2. PREPPING FOR FOUNDATION DIG | Leveling the Earth for the First Floor

You can watch how we map out where the house will be located and how the earth needs to be prepared for digging the foundation. In the area of Mexico where we are building the soil is mostly clay. Some spots, where years of leaf accumulation and natural composting have occurred, have soft soil under the clay, that washes over it in the rainy season.
The characteristic of this clay is that in the summer it is caked, contracted and brittle making it susceptible to breakage on cliff areas. In the rain season it saturates, the surface is almost liquid and it is heavy and dangerous behind retaining walls. All of these factors, along with the final size, weight and height of the structure, must be factored in to the type of foundation to build.
In any case, building on clay requires that you dig until you've reached the hardpack. In our situation that ended up being two and a half meters down. That's a lot of structure that ends up being buried and invisible.

[@alisondblake]

Awesome work!