At 7:00 am today, Mark did indeed show up with "Jackhammer" John (he will do the actual work). The plan is to replace the sewer line, from where Vern (outside plumbing) stopped outside, to the indoor drains. That will entail chipping out the concrete floor in the basement to get to the original cast iron lines. They plan to do the chipping today and finish with the new PVC line installation tomorrow. They will also make tie-ins to two known lateral drain lines (they may find more). One lateral is from the basement bathroom and the other is from the sink in the southeast basement room. The scope of their work may expand if they find additional laterals and/or the ones they find are in bad order and need to be replaced. Not surprisingly, soon after John began chipping on the basement floor, he identified another old concrete floor beneath the visible concrete floor in the laundry area.
Mike also showed up and we all discussed the routing of the utility lines from the main house out to both the sunroom and the garage. The original plan was to run all the utility lines (hot water, cold water, purified (RO) water, power and natural gas) through a chase running beneath the porch connecting the main house to the sunroom. This would require electrical heat tracing to prevent freezing (thanks global warming!). The alternative, which we all agreed is a better approach, is to bring the utilities out through the basement wall at a depth of 42"-48" (well below the frost line), with draining provisions in the basement. We will run a separate cold water line to the garage so that it can be winterized independently from the sunroom. The garage will have its own hot water heater.
I reminded everyone that we intend to run purified water from our existing basement RO unit to both the bar ice maker as well as to a separate bar sink tap. I believe the existing RO unit has sufficient capacity to satisfy the demands of both the main house as well as the sunroom. Mark suggested that we consider putting in a new under-the-counter RO unit in the sunroom bar. Otherwise, by code, he would have to run 1/2" copper tubing to the sunroom from the basement RO unit. I vetoed putting in an under-the-counter unit, because it occupies so much space, I hate the thought of doing plumbing maintenance work under the counter and finally, I do not believe a new RO unit would be cost effective compared to cost of a 1/2" copper line.
Then there is the basement concrete floor under the main floor conservatory. This concrete floor is buckled upward. This was the condition when we moved in back in 2003, and we do not believe it has worsened since then. Previously, Vern expressed his opinion that this buckling was probably a result of a poor installation job. However, to be sure, we are going to have them chip it away, ensure there is solid earth underneath, grade the earth and pour a new concrete surface. It will cost a bit, assuming that they do not find a sink hole underneath concrete, but we feel we will be more comfortable knowing for sure.
I told Mike that I had spoken with Kent (neighbor behind us) about the potential of extending our new concrete drive across the alley to connect to his driveway. Kent was very enthusiastic about the idea. I also sent an email to Christine, our City Alderman, asking her what approvals would be required (if any) to pave over this portion alley. While waiting for her response, I asked Mike to find out what the additional pavement would cost.
I mentioned to Mike that we were still debating where to locate the solar panel inverter panels. The options are: 1) inside basement wall; 2) inside garage; 3) outside on the east side of the main house. Of these three, we are leaning toward the outside option. The east side of the main house is where we are intending to relocate the two AC condensing units and our two trash cans. Hence, this will be a "utility" area and seems to be a good place to also install the inverters. Drew (solar) said he could build a metal frame on which the two inverter panels could be mounted. The frame would be roughly 6' wide, 6' tall and, with the inverters mounted, about 1' deep. Therefore, I told Mike that the slabs we need on the east side of the main house need to accommodate this inverter frame as well as the two AC units. Plus, I suggested we would want to provide room for a future AC unit as well.
Mike said he has scheduled the foundation to be laid during the week following next (that would be the week of Sept 29). Therefore, he will schedule to have "Bobcat" Tom back next week to do the excavation for the foundation. If this all happens, Mike will have gotten pretty close to his target of having the foundation in during September. All could be influenced by the weather, but right now, it looks promising.
Mike did not mention the schedule for trenching and burying the incoming power and communication lines.
As the day progressed, the basement sewer news got worse and worse. The cast iron lateral pipes tying into the sewer line are paper thin and cannot be used. We have decided we are willing to abandon the lateral connected to the sink drain in the east room. We will have Mark install a new drain and water taps on the west wall to accommodate a new sink next to the washer and dryer. The lateral to the bathroom will have to be excavated and replaced. While this is unfortunate, it is not a surprise. We are paying for 120 years of use plus some dubious decisions made over those same years. This is why we have a contingency in the budget, and it is something we would need to do sooner or later, regardless of the backyard overhaul project.
On the brighter side, over the weekend, we finished the rehab of the powder room off the butler's pantry on the first floor. T did a nice job. Looks good.
"Jackhammer" John will be back in the morning to continue the effort. Maybe our luck will change and he'll find a buried treasure while burrowing into the basement bathroom.
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