Build - Day 14 - July 25, 2011

Today the basement walls were back-filled, the window casings for the main level constructed and in the afternoon the crew leveled out the lot. Tomorrow they will continue stacking the main level ICF blocks.

Very interesting to now be able to see the graded lot. It instantly shows the grade of the driveway which is a lot more level than I first thought. In the back it also starts to show what the height of the back porch will be.

One other thing we got to do today was to walk around in the fully closed-in basement and on the sub floor for the main level. It really starts to become more-and-more of a reality now. A couple of years of planning is all coming to fruition in literally only a couple of days. It sure makes the drive home interesting to see what they did that day.

Back-fill in progress. No one allowed on the lot due to safety reasons. Love telephoto lenses...

Action shot of the 'digger' as D likes to call 'm.

Graded garage.

Graded backyard.

Supplies on the main level sub floor for stacking more ICF blocks in the morning.

Window casings for the main and second floor. 

Good view of the graded front yard with the driveway shape. 

Build - Day 11 - July 22, 2011

Temperature remains in the 90s. Humidity levels aren't far behind. Afternoon thunderstorms are the norm. Welcome to building a house in North East Ohio in July. Yet, the build keeps progressing at a break-neck pace. Today the main level sub floor (Advantech) was laid, the water proofing was added, the basement inspection passed (yay!) and the guys starting stacking the first couple rows of the main level ICF walls.

In the afternoon we had a meeting with our builder to the select our windows and doors. This was either perfect timing or simply well-planned because our castle/moat becomes a house on Monday morning when   the basement walls are back filled. Also on deck for Monday: the work crew will be assembling the wood casings for the main level windows so they can stack the ICF blocks around it and thenvmaybe late Tuesday or early Wednesday, they'll pour the main level exterior walls.

But first: have a great and restful weekend, guys! C U Monday.

As always, more pictures on the 'Photo Set' page but here is a sampling of today's progress.

Laying the Advantech sub floor

Basement water proofing, back filling on Tuesday

Amish-built... Immense respect for their work in this heat 

Starting to rise up like a phoenix from the flame (sure feels hot enough!)

View of the front porch, office window and front door

Back-porch with floor supports and slider-cut-outs

Only 9 building days and this is the progress 

Build - Day 10 - July 21, 2011

In the sweltering heat with temperatures feeling like 105F our brave crew again delivered a great effort. Helped by lots of water and a cooler of popsicles and ice delivered by our little boy, they installed the Micro-Lam steel I-beams, the supports for the I-joists and the I-joists themselves.

Here are a few pictures from today's progress...

Basement view with Micro-Lams and floor joist supports.

View from the front porch.

Exercise room studs are up.

Special delivery.

The floor joists are in.

It's getting hot in here...

Besides making it REALLY hot, the sun also makes beautiful shadows.

Build - Day 9 - July 20, 2011

First of all, I have to say that I am blown away by our construction crew. Historic flash flood lifting our dinette off the foundation? No problem, just a three hour delay. Record breaking heat wave the next day? No problem. Hard at work, as usual. I am seriously in awe of their ability to work THIS fast in such energy-draining conditions. There may be a popsicle delivery sometime tomorrow.

We had expected today to be a nice, slow day mainly letting the basement wall concrete cure. But, much to our pleasant surprise the crew started on the non-ICF walls today under the front and back porches as well as the garage walls.

When we arrived around 9 this morning, they already had a great start on the garage.

Cement quietly curing.

When we left, about 10 minutes later, these guys were getting blocks ready to start the front porch.

Back before lunch, the front porch is done, and the three-car garage was almost done.

Men at work.

View from the driveway, at 5pm.

Garage is done, and I can finally start to see the size of the house in proportion.

Getting ready for the subfloor!

Our future front entry.

Back porch foundation is done.

Coming up: sub floor.

Build - Day 4 - July 15, 2011

Today they started stacking the ICFs. They will finish that up either tomorrow or Monday and the basement wall pouring will start on Tuesday, exactly a week after breaking ground.

Here's an impression of today's progress...

The ICF blocks arrived around 7am this morning.

The first blocks are in!

ICF art.

We are now using Logix forms.

The forms come together quickly.

Progress by 11am.

Hard at work around noon.

The Logix ICF block

The dinette with the step-down due to the removal of the clay layer

The dinette view from the inside

Jobsite overview (from the in-law suite)

Build - Day 3 - July 14, 2011

A low-key day today in 'the pit' with finishing the footer frames (incl. rebar) and the actual pouring of the footer concrete. They also added some of the gravel / pebble that will go under the basement floor.

Tomorrow they will finish up the back porch footers but more importantly, at 7:30am the Logix ICF blocks should arrive. If all goes well, the stacking of the 'Legos' should start around 1pm.

A lot is happening very, very rapidly in these first couple of days. We know that pace will slow down significantly as soon as the house is 'under roof', but for now I'm loving the fast pace of the build.

Here are a few pictures of the today's progress...

Amish-built

Front entrance view

In-law suite view

West view

Tomorrow they'll finish this up... I hope ;-)

Footers approved!

Foundation drainage

Our builder is using a product called 'Form-A-Drain'. It's a three-in-one, 90+% pre and post-consumer recycled PVC product used as:

1. Footing forms
2. Drainage system
3. Radon ventilation

Unlike standard wood forms, the Form-A-Drain pieces stay in place permanently after completion of the concrete pour, exactly like the ICF forms. Since they form a complete sub-slab perimeter loop around the foundation they can do the triple-duty as a foundation drainage and a radon collection system as well. It also saves construction time since there’s no need for a crew to return the next day to remove, strip, clean and transport forms to the next jobsite.

Forms prior to pouring the footer.

Post-pour result.

Disclosure: Our builder is using the CertainTeed brand and most info for this post was sourced from their site.