Staking...

I spent the better part of yesterday and the day before staking out my lot.  Today I realized I did it
incorrectly.  I'm going to have to do it all over.  Inexperience.  What can you do, except make the mistakes you make.  It's all about learning, huh?

The problem was that I staked out an extra foot on the outside.  I was thinking I was going to need it, so I could form the outside face from the bottom.  Then I realized there's no particular reason to do so.  It only really needs to be even and flat on the outside above grade.  There's no real reason not to use the side of the trench as the form on the outside as well as the inside.  And it will save on costs on the forms.

Besides, I was forgetting a couple of things.  First, I've got to get all the ground up wood and grass off the ground, and second, I've got to lay gravel down.  That means I'm going to end up eight inches above the current grade, rather than the six required by code.  That's probably going to be a good thing, as the grade is below the road on one side, and it could be good for drainage.  Actually the roads are kind of ridiculous there abouts.  At the cross streets you have to go through a ditch that is deep enough, and that rises fast enough to the height of the road that if you are in a car you are definitely going to scrape your undercarriage. I almost do in my truck.

Anyway, it was interesting when I finished staking it out last night.  I walked through counting paces and could visualize for the first time where the individual rooms were, and their proportion.  It's going to fill the lot  more completely than I'd thought originally.  But it will be fine.  It will be good.