Structural Posts and the Cellar

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...

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!