They laid all the footers yesterday, and today was the first chance we had to dodge raindrops and go see what it looks like now. It's lookin' like a house!
And here's the basement layout superimposed... :-)
Week 3, Day 19 - Footings are Poured!
So today it all "felt official" The workers laid the foundation to the house! {cue crowd roaring}
Lots of pics, so I'll get on with it.
Still a pretty wet jobsite, but that wasn't stopping anyone!
Laying out the forms for the concrete footings...
The first truckload of stone for under the basement floor...
The jobsite - 10/30/2009
The further he backed up, the more he sank!
The forms, aligned precisely.
The drain
Lines and forms...
Putting together the forms for the
change in height from basement wall to walkout.
Aligning the form
Our front stoop! :-)
Doublechecking the measurements
Slinging stone... (Jen: I want one of these for Christmas! I am drooling at the thought of all the things I can "sling!" Compost, mulch, hay, leaves, recalcitrant seed- oh yeah!)
This truly was a very cool sight to see. One of my favorites so far. (Jen)
Making sure the stone is where it needs to be
First cement truck needed a hand with the hill- a bulldozer tow!
Making sure the forms are secure...
I am amazed at the reach of the cement truck!
The vertical forms get poured first,
so they can set up a bit before the rest is poured.
The reach of the conveyor on the cement truck fascinated me. It's looking like a real house, too!
Pouring the pads that the posts will rest on.
Shoveling and leveling
The footers being poured...
Look how far the cement truck sank into the wet ground!
We were pretty sure the cement truck was going to slide right into the basement. Probably wouldn't have been the first time a cement truck fell in the basement... :-)
It was quite a busy road frontage!
The final cement truck climbs toward the jobsite...
Week 3, Day 18 - Neither Rain, Nor Sleet, Nor Snow...
Well, ok. Not snow. Yet. It's in the forecast for next week though. Anyway, Mike and Ron dodged rain clouds and laid out the basement.
Jen, ever so patiently waiting for yours truly to finish taking photos... :-)
Still a wet day, but Mike and Ron were not to be deterred!
I wager they were thinkin' about hip waders... :-)
Checkin' the measurements...
It really says something about Mike and the folks he works with that they all feel free to express their opinions and argue their point, if need be. I LOVE the fact that they discussed at length the measurements and layout to make sure all was exactly right.
And when questions arose Mike had no problem calling Barry back out
to double-check that all was where it should be.
It's so readily apparent when they interact that all of the people Mike chooses to work with are professionals and respect each other's expertise.
More slogging through the mud to
get it all set up for digging the lower section of the foundation...
One last check and then the lines all get laid out.
The Floor Plan
We designed our house ourselves, completely from scratch. We started by cutting out simple rectangles and squares for the rooms. Then we drew a big box and placed the shapes to best fit within the "big box." We pushed out walls here, brought them in there, and reshaped everything until we had it just so.
We sifted through thousands of plans online first, but none fit our family. We wanted the living, dining, and kitchen to be open. We also wanted the office to be open to the Living room and kitchen, but with the ability to close it off when guests are over. (Jim in the office, Jen in the kitchen, and the kids in the middle, all able to see and interact with one another.)
We also wanted a mudroom/pantry off the kitchen, and a tall and somewhat dramatic entry way without losing too much space to "open air."
Ideally we wanted the master suite to be on the main level, but it was much more economical if all three levels were the same shape, so up it went.
One of the kids bedrooms is larger than the other, and that was done so that eventually the girls (second girl still TBD) can bunk together.
I (Jen) am not a fan of the television in the living room. Consequently our living room is more cozy and will have a fireplace as its focal point. The television will go downstairs (far from the bedrooms) in the entertainment room. The lower level will be heated by a radiant floor heating system so no need to worry about chilly toes.
I'm sure there will be things we've missed and wished we had thought about, but this layout took us almost 4 months to design, and given our experience to date, it's just about perfect for us!
Main Level
Second Story
Garden Level
Week 3, Day 17 - Rain Check
Well, Mother Nature had a thing or two to say about whether they were gonna work today. Pretty much needed a boat to navigate the hole, so they called it off. Tomorrow's another day!
Here's another shot of our new trail up to the gravel pit.
And an idea of just how wet it was today...
