This blog post is the second half of the excavation effort by Mark Fortin Excavating. As you may remember from the previous blog post, Mark is leveling out a 34’x50’ area we have chosen as the building site for the new sugarhouse. This area is roughly 40 feet westerly from the original sugarhouse that was built by my grandfather Louis Fortin in the 1940s where maple sugaring involved the use of galvanized sap buckets, horses, and a sleigh to bring the sap to the sugarhouse.
Mark was able to dig up some artifacts from the old sugarhouse including sap bucket lids and the cement foundation the old evaporator was stationed on. At the end of the second day, Mark turned up a couple of firebox grates from the old evaporator (bent iron). There was likely a dozen or more of these grates in the old evaporator like what are shown in the example picture I provided.
The purpose of the firebox grate is to support the fire about 10-14 inches off the base of the evaporator. This allows for air to produce a draft for the fire producing a very hot temperature for boiling sap purposes. These grates are made of iron and each one weighs approximately 30 lbs.
During the late afternoon hours on the second day, Mark was able to move a lot of dirt and the site was looking very good. We were lucky that Mark hadn’t run into much ledge-rock until he was working the southwestern corner of the site. He was able to break a fair amount of it into large-smaller (I know and oxymoron statement) pieces that he used to help support the northern slope of the site.
Mark’s son Parker is running the portable compactor. This will create a stable base to the building site. Mark’s father, Marcel brings in bucketload after bucketload of gravel to begin this layer of the site. I know our southern readers will now say that isn’t gravel, it is crushed rock. Charla and I were discussing the progress of the effort at the end of day two and I made the statement about gravel, and she said, “You mean crushed rock.” I said, “No, gravel.” I was convinced I was correct, however, in the last couple of years I have found myself being wrong (that I acknowledged) more often than right and so we took to the internet knowing that lord Google would certainly provide the answer. As it turns out, we were both correct. Those of you in the south refer to this as gravel and we in the north refer to it as crushed rock and then the opposite for crushed rock vs gravel. I wonder where the line is in the U.S. where the definition flips?
As I was saying, Marcel brings in bucketloads of gravel/crushed rock to create a layer of compactible material that will allow proper drainage of the area.
Charla and I arrived on day three of the excavation effort around noon and the Mark Fortin Excavation team had brought in buckets of crushed rock/gravel and created the top layer of the building site. This was a definite transformation of the building site. This layer will provide a high-level of drainage that will hopefully reduce potential from frost heaves that leads to cracked concrete.
There are 12 videos that I compiled of Mark Fortin Excavating doing his professional work. It is interesting to see the transformation. You can see it by clicking here and a YouTube video will launch.
Charla and I say goodbye to Mark, Marcel, and Parker. A thorough, excellent job done by this crew, and I would highly recommend Mark Fortin Excavating for your excavating needs.
We have eight days left with this trip to Vermont to accomplish our remaining tasks. Stay tuned for our next blog.
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