GROUND LEVEL

Fabien Monette
from Les Puits Artesiens Scorpions…

this well
is
325
feet
deep.

He
REALLY
DID
USE
DIVINING
RODS.

Digging a well is tricky business.
WATCHING the digging of a well, and paying for it, is like blackjack.
"You wanna go anudder 20 feet?"
"How much will that cost?"
"Anudder twelve dollars each rod."
"Hit me."
"Nothing."
"Hit me."
"Rien encore."
"Hit me."
Starting to understand gambling addictions.
Slight glimmer of understanding of S&M.

After drilling 325 feet down and hitting no water, we were given the option of calling in the hydrofrac - an option that was only introduced to us as we stood there, dry, with 325 feet of drilling rod in the ground. The price? A mere 1800 bucks plus taxes, to essentially powerwash the inside cavity that we'd already drilled. The pressure from the water shooting in opens up fissures in the rock. What other choice do we have? Uh, none. With that final 1800 bucks, we grabbed us some water from that granite hill.

On a sunny morning in August 2002, I went to our treed lot to meet Dave Mullen, an excavator from Chelsea, Quebec.. As we spoke about where to dig the foundation and what trees to avoid, Dave started to cough. He had just popped in a cough drop, so I waited for him to stop, thinking he had a cold. He didn't stop; then his coughing became silent. He was choking. I started whamming on his back with my fist, and then grabbed him from behind and did the ol' Heimlich manoeuvre. The cough drop flew out of his mouth in an arc, and landed somewhere among the trees.

About a month later, Dave and I were sitting on the foundation of our house, waiting for the well to be hydro-fractured or "fracked". We waited about an hour.
"Frickin' frac," he said under his breath.
Dave's dumptrucks were idling on the other side of the hydro-frac vehicle. His employees were on the clock, sitting and waiting.
"I'm really sorry we've blocked you in here, Dave," I said. "I should have timed this better."
"That's okay. I'm not going to charge ya," he said.
"Is that because I whacked you on the back and saved your life?" I asked.
"Yep." He lit up a smoke and looked away.

MONEY at GROUND LEVEL:

Here's where we found ourselves financially before even a stick of wood was added to the foundation.

These prices were in 2002, in Quebec, giving us just the foundations of a house:

Land $37,500.
Legals (notary) $ 635.
Building permit $ 410.
Materials estimate $ 50.
Septic engineer $ 950.
Location plan $ 890.
Excavation and septic $13,000.
Insulated Foundation $23,000.
Well (and hyrdofrac) $12,000.
__________
Total, ground level: $88,435. CDN

When you get to this point and it’s cost this much, all dreams of black granite, Avonite, or high-end wood finishes go out the window! You start thinking, 'gee, maybe concrete blocks and vinyl siding would look okay...'

Notes on Installation of Eco-Flo septic system (this system is based on layers of peat moss and gravel as filters, instead of a conventional weeping tile bed… perfect for houses built on rock):
Tank is 4' by 9'.
Openings on top are 4' apart.
North end is 6' from house.
South end is 9' from kitchen corner.
Jeff Mullen (of D.A. Mullen & Son) installed it November 25, 2002.

[top]

[next]