Digging to China

I promised Jeff I'd blog about his latest project. Plus I've had requests for pictures. (Thanks Nathan.) I even figured out how to post a video. (Yay me!) We have two cracks in our foundation that resulted in some flooding in our basement earlier in the summer. After a little research, we decided the most effective way of repairing the cracks is to dig out the foundation and patch with tar paper and asphalt emulsion (tar). Jeff bought a heavy pick-like tool, called a San Angelo bar of all things (interesting what you get when you Google "San Angelo bar"), to break up the clay-like dirt. Then he digs it all out with a shovel. He's getting some good upper-body work in. We calculated he probably lifted and threw down that 17 lb. bar more than 1500 times in a four hour period the other day. He finished the first hole a couple weeks ago. It's probably 4' x 4' square and about 6 feet deep. He's now working on the second, but got slowed down by school starting. Hopefully we'll get it all done and patched before the snow flies.

Starting the second hole

Jeff in the finished hole


Dallin "helping" in the second hole

P.S. The $2.00 I spent on plastic tools for the kids was totally worth it!

P.P.S. By the way, have you ever wondered what would happen if you actually dug a hole through to the other side of the earth? Assuming no air friction, no spin of the earth, and no hot magma in the middle, here is a NOVA podcast that shows you what would happen.