low tech labour

My Dad attacking the pile of silt/sand.

and 2 hours later!  It's gone!

Many thanks to my Dad again, who helped me with good ol' fashioned physical labour!  I think this is why houses cost so much:  you have to pay people a high hourly rate for lots and lots of physical labour.

We had to distribute the silty, sandy clay that was dumped down the stair well around the basement floor, as the sewer line was higher than expected, thus our basement slab needs to be higher by a few inches.

The material dug out from our excavation has an almost sand-like consistency, so rather than have it hauled away, we are using it for bringing up the basement interior grade, rather than buying even more new sand.  [we will still need some sand]... And it will be compacted before we pour the concrete slab.