Week 5, Day 29 - Backfilling and Trenching!

While our family is on vacation in Minnesota this week, Tim, Joyce, Mike and Melody are taking pictures of the progress so we can keep both ourselves and you up-to-date on the progress.

Today was backfilling around the house, and trenching the utilities up and down the hill.

Digging the "swayle" to
catch hill runoff and channel it around the house...

Landscape fabric on top of gravel/rocks next to the drainage pipe to increase drainage...nothing left to chance! Love it!

Getting the sewer line all hooked up.

Digging the trenches through the woods...

Pieces and parts for the various utilities to be installed...

The backfilled basement walls, waiting for framing... :-)

Slope of the hill at the walkout level...

Slope out front of the house, next to the entry...

More gravel was delivered for the driveway...

And our guest photographers, (L-R) Joyce, Melody, Mike and Tim (taking the picture). Thanks guys!

Week 4, Day 26 - They Bubble-Wrapped my Basement!

OK, so it wasn't really Bubble-Wrap, but it sure looked like it when they were doing it! But before we get to that, I have some pics of the basement with the final load of stone slung around.

The basement.

The corner of Gigi's room, looking south.

In Gigi's room, looking towards the storage room.

In the storage room, looking towards the family room.

Bottom of the stairs, looking towards Gigi's room.

In the family room, looking towards the stairs.

While I was taking the above pics, the people were getting set up to "waterproof" the basement walls...

Spraying on what looks like a cross between oil and rubber or something...

Jen thought these rolls looked like bubble wrap.
Once she said it, I couldn't get that thought out of my head. :-)

We came back later in the day, after they were finished for a look at the finished product.

The "bubble-wrap" functions as a sort of drainage-channel for water that gets behind the membrane. The membrane has an almost cloth-like substance on the outside, probably to protect the rubber/plastic. Anything that gets behind the membrane naturally drains down to the footers, where the channel gives it an easy out to drain to daylight. Nice!

Week 4, Day 25 - Forms Off!

OK, so yesterday the basement walls were poured. Today already, Mike had them pulling the forms off! I'm amazed at how quickly this process moves! And how well the teams all work together. Lots of jokes, funnin' around, and joviality while they cranked away getting their job done. Very cool.

Onto the pics.

Pulling off the forms...

The tabs you see sticking out of the wall will
simply be broken off after all of the panels are off.

Removing the panels and
getting them back on their racks.

Drainage pipes. Taking no chances, Mike has drainage pipes running from the plastic forms down to "daylight" at the low corner of the house.

The back wall of Gigi's future bedroom.

Mike sharing a jovial moment with the workers...

Loading it all back on the trucks...

Week 4, Day 24 - Foundation Walls!

Today was the pouring of the basement walls! {cue happy dance}

Let's get right to the pics!

The pumper truck arrives and starts setting up...

Mike talks over some last minute details with the concrete people...

The pumper truck (my term)

Pour the concrete here. :-)

Some interesting lines, to me at least...

The first cement truck arrives.

The second cement truck arrives.
Looks like they are gonna double-team the pumper truck!

Double-checking the measurements and making sure it's all square.

They made everyone wait while they double-checked all the measurements. I thought that was awesome, and spoke well of them.

And finally, the pumping begins!

What a cool setup! The guy running the pumper truck used these belt-on controls to move the arms of the truck. He could walk right around with the guy guiding the tube and put it exactly where it needed to be. Very cool!

Dumping the cement (concrete? What's the right term?) into the hopper.

An alternate view of the work.

We now have walls! Tomorrow the forms come off!