Concrete Floors

June 18

I headed up to the lot about 9:30am and arrived just in time to see the cement truck pulling away.  As I got to the basement I saw that 7/8 of the basement floor was poured and leveled. 

The sub told me that because our footings were a little deeper than they are used to (because of the radiant heat) they ran out of concrete and were waiting for a second load to come.  He also said he'd have to pour the garage in two separate pours because of the raised area in the larger garage.

You can see how deep the concrete floor is going to be.  This was a great relief to us because now we are not worried that the framers will puncture a tube when they install the sill plates for the walls.


When we came back later in the afternoon it was all finished.  The landing area in the garage looks great.  This is where we will keep our extra freezer.  We will eventually install a sink here too.  This raised level should help keep the leaves and garage debris down in the garage and out of the house.

One more overhead shot.  When we came back the next morning we saw a large crack running across the entire floor.  Luckily, it will be covered up by carpeting so we don't really care. 

Soon we'll have walls up in the garage and we won't be able to take these overhead pictures.  Which, for Noah's safety, is a very good thing.  He is way too brave and we worry about him stepping right off the garage floor and falling.

Just in case you wondered, the pressure in the PEX held up just fine.  In fact, the pressure went up just a little bit while the concrete was curing which we thought was interesting. 

While we were there the first load of our lumber arrived!  Noah loved watching the driver maneuver his fork lift and when he stopped to talk to us for a minute Noah was ready to jump up in the cab and drive.

Faux Manifold

June 13
Wednesday morning, Mark and Emily met us at the lot to help us finish up the last four zones.  We had to reconfigure the last zone in the family room area a bit so we didn't run out of PEX tubing.  In the guest bedroom we tried to deviate from my design, but realized that it needed to go down exactly as planned.  Rob and I actually got out our Sharpie and measuring tape and drew out several quick lines and arrows so we'd know where to lay the tube.  We were surprised at how much more quickly we were able to finish the layout doing it that way.  Too bad we waited to figure that out until we only had one and a half zones left to finish.

Mark and I went back over the whole floor with the stapler to make sure there were staples about every two feet.  There were some stretches of tubing where the staples were close to five feet apart and because the tube is full of air it would have floated to the top of the concrete while it was curing.

While we did that, Rob and Emily finished up the details on the manifold.  The sub who is going to create the real manifold and connect all our tubing to the boiler asked us to make sure the tubes were labeled with the zone and the loop.  Emily colored the supply side of the loop red to indicate that it was the hotter water.  The return side of the loop was colored blue to indicate cooler water.  The water doesn't really change temperature that significantly but it does make it easier to tell the tubes that belong together in the loop.  If I'd been able to create a "perfect" design the tubes would have gone red blue red blue red blue and so on. 

We needed to fit all the tubing into a two foot space.  Unfortunately, part of that space was right on top of a monolithic footing so that gave Rob about a foot and a half to work in.  He could have started the first loop an inch or two closer to the footing but as it turned out he ended the last loop at exactly the two foot mark.  He used the conduit to line the tubing up in order and hold them in place for the concrete pour.

This is the back side of Rob's design.  Dad suggested that we run the loop for the little bedroom straight back through the manifold and under the wall.  Doing this kept the two tubes out of the mechanical room, out of the doorway (that was already crowded) and out of the hallway that was already going to be super warm due to all the other loops running through there.  It also gave the tubing a straight shot from the boiler to the room instead of turning three corners before it started heating the room.  Our builder said if we wanted to do that we should run the tube through a metal conduit to offer protection from any nails that might go through the stud wall into the concrete floor.

Here is Rob standing proudly next to his creation.  The outer pieces of rebar hold up the 2"x4"s.  The bottom 2"x4" has holes drilled through it for the tubing to run through which keeps it from flopping around and ending up in the concrete.  The top piece of wood is for stability.  There are two short pieces of rebar holding the conduit tightly together and the rebar tied crosswise behind the conduit helps everything stay up.  I was impressed!

