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The Start of the Finishing!

2008-11-08T23:08:00.000-08:00

While framing continued upstairs, Simon continued to install doors and windows all week.

Working very carefuly and with great precision, he was able to install up to 4 doors each day.

The wall between Evan's room and the Kid's Den takes shape,

Evan's room, still full of lumber!

The arch top windows in the Master Bedroom were placed, involving a little bit of custom adapting!

More bedroom level framing was completed:

The huge iron front door arrived this week! It was so heavy that the full crew was needed to get it into place, and that was just the frame and the transom!

The frame was bolted to the rough framing, then each door (without the glass) took 2 people to carry and set onto the hinges. After the door frame was plumbed and squared, the glass panels were hung onto the doors.

The plumbers made a lot of progress this week! This view of the crawlspace behind the kitchen shows all of the waste lines for the upstairs bathrooms:

The plumbing in the wall between bathrooms and above the crawl space was also worked on:

As soon as enough windows and doors were installed, the waterproofers from All Year Roofing came and caulked around all of the windows:

I guess to be a roofer you can't have a fear of heights!

A special caulking heavy-duty was used, and all gaps between ICF, concrete and window jambs were completely sealed.

Thomas Craven, the garage door finisher, came by to show me some finish samples. He had one that matched the door and window finish, and I thought would look really nice for the garage doors, so we made the deal!

The waste line was extended from the fitting in the middle of the driveway to the north side yard. This would take the waste from the master bathroom and the roof sink.

The raised floor for the tub area in the Master Bathroom was started.

The stairs between the lower and upper roof decks were formed,

as well as the upper roof deck parapet walls.

The fire sprinkler company started installing the special orange piping this week. They went very quickly; in just a few days, most of the pipe was placed.

I had my guys cut out the foam channels and notch the steel joists, so it was fairly straight forward.

We still had to figure out how to run the lines to the proper locations, and get the sprinkler heads at the right height.

Sometimes this would mean making a little loop at the sprinkler heads.

Next week, some more exterior details!

Framing the 2nd Floor

2008-11-01T21:51:00.000-07:00

This week the fireplace was installed! The opening in the concrete was a little wide, as planned, so wood studs were anchored to the concrete for the fireplace to be attached to. The depth of the alcove was not quite deep enough so one of the laborers had to jackhammer a few inches off of the whole back side!

The flue was attached and extended as far as we had built the chimney. The installation company would return to extend it all the way up later.

The stone columns and moulding also arrived and were stacked in the house until we could install them.

Now that the last of the shoring has been removed, the second floor interior framing could be started. The center walls that aligned with the structural posts and plumbing were laid out first, then the rest of the walls were laid out around them. In this photo, Charlie is laying out the sill plates for Kyle's room.

The Master Bedroom Suite was also laid out. The wall below separates the Sitting room from the Bathroom.

Under this window will be the Master Bath.

Now that the windows and doors were finally on site, I was able to start installing them. The first ones in were the Kitchen/Great Room windows.

Tim Adams from All Year Roofing came by to offer advice on the first windows, making sure we installed the flashing properly so they would not leak.

The most challenging windows turned out to be the arch topped windows in the curved wall of the Master Bedroom tower. To simplify the forming of the wall, the openings were formed as rectangles, so now the openings needed to be adapted to fit the windows.

Most of the upstairs walls were framed, except for the ones blocked by the huge stacks of drywall!

The skylight openings with the forms removed:

Up on the roof, the forms were being set for the parapet walls. All the leftover shoring lumber was stacked on the roof to allow some clear working area on the bedroom level, which made it pretty crowded on the roof!

The round tower section forms were removed to make way for the parapet framing:

The South parapet wall with it's three openings is formed:

The 6' high east wall is formed:

As the forms rose around the roof deck, the pile of scrap wood and foam rose in the middle!

Soon I would have to take the time to get it all down to the recycling dumpster!

Next week, more doors and windows!

A Couple of Important Deliveries!

2008-10-25T20:06:00.000-07:00

So much has been happening, and I have not been able to keep up on the construction and the blog! I have been taking pictures throughout, and will try to recall the last month's progress!

In the second week of October the drywall was delivered for the entire house! The process of "stocking" the house took most of the morning. First, two trucks full of drywall were unloaded in to neat stacks on the street.

The Gradall Forklift then took one stack at a time and positioned it outside of the garage, while the stocking crew slid it off the forklift and re-stacked it inside. They next lifted a large stack to the livingroom.

Another stack was loaded into the kitchen.

Here the stockers are pulling double sheets of drywall into the kitchen through the window.

Another big stack was set into the Master Bedroom,

Finally, the rest of the drywall was lifted to the top level. Since the stockers had to slide it in through the porch doors, trhe drywall had to be loaded onto a special rack, then lifted 33 feet abovee the street to the kids porch, slid in and stacked.

The crew worked very hard and did a great job!

Also this week, the HVAC crew came to do more duck work for the 2nd floor.

When we poured the 2nd floor, there were quite a few places where I forgot to leave voids in the concrete for ducts, so we have had to cut and chip a lot of holes in the concrete. Lot's of noisy work! Daniel is shown chipping a hole in the tower wall for a heater vent.

FINALLY, the custom doors and windows arrived! The journey from my design, to ordering from Tikal Doors, to manufacturing by Antigua Doors in Guatemala, and finally to Buckingham was a long one, delayed yet another week by Customs! As luck would have it, the container with my order was picked at random for a detailed Customs search.

Everything was pulled out, piece by piece, inspected, then repacked. Not very well re-packed, in my opinion! In fact, one of the doors had a large scratch on it, I'm sure because it was so badly repacked by the Customs Office.

When the container arrived, it was parked at the bottom of Buckingham, and each door and window was unloaded and carried up to the lot.

The smaller doors and windows were carried up the path, and the larger unites were pulled up to the house on a ramp in front of the garage. Some of these double doors were HEAVY!

All of the doors and windows were stockpiled in the round tower room for later installation.

The First FAMILY WORK WEEKEND!

2008-10-07T20:09:00.000-07:00

My dear family all came together this last weekend to lend a hand, and it was WONDERFUL! Not only do I have a talented family, but a very supportive and intelligent family! I was able to start each of them on different jobs and they would do it with enthusiasm! What a pleasure it was to have them all working with me!

Dad had the difficult job of creating the curved top plate for the wall that thickens the first floor of the tower.

My brother and his wife worked on the "structured wiring". This is the communications wiring that goes to each room from a central hub, including phone, computer and tv cabling.

Some of the family spent time removing the shoring from the kid's bedroom level,

Others were stationed on the roof deck, assembling what was left of the EcoBlock. It's going to be close!

At lunch the little ones arrived to eat with us! They were so excited to climb around and explore! I can't wait to get some railings up so we can let them go wild!

After lunch we got back to work! Steel rebar was cut:

The front of the garage was prepped for the small roof facade to be built later:

Finally, a LOT of cleanup! By the end of Saturday, the entire upper floor was cleared of shoring and swept clean!

On Sunday we spent the morning quietly laying out the walls for the top floor, and doing even more cleaning. This was made a little difficult by the huge stack of lumber in the middle of the floor, but the family managed to get most of the walls defined, and fill another dumpster with debris!

After lunch my mom and I went to a great exhibit of works by one of my favorite architects, John Lautner. I find his work challenging and very inspiring. Lautner was not afraid to think outside the box, he used a huge variety of materials (including lots of concrete!) and experimented with bold shapes and spaces in all of his works. His most famous home is the Chemosphere, but I am most inspired by Marbrisas in Acapulco, the Elrod House in Palm Springs, the Turner House in Aspen, and the Schaffer Residence in Montrose.

Thanks to my dear family, this was a very productive and exciting weekend!

Getting to the Interior Details (finally!)

2008-10-07T18:22:00.000-07:00

Now that the major pours have been completed, the more interesting work on the inside. One of the areas I have been looking forward to is the foyer ceiling. For years I have imagined a domed and vaulted ceiling for this round room, and it has been great to get started. First, we built 6 plywood "rib" structures.

These rib structures were mounted on each structural pole, meeting in the center.

Another interesting area is the music nook off of the livingroom. When plastered, the nook ceiling will follow the shape that I formed in the concrete beam.

The electrician and the HVAC crews have been busy. Most of the electrical on the first floors is done, and most has been inspected and approved.

The recessed lighting fixtures have also been installed. When the wiring runs parallel to the AmDeck, the wires run inside the channels formed in the foam, but when we need to run perpendicular to the AmDeck, a channel needed to be cut as shown below.

The HVAC crew installed a large rectangular duct on the drop ceiling space above the 1/2 bath and portion of the kitchen. This will go from the 2nd heater located in the crawl space behind the kitchen and will service the entire 2nd floor.

The wall oven arrived, and it's HEAVY! It took 4 of us to carry it up the path to the kitchen and I'm thinking it will stay right where it is until it gets installed!

After I got the 7 day test reports for the concrete, I started removing the shoring.

It was great to see my arch going into the tower bedroom that I had imagined for so long!

The rest of the shoring would have to wait until the big weekend!

The Big Roof Pour(s)!

2008-09-28T17:56:00.000-07:00

It has been a hard few weeks. The forming for the roof deck has taken longer than I thought, and is very complex. Every surface is slanted for proper drainage, yet I had to make sure all levels interconnected at the proper heights. The other difficulty is that I am now trying to build forms 39 to 45 feet above street level, so it's tough to access! I frequently find myself on my belly hanging on to some rebar with one hand and bending over the edge to screw some form to the outside wall! If I had a fear of heights when I started, it is all gone now! Here is a typical view looking down from the roof as I assemble AmDeck. The orange Looney Bins dumpster is at the street, Jeanne is at the front porch 18 feet above, and I'm 45 feet above the street on the roof!

Dad has continued to come in 2 days a week to help out and it has been wonderful having him around! This week he worked on the special stairs going up from the living-room to the dining room kitchen level.

Each step is a different shape so it was a tough one to figure. They came out just as I had hoped, and it is also nice to not have the walk up the rickety old ramp!

After getting the plumbing and electrical approved for the kitchen and dining room, we mounted plywood to the walls to give us a perfectly plumb and square surface to mount the cabinetry. We even brought in a couple of the cabinets to see how they look!

Here is a close-up of the plumbing and electrical mounted in channels cut in the foam:

On the great-room side opposite the kitchen, Dad and his helper built the AV counter. This will house the TV and stereo system as well as an access panel for all of the structured wiring.

Now to the mammoth shoring and forming job upstairs!! My favorite part of the task was to form the custom compound curved archway into the Master Bedroom tower! I can't wait to take off the forms!

The shoring for the round tower room is so dense that it is very hard to get in and out! Here are the 3 windows formed and almost ready to pour:

In an effort to divert as much as possible from the landfill, I have been saving all but the smallest scraps of foam forms. The problem is, it is starting to take up a bit of space!

The forms for the skylights in the Guest and kids bathrooms were finished:

Finally, the form was almost finished. I had to get a bit more EPS foam for the roof so it was time for another ridiculous load on the CRV! I got some pretty strange looks as I drove through town!

Finally the week of the last big pour arrived. I was in a race to get the roof done for an inspection on Saturday, so I pushed to pour the walls on Thursday, then the roofs on Friday.

