Yesterday our builder spread tar over the stucco on the concrete panels. They are preparing to finish off the french drains and then backfill the dirt piles into the trenches. They also did some excavation in the driveway area. Now that we put the garages in the basement, there is a lot of extra dirt that [...]
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Before moving the enormous dirt pile from the back of the house to the front — and filling in the mote around the front porch — the basement concrete panels were covered with stucco. Unlike typical building materials, stucco can be applied directly to the aerated concrete panels. No need for the multi-step process of [...]
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The main floor walls have been stacked. We were wondering if there were enough block to finish the job, but the crew made it through the top row. It’s quite fitting, I think, that the fourth (and final!) cement pour occurred in a downpour. Today we woke up to snow (SNOW!) that later turned to [...]
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The construction has been going very smoothly. The first wall section had cut panels that exposed the areas inside at corners. Before each pour, these areas had to be covered with plywood that was wired onto the panel to hold the cement inside. Subsequent sections have been done with mitered corners. It’s not only much [...]
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The floor trusses are up and the plywood for the base of the main floor started going down yesterday. It’s supposed to be finished today. Since the new house plans have the garage in the basement with living space above (instead of the reverse in the old house plans), the main floor is significantly larger [...]
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When we were getting bids on the house, the electrical bid seemed unusually high. We were told the plan had too many can lights and we needed to remove “some.” Truth: we had too many cans and needed to remove some. We have this thing about living in homes that resemble caves and we crave [...]
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Today the concrete basement floors were poured! Few things are more exciting to two little boys that a cement mixer shooting rocks and goo out of a tube. So we bundled up in our snow gear and headed to the building site. And we watched the amazing concrete crew in action. The team poured the [...]
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It’s likely that we’ve had more snow this past December than any other in my lifetime. I attribute this to two things: The construction gods are trying to sabotage our building efforts Global warming Whichever is responsible, it’s keeping progress to a crawl. Once the snow abates, we pour the slab!
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Don’t get technical with me. I’m no tradesman. But I can tell you that the plumber came and ran a whole slew of black pipes all over the ground. They are poking up everywhere. All kinds, for toilets, sinks, showers, floor drains, utilities, appliances. I can’t remember the last time I got this excited about [...]
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No one likes a wet basement. It renders the rooms uncomfortable and unsanitary — if useable at all. One common feature used to keep basements dry until the surrounding dirt compacts is a French drain. A French drain is a hollow pipe, covered in fabric. The pipe is laid in a ditch next to the [...]
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The stem walls are poured, moving us one step further to getting the walls going up. What is a stem wall? Stem walls are the supports that are used to join the foundation to the walls. We had planned to use the same concrete block that will comprise the majority of the home, but since [...]
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In spite of the weather — we had a high of 14° degrees today — the great crew was out working. They reformed and poured the remaining garage footings, this time at the correct height. When we got there, they were covering the cement with vast expanses of plastic and setting up heaters in the [...]
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My face froze off just taking pictures. How do these guys do it all day? Does their blood thicken? The big storm came in over the weekend. The kids loved it. I didn’t. Here’s the math: SNOW ≠good for construction Still, they were out there getting the job done. I’d love to hand out [...]
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Today we saw the first real sign of construction. Sure, we’d had some excavation. But that’s digging down. This was the first, serious, tangible sign of building up. Seeing the forms in place and prepped and the cement poured in was a wonder to behold! Construction! Unfortunately, when Sam went over he noticed that a [...]
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To maintain sanity while building a custom home, you must come to grips with one sad fact: the construction industry is a living mess. It’s rife with inefficiency, stupidity, dishonesty, and carelessness. I don’t know if it’s the worst industry on the planet, but I do know one thing. Sam and I are business owners. [...]
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