Mark and Emily were standing next to the manifold while we were starting to clean up.  For fun, Mark blew into one tube to see if he could blow on Emily.  The air came through (just as it should have).  Rob decided this was a good way to do a basic pressure test so he capped off one end with his thumb and blew into the other end.  He had done about three loops when he realized we were paying the heating contractor to do this and he didn't need to become lightheaded trying to prove we did a good job.

The next day the heating contractor capped off one end of all the tubes, hooked the other ends together and installed a pressure valve.  Basically, this will stay on until the boiler is installed.  We can watch this valve as the basement is finished to make sure none of the tubes are damaged.  It's reassuring to know that we will be able to see immediately if there is any damage that will need to be repaired so our heating will work as it is meant to.

Next up, Concrete!

Gravel and Grading

June 11
Today was another exciting day where we could really start to see the house take shape and get a feel for how we will be able to use and utilize our lot.  I'm still in "Goldilocks" mode...

The house is too big ...

The house is just right.

The lot is too big ...

The lot will be just right.

I went up first thing in the morning and they were just starting to grade the lot and bring in the gravel.  The guys from Savage were super friendly.  They introduced themselves and answered the two quick questions I had.  Then we chatted for awhile about what was happening.  I could tell they really liked their work.  I like that the people who are building our home take pride in their work.  It makes us feel good about the quality of work they bring to this job and I believe it leaves good vibes in our home too.

Watching these big trucks maneuver is pretty amazing.  I don't even like to back up in our little truck and have never backed up a trailer in my life.  I also realized that I'm glad we were the first house built on our corner of the street.  I don't know how many times these trucks drove up onto the lot next door, but that can't be good for their soil compaction.  (remind me I said that when the trucks and machines are working next door making noise and dust)

I wasn't able to stay long enough to watch them throw the gravel into the basement.  They use a big truck that basically is a super conveyor belt and the driver has such good control of the flow and the direction that the guy in the pit just has to do a little raking.  We had a crazy busy day, our lights were being delivered, I had to run to Sam's Club to get dessert for our FHE group (which meant I also had to make time to clean the house before they arrived) so I had to leave just as they were getting the conveyor truck loaded up.

But, the light delivery went easier then expected (except for the damaged lights - but that's another post),  the trip to Sam's was successful and living in a small apartment means we can get it spic and span in almost no time (hmmm....back to "the house is tooo big"?). 

So, Rob & I headed back up to see the progress.  When we got to the lot there were only two men left with their front loaders working on the grade.  (hah - I had to google to find out the difference between bulldozers and front loaders - these have wheels, not tracks so they are loaders)

I had so much fun watching these guys work.  They know exactly how close to get to the edge of the foundation before turning.  They can dump their load with precision.  They work at an area for a while and when they are finished we have a lovely, useable space.

This first picture is the loader that was working at the bottom of the lot.  Here you can see he is just starting to create the pile that will be on our property line.  He'll move the dirt piled up by our gully.  He'll move the dirt piled up behind Rob's office and will attack the pile behind the family room from the bottom.

This guy is moving the dirt from the top of the lot.  He's taking the dirt and putting it near our property line and a little bit onto the lot next door. You can see he's already moved the pile behind the garage and is starting to work on the pile behind the family room.



The loader working on the bottom of the lot again.  You can get a better idea of the soil he has to relocate.  Once he had the pile near the gully area moved he started to work towards the house.  He kept the dirt out of the gully, he didn't break any of our tree branches off AND he didn't fall in the gully.  Somehow, even when he was backing up he knew exactly where he was.  I didn't see him turn around once.  He just kept moving (except when he stopped to take a phone call).  The pile closest to the family room is partially carried away and partially knocked down into the gap.  They really want to fill most of that gap with gravel so he was pretty deliberate about how much soil he allowed down in that gap.  Again, the control of these operators is astounding.  If I were responsible for moving that dirt it would be in the gap, covering the nice level gravel in the family room, or I would have backed up into the gully and fallen in. 

I thought these two pictures were fun because you can see the grade change from the garage level to the walk-out basement level. 

And, Look! 

We have our own little Alp.

Of course it didn't last long.

