The Monolithic Slab

When most people build slab on grade, they put some sort of flooring over it. We decided instead to polish the slab and have it serve double duty as our floor.  This is not only a cost saving measure, but will also allow the slab to be a better thermal mass for the passive solar heat.  So, we went in search of someone who specializes in concrete work, and found Michael at Melange Studio.  Michael does all sorts of things with concrete you'd never thought possible, and he does it really well.

The scoring lines are not just for aesthetics.  They also serve as control joints, to help minimize cracking.  Eventually, the slab will be polished, and will look like large tile.  We anticipate the radiant floor heat will make it lovely to walk on.  We do plan to use area rugs in key places to minimize the hardness.

Around this same time, they were drilling the well.  Our neighbor's well is only about 125 ft. But, as Fred told us with a completely straight face, they had their well "witched" by his mother, who apparently had a knack for finding water 125 feet below ground.  The fact that Fred had water was encouraging, but didn't necessarily mean that we'd find water as easily.  In fact, Dan's comment to us was "well, there is not trememdously good news about the well."  They drilled 300 feet and no water (yes, the deeper the well, the more expensive.)

The well driller

If they got to 500 feet with no water, they'd have to bring in the expensive granite cracking machine.  450...475...480...485...490 and kaboom.  Water thirty feet in the air.  Enough for a small subdivision.  Unfortunately, we weren't there to see it.  Here's our fancy well:

Impressive, no?