That meant being ready for inspections on Tuesday and Wednesday. They both went well, so now the time had come!

The next 3 days were a BLUR! There are no pictures because I didn't have a second to take any! I had to buzz through the next 3 days without sitting down, and hardly slept at night!

Thursday went alright, I had a few small blowouts, and a few places where I just didn't have time to finish the forms well enough, so I decided to hold off on those areas and do them with the roof slab on Friday.

Friday came and I spend a frantic morning with my laborers finishing forms in anticipation of a 12:30 pour. I had to delay the trucks another hour so I could get more forming done, then we started pouring. The first few trucks went sort of slowly, then we had a pump problem in the middle of the 2nd truck. When the pumper got it working we emptied the truck, then I tried to call for my "cleanup" load but the dispatch number had been closed for the day! I talked to the driver who gave me the direct line to the concrete plant. I reached the dispatcher who sent me my last 2 trucks. By the time the 4th truck backed into place it was 7:02! I quickly called my nearest neighbor and pleaded for their patience as I had to pour so late. They were very understanding and did not complain so I poured it as fast as possible. As the truck finished unloading it was now completely dark! And on top of that, there was not enough concrete to finish the whole job! I carefully chose which areas to do with the concrete we had to make sure the roof was structurally sound, then the finishers did their best by flashlight to finish those areas.

On Saturday I called at 5:30 in the morning to order more concrete, the first truck I could get was for 12:30, so I took the morning with a bunch on new laborers to finish the forms once and for all. A few of my neighbors showed up during the morning concerned hat I was going to be making a noisy mess all day because they were hosting a wedding. I assured them I would be done by 2-3:00 so there would be no problem . They were so nice and understanding about it, amazing considering what they have put up with for 17 months!

When the first truck rolled up I still wasn't really ready, but we started pouring. I let the finishers do the hose and vibrator as I checked under the forms to make sure everything held up, and to supervise the laborers who were still finishing forms. It was pretty exciting (stressful!) having the pour literally going on all around me! I could always tell if my forms were not perfectly tight, though! When the laborers were finished with the forms they started cleaning up . All of the blowout spills from the previous 2 days were broken up by jackhammer...

... then picked up and thrown into the side yard. It was quite a pile! (Before final backfilling, all of the trash and any non-concrete items will be removed)

By 3:00 the last truck arrived and we pump it is as fast as possible to honor the promise I made to my neighbor. Getting the truck to wash out and the pumper to clean up and leave quickly was challenging because by this point we were all very tired!! Finally, the street was cleared of trucks and I quickly hosed it down so it would look as presentable as possible.

When the laborers left at 4:00, the inside had been relatively cleaned up, and we even moved some of the ICFs up to the roof!

The Bank Inspector came shortly after we cleaned up, and did his inspection. One of the things he asked me to do was climb up on the back hill to take a picture. It has been a long time since I saw the house from this angle, So after he left I took my own pictures! It's looking so much like the house I imagined! Here is a view of the largest portion of the roof, this will be the sod roof, and will have a bridge that comes off of the lower left corner so we can access the back yard.

This view is looking between the 2 Oak Trees. Someday I hope to put a jacuzzi or small pool here!

This section of the rear of the home will mostly be underground. The window on the left is the Guest Bedroom, and just to the right of it is the back door. From the back door a gradual path with steps will wind up the hill, a small bridge will lead from the path to the roof deck, and then the path will wind around the tree to the rest of the back yard.

Here is how I look after a 3 day pour!

Next we push forward on the interior details, and hopefully, install some windows and doors!

Finishing the Roof Forms

2008-09-14T13:49:00.001-07:00

Lots of progress to report in many different areas! The framing in the Kitchen area is almost complete, thanks to Charlie and Dad!

After a lot of agonizing, I finally signed a contract with a custom garage door company. There are a lot of companies out there, but not a lot of companies that really followed through. I contacted many companies and actually met with a few, but the bids and followthrough ranged were all over the map! I finally decided on Summit Door, the first company I had talked to over 2 years ago. They recommended an installer, who I needed to hire separately anyway. I was impressed with their commitment, one of the executives came out and showed me an impressive sample of a door. Eddie the installer came out as soon as I signed a contract, and made a template of the actual opening.

This template allows Summit Doors to make the frame at the top of the door match the opening very closely.

I also arranged for 2 big deliveries, more than a ton of rebar, and a big stack of lumber and plywood. Hopefully, this will be the majority of lumber and steel needed for the rest of the job!

The Home Depot forklift brought it up to the fence but was too short to lift it over the toilet, so he just set it down and we had to carry it piece by piece up to the living room.

Now that more lumber had arrived, Dad and his helper finished the stairs and built the Stereo cabinet shelf in the great room.

Darrel from Blue Fields Electric spent most of the week wiring the kitchen and dining room. He does very complete work! I had all of the channels in the foam already cut, so he set the boxes, ran the wire, and prepped all of the wiring in the boxes. I had the inspector out to clear the kitchen walls so I could cover the wiring and start mounting the cabinets, and the electrical passed the inspection with flying colors!

Meanwhile up on the next level, the tower round wall was almost complete and the rest of the shoring was in place.

I needed to get more EPS (foam) sheets for the Amdeck, so here is the first of the pictures of crazy loads I've put on my CRV!

By the middle of the week, Dad had finished the stairs, and they are great! I can now walk all over the house without a ladder!

For the first time, it is easy to imagine the dining room in it's finished state. I decided to leave an arched opening in the wall that goes up between the stairs. As you come down the stairs you will have this view through the arch.

Here are the stairs as viewed from the kitchen door. There will be a skylight positioned over the stairs so there will be natural light streaming down. Not as much as this, though!

Thanks Dad, for the great work!

Another exciting development this week was that we purchased our first granite slab for the kitchen counters! We had previously gone down to the yard at Stoneville and after hours of looking we had settled on 3 different stones. Then last weekend I found a postcard for a "parking-lot sale" at Stoneville, and when we went on Saturday, one of the ones we wanted was on sale! We made the deal and purchased a slab, then on Monday I made the deal with the fabricator. On Wednesday I met his partner at Stoneville and picked out the actual slab. Here's a little movie of the process:

By Friday almost all of the roof deck was formed and AmDeck placed. There are still some small areas and details to be done, but there is enough done for us to start setting some of the rebar on Monday!

One complex area is the transition between the 3 different roof levels. In the end there will be steps going up from the lower level to the round middle level, then another series of steps that continue to the highest roof level. I think on this pour I am going to simplify for now then go back and add the details later!

The round roof area is shored and ready for Amdeck. This will be my main focus next week.

If all goes well I will be ready for inspection by end of week, and do the biggest pour so far on the following Monday!

Hopefully, the next entry will be after the roof is POURED!

Backfilling and forming the largest slab so far...

2008-08-27T00:11:00.000-07:00

Another MONTH goes by! Time flies when you are building a house!

As soon as the walls and top floor were poured I had the waterproofing crew take care of the walls, then I set the French Drain. To get the gravel up to the drain to cover it we built a track and dragged the gravel up by rope, bucket by bucket.

About 8" of gravel must cover the drain pipe, but I leave a few spaces uncovered for the inspector, then cover the spaces once I get the approval. The gravel track was not the only custom contraption built for this area. At the top of the picture below there is a track that was used to haul the big dirt pile out of the dining-room and kitchen. We loaded buckets up and lifted them out the window to a dolly that rolled on the track, then the guys outside just pulled the dolly and unloaded the buckets. It was pretty efficient, but exhausting work!

After the drain was approved, we did a small pour day just to fill up the back and sides of the kitchen wall with slurry.

The slurry backfill has been a lifesaver on this project I can't imagine hauling all the dirt required to backfill all these walls, and THEN compact it all! Here is the slurry at the northeast back corner of the kitchen wall.

Once my concrete passed the 7 day test, we pulled off all of the shoring. Here are the curved steps leading up to the kids bedroom level from the Master Bedroom level.

The final structural posts were ordered and installed. These 4 posts support the small roof on top of the kid's bedroom balcony,

... and these 5 posts support the concrete beams that will hold up the roof deck.

The remaining steel joists were moved into position on the kid's level, so as soon as the shoring was up we could set them in place. As is visible in this picture, storage and work space was at a premium. Because we were 33 feet above the street I tried to have all materials stored where we didn't have to climb ladders to get things, but it did make working difficult. There was time spent every day moving things and organizing just so it was safe to walk!

As the shoring went up, the floor got a little clearer, but then we had to work around all the posts and braces!

The last of the ICF walls was almost complete, but it was clear that I had not ordered quite enough. I called Chad at Pacific Northwest ICF, my Eco-Block distributor, and he quickly got my order on a truck from Salt Lake City.

Since we would have to wait a few days for the truck, we moved on to building the shoring for the tower master bedroom.

Meanwhile, my friend Charlie, who is a contractor and an excellent carpenter, came in to build the interior partition walls on the first floor.

These walls enclose the half bathroom and delineate the kitchen dining room and great room.

On Thursday, August 14, one day earlier than expected, I got a call from a gentleman with an amazing Southern drawl. He had driven straight from Salt Lake City and was ready to drop off my order! I gave him directions and in about one hour I heard his truck parking out on the main street. Big truck for a small order! When he opened up the back doors the familiar blue bags looked so tiny in the cavernous truck!

We hand carried the bags up and set them on the driveway. Even the driver helped carry, I think he was just curious to see what I was building because he just stood there amazed and asked a lot of questions!

What looked like a tiny order in the truck completely filled up the driveway! Now I think I may have over-ordered!

To save space and provide more working room we moved all of the AmDeck up to the roof deck levels. Here is the pile on the nearly completed Master Bedroom roof.

The Kid's level roof deck was half complete, so we stacked some of the AmDeck up there too. By now the ICF wall had been completed.

Looks like our local wild deer have gotten used to the construction! We regularly see a family group of 2 or 3 deer walking down the street or making their way around the edges of our building site.

Now that he is moved in (and almost finished!) with his seventh house, Dad has started coming in to help on a regular basis! He took on the very complex task of building the winding stairs in the dining room.

When he finishes this we can officially get to every level of the house (except the roof) without the use of a ladder! No ladders for the first time in 16 months! That will be a great milestone!

It's a bit early, but the Master Bathtub arrived and was temporarily stored in the Foyer!

Finally, the round tower walls are starting to rise! In the next few weeks the walls will all be finished and the roof shoring will be in place, then we can POUR the ROOF!

The Last Floor... POURED!

2008-08-07T06:14:00.000-07:00

The last month has been another busy one! I had hoped to get further, but I'm happy to show some major progress! As of the last entry the Amdeck was being set for the kid's floor. We spent the better part of the next week just setting the rebar in the floor! Also, I had all of the mesh delivered that I would need for the rest of the house. It was delivered on a flat bed truck, so we tied the whole pile of mesh to the fence post and the driver pulled forward, dropping the whole delivery in the street.

Then we hand carried each sheet in and leaned it up against the garage. That's a lot of mesh!

