Basement Wall and Waterproofing

Early this Saturday morning, David and Kelly came over and took the outer forms down from the basement walls, and marked where the waterproofing should be done.  And, then this afternoon, the guy they use for waterproofing came out and applied the tar (or whatever it is exactly).

Below are some pictures from before and after the waterproofing..  The forms are still inside the basement...

And, here is a sunset...

Basement Walls Poured...

Bradley and Kendrick enjoyed watching David and Kelly finish getting the basement wall forms ready, and then pour the concrete.  It went fairly well -- the wall forms bulged out in on spot, but they were able to add a tie to keep that from being too bad.

They will be taking the forms off tomorrow (Saturday), and they will have a guy come out to waterproof the outside of the basement walls while it is still curing.

We're probably going to be ready to pour the basement floor on Wednesday of next week.  Labor Day set us back a day..  We're planning to use the basement floor as a test slab for the color concrete.  Dawn and I will be going out to Ohio Ready Mix to look at the colors and decide exactly what shade we're going to try to accomplish.  It will be interesting...  If we need to do another test, we'll use part of the footer on the house foundation.  That way, we don't have to pay for extra concrete, and we get at least one or two tests...

Here are a couple of pictures while still getting the forms ready...

 

 

Here are a few pictures of the walls after pouring...

Preparing to Pour Storm Cellar Walls

The outer form for the cellar walls is in place, and the re-bar is now fully in place.  The inspection has been done, and we need to put some sleeves in place, and then the inner form will be put in place tomorrow morning.  The concrete should be poured late morning...

A couple of pictures...

 

  

Below is a picture of some little baby critters we saw when we were getting back into the van...  We're pretty sure they're baby bunnies, but we didn't see a Mommy anywhere :(

Basement Wall Forms Started

We were not sure whether they would be working on the basement walls today or not, but I was pleased to see that they had taken off the footer forms, and were working on the wall forms this afternoon...

Later, I drove back by again, and they had finished to outer form for the wall.  They had to do the re-bar, and then the inside form (along with the sleeves that need to go into the basement walls.

Here are a couple of pictures while they were working on the wall forms...

Storm Cellar Footer!

Our concrete guys, David and Kelly Mobley of M&M Concrete, were able to get the footer for the storm cellar done today!  They put the forms in, had the inspection, and poured the concrete all today!

So, they will get the forms in for the basement walls ready and inspected by Thursday so that they should be able to pour those walls on Friday.

Next, I need to get Todd back out to dig the footers for the rest of the house...

Here are some of the latest pictures of the work today...

A Big Hole!

Today, my excavator, Todd Mobley owner of Logan Construction, dug the storm cellar. It isn't big, but it will serve for the well pressure tank, hot water heater, and radiant heat tank, and of course it's primary purpose, an emergency storm cellar.

We did find out that the clay from the basement hole is just too dry to use for building up the grade. We could try to wet it and then compress it, but Todd is just concerned that we'll be taking a chance under the slab, so he suggested filling in with stone rather than taking the risk. It will probably be similar in cost because of the time involved in trying to compress the dirt. So, I've agreed we'll just use the stone.

So, we are now ready for Todd's brothers, David and Kelly, to come in on Monday (or possibly Tuesday) and set the forms for the basement footer. And, Todd can dig the footer for the house while they are doing the basement. It should be about a week for them to get the basement poured.

Here are a few pictures from today -- not real exciting, but progress, and that is exciting...

Marked Storm Cellar / House Site

My concrete guys, David and Kelly, met me out at the site today around 6:15PM to mark the location of the house and square it for excavation. So, we're ready for Todd, my excavator, to come in and dig out the basement.

If all goes well, we'll have the forms in for the footers either Monday or Tuesday of next week (depending on David and Kelly's schedule). We should be pouring footers under the storm cellar walls by the middle of next week!

So, we are still making slow progress, but it is happening...

Slowly, but Surely...

Well, we're going to have the house location squared up and marked today or tomorrow so that we can have the storm cellar dug out before Monday.

The plan is to start the footing for the basement walls on Monday...  Then, we'll have some new pictures to post...

Meeting with Our Contractors...

It was sure a windy day out there to meet today -- papers blowing everywhere!

My HVAC contractor, plumber, electrician, concrete guys, and my framer/builder all met for a while on the site today. While I feel that I may have wasted some of their time today, I think that a lot of details were communicated before it is all "set in concrete" -- literally!

We discussed where all of the sleeves for plumbing, electrical, heating/air will go through each of the foundation walls, what sizes, and any special requirements for each. Now, I've got to get it all written down in a neat and coherent way that is also correct!

I had intended to take a picture of the guys, and also get their permission to name them (hey, it's free advertising), but that will have to wait for another time since we had more important things to do... No, I'm not talking about the details mentioned above -- I'm talking about the jokes and goofing around that happens at water coolers and around coffee machines everywhere...

It was good for some of the guys to meet since a few of them had never met the rest, though several of them have worked together before (not sure if that's good or bad)...

Don't be expecting pictures of major excavation in the next week or two. We expect to be starting work on the storm cellar in about 2 weeks, so we'll be seeing that dug out in about a week and a half. About 2 weeks after that, we should have the foundation complete, and be ready to work on the under-the-slab jobs...

I have to say that I feel like we have assembled a great group of guys to work on this ultimate home project: The Home Itself... I plan to tell you more about them in the coming weeks...

Moved Mailbox

Well, today, I finished moving the mailbox...  It was a little too close to the road, and I also wanted it moved where we can pull up to it on the way in and out of the driveway.



Here are two pictures of it now...  The first shows the position relative to the driveway.



We're ready for some real progress on the site preparation this week...

Ground Breaking Day!

Finally!  We have at long last broken ground!



The driveway is now about 175 feet long -- the rest will be finished out later after the foundation is in and the backfill is in place...



And, they have stripped away the top 6 inches or so of the house site about 20' or so beyond the site in each direction.



I will be meeting with some of my subcontractors about the foundation walls and sleeves for plumbing, electric, etc, on Tuesday afternoon...



So, we're off!



Here are a few pictures -- not really a lot to see -- yet -- but stay tuned!  And, yes, I have 5 pictures that basically show the driveway -- hey, I'm excited to see a driveway!

 

Driveway...

 

Driveway from the other side ;)

 

 And, again...

  

 Guess what this is?

  

  And this...