Drainboard and "knowing the client"

1. Drainboard

So this is what went on the outside of the concrete wall over the spray-on waterproofing. It's a plastic honeycomb with a fabric on the outside to keep the dirt out. It allows any water to run down the face of the wall and then into the footing drain, thusly keeping the wall dry. Pretty ingenious.

2. Knowing the client

Earlier I mentioned that I put a sketch up on the fence for the neighbors to see what we are planning. Many people have been stopping by to check it out but I noticed one problem. People were turning their heads to view the drawings........................being the good architect I did the drawings with north facing up. The only problem is that when you are standing on the sidewalk you are looking.......you guessed it, south! Some quick re-lettering and cutting and pasting and I have fixed it up so it makes more sense. Gotta take care of the client ya know :-)

What have I been doing??

Well when the concrete contractor was here I stayed out of the way for the most part. I sawcut the old foundation and generally cleaned up. After they removed their forms I needed to break off the foundation ties that were used to hold the forms in place. One kind was just a metal rod which was no problem. In the areas that the wall will be exposed they put a rod with a plastic cone to add some detail to the wall. BIG PROBLEM for me! They were hard to bust off and get the cones out. Here is a before and after shot. Lots of swinging with the sledge hammer, prying and cussing and they are all done. I will grind and clean it all up later.

Concrete Walls & Waterproofing

The concrete walls and footings are now complete and the contractor has removed all their forms. Everything turned out pretty good. A couple of minor errors that I can work around but the main wall turned out real good. The exposed areas got chamfered edges and today the waterproofer came and did their thing. The exterior got a silver foam like spray everywhere and in addition the main wall where the house is got a fabric drain board. It all looks great and I don't think we will ever have any water problems.

The Application of waterproofing. Note the dusting of snow ;-(

Drain board fabric on the right wher the house addition will be

View from new storage room looking through addition under the new garage.

Concrete in those Forms!

A quick update. The forms and rebar were done yesterday and they poured the concrete today. The forms will be stripped tomorrow and then we will have one tall wall in our front yard! :-)

View from the end of the house

with retaining wall in the foreground

Photo from driveway

Photo from the curb level. Top of the wall is about 6"down on the forms so the drive will slope down to the street about 1' +-...............just as planned :-)

Project Sketch

So living near a school I get a regualr flow of neighbors and kids walking by checking out all the activity. Since the house is a little hard to describe I decided to put a sketch board out on the fence.

Wall Forms going UP!

The footings are done and their forms have been removed. Now the contractor is tieing rebar vertically and horizontally and then putting the forms in place for pouring the walls. It's pretty exciting seeing lots of progress lately, especially since it's not just tied to only my labor! Seeing the wall height is surprising at first but when you crouch down, the top of the new wall is just above the existing gutter line which is where I guessed it would be. That all makes sense but it really reinforces the amount of fill needed out front at the driveway.

Front Additon w/retaining wall. If you look carefully you can see the vertical rebar stepping down as it gets closer. That is the retaining wall steps to meet grade by the mailbox.

Corner of new addition with the retaining wall coming towards the camera.

LOOKS TALL!

Rest of the rebar and forms ready to go in

The walls should be done next week and then it's back to demolition

The Footing Concrete Pour

The concrete truck transfers the concrete into the pumper truck which then pumps the concrete through its 95' boom to where it is needed.

The guy on the left is operating the boom with the remote control and the guy on the right is directing the nozzle the where the concrete is needed. Back at the concrete truck the operator is monitoring the flow of concrete into the pumper truck.

Using the boom to pour over the house

Pumper truck on the sidewalk

Footing Preparation

The first major subcontractor is now onsite. They are responsible for all the footing and foundation work. I had to prepare the area, which entailed yet some more additional digging plus I had to layout the addition footprint corners. Finally had to saw cut the existing foundation in two places to tie in the new work. Some shoveling, measuring and remeasuring and finally the rental of a concrete saw and here we are ready for tommorrow's concrete pour for the footings. Oh yeah we also had to get two city inspections. The first was for erosion control. No problem since the soil is so sandy and porous, plus any runoff is going back onto the site and not out to the neighbors. Second was for the footing rebar. Also pretty straight forward. 9AM concrete pour tomorrow. I am in charge of traffic control:-) I need to redirect cars and pedestrians whilst the concrete truck and pumper are here.

"Skybridge" over to garage
note missing chimney and cut in the existing foundation

Footing layout out front.
Retaining wall is nearest camera w/house addition down by the existing garage

Footing layout out back

More Demolition

The weather has improved and things are moving forward. The living room floor is gone, preparing this area for new footings.

The chimney and fireplace also have been removed. Eventually the wall will come down to make room for the new laundry and "Meditation Room".

More to follow soon.

Interior Changes

The snow has kept me from working outside lately. It is all gone now but I just looked out the window and darned if it isn't snowing again! I don't think it will stay long though. The last few days I have been remodeling spaces and moving our belongings around to accomodate the demo work I need to do in the living room area. I need to prepare this area for new footings in the next week.

1. "Rough finished" the back bedroom enough so I could move us back into this space. This room is now a good size space with a nice size closet. It will make a great #2 bedroom.

2. Tore down the entry closet and adjacent wall so the third bedroom is now a sitting area off the front door. To do this I built a temporary wall along the living room side.

3. Built a temporary wall to block off the living room form the dining/kitchen area.

So next week I need to finish foundation digging outside, demo the living room floor, and prep for footings.

How's the Cat?

Many people ask how our cat is dealing with all the change around the home lately. With all the construction remodeling as well as the weeks of snow, most cats would be very freaked out and having a hard time with it all. Well don't worry about "Q"! Every day is an exhausting day of exploring the ever changing homestead. He is constantly in and out checking things out, even when the snow covered the ground. Of course all this excitement doesn't get in the way of what he does best!

Since Tif is traveling right now, here is the king of the house napping on her side of the bed!