Backstory Blueprints Photo Archive January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 Current Blog

Tuesday, February 1, 2005 Anchors away! Five of these beauties found their way into the ground, hitting bedrock at about the 37 foot level, just in time for the forming of the east foundation wall. Our soils engineer needed to see these to confidently tell us to move forward in the project. Hope your back is doing better, John. Saturday, February 5, 2005 After a quick and productive start, the project now sits waiting for foundation work. Welcome to the wonderful world of home-building. Part of the process is being patient as contractors deal with their busy schedules. Visiting from Albany, our good friends Rod, Kate and baby Savannah braved the mud to see the big hole. Joy and I take off for Florida, Monday, to attend an annual floorcovering business convention. We'll be excited to see some progress by our return on the 10th. Perhaps we'll have a place to stash that lucky baby boot. Sunday, February 13, 2005 My brother Derek, our niece Sadie, and Uncle Dave joined us to look at Pete's progress on the footing form work started on Friday. We're thrilled to see every bit and piece take shape before our eyes. Rebar used for reinforcement in the concrete laid within a maze of wood form panels. Perspective changes and toys with the mental images we had prior to the forms laying out. Basement rooms suddenly have a dimension and seem small at this stage without wall height to gauge by. Mt. Hood teased us but refused to come out from behind the clouds today, but we were spared the predicted rain. If the wetness holds off and Pete's schedule allows, we may see some concrete poured next week. Thursday, February 17, 2005 This was Pete's week to work on footings and foundation walls. Footings were poured Tuesday and the framework for the foundation walls was erected Wednesday and Thursday in beautiful but windy conditions. Some walls required building eleven-foot-tall forms housing the rebar, a nifty trick when the wind whips the wood from your hands. Thursday afternoon, Pete and crew were scrambling to put the finishing touches on the wall forms in preparation for Friday afternoon's concrete pump truck arrival. Our vision of the place continues to mutate one day to the next. Friday, February 18, 2005 The wind died down for Pete and the crew as they finished setting panels in the morning hours. Concrete started pumping around 1 p.m. The process is a fun one to watch. Concrete trucks pour concrete into the pump truck which sends the mix through the impressively long and tall hose. An operator with a joystick device places the hose where needed and Pete's guys do a highwire balancing act, directing the nozzle over the top of the wall forms. As the walls fill they look for any signs of weakness in the structure, tapping and pounding where boards appear to want to give way at the base of the forms. There's a tremendous amount of weight in the tallest sections. Once full the tops of the walls are troweled flat and bolts for the framers are set. Pete predicted finishing by the end of the day and saw stripping off of the framing panels occurring over the weekend and Monday. Sunday, February 20, 2005 Pete and crew finished removal of all the panels and the connecting metal pins in preparation for the application of waterproofing membrane later in the week. The windy week did not make our project one of the more pleasant experiences for the crew, but they did a fantastic job and we appreciate Pete fitting us into his busy schedule. Wednesday, February 23, 2005 To help guard against foundation leaks, we had waterproofing membrane slathered all around the house where the grade of the land would contact the concrete. The fellow applying the stuff had questions about how high to apply it on the south side of the house so we enlisted our excavator Shaun to draw a line. Having to call Shaun is an example of how dependent we are on our contractors to help other contractors when questions arise. There will be instances of this happening throughout the project. Friday, February 25, 2005 Wednesday through Friday, Shawn and his guys maneuvered twenty-six dumptruck loads of gravel into the garage and basement. We were happy to see how flat our drive would be into the garage, concerned that we might be driving up or down into the garage level. He installed draintile tubing along the bases of the foundation walls and then the extra dirt around the perimeter disappeared as he filled it in next to the walls. The garage took tons of rock itself with its once high walls reduced to comparatively smaller bases ready to attach framing. The basement was filled with rock close to where the final concrete pad level would be. Continue on to March

Backstory Blueprints Photo Archive January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 Current Blog