Meanwhile, up on the top level, the steel for the structural beams was being assembled. One main beam runs down the middle of the floor, from front to back. Another shorter beam supports the front wall of the kid's bedrooms. Here is where they intersect:

After the rebar in the bottom of the Amdeck was placed and the beams were done, the mesh was pulled up the 33' from the garage. This took two of us on the top pulling two ropes with hooks on the end, while one guy stayed at the bottom to set the hooks and guide each sheet. This was exhausting work, but we finished in one day. Finally, the #3 rebar was set at 24" centers on the mesh and the whole thing was tied together. We spent the next two days getting inspections and fine-tuning the forms, then we were ready to pour!

The day before the pour we had another big delivery of Amdeck. It seemed like a lot, but he actually couldn't fit all the block I'd ordered and would have to make yet another trip!

The pour day was the usual stressful day, with me scrambling around tending to last minute details. I had a list prepared with what everyone was supposed to do when. I soon deviated from the list, but I guess it was better to have something to start from!

We started by filling the back walls around the crawlspace behind the kitchen. Once those walls were full we started with the AmDeck in the back, and worked our way forward.

Evan helped me with the vibrator while the finishers handled the hose. I think he liked being part of the action!

As soon as there was a section that filled the finishers handed the hose over to me and they started leveling and finishing.

I also built the first few feet of the Master Bedroom tower so the kids porch slab could be poured and connected to the curved wall and the floor below.

As we finished the floor up top I had the guys quickly build a form for another step up from the foyer into the livingroom. As the hose was being lowered from the top floor we used what was still in the hose to fill this step.

I estimated 45 cubic yards of concrete for this pour but as we were pumping the 2nd truck, the finishers told me they thought I over ordered, so I put the last truck on hold. It turned out that I needed that last truck, but was able to cut down on the yardage a bit. In the end I used just over 43 yards! I'm getting better at estimated with each pour!

Here is some of the complicated forming for this pour. First, the suspended, curved steps from the master suite level to the kid's bedroom level:

And here is the edge of the stairwell looking down to the hall and foyer beyond. This is a temporary view, once the steps are built coming up from the dining room and the bridge from the kids level to the back door are built, you will not be able to see this!

In the end it was a very successful pour. No blow-outs, nothing wasted, no rain storms, and the finishers did a beautiful job! Here are some panoramic views of the largest slab yet!

From the Master Bedroom Suite door, looking up the curved stairs...

From the Northeast corner (the guest room closet) looking Southwest.

From the kids balcony looking back at the backyard. It's fun to be this close to the grade!

From the Northeast corner of the slab again. I came back Saturday to water and it was a pretty day so I took more pictures!

Here's how it looks currently from the street. Not much sign of progress from this perspective. Next week I hope to be doing things that help finish off the street side!

Getting ready for the Last Floor - Part 2

2008-07-13T11:38:00.001-07:00

One of the things I had the laborers take care of when it was too hot was to clear out the garages. They had been full to the ceiling of AmDeck pieces, but it was time to move them up for use on the kid's bedroom level.

This also opened up space for new material that I was expecting to arrive shortly. By the middle of the week the garage was almost cleared, except for a pile of dirt!

Here are some of the Amdeck forms now piled high in the livingroom! Still a pile of dirt here too!

The rest of the AmDeck was stacked outside on the livingroom porch and garage roof.

Speaking of dirt, we started backfilling the south side of the house. Most of the dirt that was piled behind the house and in the kitchen was moved one bucket at a time to the south side and compacted.

Here is Junior doing some compacting as Kyle shovels more dirt:

I forgot to precast one hole in the footing, so I rented a coring drill and a few hours later I had a nice clean 5" diameter hole through the 12" thick footing.

Here is the core created by the special drill:

One other hole I forgot to form before filling the wall was the 13" diameter hole for the hood vent in the kitchen. This was a big mistake, because it took the better part of a day for one man to chip it out! Lesson learned!

Once the 5" hole was drilled, the HVAC guys from Precise Air came and installed the cellar bath vent, and 2 conduits with insulated copper pipes inside that will eventually go to the condensers that will be located on the south side of the house.

Up on top, the shoring was almost finished. The "bridge" running from front to back is the form for a huge structural concrete beam that will support the entire floor above.

On Thursday the steel joists were delivered! I decided to order the rest of the joists for the house, even though they would be tough to store, so I paid the extra fee to have them forklifted up to the top floor! Here is the steel on the truck, with the giant forklift being towed behind.

The driver was able to lift the order in two groups. Each time we blocked the street while he drove up from his truck and right into the driveway ...

... then lifted the bundle to the master bedroom level.

The guys were all up there waiting and as soon as he stopped moving they cut the bundles open and unloaded one piece at a time.

Part of the order was stacked on the newly built shoring.

The steel for the roof over the master suite was put in place on the shoring, and the rest of the roof pieces were stacked right in the tower room floor!

Here is a movie of the steel delivery process:

Now that the garage was emptied and ready for clean storage, The guys built some temporary "doors".

I don't think I ever mentioned the ramp! A few weeks ago we created a ramp so that we could get to the house without climbing the crazy wood ladders! The inspectors (and my family) are thrilled with it!

Here are the front steps with the forms removed. There are not perfectly finished, but they will be covered!

On Friday we had a busy morning! The steel posts were delivered for the kitchen level. We only had time to carry them up and leave them in the livingroom.

The shoring is not finished, but it's getting close! One of my workers said that it looked like the underside of an old wooden rollercoaster!

This is the front edge of the slab looking up at the top of the stairs leading to the kid's bedroom level.

At 10:30 Jose the pumper arrived and started setting up for the pour. The plan was to backfill the kitchen wall and top off the back footing at the same time so that the crawlspace had a decent floor surface. The crawlspace is accessed through an opening hidden in the kitchen pantry show here.

The pour went well, and now there is a concrete floor! This will also be the surface that the back walls will be built on.

Since it was the Friday of a long hard week, some of the guys wanted to work only a half day, so the afternoon was a little slow, only Evan and one laborer, Tom, stayed with me.

Tom worked the rest of the afternoon on the front edge of the form, while Evan and I did some trowelling on the new slab. Evan also cleaned up the rubbish inside the construction fence at the street. Here is the slab form, looking down the stairwell from the kid's level.

Here is the tower bedroom as viewed from the middle of the kids level slab.

After work, I dropped off Evan, then came back up to the house to power wash the street. Once the street was clean I climbed up to the top of the house to reflect. I realized that I have not taken any time to stand back and look around by myself! One thing I noticed was how quiet it was, even at 5:00 in the evening. As I was walking around I heard a shuffling sound at the street, and out walked some of our future neighbors!

We both stood still contemplating each other, then they walked on by and I packed up and went home.

On Saturday, Evan came and helped me for a few hours. I really wanted to lay out some of the AmDeck on the kid's level, and it was fun having Evan there to assist!

I know I've described how easy the AmDeck installation is. Here is a little sequence Evan took of me dropping one of the blocks in place.

After less than an hour of work, we had laid out most of the floor for Evan's bedroom!

Next week I hope to finish all of the forming for the kid's level floor!

Getting ready for the Last Floor

2008-07-03T23:46:00.000-07:00

In the last few weeks the iron workers at Universal Iron Doors created some of the fun details for the doors. These rosettes were custom fashioned to my specifications, based on an existing historical rosette design.

The transom frame is taking shape too. soon it will be welded to the door frame.

Back on site, now that the Kitchen walls were filled, we started prepping for the last of the floor levels, the Kid's bedroom level. This is the largest slab to be poured yet and includes the 2 kid's bedrooms, the kid's den and bathroom, a guest bedroom and bath, and the laundry room.

First, the rear footing needed to be cleared and prepped for the short walls that support the back section of this slab.

The dirt that was being stored in the diningroom and kitchen floors was moved to the back crawlspace to get ready to backfill.

Evan worked a hard, hot day shoveling with the laborers!

More to report from my iron door company. Towards the end of the week, Sam called me and said that the transom was finished! When I got there I saw almost complete doors with all of the iron detail!

Laying on sawhorses was the complete frame with the transom attached. The guys all got together to raise it up, but it was too tall for the workshop!

Here is a closer view of the transom. It was so much fun designing iron work, I plan on doing a lot more in the future!

Kitchen Walls, Done!

2008-06-21T00:46:00.000-07:00

Only 3 weeks has passed! I'm getting better ! Progress to report, both on site and off. First, let me report the exciting developments from off site.

Tikal Doors, the manufacturer I chose to build all of my exterior and interior doors and windows reported to me that they are almost done! The craftsmen in Guatemala who are creating the doors have almost finished their work and are starting to pack them in the shipping container for the long journey to Glendale.

I chose this company because of the quality of their work and because they would create the entire door to my exact specifications, pre-hang it in it's frame, and then do a very fine finish. All I will need to do is move them into place and attach them to the walls!

My other important door is the main entry. Originally I had designed a custom wood door topped with a half round transom window with wrought iron. Since starting construction, we were introduced to the idea of an iron entry door. There are a number of companies that manufacture very elaborate doors in China or Mexico, but they were all too ornate for me, and besides, I wanted something that was one of a kind. I designed an arch-topped iron door that would take the same overall shape as the original doors and transom, but the city felt that I should stick with the flat topped doors and separate transom, so I designed this custom iron door:

I found a local shop to create the door and they started forming the doors this month. Here is the jamb and door frames taking shape.

It's a lot of fun going into the shop and seeing something I designed being created out of metal! I am talking to the same company about doing all of my wrought iron railings too!

Now to the onsite progress!

We had a very exhausting but productive pour on Friday, June 20. It was so exhausting that I don't have any pictures of the action until things started calming down! Why was it so exhausting? I had no slabs to do so I didn't hire the finishers, but I had plenty of laborers to help out. What really made the day difficult was the weather! I was not able to get the trucks to arrive earlier that 11:00 am, and by that time the heat had really built up! It reached a record 106 degrees in Glendale, and it FELT like it!

I had a new pumper, Alex, a friend of Jose, my regular pumper. He arrived an hour early and set up, running hoses all the way up behind the kitchen walls. When the first truck arrived we started by filling the last footing, the one behind the kitchen that would support the back wall of the kid's bedroom wing. After that was filled, (about 1.5 trucks full!) we started with the back wall of the garage. I filled the first few feet then moved over, continuing until the entire room was filled just a few feet high, then started back at the beginning and filled a little more at a time until it was finished.

Most of the day I was up on a 10 foot ladder with the 3" concrete hose on my shoulder, and looking down into the wall so I could see how far it was filling. I had another guy on a second ladder or on the ground with the vibrator, and Alex the pumper stayed with me, helping hold the weight of the hose up. It was still very heavy, and the heat on my back was magnified by the heat generated from the curing concrete that was blasting up out of the walls into my face! It was so extreme just being in the sun that some of the laborers kept retreating into the shade and I had to keep yelling to get them out to help me!

Finally, the walls were finished! As the hose was pulled out we filled the single step from the foyer to the living-room and the front porch. The laborers did their best to level out the porch and steps while I pumped, but the sun was so brutal that it started to set up before they were finished.

Soon, the last truck was emptied. I actually calculated so closely that there was less than half a cubic yard in the truck! I then started doing what I could to finish the porch and steps. By this time the laborers had almost all gone, I had staggered a few of the guys so I would not be alone at the end. I'm glad I did that, I needed help all the way through!

Here I am, battered and tired, but glad to be finished with this grueling day!

The next day was Saturday, so Evan and I came by a few times just to moisten the fresh concrete since it was still so hot!

