We've had to decide where through-wall penetrations will go. That means where does the electrical, phone/cable, and propane come into the crawl spaces, and where does the sh__ (sewer line) get out. All but the sewer were easy. To predict the elevation of the exiting 4" sewer pipe, you have to design the drainage system upstream. Code requires 1/4" of fall per foot, so you need to add up all the linear feet of line for the longest line to the point where it goes into the subfloor joists. This turns out to be in the guest bathroom (The Hart Room for now, but naming rights are up for bid), about 70 ft upstream from the exit point. Simple math shows you need 18" inches of drop, so the blockout for the sewer line as placed at 22" below the joists (18" + 4" extra for safety). If the line falls too little, turds get stranded. If the line falls to much, turds get stranded by the loss of the mobilizing fluid. However, any extra vertical can be accommodated by a short section of 45° drop, which is beyond the angle of repose for a turd (all of this technical jargon is for Tony; enjoy it?). In addition, this drain line crosses two crawl space walls, so they needed to have blockouts marked.
So, Don (the big dog at K&D) left Friday for the Baja 1000 (km) off road race, which is a 24-hour drive to the south. He's in charge of the pit crew for the second of the three legs of the race. If the driver crashes, he'll be back early. If the driver scores well, then he'll have to celebrate for a day and who knows when he'll arrive back in PT. He left the two boys in charge, but they are AOL. My job is to make sure they get the blockouts, window frame (egress from basement), and two crawl access frames in the right places. Hopefully Don won't injure himself and will make it back in time to place all the Simpson tie downs (ca. 60) and other bolts in just the right spots. Concrete will go in at this point, immediately after the County's inspection. Target for the next pour is about Dec. 5th, a week later than I hoped but not too bad. Then again, everything depends on having relatively dry weather, which this area is not know for.
P.S. If you want a hot stock tip, buy Simpson (fasteners, tie downs, joist supports). All the new earthquake codes for the Western U.S. and other EQ prone areas require lots of this expensive stuff. The stock is currently $22.50 (SSD on NYSE), down 40% in the past 6 months, so watch this if the U.S. ever starts building houses again.
Just returned from a trip to Leavenworth (the Bavarian town east of the Cascades, not the prison). Pretty interesting little German-looking town, although no one appars to be from Bavaria. Its just a tourist hook--got us. Also came across Roslyn, a little Alaskan look-alike town that you'll remember from Northern Exposure (1990-1995). Its next to Suncadia, an upscale golf-retirement community that is just starting to build out (3-18 hole courses, Ken). Designed as a weekend getaway for Seattle golfers, but sales are slow and they have lots of unsold, expensive houses.
