Ready to start framing (week 2.5)

Work finished up early this week with the Thanksgiving holiday. Rough-in plumbing for the basement was completed on Monday which allowed for the concrete floor to be poured and finished on Tuesday. They came back Wednesday and cut the relief joints in the concrete. The block walls were filled with concrete on Wednesday with the aid of a concrete pumping rig. You can see Tim and the concrete crew filling the wall in the picture above. Our first lumber delivery is scheduled for this Saturday to allow framing to start on Monday. Tim has told us that he expects the house to be "in the dry" in three weeks. Amazing! The next few weeks should show some exciting progress with the house literally taking shape before our eyes.

Block work is complete! (Week 2)

All of the basement and foundation block work was completed today! The exterior of the block walls were coated in Drylok and then a coat of foundation tar and felt paper. Two more loads of gravel were delivered today and spread through the basement floor. Drainage tile was placed along the footers and they started back filling with gravel. A significant amount of fill dirt will be needed in the 3 car garage, front porch, and to level out the front yard since the front of the house was built up to ensure proper water drainage. Plans were finalized on the location of bathrooms in the basement so the plumber can begin laying out the drain piping in the basement on Monday. The hope is to pour the concrete basement floor by mid week next week so the framers can begin some time around Thanksgiving. Interior basement walls were also finalized this week so the first floor trusses can be ordered. Floor trusses will be used so the majority of the HVAC, electrical, and plumbing can be run in the truss which will preserve at least 8ft ceiling height in the basement. Hopefully we will have good weather early next week so the concrete can be poured prior to Thanksgiving. According to the bank we are 6% complete within the first two weeks!

Basement walls are going up (week 1)

Monday was a big day this week as Tim prepared for rain on Tuesday. The excavators dug the footers, rebar was installed, the footers were inspected, and concrete was poured. A load of gravel was also delivered and placed in the basement floor to control the mud. It rained non stop from Monday night through early Wednesday morning. The layout was repined on Wednesday along with deliveries of block, mortar, and sand. The masons started laying the block on Thursday morning followed by all day Friday. Currently we have seven courses of block on one side of the house and most of the front of the house. Ultimately we are looking at approximately 13-14 courses of block so we are less than half way done with the exterior basement walls. Friday, Katie and I spent some time looking at front entry doors, windows, and brick. So far, brick is posing to be the most difficult choice we have had to make. We still haven't decided on a brick but we have narrowed it down to a brown or a medium red tone.

We broke ground!

After pressuring the bank for 5 weeks, the appraiser finally finished his report which let the bank finish with underwriting the loan. Today, we took the next big step by breaking ground! I was amazed at how dark and rich the soil was. They finished digging the basement in one day and the plans are to bring in a backhoe on Monday to dig the footers. The basement will be block filled with concrete. The basement wall will be approximately 4 feet above the current front yard height which will place it level with the street. The front yard will be filled in and leveled at a later date. To make up some time, a second framing crew has been lined up to complete all of the framing in approximately one week. I expect the next three weeks will show significant signs of progress. We're just glad we finally got started!