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

Foundation Garments

Front Left 3/31

This process has been very interesting to watch.  We chose the precast foundation walls for a few reasons – mainly being speed of construction and quality control.  I don’t think there is any way to guarantee you will have a completely dry basement but there are a lot of measures you can take to give you the best chance at it.  I’ve lived in homes that had both traditional block and poured in place concrete walls.  Rusty grew up in a basement home that had poured in place concrete walls.  We both had opinions going into the selection process based off of those experiences.  We also talked to several contractors and individuals who had the different types of basement walls.

Front Right 3/31

The house I grew up in that had a block basement and crawl space leaked like a sieve – I remember dehumidifiers running in the basement and several inches of water in the basement at one point.  The next home that had poured in place concrete walls with a daylight basement was completely dry and never really felt like a “basement.”  Rusty’s experience was similar – he grew up in a poured in place concrete basement home.  This home was built in the late 1970s and his parents did not have any water issues until those massive rains we had last spring.  What we’ve learned is that regardless of the system, it really comes down to installation.  You can have the most high tech system but if it’s installed incorrectly, it won’t work.  Likewise, you can have a traditional system that will perform beautifully if you pay attention to detail and protect it appropriately.

HINDSIGHT IS 20/20:  I know absolutely nothing about construction…but I’m learning.  Visit your site frequently and study the process.  I love that I know where my drainage tile is, how it works, and what is going on under my home;-)

Front Left 4/1

Front Right 4/1

Starting the Garage

The Basement is at the Shell Station

A Few Panels Waiting Their Turn...

Okay, really weird to drive by the Shell station at the corner and see your basement on a flatbed.  Kind of made me giddy;-)  Remember we went with precast foundation walls so they were transported to the lot from the manufacturing site.  They started putting the walls up around lunch time last Thursday – prep was followed by putting together a gigantic jigsaw puzzle.

Installation of the main part of the basement was completed on Friday afternoon.  There were a few hiccups with the side porch and garage walls – this wasn’t the simplest of designs when it came to how the walls were to be built and how this fit together with excavation.  We did a walk through with the company rep on Sunday and the crew was back at it this morning.  They were cut short by crazy bad weather today so it will most likely be a few more days before they can even get their trucks back on the site.

Outline of the Body (of the Front Porch)

The next few posts will have tons of pictures to record the installation of the walls – they went up fast so don’t blink;-)

HINDSIGHT IS 20/20:  The culvert got obliterated.  To the crew’s credit, they had a really rough time getting the crane and flatbeds onto the drive due to the mud and the width of the road.  Very glad we went with the wider culvert now but those nail strips only work if your subcontractors don’t remove them…

Completely Squashed;-(

Poised and Ready

Foundation Prep - Front Porch

If April showers bring May flowers then March showers bring construction delays;-)  We were hoping to see the foundation walls go in last Thursday/Friday which turned into Monday/Tuesday which turned into tomorrow.  I’m looking at this as a blessing - remember I’m still crossing my fingers on those windows and doors getting here in time.  The site has been prepped and ready to go for the foundation since last Tuesday.  Rusty was out at the lot this afternoon though and final prep and cleanup was being completed for installation tomorrow.

Lots of Gravel

We decided to go with precast foundation walls.  We didn’t go with the name brand but we did go with an experienced crew…and installation is key when it comes to these basement systems.  The funny thing is that the company we went with is based out of Rusty’s hometown.  Our sales rep was his band director in high school - kind of weird talking basements with the guy I first met at a band competition when Rusty and I were first dating.

More pictures to come…pending the rain;-)

More Gravel

HGTVPro has an excellent video explaining precast foundation walls but unfortunately it does not have direct linking capability.  The link below will take you to a series of foundation videos - scroll through until you see the ”Precast Foundation Walls” to become a foundation expert.  Okay, maybe not but it’s a pretty cool video.

HGTVPro Best Practice Video Center – Foundations Channel

HINDSIGHT IS 20/20:  Band directors know basements.