Framing and Well Drilling day

Today the framing crew started work on the interior stud walls in the basement - They framed out the spare bedroom, workout room, office, bathroom, mech room, wine cellar, and then a workshop area in the storage half of the basement.  They also installed a triple-wide LVL to carry the load from the central wall to the West wall which will have custom-fit 4" steel posts to support the load.  The only wall left in the basement is the load-bearing wall that will support the clerestory section.

The framing att the start of the day 

Here's the faming at about noon

The majority of the framing complete in the basement.

This is the three 39-foot  LVLs on the fork being moved into the door on the West end, main floor for later installation.

Sliding the LVLs into position.

The first LVL is in position and ready to secure.  Temp posts installed pending arrival of the custom-measured steel support posts.

Can you hear me now?  AT&T reception at the sight is a bit spotty - Kevin found this to be the best  way to get a "reliable" signal (thought still dropping calls).  I noticed there was a crane lifting an antenna onto the cell tower 1/2 mile from the house sight.  Maybe that will help!

 The well drilling rig showed up at 8:30 this morning and after a short delay for mechanical failure they started about 10:00.  They hit rock at about 10 feet, and then installed 68' of sleeve.  After that they hit hard slate/shale.  They had not hit water yet at about 5:00 when they departed - they had drilled to a depth of about 300' at that point in time.  Averages (which mean little) around this area are apparently 240' to 340' so we're hoping to hit water within the next 10-50 feet.  You'll see in the picture that the water (used to keep the drilling dust down) is purple in color which is how the rig operator made the assessment it was shale they were drilling.

Here's the well drilling rig - it's amazing how high they jack the front to level the rig!

More of the drilling rig

This is the water flowing from the drilling operation - the purple color is due to the  slate/shale rock. The water is added to keep the dust down.

A different perspective of the well rig on it's jack stands - this is at about 5:30 after the crew left (for the day?) with the water buffalo.