Here is the first step up from the foyer to the living-room. I will pour the next 2 steps on a subsequent pour.

Here is the back footing. It's another huge hunk of concrete, but I didn't take the time to fiish the top. Since it is going to be a crawl space for utilities, I will do a smoth and level slab on top on the next pour.

And finally, the new steps up from the cellar level to the front porch! It was nice to get these done, now for the first time, we can walk up the ramp and these steps and get into the house without using a rickety old ladder!

They may not be perfect because the sun set them so quickly, but they will be covered eventually, so I am not concerned about that!

What a pleasure to easily walk up to the house now!

Next step, the kid's bedroom level floor!

Progress in Many Areas!

2008-06-18T00:42:00.000-07:00

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!

Kitchen Walls

2008-05-31T23:02:00.000-07:00

Another month has passed since my last entry! I guess I should give up on my weekly update concept!

Last week the walls started to rise on the Kitchen / Family room level.

First we had to spend a few days carving the rock back so there would be room not only for the walls, but enough room to do the waterproofing. This created yet another pile of dirt!

With no place to put the dirt permanently, we had to pile it in the middle of the diningroom floor! My plan is to pour the kitchen/greatroom walls first, then waterproof, then lift the dirt over the wall.

The window in the family room is just starting to take shape. It will be a nice view!

The rough electrical work in the livingroom and cellar is almost complete. After just a few days of work, Bill from Blue Fields Electric got all of the boxes and wiring set into the walls.

On a traditionally wood framed wall, the boxes are nailed to the studs and holes are drilled in each stud, allowing the wire to be run through the walls from box to box. In ICF construction, I cut channels in the foam with a "hot wire"tool, then the boxes are attached to the concrete core. The wires are run in the channels to, then held firmly in the channel by little squirts of spray foam.

The electrical went pretty easily, once we got the hang of it!

At the end of the week I had a nice visit from some of our out-of-town family!

Kitchen Slab, Done!

2008-05-24T20:09:00.004-07:00

Before I get to the most recent pour day, I want to detail the amazing quantity and variety of inspections I have on this project! Here they are, not in any particular order:

PRIVATE INSPECTORS

Geologist: This private inspector must approve each excavation and every trench I cut, before the steel is laid and the footings are poured. He also inspects vertical cuts in the hill for stability. This is a representative of the company that did my original Soils Report.

Structural Observation: Every time I install reinforcing steel (rebar) and before I have the city inspector come, I am required to have this licensed engineer inspect my work. He is basically acting as a representative of the original design engineer, who would normally do these inspections, except for the fact that my engineer is located in Oregon! He reviews the structural plans and makes sure I have done everything as designed.

Compaction Inspector: This is another private inspector working for the Geologist. He inspects and tests the compacted soil (See entry on April 24, 2008). He also inspects the French Drains before retaining walls are backfilled.

Deputy Inspector: This private inspector is present whenever I am pouring the high strength 3000 psi concrete. His job is to make sure the concrete is placed as designed by the structural engineer, so that full strength will be achieved. He also takes samples of the concrete right from the concrete truck which are tested by at laboratory for strength at 7 days, and then at 28 days. The concrete must reach a certain percentage of it's full design strength before I can take off the shoring, and must reach the full 3000 psi by 28 days. So far, my tests have all gone very well, in some cases my samples have surpasses the full design strength by the 7 days!

CITY INSPECTORS

Grading Inspector: This representative from Public Works Department inspects all excavations and french drains after the Geologist has done his inspections. He is also concerned with making sure that the cut slopes are properly protected from erosion during the rainy season, and that no run-off will end up on the public roadways. He will also give final approval to all grading and site drainage to make sure it is safe and conforms with codes.

Electrical Inspector: Pre inspects all electrical work.

Mechanical Inspector: Pre inspects all HVAC ducting and equipment.

Plumbing Inspector: Pre inspects all plumbing work.

Building Inspector: After all of the other inspectors have made their reports, the Building inspector must visit, review the other's reports, and sign off.

Only after ALL of these inspections can I proceed to the next step!

Then, when I am at a certain stage, my City Planner who helped me through the Design Review process will do a site inspection to make sure I am building what was approved. When I am all finished I will need sign-offs from just about all of them before I get the Certificate of Occupancy, but that is still a little while off! I don't want to get too far ahead of myself!

Back to the current stage, the Kitchen Slab!

When all the steel was placed, I called for my structural observation inspection last Friday. That went well, so I called for the building and plumbing inspection. Well, I thought I was ready to pour! I had to redo the tiny bit of plumbing that would be buried by the concrete, but that was a quick change, and I passed inspection on Tuesday. Here is the island sink vent:

I also got the ducting inspected and approved, so on Wednesday the Building Inspector came by and approved me. On Thursday, we had a relaxed morning getting ready for the pour. The first truck arrived at 11:00 and everything went very well! The forms all held without any leaks, and the finishers helped all along the way making the pour very successful. Then, just as the last truck left and the finisher were about to do their final pass, the clouds broke open and there was a huge downpour!

I stood there watching as the nice smooth finish got pockmarked by the huge drops of rain!

Oh Well! It really doesn't matter, because it will all be covered by the finished floor material, but the finishers were disappointed that they couldn't leave it as perfect as usual. During a break in the storm I tried to put plastic down to protect as much slab as I could.

On Friday it rained off and on most of the day, so I took time driving around town and making some decisions! I ordered the Iron Entry Door, and discussed the huge amount of iron railings that will need to be fabricated. I also visited a members only flooring supplier and found some really nice options.

On Saturday Morning Kyle and his girlfriend Annette came and worked with me for a few hours. We moved a bunch of the bags of ICFs, making room to start building walls.

Then, while I measured and set the metal channel that would align the first course of ICFs, Kyle and Annette started building ICFs.

It was really great having them help out! This afternoon Jeanne and Evan also came by to tour the house, and it was wonderful to walk them around and have them get excited about it! What a great family I have!

Next week we build lots of walls!

Kitchen Floor Forms and More Walls!

2008-05-19T01:50:00.000-07:00

We finally finished excavating for the kitchen footing! there was so much dirt that I ended up putting the last of it in a pile in the middle of the living-room!

Once the kitchen footing was dug, we started setting the steel, Then the HVAC crew from Precise Air came in to set a few ducts. In the picture below the main duct to the dining-room is on the left, and the suspended floor is taking shape on the right.

The Dining-room duct will eventually connect to the HVAC unit in the garage, but for now it will end in the crawl-space, so that access in to the crawl-space is not blocked.

At the other end of the crawl-space is a complicated series of fittings that gets the duct up into the Amdeck, through the concrete, down into the cellar, and up into the family room.

From the Cellar below the duct is a lot easier to see and deal with.

The Amdeck makes it very easy to run ducts and other utilities, I simply cut out the area I need with a sawsall. The crew custom assembled the duct outside, then installed it from below.

FORMS

One edge of the kitchen slab is at the back of the music nook in the living-room. Junior, one of my laborers has gotten really good at building strong forms! Here are a few of his taller forms, the back of the music nook ...

... and at the top of the stairs leading up from the living room. Under this section of form is the access to the crawl space.

Here is a view down the crawl space with the forming in place. it is only 24" high! One of the electricians actually snaked his way through this to set a piece of conduit at the far end!

Now the steel mesh was placed, and the #3 rebars were positioned. The steel was ready!

On the north wing of the house, the 2nd floor walls were starting to rise!

This is the Master Suite, looking back toward the Bathroom window.

We also took some time to move the Amdeck out of the garage and stage it close to where we would needed it next.

This allowed the electricians to start! First, they set the main panel and permanent meter at it's position in the buttress between the garage doors.

Then they ran flex out of the box and through a hole in the concrete that I had plugged with foam before pouring. The flex will run to various major needs for power, a subpanel centrally located in the house, the AC condensers, etc.

They also set the first box for outlets! This was very easy in the ICF. We simply cut a channel in the foam with a "hot wire" tool, attached the box to the concrete, then ran the flex in the channel and attached it to the box. Done! No drilling through wood studs, either! On a future blog entry I will show a little movie of the "hot-wire"! Not a typical construction tool, but very handy here!

In the next entry, the Kitchen Slab is poured!

Kitchen Floor, Almost the Last Footing!

2008-05-04T13:20:00.000-07:00

Most of this week has been spent excavating the footing for the kitchen/dining room. While the footing is very close to the same dimensions as other footings, our previous experiences have made us much more efficient. We made the cut and kept the levels with much more precision than in the past. There is also an intermediate footing that will support the Amdeck, creating a crawl space behind the cellar.

The huge pile of dirt thrown over from the footing above was smaller, thanks to all of the backfilling, but there was still too much dirt in the way...

... so we spent a few days bucketing the dirt on top of the nicely compacted areas of backfill. It seems inefficient, since it will all have to be removed and replaced 6' at a time, but I had to stockpile the dirt somewhere so we could continue building! The stockpiled dirt is so high behind the livingroom that I can now walk right up onto the back part of the lot!

Also this week, I had a big steel order delivered, enough to finish the kitchen floor and get the Master Bedroom walls started.

Once the dirt pile was cleared, we did the fine tuning, cut the "key", and started laying in the steel. By the end of the week, all of the stirrups were in place!

The Kitchen was not the only digging we did! When ever there was a free laborer, I had them working on the trench to connect to the sewer.

They also dug a pit at the street property line to look for the "lateral", the pipe that supposedly was placed from the sewer main to my property line back in 1961 when they put the sewer in. I was concerned about this, because the official computerized city maps showed the connection coming off of the manhole, yet when I pulled off the manhole cover there was no pipe coming in. To add a new lateral connection is a very expensive project, so I went back to the city for more information. I found a helpful person who went back to the original hand drawn maps from 1961. It clearly showed the location of the lateral as coming from a point down the sewer line, NOT right from the manhole. We dug a pit based on this old map ...

... and found the lateral, right where the old map said it would be! All we had to do was follow the hole that was compacted fill, and it lead us right to the connection. Here is the hole, with a bucket covering the actual connection. I know it seems like a silly thing to get excited about, but I was thrilled to find it!

Next week, the rest of the steel gets placed, as well as more underground ducting, and the forms get installed!

What to do with all of this DIRT???

2008-04-24T17:16:00.002-07:00

How time flies! It has been another busy month, so busy that I have not been able to update this blog until now! Here is a look at what's been happening:

After the Livingroom and cellar walls were poured, I had the waterproofing crew out again to do these new walls. It was tight work, especially around the chimney, but they did a fine job.

By the end of the day they had wrapped all the walls from the livingroom north wall,

...around the back...

...all the way around to what will be a planter outside of the cellar door.

After the waterproofing was up, we set the french drains and hauled gravel up from the street one bucket at a time. The french drain needed to have about 8" of gravel on top, then a sheet of plastic was laid to prevent the slurry from clogging the drain.

After the drain was inspected, I pumped a slurry mix of concrete behind some of the walls. Slurry is a very soupy concrete, with a lower percentage of cement in it so it can't be used as structural concrete, but it makes a very good backfill, especially when there is a "surcharged load", meaning that a footing is so close to the backfill that it is putting pressure on the backfill. It also is a very efficient way of backfilling these hard to access areas because it can be quickly pumped in with no compaction inspections required!

