Week 6: Block Party

Day 35

  

Last week the footings were poured.  Before leaving town the basement guys also marked off where the concrete blocks were to be laid on the footings and ran cross boards and string at the height that the blocks were to built up to.  By Monday afternoon about 1400 blocks had been delivered and set around the perimeter.

Above to the left  is the front garage corner which when you walk up to it the string comes to your chest which seems high but once you back fill with dirt will no seem so massive. Then as you see on the right this is the opposite corner which comes to your knees simply because the lay of the land is higher at this point thus less blocks will be needed. The intention in the end is to have a level floor (unlike our current living conditions where things roll to the center of the house.)

Materials and Tools

 

Day 38

 By the second day of work they had finished all but the back porch and breakfast nook and the front wall of the garage.  

Day 39 

This is the view of the front of the house, to the right is the garage, then the middle section set back in is the front porch, then the front library/nursery with window seat and then in the left set back is the master bathroom. Tilt your head to the left and it looks level.  Once again a little back fill and it will look level. If you were to stand on the top of the blocks (which I have without falling so far) that will be the ground floor of our home!

This area will be the master bath, closet, master bed, and guest bath

View from the fireplace area looking toward the foyer, dining room, and front porch

These blocks are where the front door will be

Crawl space, block piers for support

Worksite view: master bedroom and the corner is the master closet

View to the East front the front porch toward the garage

 Having not seen the plans it can be confusing but for us to actually see the outline of our rooms and stand at floor height is very exciting!  Once the framing begins it might be difficult to get a sense of the shape of the rooms until they are complete so these photos might be a good reference point when that time comes.  Hopefully soon!  We'll see what progress this week brings!

End Week 5: Finishing the Basement

Day 31

The last of the concrete form walls have been removed today. The basement is shaping up!

A quick view inside the safe room before topping it off with a concrete ceiling. 

The rebar is in place and ready for the ceiling to be poured. 

By the end of the day the ceiling had been poured.  That should keep the tornadoes out, though I am not sure about it being missile proof according to FEMA standards. Either way, I think we'll be ok.

 

After laying down a layer of plastic for waterproofing the remainder of the gravel was spread in preparation for pouring the floor.  Note the red line outlined at the bottom of the walls...that is where the concrete will be poured up to. 

Servall treated the basement for "pests" before the end of the day.  Protocol I guess. 

Day 32

The next morning the sun was barely up, we rolled out of bed and looked out the window to find this...

About 6-8 men and clean up fire and a concrete truck.  Not something we tend to find on our quiet little spot on the hill. The concrete was flowing and men were frantically working to finally wrap up this basement gig. 

 Again, rebar as a matrix for strength.  The long pipe pumps the concrete in and fills to the desired depth. 

When I came home for a peak at lunch they were smoothing the concrete with what looked like a mix between a fan and a buffer.

Thanks to White Construction out of Paducah, KY for what hopes to be an awesome basement.  It was refreshing to see such hard workers that took pride in the quality of work that they produced. 

DAY 33

 As promised the next day we got to go play in "the hole"!

 

From inside the safe room.  Our first real room in our house! So exciting!

After seeing how awesome our concrete hole was we considered living here for a while and making a "roof-top deck" out of the ceiling of the safe room.  Just a thought...

View of the finished product: the retaining wall and view through the basement doors and into the safe room door. 

Week 5: A firm foundation

 Day 28

These guys come ready work.  Today they started digging the foundation footings.  The little stick beeps and tells them how far to dig. 

This is the West wall of the house, this will be the wall of our master bathroom and bedroom.  The importance of a good home is a strong foundation. Here lies the ground work.

They placed the steel frame of the door before pouring the walls of the safe room to make it more sturdy.  I may not be exactly FEMA standards but it will be pretty close.  After the walls dry they are going to also poor the ceiling as well.

Day 29

Today they poured the walls of the retaining wall.  This is the end of the driveway and then it drops off below to the entrance to the basement.

Here is an example of before and after of the footings, rebar then poured concrete.

 

 I think by the end of the week they should be done with the basement if all goes well.  And then on to the framing!! 

Week 4: First Rain delay but Progress still made

   Week 4

Although there was a bit of a rain delay for a couple of days this week, the crew worked hard Thursday and Friday and were able to get alot accomplished including...

 They marked off the house boundaries.  This picture is taken from standing in the garage looking at the front porch and the East 1/2 of the house. 

 This is the walls of the storm shelter/safe room

 Note the backfill materials gravel and then topped off with dirt.  Now we can tell how high the first floor will be off the ground (the part sticking up above the filled in dirt

 Footings poured for the retaining wall

A lovely fall view of the construction site.  Maybe beauty is in the eye of the beholder (...of the dream and the wallet)

End Week 3

Day 17 & 18

And the panels came down to reveal the concrete walls of the basement

 Next they sprayed a waterproof coating on the outer walls before putting up another layer of waterproofing and insulation panels. 

 After applying that they back fill the crevice with gravel and top it off with dirt.










So far they have hauled in about 8 loads of gravel for the back fill
and floor.

                                       West to East early am view of the finshed walls of the basement

Moon coming up thru the vent hole at the top of the basement wall