Build My First Home | The trials and tribulations of building a first home » building a home

End of day one: Concrete Block Walls

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:04:40 +0000

Well, today is a wrap. The house is about 3/4 the way finished with the concrete block walls. I snapped a few pictures of the interior.

Chelsea standing in our great room for the first time!

Concrete Slab after rainfall

admin — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:34:55 +0000

Well, as predicted we had another full day of rainfall. This makes for a very difficult slab finish. Luckily our concrete crew had about an hour and a half window of no rain. This allowed for them to finish the slab and get it covered. Anytime you mix rain with concrete the result is never pretty. The slab is still showing some white rock through to the top layer. A urethane coating will be applied to the slab to ensure a smooth and protected finish. The garage floor will receive a fresh finsh and a half layer of new concrete called a concrete cap. This will ensure a very nice finish to the floor of the garage.

Concrete slab shown after 2 straight days of rainfall. Slab is covered in a tarp shortly after re-applying a new top-coat layer of concrete

Another screen shot of our local weather channel's weather forecast. It's good for the earth, but not for our house!

Finally Approved: We are back on track!

admin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:54:29 +0000

Today was a good day when it comes to the building of the house. Finally. we got approval on the plan revisions and a release on the job copies at the building department. This means that we can resume construction! Today, Chelsea and I went to the building department to pick up the revised plan stamped by the county and paid the $75 red tag we received for violating their terms. Boo! Now I have to take the plan to the permit box on Sunday afternoon for our inspection on Monday. Hopefully the inspector will not find any problems and we can be on track for a Tuesday slab pour.

Rough Plumbing Inspection Passed

admin — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:57:27 +0000

Hello friends, just thought I’d let you all know that our rough plumbing inspection passed today. Now we are scheduled for a slab prep / stem wall inspection. When those inspections pass tomorrow we will be on schedule for Monday’s slab pour. This is getting exciting now!

Porches Formed and ready for pour

admin — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:59:19 +0000

I visited the site today and discovered that the porches were being formed and prepared for concrete pour scheduled for Monday 6-22-2009. I also noticed that the porta-potty had arrived on site. Now the workers will not have to leave to use the restroom. I need to be certain that the block crew fixes the damage to the stem wall prior to pouring the slab. This is becoming a concern for me. In order to pass an inspection the wall must be fixed and I am sure it will get done, I just want to know when so I don’t lose any sleep over it. Ha Ha.

Back Porch Shown. Size: 11' x 22' Should make for some nice BBQ's

Water Lines installed today!

admin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:17:29 +0000

Ok I visited the site today at about 12:30 and discovered a few things. First, the water lines were installed and ready for inspection. Whew! Secondly, the stem wall is damaged at the rear corner of the house. It appears to be damage from the tractor bringing in the fill dirt yesterday. I will have to call my block crew to get them to repair the corner, prior to pouring the slab next week. Check out the pictures of the water lines. Cool stuff.

The plumbing water line illustrates 100 p.s.i. holding in the lines for inspection. This is to prove that there are no leaks in the system prior to pouring the slab.

Stem Wall Installed Today

admin — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:27:22 +0000

Well today marks the first day of actual progress in terms of structure on the house. Our concrete block crew installed the stem wall for the foundation today. You can see from the pictures that the perimeter of the house is well defined by the stem walls. These walls will enclose a huge amount of fill dirt that will be poured into the area of the house. Once the dirt is installed the plumber will come out and install the rough plumbing. The slab will then be poured to meet the top of the blocks shown in the pictures. This creates an elevated slab and the northern front porch home look we are trying to achieve. It is looking really good. Check out the pictures.

Foundation Steel Installed today

admin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:50:35 +0000

Today all of the steel for the stem wall footings was installed. The steel is to ensure structural integrity throughout the foundation. Without the steel, the foundation would be extremely weak. Check out the photos. We are getting closer to concrete!