Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Progress in Many Areas!

There is progress to report in a few areas!  First,  as the walls continued to rise above the kitchen floor,  I couldn't put off any longer the difficult job of removing the forms under the kitchen floor!  One of the laborers, Sid,  spent a good part of a day cutting and removing the temporary shoring lumber.  This was difficult because of the cramped situation, but also because there is a narrow gap at the entrance so all of the lumber needed to be cut to short lengths!  What a trooper!


Outside,  the sewer line was finally connected and ready to bury!  Here it is at the house side with a clean-out visible:


Right in the middle of the driveway there is another clean-out,  then it drops down to the level of the "lateral" the pipe set under the street to my property line:

Here is the test plug in place on the right,  and the fitting that connects my 4" plastic pipe to the city's 6" clay lateral.  The test plug inserts in the fitting, then is inflated until it closes off the pipe. Then I could fill the entire line to test for leaks.  There weren't any!

I passed that inspection and compacted the dirt on top,  then trenched across it to set the electrical conduit in.  It runs from the pull-box already in place...


... to the permanent service meter location between the garages.

I also placed drywall in the back top of the garage.  After it was inspected I taped and painted it to get ready for the HVAC unit.

The next day the guys from Precise Air came with the equipment,  set some hanger hardware into the concrete,  then we all lifted the unit onto the hangers.


This is one of two HVAC units.  It will service the cellar and 1st floors.  The second unit located in a crawlspace behind the kitchen,  will take care of the 2nd floors.


I also started forming the front porch outside of the main entry.



This week we also finished forming the kitchen walls up to the point where the ceiling would be set.



After building the window bucks,  we will be ready to finish the 1st floor walls!


Onward and Upward!

2 comments:

LAhilltop said...

I've been wondering about the piping in this kind of construction. Are the pipes cast into the concrete when a wall is poured? Or are they cut into the foam afterward like the wiring?
You are going to have one seriously sturdy house when it is finished. Thanks for posting.

Carl

Escott O. Norton said...

Hi Carl,

The plumbing is still be ing done by me! No plumber has been brave enough to tackle this project! IN answer to your question, some pipes are set into the concrete, mostly under slabs, but the majority are run in the foam. When the pipe has to pass through a concrete wall, I will insert a larger piece of pipe into the form before I pour concrete, this creates a "sleeve" that I can then run the actual pipe through at a later time.

There you go, ask a simple question, get way more info that you wanted in return!

Cheers,
Escott