I calculated the volume of the piers and placed the order for fifteen yards of concrete and a pumper truck. Owl arrived spot-on-time at 6:15 and the concrete half an hour later. Owl worked the pumper's controls, I dragged the hose around filling the piers by thirds, and Till vibrated the mud in between each round. By the time the rains came, we were nearly finished.

Due to the moisture in the soil, the bottom of the southeast sonotube became saturated and began to disintegrate. Not long after I had filled that pier to the top, the base of the sonotube exploded and released the concrete into the surrounding hole. I watched in horror as the surface level dropped two feet.

Two days later I set the steel I-beams. When I placed the steel order I identified the beams by letters of the alphabet, as each beam had either a different length, load bearing capacity, or bolt hole configuration. I dragged each beam to its location: "A" here, then "B", then for some reason, "H". I threaded a nut down the anchor bolts, set a steel plate onto the nuts, then set the I-beam onto that. Next I used a wrench to raise or lower the nuts to level and align the I-beam. Once the beam was in correct position, I tightened the top nuts. I filled the gap beneath with concrete to create a load-bearing bed.

Where the three cross-beams met the existing house I chiselled away the cement block to create a pocket and seat. Each cross-beam sat on a mortar bed and bolted to the existing cement block foundation.

I now had a rigid and secure gridwork over which to lay my floor joists.