Beginning of House Construction, Bent Tree

Things began to happen very rapidly after the grading was done. The footings were dug and poured along with the concrete pads for our intended support posts. The septic tank and drain lines were installed, and we had roughed in the drain plumbing that had to go under the basement slab. All this in a few days starting May 11, 1975.

We got the block laid for the basement wall and then had to fill the area for the slab. Len and Sherry work on spreading the dirt after Eugene Forrest brought it in with his front end loader and dumped it inside the wall. It was amazing how much fun it was to work so hard when you had a dream. June 8.

Eugene Forrest

Eugene Forrest was one of our heros in the story of Bent Tree. We engaged him to move some dirt for us and we immediately became friends. He worked hard, was reasonable in cost, and would do almost anything to help us. He got us out of some tight binds with his tractor. He stuck with us throughout the building process as we would call on him to help with various stages of the construction.

We leveled out the dirt to prepare for the pouring of the concrete slab. After the dirt was level, we added plastic and about four inches of gravel. You could certainly say that Jeff and Mark were involved in this project from the ground up! June 9.

Next came the pouring and finishing of the basement slab, which was an exciting process in its own right. The concrete truck couldn't get up the steep gravel driveway with a full load of concrete, so once again Eugene Forrest came to our rescue. June 9.

Eugene came with his front end loader and let them put the concrete in the bucket and he brought several loads up the driveway and dumped it in the slab. He had to build up a ramp before he could do that, and he drove all the way to the back of the slab to dump. After several loads up the driver of the concrete truck decided he could now get up the driveway. Somehow the sight of that concrete truck steaming up that steep gravel driveway remains one of the indelible visions of the whole construction project. I was sitting up high and could watch the truck roaring up that driveway, blowing smoke out its stack and creating an extraordinary vision against the green trees and the blue of the distant mountains.

We were now expecting a delivery of the trusses and other building material, but to our surprise they arrived on Chestnut Cove Trail at our driveway on a flatbed eighteen-wheeler. No way he could help us get the materials up the driveway! So what do we do? We call Eugene. He rigged the trusses on his tractor and helped us carry them all to the building site. June 10.

With Eugene's help we had all the building material stacked on the parking pad by the end of the day. But we were all exhausted.

The block wall and slab were now complete, and the outside of the wall had been stuccoed on the parts which were to be below grade. Charles Hammontree did the stuccoing for us. We also planned to add tar, plastic and drain tiling before backfilling the wall.

Beginning of the framing process.

Index

1975

Bent Tree

Nave Album

Nave