progress.

Kevin sent some pictures of the road after some rough grading. I think they give a good feel for the terrain and “country” feel to the access to the property and the property itself.

The backgrounds give an idea of the views of hills in the foreground and mountains in the distance.

The first five show the road higher up the hill. The next three are closer to the house location. The last one may show the driveway. I’m not sure.

You can click on them to enlarge.

Getting on the Road

Ed Building a House , , , 0 Comment

Today’s email from Kevin was a request for approval to get started on building the access road.

The property sits about a kilometer off Strada Provinciale 129, the road between Colmurano and Urbisaglia. Right now, a rough road that turns into a gravel path as it approaches our property is the connection to the SP129. It’s too steep and rough to get equipment and materials to our site.

From the property to the main road Click image to enlarge
From the property to the main road
 Click image to enlarge
Our part of the road? Click image to enlarge
Our part of the road?
 Click image to enlarge

So step one in construction is to improve this road. I’m a little unclear how much of this distance needs to be improved, but certainly the last few hundred meters need work. Especially the entrance to our driveway. Right now, it’s a steep, sharp turn. We’re hoping the adjacent farmers will let us reshape it a bit.

Because of the recent earthquakes, there’s a tightening of supply of available contractors, as many are or will be working on earthquake-related projects: inspection, repair, rebuilding.

Kevin said that we could grab a grading contractor if we acted fast. Otherwise, we might face a delay of several weeks. We don’t have a building contract yet, so this would need to be done as a separate deal.

We’ve budgeted 12,000€ for this work. The proposal is for us to sign a contract for the road work and pay 10,000€ this week. Plus 1000€ tax.

Anne and I agreed we should go ahead, so now the project is “on the road.”

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