Here is the slurry behind the cellar that supports the kitchen footing:

This is behind the livingroom. This is not an area with a surcharged load, but it is a lot of area to fill, and the 3 feet of slurry got me started nicely! In the picture below I have already started placing dirt on top of the slurry.

Here is the first layer of compacted fill on the south side of the cellar.

Before I could backfill on the north side of the house, an HVAC duct had to be placed. This was very difficult work, involving some custom metalwork to fit into the tight space!

This duct brings the heating and AC into the back part of the livingroom. It was easier to run the duct outside than to run it under the slab and footing.

This duct runs from the 2 vent openings on the north wall, around the chimney and down through a hoile into the side of the garage where one of the HVAC units will be located.

After the duct is custom fitted into the space, all seams are sealed, and it is attached to the ground using stakes and brackets. This keeps the duct from floating up when the concrete is placed.

The process of backfilling with dirt is time consuming but important. After about 6" of dirt is placed and raked level, it is moistened and mechanically compacted, then the next 6" is added.

This process is repeated until 2 feet has been compacted, then it is tested by a representative of the Soil Engineer. Chris from Technosoil is shown below with the compaction testing device. First, a pointed rod is driven about 2' into the ground then removed, leaving a hole. Then this device is placed over the hole and a rod with a small amount of radioactive material is lowered into the hole.

Somehow, the machine is able to sense the density of the soil, and based on numbers gathered from a lab test of my soil, it gives a percentage of density. The required minimum density is 90%, and as the picture below shows, we were consistently getting between 93 and 94%!

Here's a look at the compaction process:

As the backfill got higher, a temporary dam was built to hold back the compacted fill. As soon as I build the planter wall, I will remove the dam and compact behind it.

The wall behind the livingroom now has about 4' of compacted fill. we had to maintain a 45 degree slope on the end of the fill so we could continue to walk up to the top with buckets!

The fill on the south side of the cellar is almost level with the slurry. There is now about 6 feet of compacted dirt in there!

I also took time this month to remove all of the forming and shoring. For the first time, the entire entry door opening was visible, and it's tall!

The livingroom is finally visible too, as this view shows looking toward the foyer:

Looking into the livingroom from the foyer:

Here is the arch detail over the music alcove in the livingroom:

Here is the cellar area without shoring:

Next, we get ready to pour the kitchen footings and slab!

Another Big Pour, DONE!

2008-03-22T01:06:00.001-07:00

Laying the steel took longer than I thought. Now that the forms were mostly finished, we spent days hauling up rebar, piece by piece, to the top of the forms. By Friday, March 14 I was finally ready for my structural inspection. That went well, and I spent some of Saturday and all of Monday working on the forming details. On Monday afternoon I called for the city inspector to come by on Tuesday. We spent all of Tuesday detailing the forms. I had already set up the concrete and pumper for Wednesday, so I worked until VERY late Tuesday getting ready! At midnight I went home, not because I was ready, but I wanted to have a little sleep before the big day!

The Big Pour Day!

Since I still was not completely ready for concrete, I decided to start at 6:00 am and do what I could without making noise. When I got there the finishers were already waiting! At 6:30, the pumper arrived and started setting up. From then on it was non-stop action! I didn't even have time to break out the camera until almost noon!

The first truck arrived at 7:00 and we started pumping into the walls of the cellar. The 2nd through 4th trucks came about 40 minutes apart, and we all worked really hard to keep the concrete pumping. I put a hold on the next truck until after lunch so we could catch up! I was STILL fixing parts of the form!

After lunch we finished the concrete pumping, and started finishing.

The finishers started with the floor above the cellar, then moved up to the round tower. Finally, they tried to finish the master bedroom, but it was too wet to finish so we waited.

By now it was past 6:00pm. I went out and bought some dinner for the guys while they monitored the concrete. As soon as it was set enough, they started finishing. By this time it was dark and I had some flood lights set up. By 9:00pm, they were done!

Here are some scenes from this crazy day!

The next day I was able to see the finished slabs in the daylight! They turned out very nicely!

The day after the Pour, we spent most of our time moving all of the ICFs that were stored on the top level of the excavation.

We stacked as many full bags as we could over the cellar.

The rest of the pieces were taken out of their bags and neatly stacked up on the Master Suite floor.

Once again, the light weight of the ICFs made this easy and fun! One of the guys stood at the bottom and tossed each piece up to me about 20' away. They just floated up! In fact, sometimes a gust of wind would catch them and they would go right past me!

By the end of Thursday we had the upper footing area cleared out and ready to start cutting.

Many months ago, Mike the excavator had done a pretty accurate job of cutting the trench for this footing. All we will have to do is level it a bit more, and cut the key. That will be next week's focus!

Now that the cellar and livingroom walls are filled, we will also set the gravel and french drains for backfilling.

Next, we backfill the walls and prepare to pour the rest of the kitchen slab!

Another 3 levels, almost ready!

2008-03-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

Another long gap between posts! Sorry!

I have been busy on Buckingham, helped out by a long period of great warm weather!

After finishing the Livingroom and Cellar walls and the Master Bedroom floor, I decided it would be best to do the Master Bedroom Tower floor at the same time as the rest of the suite.

This involved building a complex form, supported on 12' tall posts. This form also included my first curved ICF wall section. I learned a few tricks, and will be able to build the rest of my curved walls much more efficiently! The door shown in the picture below is actually the coat closet that will be in the 3' thick wall of the tower.

This view is from inside the foyer looking through the forest of shoring to the main entry door on the right, with the coat closet to the left.

The forming of the beams surrounding the tower floor was difficult. Even though they were less than 7 feet long, the fact that they were 13 feet in the air made them pretty hard to construct. I frequently found myself at the top of a ladder leaning on a post and raising sections of the form by myself!

This view of the Master Bedroom level is taken from the round tower looking down to the Master Sittingroom and bathroom area.

The floor above the cellar is the front portion of the Kitchen/Greatroom. The rest of the Kitchen floor will be poured when I have moved the ICFs being stored on the hill!

One portion of the cellar ceiling supports a structural post that carries a load all the way to the roof. Since the post does not line up with a wall (my crazy design!), a triangular section of the ceiling is a solid beam to support the post.

Since the slab will be poured in 2 phases, I have set rebar into the top of each joist that will tie the 2 slabs together.

This panoramic view from the master bedroom level shows how close we are getting to the level of the back yard! Just a few steps up from this level will be the kids bedroom level, then a few more steps up to the back door that leads to the yard and roof deck.

Just a few more days of forming and prepping, and there will be another big pour day!

Structural Posts and the Cellar

2008-02-11T22:08:00.000-08:00

On Monday the first of three orders of Structural Steel Posts arrived! I found a fabricator in Burbank that not only did great work, but did it very fast! They even delivered!

The workers and I heaved the posts from the street level to the top of the garage, then up to the foyer. They were NOT light! Each posts is made from 1/4" thick 4.5" diameter steel pipe with 1/2" thick steel plate on each end.

It took all 3 of us to carefully stand them up into place and set them down on the anchor bolts. As each post was placed, I adjusted the nuts on the top and bottom of the plate at each bolt to make sure the posts were perfectly plumb.

By the next day all of the posts were in place. We next shifted our focus to the cellar. I finished setting the front wall and worked my way up to the full height. Then, we started building the shoring so I could set some of the great-room floor above.

I am still juggling storage space! Since the garage was filled up with the AmDeck, I was unable to get to some of the shoring lumber that was supporting the living-room floor pour to re-use it, so we moved up just enough AmDeck to build the great-room floor AND open up access to the lumber in the garage! Now I could finish the shoring and the floor on top!

It was very satisfying to get the cellar wall in place! Not only will it be my home office, but it helps define where the front of the house will be.

I am not the only construction project in the area making noise and blocking traffic! The Glendale Water and Power department has started an expected 2 year project, replacing a huge reservoir that was under a part of the Chevy Chase Golf Course.

The scale of this project is incredible! It took weeks just to scrape off the grass and soil that covered the concrete reservoir, creating a huge mountain! Now they are demoing the roof and trucking it away. From 7:00am to 3:30pm there is a constant deep hammering sound as they break the roof into manageable bits.

It will be interesting to follow the progress!

Living-room Walls, continued...

2008-02-02T16:17:00.000-08:00

By the end of last week, I did indeed have the living-room walls up, and most of the major shoring in place. The rains had no effect on the construction, other than getting everything WET! I did have a few areas to sump pump out, but other than that, once the rains stopped, I started working.

A lot of bracing was added to the shoring, in anticipation of the arrival of the steel joists. We also spent time organizing our stored materials so that the cellar walls could be started. As I continue to create spaces and use materials, this will get easier, but right now we still end up moving materials back and forth to keep them out of the way of what ever we are doing!

On Thursday I met with the fabricators of the structural steel posts that will be part of the support system for the floors above. I also had a good meeting with the folks at Precise Air, the company that will be doing our Heating and air conditioning systems. We hammered out some important details, then I headed back to the lot. That afternoon, the steel joists were delivered, and by the end of that day we had placed all of the longest joists up on the shoring.

By Friday morning we had all of the joists in place and started setting the AmDeck. The Amdeck has worked wonderfully. It is actually fun to place an entire floor in a few hours! I simply sit up on the shoring and one of my helpers tosses up each piece from the ground. I set it in place, and catch the next one. It's that easy!

By the end of the day I was able to stand on the floor of our future Master Bedroom and look out at the sunset!
Next week we will finish the forming and set the steel posts in place. Then we will get the cellar walls going. There is a fair amount of rebar to do also. Luckily, the weather looks good for a full week of progress!

Living-room Walls

2008-01-23T15:04:00.000-08:00

Now that I have a nice level slab, laying out the walls was pretty easy. First, I drew chalk lines where the walls should be, then screwed steel channel down to the slab. The ICFs fit into the channel, keeping the wall straight and preventing the ICFs from moving around. After the first course of blocks were set, the rest went up pretty easily. After each course of ICF, rebar is laid in the webs then the next course is installed, and so on.

As the walls were going up, I started building the shoring that would brace the walls and support the next floor above.
By the end of the 4th day, the walls were 8 feet high, and the openings for the french doors, small window, and the fireplace were created. I'm having to wait for another rain storm to pass, so I'm taking the opportunity to order the steel posts and joists for the upper floors. Hopefully, the walls will be done by the end of the week, weather permitting!

On Tuesday the majority of the AmDeck forms were delivered. It took 3 trucks to bring them here, and they completely filled the garages! There are still almost 200 blocks to bring, but I asked the company to hold them for a bit so I could make some room!

4 Floors, Done!

2008-01-17T22:41:00.000-08:00

Finally, after weeks of planning, The day of the Big Pour arrived! Both inspections went well the week before, and I worked most of the weekend doing the final details on the forms.

Because I decided to do all 4 of these levels at the same time, the form work was very complex. Not only were there the transitions between levels, there were curved sections and custom beams that support various parts of the floor.

Even with all the time I put in, there were still things to do as the trucks started rolling up and the concrete started pumping!

The footings in the back of the living room took almost 2 full trucks of concrete alone!

After the living room footing was filled, the cellar footing and slab was done.

Next, the walls supporting the foyer and the foyer slab were poured.