Here you get a nice overview of the basement floor.  With the gravel down we had a much better idea of what we needed to do when it was time to lay down the XPS insulation.  We will have to fit it around all of those monolithic footings and the plumbing stacks.  I am standing in the single car garage, looking over the wall where the tv will be.  You can see the corner of the double car garage and the outline of our cold cellar. 

This is a quick picture of the thermostatically controlled vent that will go into our cold storage room.  It will automatically close when the temperature drops below a certain level (we still have to find out what that is).  I forgot to ask if it runs on batteries.  There will be no power in that room so it must.  I am so new to the idea of having a cold storage room that I didn't even realize we had to open and close the vent depending on the weather.

Here we have a nice shot of the front of the house with the preliminary grade finished.  The horizontal black line is the approximate level of the sidewalk from the driveway to the front porch.  There will be one or two steps from the sidewalk to the porch.  (Jesse promised!)  I didn't want to have to climb a bunch of steps to get into our house and I didn't want to have to worry about shoveling them in the winter either.

The arrows indicate the slope.  The yellow rectangle is about where our front door will be.  We'll have a nice rock retaining wall where the yellow blobs are.  Hooray!  My desire for a rock garden is going to be more than adquately satisfied with this yard.  In fact, we'll have to add some rocks in the back too, next to the deck area.  I want to be smart when we landscape this yard.  I want it to be water wise and practical. 

Jesse asked us some very specific questions about the final grade we want on the lot and since we didn't realize we had control over that Rob and I were both a little caught off guard.  Oh boy!  Another thing to study and imagine and plan.  Luckily, he said we have a little bit of time to think about it. 

Anyone know a landscape architect who works for free?  Or for really good cheesecake?

Isn't this pretty?  Just a nice view of our garages, dropping down to our basement and look how lovely the valley is this spring.

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June 7
The forms were removed from the foundation walls this morning and the concrete continues to cure.  They put a black waterproof material on the exterior walls of all of our living spaces where they would be covered by earth.  It was interesting to look into the garage and see the waterproofing on the inside of the garage wall (the outside of the family room).

The plumbers came in and started on the underground plumbing.  They started on Thursday and finished sometime early Friday morning.

We thought it was hilarious that the plumbers used duct tape to hold this large pipe in place. 

This pipe provides access to the backflow preventer, and once the gravel was placed, the duct tape wasn't necessary anymore.

Rob walked around the basement for a while trying to figure out what all the pipes were for and how they related to the floor plan.  Some were completely obvious (the basement bathroom drains), some we will figure out as the plumbers start working on the main floor and we can actually follow them up through the walls.

June 8
All of the underground plumbing was finished and passed inspection.  That means they are ready to throw the gravel and then we will be able to start on our work in the basement.

Does it look like a house yet?

Progress after a Week of Waiting

The first week of our build went quickly.  They dug the hole, got the forms up for the footings and poured them.

Then we waited. And waited. And waited.

We went to the lot every day and the only changes we noticed were the chalk lines that showed up.  One day our floorplan showed up laminated.  Since the original one that's been up there is looking worse for the wear due to weather exposure, we think the lamination is a good idea.

Rob was getting impatient so he finally asked Jesse to call with an updated schedule and a reason for the delay.  Apparently, the BIG rain we had (? do you remember that BIG rain ?  we remember a brief storm move through...) slowed down the concrete work on other jobs which then impacted our job.

But we finally got the text saying our foundation forms were going in so we headed up the hill to see.

I am fascinated to see how the details fit together.  Because our house is built on a slope the footings were at different levels in the ground.  I was wondering how they would accomodate for the change of levels and this picture shows a good example of the foundation stepping down.  It was fun to see this little hole between the backyard and the garage, but I hope they do a good job filling it in.

This is just a good overall view from the back of the house showing all the parts and pieces that need to be organized and kept track of.

Out of this chaos will come a strong foundation.

We didn't actually see this truck work but it has a crane which is used for lifting the metal "baskets" in and out of the hole.  You can see the "baskets" in the image above - they hold the pieces that are used in creating the foundation forms.  I'm sure there is an official name for them, but all the subs were gone by the time we got there.

My gratuitous large truck picture.