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.

Digging Right Along

Right Side of Basement Midweek

Excavation is rolling right along thanks to some great weather towards the end of last week.  The basement walls went into production on Friday and should be installed late this week (weather dependent of course).  We decided to go with precast concrete walls for many reasons — Rusty has done extensive research regarding this decision.  If you Google it, you will find good and bad — but you will find good and bad with any foundation system you decide to go with.  I will do an entire blog post on the foundation once we have pics of the installation.

Right Side of Basement - Friday 3/18

A soil engineer will be performing a soil density test tomorrow, gravel will go in after that, so on and so forth;-)  I learned last week that drier is better when it comes to performing a soil density test.  Basically what the engineer will be looking for is that we are building on undisturbed soil that can support the weight of the house.

Left Side of Basement - Midweek

HINDSIGHT IS 20/20:  We should have ordered our windows earlier…I think.  We were delayed closing on the sale of our home and we were hesitant to place any large orders until that was signed, sealed and delivered.  We didn’t have control over this one so we’ll wait and see;-)

Left Side of Basement - Friday 3/18

Basement From Lower Drive - 3/20

Will Dancing