Finally, the walls supporting the living room and the living room slab were poured.

In total, 72 cubic yards in 8 trucks were poured. The 4 finishers stayed all day, and did a really nice job!

Here's a little video of the action!

Next, the living room walls start going up!

Almost ready for a Big Pour!

2008-01-06T11:04:00.000-08:00

We had a great wind storm, much stronger than I thought! It actually blew the plastic that I had draped over the cut slopes all the way up and over the top fence!

In the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas we finished the Amdeck floor forms for the living-room and foyer, and started lay in the steel reinforcement. And there is a LOT of it!

At the front of the livingroom, there is a very strong reinforced beam. This beam spans the width of the garage below, and supports the 2 story high front wall of the house. Also visible is the AmDeck floor forms and the steel joists that support it.

Just before the Christmas Break, the majority of the forming was done, and most of the steel was placed. I was finally able to make a list of things to do on one page!

This view shows the Living-room floor which is partially on grade and partially suspended on the AmDeck. The round foyer is also visible in the center of the picture.

From the top of the cut, the entire building site is visible, as well as my stockpile of ICFs waiting to be used!

After Christmas Break, it was back to the forming details! A full week of working on the items on my to-do list, and it wasn't getting much shorter! Many of the items were for complex forming connections that needed to be figured out, and that took a lot of time. Just before the New Years holiday, I had the Structural Observation inspection of the steel reinforcement. There was a lot to look at, and I passed! That was a nice way to end 2007!

It was a short week to start 2008. The first 2 days were spent whittling down my to-do list, it is getting shorter!

At the end on this week we were threatened with a triple rain storm, the worst since 2005.

I fixed the plastic I had hung earlier, and added another 200 square feet, mostly covering the lower cuts and some of the forms.

It's a bit surreal now with my white foam house rising up from a black plastic hole in the ground!

The storm hit as expected, but not quite as strong as they were warning. It started raining Friday and has rained every night this weekend, but as of Sunday afternoon, everything looks OK. I went up and sump pumped the trenches during a break in the rain, and other than some of the plastic tearing where water had gathered into puddles, and a lot of mud backing up behind my sandbag dams, I think we will come through the storm pretty well. Now I just need to dry it out, and do the final touches and get my city inspection so I can POUR!

Catching up!

2007-12-08T00:57:00.000-08:00

It's been quite a while since the last update!

Since I last wrote, a city crew came and re-finished the temporary patch over the water meter connection. It was fun to watch these 2 men very efficiently do this job, and finish it so well!

During the holiday breaks Kyle and his friend Austin helped out quite a bit. It was great having these 2 young, energetic helpers! I think they had a good time working together, and hopefully learned a lot! Here is Kyle helping to build the forms.

I was a bit too optimistic when I wrote that I might be able to pour after Thanksgiving! This stage of construction has taken longer than I expected, because it is very complex.

I decided to prepare for one large pour, one that would include the cellar footing and slab, the foyer slab and the living-room slab, as well as the stem walls that support these levels. The 3 different floor levels involve a lot of custom forming, and a very complex system of reinforcement.

At the back of the garage where I did the slump backfill, I built a removable form for the stem-wall that runs down the middle of the living-room. It also supports the Am-Deck that forms the suspended portion of the living-room floor.

This view from the garage roof shows the Amdeck section built over the crawl-space. The floor will continue forward over the garage.

We have now entered the rainy season, and even though Southern California is in the middle of a record drought, I still needed to protect my temporary cuts from rain. The light plastic I had put up before was getting torn apart by the wind, so I spent the time and $$ to use the heavier 6 mil black plastic.

Just in time! We got a good rain storm soon after I put the plastic up! In addition to the plastic on the excavations, I lined the street fence with a dam of sandbags to prevent any dirt from washing into the public right-of-way.

In the next entry, I will finally be caught up! I'll really try not to get so far behind again!

Cellar Steel

2007-11-16T21:34:00.000-08:00

A lot of steel was set this week! The cellar level footings were completed, and the footings under the middle of the living-room floor were poured so that I could start building up the support walls.

First, the cellar. This level is mostly underground, so almost every wall is a retaining wall. This means that the footing for this level is another hefty one! I will also be using a different technology for some of the walls to save space. More on this in later entries.

I've started all of the walls supporting the front of the living-room and the living-room deck. Also visible here is the concrete pour behind the garage that includes the living-room intermediate footing and the bases for the posts.

The wall at the upper left of this photo is the front edge of the living-room deck. About 6 feet to the right where the ICF block steps down is the front of the living-room, which extends from there to the cliff on the right of the picture.

The 4 steel cages for the support columns are visible in the picture below. I poured the base for the columns so that I could take away the supports and set the sonotube forms in place. The lower columns go up to the foyer floor level, the tall one at the bottom of the picture goes up to the dining-room floor level.

Next week will be a short one, but I hope to install the forms and shoring for the living-room floor and set all of the steel for the living-room footings. If all goes well I should be able to pour the livingroom and cellar floors right after Thanksgiving Break!

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

Cellar Footings, continued...

2007-11-03T00:14:00.000-07:00

This week we ALMOST finished the Cellar footing excavation!

For most of the week I rented a jackhammer to cut the "key" of the footing. this is the deepest narrow trench at the bottom that locks the footing into the rock. The jackhammer broke out the rock and laborers shoveled it out. In addition to the keys, we also cut the bases for concree columns that will support the central tower all the way to the roof. The columns are 18" in diameter, with a large square base set in the rock.

After the bulk of the rock was removed, there was a lot of "fine-tuning" to do. All measurements were double checked, and details were cut by the smaller impact hammer, actially a roto-hammer that can have the "roto" part turned off. Because of the limited access, this footing and all future footings for this project are being done by hand-held equipment, and the dirt is carried out by wheelbarrow and bucket to the front of the garage to be removed. This week Mike came back and took yet another 4 truck loads away!

After weeks of renting a jack hammer, I finally broke down and bought my own!

It's is GREAT! I don't know why I waited! I found a website (TYLERTOOL.com) that sold me a factory reconditioned Makita for almost half the price, and it cost me about the same as renting for 9 days! By the end of next week I will have broken even! Not only will it save money, but it is really perfect for the job. The rentals were either too large (90 lb. or not large enough (25 lb.) My Makita is 35 lb. and so far has done the job admirably!

Also this week, the steel was delivered for the cellar and livingroom floors. I had the column steel pre-fabricated, and they are very well done!

Next week, we finish the cuts and lay the steel!

Cellar Footings

2007-10-27T22:20:00.000-07:00

With the dirt and ICFs cleared from the Cellar level, I was able to lay out this wing of the house more accurately. Because of the complexity of the floorplan and the multiple floor elevations (my own fault, I know!), it took some time to get the angles right, but after double and triple checking my math, I could confidently stake out the corners of the cellar, and how it related to the rest of the house. Over the week, the laborers and I leveled the pad and dug most of the footings.

I also marked out the exact placement of the foyer, and more importantly, the 6 posts that would support the central tower all the way to the roof. (see orange circles below). This as time consuming, and involved lots of triangulation to make sure everything would line up, but I feel pretty good about it all!

Next week we will finish cutting the "key" of the cellar footing, and hopefully get it all inspected!

Livingroom Footing = MORE DIRT!

2007-10-20T17:48:00.001-07:00

We continued to carve out the footings for the living room, but spent much of the week moving dirt around!

Mike the grader came back and took a few loads of dirt, but the most helpful thing was that he negotiated his excavator up the narrow hill to the cellar level and moved the majority of the dirt pile down to the driveway!

This made it a lot easier for him to load the trucks, and also allowed us to start laying out the cellar level footings!

Once we got the majority of the dirt out of the way, we moved the ICFs up to the next level, so the cellar footing could be laid out and excavated. That will be next week's task!

Livingroom Footings

2007-10-14T10:03:00.001-07:00

The first task this week was to make more room to work! We moved all of the AmDeck and as much ICF as possible to the garage roof and stacked it pretty high!

I also took the forms off of the slurry backfill.

Most of the week was spent digging the livingroom footings. They are on two levels, the lower level behind the garage actually supports a wall that comes up in the middle of the livingroom floor, then the upper footing is at the same level as the floor. It's fun to be able to stand on the level and imagine the floor projecting out over the garage.

There is one part of the excavation that didn't go quite far back enough so a few days were devoted to removing this section of hill and carting it away. The dirt pile started growing and by the end of the week, the entire cellar level was covered with 6 feet of dirt!

It also started spilling down in front of the garage!

Next week I finish the living-room footings and get rid of some of that dirt!

Slurry Backfill

2007-10-07T00:32:00.000-07:00

I passed my inspections on Wednesday, so after doing a little final prep work on Thursday, I was ready to do the first Slurry Backfill on Friday.

Slurry is a very sandy mix of concrete, it is stable when cured, but not strong enough to be used for walls or slabs. It is perfect for doing a quick backfill, since it can be done in one day and without multiple compaction inspections that would be required with a dirt backfill.

I filled both sides and the back, working my way around the garage so as not to get too high too fast. On the left side I created a dam so that the slurry would stay clear of the retaining wall I would need to build in the future.

On the right side I buried a section of 4" cast iron pipe for the sewer connection, being careful to cap the end so no concrete would get in.

By the end of the day I had filled the back side to the finished level, creating a new standing surface to continue building from, as well as a slab for a future storage space!

Now I can walk right out from the back of the garage to the hill! This is where the footing in the middle of the livingroom will be formed.

The laborer and I also cleared off the livingroom pad and marked out the placement for the livingroom footing. I can't wait to start cutting and forming that next week!

Also during this week, I met with the HVAC (heating and airconditioning) engineer who is designing my system. He has had the plans for months, but after visiting the site, he really got a much better feel for the job. He gave me some input on required openings, and went back with some notes to refine the drawings. It was exciting going over these details with him, and picturing installing this equipment!

I also got a visit from a plumber who was another recommendation of Ernie, the neighbor who had recommended the great concrete finishers. He seemed like a great guy, and I look forward to adding him to my team!

Waterproofing

2007-10-06T22:44:00.001-07:00

The Waterproofing crew came this week to do the garage walls. This is a 2 step process.

The first step is a very sticky liquid membrane that is applied by paint roller.

Once this has partially set, but while it is still tacky, the drainboard and fabric are cut from long rolls and applied.

The drainboard looks like a tiny egg crate pattern of little cups that hold the fabric layer away from the wall, creating a pathway that any water can travel down instead of soaking in and going through the wall.

By the end of the day they had done all 3 walls and just needed to come back the next day to touch up the corners. They were a very efficient and friendly crew!

The next step was to set the french drain around the bottom of the wall. First I ordered a large pile of gravel to be delivered, so large it completely blocked the driveway!

While I waited for the gravel, I installed the perforated pipe. This allows any water that makes it through the backfill and to the wall, then down the drainboard, to drain through the gravel and into the pipe that leads out around each side wall to the driveway.

With the help of 2 laborers during the day, and Kyle after school, we buried the pipe with gravel.

The gravel in the back wall had to be loaded into buckets, lifted to the garage roof by bucket, carried across to the back, and dumped over.

This was time-consuming and exhausting, but was finished by the end of the day. I was now ready for my next inspection!

The 2nd Pour!

