Walls, Walls and More Walls

Here's a shot from the front "driveway" overlooking the future garage. Interestingly, the framers have made several mistakes, such as mislocated walls, walls where doors or archways go, doorways in the wrong location, etc.






Looking from the back yard.









Here is the basement recreation room where Linda-Mom is checking out the spot where the basement stairway is supposed to go. A small problem though...the framers will have take much of that wall out where she is pointing to make way for the stairs.






Here's Roger in the basement work-room standing in the doorway.

We've Been Framed

As you can see the basement was framed-in this week. The floor trusses will go on top of the walls beginning Monday.







The floor trusses are stacked along the road in the background of this picture. Double click on the pictures to see a larger version.

What's Under All That Cement?

See our new basement floor? (No, Hoffa is not there.) It was "placed" last Thursday and then saw-cut on Friday. The saw-cuts are intended to weaken the concrete in prescribed lines so the cracks are nice and straight and not jagged random lines. Note also there are no posts. The slab was thickened under various interior walls so the walls can support the upper structure. That way we can have a rather large recreation room with no beams and posts. Actually, at the time of this post, the entire basement is framed-in and the floor trusses are being installed tomorrow.

The Plumber Hides His Work

Since taking this picture on December 1st, the plumbers have buried a bunch of pipes under the basement floor in preparation for "placement of the concrete" by those "Castable Aggregate Placement Specialists" (formerly, cement workers) on Thursday, December 6, Lord willing.

Linda points out that the doorway you see is actually a small storm shelter.

This, like all previous pic's, was taken from the back yard. A picture from the front would show a porta-pottie, piles of dirt and a bunch of trees, while the basement would be mostly hidden from view.

Foundation Walls Completed

We now have concrete walls in about half the basement perimeter. The remaining walls will be wood frame construction. This picture was taken from the back of the lot. What you can't see is how much mud there is. We had some more badly needed rain this past week.

Next on the agenda is "placing" (not pouring) the concrete floor in the basement, due the end of this week--but with all the mud, we'll see. When I walked around, I was "pleased" to see that I had grown taller, but my joy was short-lived when I cleaned my shoes. Before the concrete is placed, all the under-floor basement plumbing has to go down, then 4" of crushed rock has to go down, sheets of plastic (vapor barrier) and finally, welded wire reinforcement over that.

Wall Builders

This picture was taken on Monday and the walls were "placed" (poured) on Wednesday in the midst of much-needed rain. "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" was apparently adopted by our subcontractor, but probably not by the fellows sloshing in the trenches. Note also that concrete is no longer poured, but "placed" by fellows bearing certain credentials and having the title of "Castable Aggregate Placement Specialists" which probably explains why just 2 of 4 walls cost $30,000. I'm fairly sure these are down-sized UAW workers.

Anyway, the only concrete walls in the basement are along the front and the side including the garage while the remaining walls will be constructed of wood. I just know I can hear singing and dancing in the tunnels of our local termites. Notwithstanding the march of overweight termites, our move-in date stands at May 1, 2008.

You Need A Good Foundation

Progress. We have footings. While walking around the footings today, we came away with the feeling that they made a mistake. They just don't look big enough, but we'll see. Now, a surveyor needs to verify that the footings are accurately placed before the City of Oak Ridge will grant a building permit.

Next comes the "short wall build-up" on a portion of the footings on the back side of the basement where the basement floor is 5 feet above the grade of the next door neighbor. I know it sounds complicated, but the footings at the back right corner had to go down to the original grade level so a 5 foot concrete block wall will be layed up to the basement floor level (it will eventually be covered with brick). While this is going on, the front basement walls will be poured. After these two items are done, the basement floor will be poured. But for now, nothing can now be done until we get the official building permit.

We've Finally Started!

Yes! We've finally started. We've started a blog AND we've started building our new home in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. In late September, the trees along the front where cut down and in early October the builder began hauling in fill dirt totalling around 1000 cubic yards. A Bobcat was used to fill what will eventually be the back right corner of the basement floor where it required about 5 feet of fill. This picture is taken from the back of the lot. October 19th was the planned date to dig the footings but we've had nearly a week of on-and-off rain. East Tennessee has experienced the worst draught in 150 years so this rain was a blessing even though it has delayed the house somewhat. The schedule calls for digging and pouring the footings and then a double-check by a surveyor to be sure they are exactly right. Once the City of Oak Ridge accepts the surveyor's report, we can apply for a building permit. Our builder says that from that point the house will be completed in 6 months.