Excavation of the Site

View from the park to the back of the house

Our future passive house home site sits next to a park, positioned at the top of a sloped hillside. Because of the grade of the site, the design naturally lends itself to a two-story home with a basement that is partially dug into the hill, creating a walkout lower level.

As part of the early residential construction work, we began the initial excavation needed to prepare for portions of the future sewer and water lines. Before any digging started, we followed the required safety procedures and had 811 utility locates performed twice.

In addition to the official utility locates, we personally walked the entire work area ahead of excavation to review and verify all visible utility markings. This extra step helped us better understand where known underground utilities were located and allowed the excavation crew to proceed as carefully as possible.

The trench work extended from approximately 60 feet back on our property toward the road, stopping roughly 10 feet before the street. During excavation, we encountered several underground lines that appeared to be older cable or communication lines. These lines had not been marked during the locate process, which reinforced the importance of moving carefully and thoughtfully during this stage of the work.

The Slope of the property dictated the house design

After the utility preparation work was completed, we had to pause for about two weeks while the job site dried out from a period of heavy rain. Once conditions improved, we were finally able to begin the larger excavation work for the house.

The natural slope of the property played a major role in shaping the design of the home. It dictated the need for a walkout basement and also required us to clear a number of trees from the site.

The view from the protected trees to the house site

Before reaching that stage,we brought in an arborist to assess the health of the trees we hoped to preserve. Unfortunately, many of the trees were not healthy enough to remain. However, we were able to protect several important trees, including a 50-year-old dogwood that we hope will continue to thrive for many years to come.