Sand, Water and Electricity

Okay, I wish the sand and water were at the beach but I’m equally as thrilled with them being at the lot;-)  Lots of progress last week…

Basement Plumbing Roughed In

The foundation was completed (kind of) on Wednesday.  We are still awaiting some final touches from Greenway Walls in that department but nothing that holds up progress elsewhere.  The water meter was installed by East Montgomery Utility Department after I was told earlier in the week that it had already been installed;-)  Thought that one was funny.  Our temporary electric was set up, inspected, and up and running in less than 24 hours thanks to a very prompt Dee Brinkley.  Dee said it might take up to a week after the pole was set to get service but we were open for business the day after he set the pole.  Plumbing for the basement was laid out on Thursday and roughed in on Friday.

Trench Next to Front Porch Pre Sand

Rusty and I completed our “drainage trench” on Saturday.  We had 20 tons of coarse sand delivered to the lot on Thursday.  After digging out the dirt that had fallen in on the landscape fabric from the hard rain last Monday, we proceeded to lay a 2-3 foot wide layer of sand that was ~4-6 inches deep around the perimeter of the house.  By the size of the sand pile, we moved ~12-14 tons of sand by hand (and wheelbarrow).  A front loader would have been nice but it wasn’t in the budget right now.  I considered it a great workout and great time with hubby BUT we were both very sore and Aleve happy yesterday;-)

Trench Next to Front Porch Post Sand

We are waiting on a soil test to get in the right hands before we move forward with an inspection.  Hopefully, we will be able to start concrete work mid-week and framing after that…a drenching rain today will most likely delay us this week but it is what it is;-)  There has been a few questions regarding our trusses so this will hopefully give us an extra day to get that hammered out…

HINDSIGHT IS 20/20:  Adidas tennis shoes with vented soles are inappropriate shoe wear when working with sand.

Vented Soles Good for Running...Not for Sand

$90 (landscaping fabric) + $310 (sand) + lots of elbow grease = $400 investment in a dry basement I’m willing to make.

Along the Front of the House

Cement Pond

What I’m finding as we build is that there is sometimes a big discrepancy between “up to code” and “best practice.”  I’ve also learned that just because something is “the way it’s always been done” doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the best way to construct my forever home (or any home for that matter).

Our Cement Pond aka the Garage

The best example of this was my first trip to a local block company last fall.  Our designer, Lynn Taylor, had spent a lot of time and energy putting together a very detailed plan of our foundation.  At the time we were unsure whether we would be going with brick or stone covering our foundation – actually we were quite confused about the structural differences needed behind the scenes to plan for the different exteriors so I was completely ill-equipped for the trip.

Needless to say, I left very frustrated.  The first question I got was, “Why would you do it like that?”  Next came the, “I’ve been doing this for 25 years and I’ve never seen it done like that.”  My response should have been, ”I’ve seen a lot of houses built in the last 25 years that are falling apart.”

Lynn had prepared us…she had said that we would get some questions about some of the details on the plan.  She confirmed that she would lay out some construction and historic detail that would go against “how it is always done” and that we would have to pay attention to execution.  Her plans focus on “best practice” according to each trade and that we may have to go to bat to get the quality we desired.  This interaction at the block company became the basis for an ongoing joke between Lynn and us…we called it the “your-designer-is-smokin’-crack” look.

Lots of People Order 20 Tons of Sand...Right?

And so it goes this past week…I got questioned on why we were wanting to take an extra step on drainage (see previous post titled Draining Work).  Likewise, I’ve had to decide between two polar opposite views of how to pour concrete – fiber vs. wire.  I think I made the right choice but both subcontractors came with outstanding recommendations and both were equally convincing with their explanations about why his way was the best.  It did force me to do some research regarding the topic, however.  I can’t say that my research pointed out a clear winner but it did teach me that there is a difference between cement and concrete…I never knew.

HINDSIGHT IS 20/20:  Knowledge is power.  The Clampetts incorrectly referred to their swimming pool as the “cement pond” – they would have been correct in calling it a concrete pond.  Cement is merely a component of concrete;-)