Saturday, September 4, 2010

Chapter 17 – Well, Well, Well… (Day 27)

We got an email from Sakamoto-san on Tuesday that the land exploration results were good but some abnormalities had become evident on the north west corner of the property. Basically they discovered an old well and it was located right under a corner of the home. So this was not a slam dunk after all. See below.

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Sakamoto-san reassured us that this was not the end of the world but that he would need to visit the land next day and assess the situation and verify if any adjustments would be needed to the foundation design. I was bracing myself for having to spend dearly to fill-in a huge 20 meter hole. The reality of the situation relieved me. The well was 50cm in diameter and only about 2.5m deep.

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However, some further digging would be needed just to ensure there were no other sideway tunnels. It was suggested that this could have been something other than a well, perhaps an old war bunker.

Some more digging and no other holes were found. But now we are going to need to reinforce this area with concrete. The estimate is about 500$. Not too bad.

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In the meantime, the other work continues. Below you see the where they have laid medium sized rocks which then gets covered with dirt. I believe that’s where they will lay the flat concrete base. I’m curious to see how this develops.

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Working on a Saturday afternoon in 35C weather in the full sun must be hell. So today, I brought them a few drinks and some snacks as a small token of appreciation.

2 comments:

  1. are you sure you don't need to get in a priest to wave a magic white paper and bamboo stick over the well - just in case ?

    Looks like things are really coming along. Looking forward to progress pics.

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  2. Funny you mention about waving that magic wand. We decided to save a few bucks and NOT pay the 4~5 man to have a ground blessing ceremony.

    I'm not superstitious so I really doubt having an elderly priest who drives a BMW and wears a rolex would have changed anything. But I'll gladly take the savings build me a good foundation though. :)

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