Since my last post I have put in most of the foundation drain and finished putting down gravel for the cellar floor and compacting it. If you have never used a compactor before, it is a memorable experience. The model I rented bore something of a resemblance to a lawnmower. It was supposed to be bi-directional, but in reality it wanted to go in only one direction. That made heading into corners a bit of a trick. If one failed to execute a sufficiently sharp turn to avoid getting stuck in a corner, the machine would begin digging down into the gravel while knocking chunks out of the concrete footer. Nice!
I spent about three hours with the compactor. When I was done, the gravel was so compacted that it did not move as the compactor passed over it. However, I was also numb from the elbows down and my eyes could no longer focus.
So one can imagine my pain when I went out to check on things after today's thunderstorms, only to find that one part of the compacted gravel had sunk! How could this be? Alas, it was. An area that only a short while ago had been solid was now three inches lower and mushy. What to do? I guess add more gravel and compact it by hand.
After all, I need to be ready by Tuesday when we pour the floor!
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