We were honored to receive several visitors at the project site today.

Bryan’s parents, John and Elaine, flew into SJC last night and John spent the day with Bryan driving around. Our good friends from Toronto, Scott and Sue, arrived later this afternoon to review progress. Also, Michael Benison came to the project site to see how the foundation work is progressing.

John is a retired engineer. He has a civil engineering degree and a masters in geotechnical engineering.

John on site reviewing progress.

One of the first items on ‘the list’ was to ensure the civil engineering was completed for the drains into the sump pit and from the window well and stairwell to the sump pit. Bryan and John met with Casey Carlson at Bowman & Williams in Santa Cruz and went through the requirements. Casey understood immediately and had a set of DWGs and PDFs on their FTP site by 2:00 pm. Just need to get wet-signed copies now to submit to the City of Monte Sereno.

While in Santa Cruz, we stopped to see the Pacific. It was another blue-sky, California day.

Looking over the Pacific from Santa Cruz.

Having just arrived from Canada yesterday, John is enjoying Caliifornia.

Then, off to B&B Equipment to look at a Stihl KombiSystem. Given the soil and the need to keep the street clean at all times and prevent sediments from flowing through the storm drain to San Francisco Bay, we decided to buy a power broom to keep the road clean. Sweeping gets old, real fast.

The KombiSystem allows different attachments to the same power system (motor), allowing more flexibility for the same tool. The best local price was with B&B so we looked at the actual tool and tested it. Passing inspection, we bought it. Boys and their toys …

While in Santa Cruz, we decided to nip down to Watsonville and check in on the lumber and see how the remilling went. In September, we had the entire original roof removed, board-by-board, and also the beams from the center of the house. The removal was done in late September by Do-All Construction and the remilling was completed by Jackel Enterprises. Two truckloads of lumber were removed (October 8 and October 9).

Since then, Steve Jackel had the Redwood 2×6 boards ripped in half, creating two 1×6 boards and then he had a new tongue and groove milled. The remilled lumber is resting in his shop in Watsonville, nice and dry.

Remilled 4x Douglas Fir beams.

Remilled 4x beams (note the nail holes).

The prize - all of the 2x6 Redwood decking cut in half and ready to go back into the house.

We obtained a sample of the wood – it looks great!

Stained bottom of Redwood 2x6 decking from original house (1969).

Top of Redwood 2x6 decking.

Both pieces together, using new tongue and groove.

Given it was such a beautiful day, we decided to go over Highway 152 to Gilroy and then catch Highway 101. It was great to go through the Santa Cruz Mountains and enjoy the winter day.

Scott and Sue were late flying into SFO and arrived at the job site an hour later than planned. They were duly impressed with the size of the excavation!

Scott arrives on site.

From the site office, we reviewed the excavation and subsurface drainage, and then Scott had to physically walk the excavation. One really must be down in the excavation to truly appreciate the size of the void and what the resulting structure will be.

Scott and Bryan reviewing excavation.

Wearing her new cowboy boots, Sue chose to watch us from the deck.

Sue observes from the deck.

As background, Scott designed the layout of the remodel and recommended creating a master suite, moving the master bedroom from the back of the house to the front of the house. The flow of the house then followed this layout.

Scott quickly assessed the portable electric supply and dispatched Bryan to the Home Depot to get the requisite parts to connect the portable power supply to the temporary power pole. Having sufficient power on site safely will help throughout the subsequent phases of the project. Connecting the power will be on the list for Saturday.

Back to the site office and we were just about to leave and Michael Benision appeared at the gate. Michael is the owner of MWB Pools & Spas and is building our swimming pool.  He lives just around the corner on Daves Avenue. It was great to see Michael.

Michael Benison stops by to review progress.

Off to the Home Depot and then dinner with Scott and Sue.