2007-09-26T00:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the second concrete pour for our house, and a number of milestones were passed! The main thing was that this was my first ICF pour! All in all it went very well! We had a number of "challenges", but they were all worked out! The day was very hectic, so my photo coverage is not very good!

Here is how the day went:
The trucks were scheduled to arrive starting at 7:00am, so I got there while it was still dark, around 5:30. I had a few last minutes things to prepare, including building a little cradle to support the very heavy concrete pumper's hose as it goes up to the roof deck (see below), and a few other small thngs I just wanted to do. My laborer was scheduled for 6:30, so I had a good hour to fiddle around. Soon it was 6:30, then 6:45. Not only was my laborer not here, but the pumper had not shown up, and he has a lot of set-up that has to take place before the first concrete truck arrives! About 5 minutes to 7:00, both my laborer and the pumper rolled up! Luckily, the truck was also late! We were completely ready by the time it came! Also arriving was my deputy inspector. This is a private inspector I am required to hire whenever I pour high-strength concrete. On this house, that will be anything in a wall or on the AmDeck slabs. He supervises the pour, making sure the concrete is poured as designed by the structural engineer. He also takes concrete samples that are tested for strength at 7 days and at 28 days from the pour. More about that later.

The first truckload was used to fill the bottom 4' of the wall. After completely going around the walls, we were ready for the second truck. About 30 minutes later, it showed up. We went around the walls again, this time filling up the next 4', so the walls were almost all filled. The next truck was supposed to get there soon after, but about 45 minutes later, still no truck!
I called dispatch only to find out that the 3rd truck had been stuck in traffic for 2 hours! It was getting so late that I had to order a replacement truck, since the concrete would have been unworkable by the time it finally got here. The company totally understood and ordered a replacement truck. While we waited for the replacement, the 4th partial truck arrived. This is called the "cleanup" load, and is an addition to the original order. It seemed like the original 3 trucks was not going to be enough, so I had ordered an addiitonal 4 cubic yards.

We started pouring the very top of the walls and the roof deck system. This went very smoothly too, and faster than I expected. When the replacement for the 3rd truck arrived, we finished the deck. We didn't end up using the whole truck, when the deck was finished there was about 4 yards left! Oh well, I guess I should have trusted my original figures!

There were a few places where I got slight bulges in the forms, but no "blowouts" which was my main concern, as this was my first ICF pour. One of the bulges is visible here at the back corner. This will not be a problem, since it wil all be underground, but I now know to spend a little more time reinforcing at the corners!

Since the garage roof will be waterproofed and buried under the earth, I didn't have the finishers spend too much time doing a perfect job, but, once again, they were a great crew to have around, finishing the slab just right, and helping out on all aspects of the pour.

By the end of the day, we had poured all of the walls and the entire garage roof! A very successful first ICF Pour!

Ready for the Pour!

2007-09-21T22:01:00.000-07:00

Last week showed a lot of progress and it felt like it went quickly, but we were far from ready for concrete. This week proved just how much was still needed! Dad and I worked 4 full days with a laborer's help part time, and just got the forms to the point that they could be inspected on Thursday.

Inside the walls there was a lot of fine tuning required. Additional supports and braces were added to the shoring and the AmDeck blocks were tied down so they wouldn't move. The joints between Amdeck blocks were sealed wih spray foam, and an additional 1" layer of foam was added to the top, to create a deeper concrete joist.

On the outside and at all openings, OSB was added to reenforce any potential weak spots as well as to hold "bucking" and anchor bolts in place.

The weather was forecast to be rain on Thursday and Friday, so we took the time to protect the hillside by covering it with plastic sheeting. Of course, the predicted rain did not materialize until the time of this writing (late Friday night), and so far it has been pretty minor!

Next, the rebar was added to the roof deck joists, and the steel mesh that reenforces the slab was laid in place. This was more difficult than it sounds, because it comes in 7'x 20' long sheets, and takes 3 men to manuever. All of this steel was tied in place and held off of the foam forms with little concrete spacers called "dobies". The top edges of the walls were reenforced with 2"x4"s where needed, and a safety railing was added. Finally, the forms were complete!

The Structural Observation inspection went well on Thursday, as did the City Inspection today.

I am approved for the next pour!

All Hands on AmDeck!

2007-09-15T21:04:00.000-07:00

A lot of progress this week! On Monday the AmDeck arrived! This is the forming system used for all horizontal planes (floors and roofs). I was concerned about storage space so I asked the supplier to only bring a small portion of my order. I'm glad I did, because the single truck load filled up the street, and once I brought it into the property, filled up any free space I had!

The beginning of the week was spent finishing the walls. Dad was able to help out for a few more days this week, and we got a lot done together. It is really enjoyable working with him! As the walls went up, rebar was inserted to add strength to the concrete. Here is a view of the massive amount of steel needed at the sides of the garage door openings.

Soon all of the garage walls were completed and I got the fun task of cutting the archways over the garage door openings! Finally, something more interesting than a square corner!

As I was finishing the ICFs, Dad was working on the custom forming. Any time that there is an opening or a special beam that is not the standard ICF width, forms need to be constructed out of wood. Dad framed the center structural beam form and closed many of the edges of openings.

Next I was ready to start setting the garage roof forms.

The AmDeck forms are a modular system, each piece is 24" by 32" and simply sets on to steel joists resting on the temporary shoring.

The pieces are very light and easy to handle, and the roof went up very fast!

On Saturday, Jeanne came and worked the day with me! Here she is assembling the steel reinforcement for the structural beam between the garage bays. It was great to work together on our own home!

Shoring!

2007-09-08T09:02:00.000-07:00

After one more half day and one full day in the sun, we got all of the garage side and back walls up and built the shoring in one of the garage bays! I am very pleased with the progress of the last 2 days, I think we have a good feel for the ICF building process!

Next week the shoring will be completed, and the complex front garage wall with the garage door archways will be formed!

Walls: Day 2

2007-09-07T01:21:00.000-07:00

After the first course, it just gets easier! On the second day we got almost 3 courses up, Each course consisting of a layer of ICFs and a continuous horizontal rebar.

On the third day we finished the third and fourth course, and I placed orders for shoring lumber and more steel. Tomorrow I will start building the shoring system. The shoring has the dual purpose of keeping the walls aligned and supporting the garage roof while the concrete is poured and until it attains full design strength.

WALLS!

2007-09-05T00:08:00.001-07:00

Dad and I spent a good day getting ready to start building the walls! First, we measured out the exact placement of the garage walls, then screwed steel channel into the slab. These are used to align the walls and keep them straight, as well as secure the bottom of the walls during the pour.

After the channel was set, we started assembling the ICF blocks, starting from the back corner. As the blocks were laid, the horizontal reinforcing steel (rebar) was inserted.

By the end of the day, we had set all of the channel, and laid most of the first layer of ICFs. Tomorrow, the walls start going up!

Hot Work

2007-09-04T23:21:00.000-07:00

With the garage slab finally poured, I had a few more days of prep before we could start building the walls. First, I needed to cut a ledge in the cliff for a footing that would support the middle of the living-room floor and create a back wall for the utility area.

This was difficult work, requiring me to sometimes stand on the narrow ledge I was cutting, secured by a harness, holding on to a rope with one hand and operating the jackhammer with the other! It was also a very hot week, so the work days had to be shortened so we would not overexert ourselves.

As I cut the ledge, the workers cleared the fallen rock at the other side, then we would switch sides and I would create more of a mess for them! For two days I jackhammered and they shoveled and wheelbarrowed the dirt and rock to the front of the lot. After the pile was almost as high as the gate, I once again had to rent a bobcat and dump truck and hauled dirt out for the next 2 days!

By the end of the week, I was finally ready to start building walls!

1st Pour Day!

2007-08-23T13:04:00.000-07:00

It finally arrived! After years of waiting and a few delays in the process, we finally poured some concrete! Actually, a LOT of concrete! 54 cubic yards, to be exact! I had a great crew with me, including Kyle and Evan, Mark the Pumper, and, thanks to the recommendation of my neighbor Ernie, 4 great concrete finishers!

The crew arrived at about 7:30 am to prepare for the first concrete truck at 8:00. He was a little late, so the boys played ball with Mark for a while and we all rested in anticipation. Once he first truck arrived and we started pumping, there was very little down time!

The first 4 truckloads (36 cubic yards) basically did the footings around the edges, it wasn't until the final 2 truckloads that the top of the slab started getting filled.

From then on the finishers did their magic, first "screeding" the slab flat, then using a variety of tools, they finished it to a nice smooth surface!

It is really great to have a clean level surface on the lot, having spent 7 years climbing around on the dirt and rock!

Here's a little video of the day:

STEEL!

2007-08-02T22:33:00.000-07:00

Finally, after all these weeks of playing in the dirt, it was time to start laying the rebar in! The garage footing is massive, and has taking longer than I thought, but I finally hit bottom when I reached a point 4'-6" below the Garage slab, that's a 2'-6" deep footing and slab, plus a 2' deep "key" underneath! The "key" is used on the retaining walls to lock in the footing so it can't slide. Believe me, this hunk of concrete is NOT going ANYWHERE!

Here is a picture showing the side of the garage footing before steel:

Here is Evan with the first 2 day's worth of steel rebar installed!

Lots more to come!

2 Milestones!

2007-07-22T05:30:00.000-07:00

Today was the last major dirt hauling day! I know I had said that to myself many times, but this time I was going to make sure! Trevor kindly volunteered to help, so I rented 2 dump trucks and we took turns loading and hauling. A few strokes of luck today, after our first loads to Scholl Canyon Dump, a man followed us home and offered to take a bunch of loads for a project he was doing in Eagle Rock! That saved me a lot of driving! By the end of the day, I had taken all I could off of Buckingham, and loaded an additional truck full to drop off at Scholl in the morning!

The other milestone was that the Electric Crew from Glendale Water and Power came to hook up the temp meter! When we got there in the morning, there were already 5 trucks waiting, and about 8 men! 2 of these must have been supervisors, because they didn't stay long, but the other 3 trucks and 6 guys were there most of the day, and by the time they left, I had POWER!

Change of Plans

2007-07-20T21:56:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was to be my final big dirt hauling day. I rented the truck and drove it up to Buckingham, only to find the street blocked! The Glendale Water crew had arrived before 7:00 am and were already set up and ready to dig! After greeting them and showing them the meter location, I went to take back the dump truck. With a very efficient crew of just 3 guys, they dug a trench about 10 feet long and 4' deep, "tapped" into the 6" cast iron water main under the street, and ran a new 1 1/2" copper pipe to my new meter. Then they set a box around it, back filled the trench and put some temporary asphalt on top. All of this was accomplished in about 6 hours!

Finally, a 2 car garage!

2007-07-12T22:31:00.000-07:00

Today, with the help of 2 laborers and Dad to monitor them, we broke through the pile of dirt that has blocked the garage opening since the beginning! I spent most of the day loading and driving the dump-truck (not my favorite job!) while the guys jackhammered constantly under dad's good direction, and by the end of the day I could park 2 vehicles in the garage!

Tomorrow we will continue leveling the garage pad and hopefully start making detailed measurements and cutting the side footings for the garage!

Good Neighbors

2007-07-12T21:30:00.000-07:00

I am so anxious to finish the house! I know, I'm just getting started, but I'm really looking forward to living on Buckingham! Every day I am greeted by many friendly neighbors out going for a walk, or driving by on their way to and from work. Many of them stop by daily to check on my progress, and always have something nice to say. One of our neighbors is also throwing a party for our little street later this month and has invited us!

Yesterday I had another nice neighborly experience. Dad was driving the laborers back and was then going to come back and pick me up. I decided to start walking down Chevy Chase to meet him.
So there I was, covered in dirt, walking down the side of the road and carrying my notebook, my roll of plans, and a gas can. During my short walk, 2 of my future neighbors pulled over and asked my if they could give me a ride!

What a great group of people!

First Inspection!

2007-07-12T20:21:00.000-07:00

My first inspection happened as scheduled on Tuesday for the Electrical Service pull box and temporary meter.

I called in the morning to verify I was on the Inspectors schedule, then met him at the lot. Everything went well, and he approved it, but told me that I needed to pull a separate permit for the temporary meter! It's funny that they have a combination permit that covers the whole building, all of the plumbing and electrical, yet it doesn't cover the temporary meter that every construction site has! Oh well!
As I was parking at City Hall to get the permit, I got a call from the Glendale Water and Power Inspector who was going to the lot to check out the pull box. I immediately turned around and went back to the lot to meet him. The GWP inspector also approved the installation and said he would set up the crews that would do the hook up. Soon I will have my own power, and can stop relying on the generator!

So there it is, 2 approvals for the same thing in the same day!

Yet MORE Grading - Week 7

2007-07-07T23:17:00.000-07:00

This week started with a Norton Building Tradition, I threw my back out! I was starting to dig the trench for the underground electrical service with my new jack hammer, when it got stuck in the rock. When I tried to pull it out, I heard a pop and that was it! I had to get rescued by Jeanne and Kyle, and spent the next 3 days on bed recuperating.

On Tuesday I was back to work, this time with some good day laborers to do the jack hammering and digging. I took it easy that day, spending a little time cutting the garage walls with the Bobcat, and supervising the laborers.

The rest off the week was spent getting rid of more dirt. Seems like as soon as I get rid of the pile and start cutting for the garage footing, the pile reappears! On an average day I loaded and drove about 5 loads of dirt away from Buckingham. The rear footing of the garage is finally taking shape. It's a big one, 6' wide and 24" deep!

The laborers took turns jackhammering and assembling more ICFs. We now have filled up almost all of the available storage space with ICFs!

By the end of Friday, The trench was almost finished, and the pile was almost gone! On Saturday, James, my electrical contractor, came by and we installed the pull box and conduit that connects the riser on the electrical pole to the pull box.

We also installed a temporary meter and connected it to the pull box.

I set the pole for the temp meter in concrete, and I am now ready for my first inspection!

A Rough Day

2007-06-29T21:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was not one of my best! Wednesday night ended with the Bobcat stalling in the midst of scooping up some dirt. I thought I might be out of fuel (even though the gauge showed "full") so I picked up a gas can and bought a couple gallons of diesel. In the morning I tried started the Bobcat again with the fuel, but with no luck. I called the rental company and they sent a repairman who bled the fuel line, eventually getting it started! I learned something new, don't run a diesel engine until empty!

I finished filling the truck and closed up the fence. I started down the hill to take my first load of the day to the dump. As I was heading down Chevy Chase Drive the truck suddenly came to a stop right in the middle of the street! I hopped out and started directing traffic around the truck and called the rental company to have the repair man come back out! While I directed the rush hour traffic, a passerby called the police, and soon a motorcycle officer came and directed traffic while the repairman and I got the truck to the side of the road. The repairman took me back up to Buckingham and I spent the rest of the day doing what excavating I could for the garage footing.

A few other things happened earlier this week:

The steel arrived! Although it is just the steel for the garage footing and walls, it sure seems like a lot of metal!

The Glendale Water and Power crew came out on Tuesday to set the riser on the power pole. My electrician and I will be attaching conduit to the riser that will eventually run to the permanent electric meter, and will also supply the temporary meter.

Today (Friday) I rented another dump truck and was able to get rid of a lot of dirt, enough that I should be able to dig the footings without having to export any more. At the end of the day I returned the truck and rented a generator. Tomorrow I will be jackhammering the trench for the conduit and the "pull box" a very expensive concrete box that will be recessed in the driveway, and will be the connection point between the temporary and permanent meters and the power supply from the pole. Once it is inspected and approved I will finally be able to have electricity at the lot, and will be able to run my jackhammer (and other tools) without renting a generator!

Now to the Details!

2007-06-28T22:34:00.000-07:00

The last 2 weeks has been very productive, if a bit slow, because I am pretty much on my own! After the grading contractor finished his part of the job, I still had a lot of clean up to do, and a lot of loose dirt still to remove in the garage area. I rented a Bobcat and a dump truck and took turns loading the truck then driving it to the dump. It has been dirty and exhausting work, but I've been able to see progress every day, which is good.

The Scholl Canyon dump only takes free dirt from 8:00-10:00 each morning, so I can only get 2 loads there if I am fast. After that I have been driving all the way to a ranch in Sun Valley near the Hansen Dam that is charging me $20 a truckload. The money is not a problem, but the drive is long, sometimes about 90 minutes round trip!

Both of the boys have helped a few days this week. While I'm loading the truck they help level the load, and while I am gone to the dump, they have been assembling the first ICF blocks.

This is a time consuming process, but one of the reasons I chose EcoBlock was because they came unassembled and I was worried about storage space. Thank goodness I did, because even unassembled, the blocks take up a lot of space!

Here is a video showing me loading a truck, and a view of the garage cut from the inside!

Next week, I will set the steel and hopefully pour the first concrete!

A Slow Week on the lot...

2007-06-15T13:27:00.000-07:00

Not a lot has happened at Buckingham, but much has transpired behind the scenes. The temporary electric meter has required a few meetings with city inspectors on site, and hopefully will be installed next week.

The permanent water meter has been applied for. It takes 8-10 weeks to install, but I needed to get the grading done before I applied for it, because I needed to mark the exact location and couldn't do that with the cliff in the way! The placement is now marked so the city can start the process.

The steel order for the garage footing and walls has been submitted and the steel should arrive mid next week, just when I will be finishing the detailed footing cut.

I am using a new forming techology for the suspended floors and roofs. It is similar to the ICF walls in that it is a modular stay-in-place foam form. I met with the Am-Deck representative, a very helpful gentleman named Simon, who went over my plans in detail and has come up with the order. I will place the order next week for delivery in 2 to 3 weeks. This will give me time to pour the garage footing and build the walls.

I am also working out a detailed pour schedule based on the final plans and conditions on the site. It will be a very complex series of pours, and the more pre-planning the better!

Throughout the week I have been in touch with a number of people looking for free dirt. I advertised on Craigslist, offering the remaining loose dirt, and even offering to rent a Bobcat and help load if someone wanted to take a large quantity. I got a lot of interest, but so far have only gotten rid of about 4 small buckets full! If I don't hear from anyone over the weekend, I will be renting my own dump truck on Monday and taking it away myself!

Final Major Grading!

2007-06-15T12:51:00.000-07:00

The last 2 days of major grading are complete!

On Thursday and Friday Mike cut the rest of the Cellar level, and most of the Garage cut. The Geologist made another inspection, and again we were lucky to have nice solid rock! It's been hard to cut, but will make for a great foundation!

At one point we had 13 dump trucks working!

There are now 6 different levels cut into the hillside. It is much easier to imagine now that you can stand at the exact level of the cellar, or the kitchen, or the livingroom. The bedroom levels are all on the 2nd floor, so that still takes some imagination!

There is still quite a bit of loose dirt to remove in order to pour the garage footing, but I will do that myself to save some money!

Here is the last movie of Mike at work:

Grading Days 11 and 12

2007-06-09T22:44:00.000-07:00

It's been a very busy week at Buckingham! The 11th was another big exporting day, while the 12th was spent with Mike excavating and replenishing the big pile of dirt he had just gotten rid of!

The first load of ICFs (Insulating Concrete Forms) arrived on Tuesday. These are what will make up the majority of the walls.

Kyle and Evan spent some time unloading after school.

On Wednesday, I got some help unloading the trailer in the morning, then Kyle came back and we hauled the rest of the load up to the top of the excavation.

This movie shows the many "up hill" challenges of working on our lot!

Grading - Days 8,9, and 10

2007-06-03T22:44:00.000-07:00

The top cut is almost finished and leveled, and Mike moves the excavator down to the street to load some more trucks.

Here is a movie for the past few days. No movie for Saturday, but Mike did get a lot done!

However, I do want to share a special movie that has NOTHING to do with building our house! Enjoy!

Days 4, 6, and 7

2007-05-31T15:33:00.000-07:00

Here are some pix from the last few days! On Day 4 we exported quite a few truck loads of dirt, yet from the street it still seemed like a big pile!

On top of the pile is where all of the action is. The highest cut is the back of the kids bedroom wing, and after getting a geologist's inspection of the first 5' of cut, we were allowed to continue to the next 5'.

After our second gologist's inspection, we were given the go-ahead to cut to the full depth of 14'. The geologist says that the conditions are "as expected" and are concidered safe!

The offset arm on this machine allowed it to cut in line with the cliff. It's amazing to watch Mike work!

Here are the Movies!

Day 4 Movie

Day 6 Movie

Day 7 Movie

Day Two - Fun in the dirt!

2007-05-23T16:55:00.000-07:00

A very productive day today, Mike brought in a bigger excavator to start really removing earth quickly. At first it blocked most of our little street, but the neighbors who passed by were very understanding, and Mike got it moved to the side pretty quickly.

A total of 15 truckloads, approximately 150 cubic yards, was removed today!

During breaks in loading, he used his smaller excavator to start cutting the back wall of the kids bedroom wing.

At the end of the day, both excavators were able to fit inside the fence, along with the porta-potty! The barrier was brought in to protect the roadway from falling earth and rock. So far, it hasn't been needed, but we have it just in case!

Here's today's movie clip:

Day One - The Digging Begins!

2007-05-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

When I got to Buckingham at 7:00 am, Mike had already set out his construction signs and was unloading his excavator. As soon as I opened up the fence, he was digging!

Here is the excavator taking the first few bites.

The first truck is loaded (Does this remind anyone of last April?):

By 2:00, the excavator made it to the top of the hill, about the level of the kid's bedrooms!

Here is a short movie of today's activity:

I'VE GOT IT!!

2007-05-21T17:59:00.000-07:00

It's been almost exactly ONE YEAR since I submitted the application, and I finally have the BUILDING PERMIT in hand!

Tomorrow the real fun begins, we start DIGGING!

It's out of my hands!

2007-05-17T10:38:00.000-07:00

The last paperwork is now in the City of Glendale's legal department for review. I should hear back tomorrow at best, Monday at the latest, at which point I will finally pull the Building Permit!

Today I also picked up the temporary water meter, and the construction fencing was installed.

I spoke again with Mike of Sol Construction, he is getting everything lined up for a Tuesday May 22nd GROUNDBREAKING!

The Adventure Begins....

2007-05-17T09:32:00.000-07:00

This Blog was created to document the construction phase of the Buckingham House. I will try to post updates at least once a week.

The Adventure Begins!