Slabs are in

This week started out with some small progress.  Yesterday, after my wife and I got off of work for the evening we made a trip out to the house site.  I was expecting the slabs to be in but it had not completed.  The one good thing about that was we were able to see the metal rebar that will reinforce the garage floor.  You can see here the grid of metal which will aligns the entire floor where the garage slab will be poured.

Not Poured

Today I made the journey out to the new house alone, to see if the slabs had been poured.  Upon arriving at the house I could see the garage had been poured.  It has a slight pitch from the back of the garage to the front where the door will be.  They must have been in and out with the cement trucks or the backhoe as the ground in front is quite disturbed from the smooth look it had just yesterday.

Poured

As long as the inspection occurred for the slabs and the weather holds out I am pretty sure they will be getting started framing tomorrow.  I am not sure if you can see it but if you look close the base wood has been attached onto the foundation, connected by metal strips which were inserted into the concrete walls before they settled.  It really seems to be picking up and I have a feeling the outside of the house will be done in the next week or two.

Lot taking Shape

This Tuesday was a day full of rain, I didn't travel out to the site at all as I figured there would not be any progress since we are still on all outdoor work.  This was the day for the foundation and waterproofing inspection, but we lost the first day of the build.  Not to worry much we are still tracking ahead of schedule overall so the one day will not significantly alter the final delivery.

I took a stop by after work on Wednesday, there was no noticeable progress on the site, but I could see there was an updated inspection sticker on the site sign.  It seems the inspection happened on Wednesday and it was approved.   This meant the backfill would be Yesterday.  

Thursday happened much like Wedensday, a day of work a early evening visit to the site.  This time it was clear they had backfilled the lot.  The dirt was filled in along the angle of the waterproofing on the left side and along a small blue line chalked from the end of the waterproofing along the garage on the right.

Left Side View

Right Side View

The pile of dirt which had adorned the front of the lot since the foundation hole was dug out has been leveled out and pushed in around the foundation.  Large stones lay where the driveway will ultimately be poured.

Front View

Its all shaping up moving along at a rapid pace.  Today I received the weekly scheduled call from Bob.  I wasn't able to answer but in his message he let me know that Monday the slabs for the basement and garage would be poured, and possibly inspected.  He also said framing could start as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.  That is crazy, I had the idea the the foundation needed to sit for 2 weeks prior to framing, but I guess not.  I will have to follow up with him on Monday!

Waterproof

In an effort to stay ahead of the curve, my wife and I have begun to prepare for the move out of our current residence into the new one being built.  This past weekend was the first step.  We scoured the house, especially the attic and found a treasure trove of small items which we had collected over the years.  Most of the items we had not seen in years.  Our house is not a prime location for a yard sale, but my inlaws town was having a town wide yard sale, so we partnered up some of our items and some of theirs, as well as some of my brother-in-law and his wife's stuff, for a big yard sale.  The day was very hot day, but the visitors were plenty and the stuff flew out.   With how much stuff we sold you would have thought our house was empty, but it is not even close.

The weekend came to an end and we would be getting back into the work week.  The schedule for the house this monday was waterproofing.  The weather for Monday was perfect.  It had cooled down a little bit from the weekend, but was still beautiful so there was no problem for the crew to take the next step.  We had discussed in the preconstruction meeting about the waterproofing product, which Bob mentioned was Delta MS.  Delta MS is a thick membrane that is fixed to the foundation making a waterproof seal.  You can see the membrane attached the front left of the of the house. 

Down the side you can see the the waterproof membrane is cut on an angle which will correspond with the grading of the ground when completed.  The slope will be clearly pitched from front to back, but seems to be a gradual decline.  This is similar to our current house but over a much longer stretch, so that will be nice, not having such a steep hill seperating the front and back yards.

It appears that the waterproofing will not be applied around the outside section of the garage.  The membrane only comes up to about a foot past the wall seperating the garage from the rest of the house as seen in the following picture.

There were some areas which its looks like they didn't use the Delta MS membrane but rather a painted on waterproofing.  I was a little surprised by this as I was expecting it to be the Delta MS everywhere, since Bob explained it made a much tighter lock between the outside and inside from ground water.  I think I will ask Bob about this the next time we talk, and post an update as to his response.

Our Foundation Makes an Appearance

Last Friday, I was very excited that I would get the first look of the foundation walls out from their metal shackels and standing on its own.  Before getting to look, I had some paper work to drop off at NVR Mortgage round two of three.  One downside of new construction versus purchasing a built home is the mortgage process requires more followup documents, as they need to reverify as the time passes.  In a already built home, you can typically be closed in 45 days from contract which requires only one pass through underwritting.

My wife had an earlier than usual night on Friday and she had not been out to the site in a while so we planned to head over together when she got out.  We arrived about 20 minutes before sunset but had plenty of light to see.  As we pulled up the street is was clear they had taken down the frame and the foundation walls were stanidng on there own.

We swung around the cul-de-sac and pulled up in the front.  We parked where the driveway apron will be once everything is completed.  The foundation is visibly larger than our current house.  The lot is so much bigger and there is much more space between houses than at our current home, which makes it seem smaller than it is.

You can really see the shape of the house coming together, with the garage immediately in front of the above picture with kitchen area and morning room behind it.  On the left of the garage is where the front door will ultimately reside with the living room, and family room behind.

One more look gives a real view of the foundation shape of the house and the lot behind it, we got out of the car and went around to the left side to get this view.

Its really crazy to think at the end of week two that we would be this far along, but it is really taking shape.  Even more coming from this week, waterproofing is up next!

Foundation - Pumped not Poured

I have been a little behind the times posting, it's been a crazy few days, a long weekend followed by a crazy few days.  So I will be posting a few posts to catch up over the next day or two.

Let's travel back to Wednesday of last week, the frame for the foundation walls was put up and I wanted to get an idea of what the timing of the pouring of the concrete so on Thursday morning I made a call over to the PM, Bob, to ask when the walls would be poured.  I hoped to be able to get out to the site while the pour was occurring to get some video of it, but when I called over Bob let me know the concrete pump was already there and the foundation would be done soon.  I never heard of a concrete pump, so I asked about it.  Bob explained that since the walls were so tall and the back of the house so far off the street that they wouldn't actually be pouring it but rather pumping it in.

Here is a video of concrete pump at work on foundation walls.

Since concrete is in liquid form before drying they are able to use a pump to push it through a long tube to where ever it is needed.  Seems like I get to learn as we move through the process.  The pump truck has a reciever bin that the concrete trucks pull up to and pour the concrete into, which is then pumped out and into the foundation.

After we discussed the pumping not pouring of the foundation walls, we discussed the upcoming schedule.  The weather turned very nice into the upper 70s so the foundation would only need a day to dry enough to remove the frames, where as the surrounding houses required 48 hours due to the 40 and 50's weather.  Due to the fact that only one day was necessary for the concrete to dry the frames would be removed on Friday.  That would be followed on Monday with the waterproofing, then an inspection on Tuesday, and finally on Wednesday the ground would be backfilled around the foundation walls.

A Frame of the Foundation

Another nice day and more progress this time much more visible and recognizable.  I couldn't stay away and had to swing by the lot to see what went on today.  The excitement keeps building as I see the pieces of the puzzle come together, I will need to temper myself a little or I will be driving by everyday.  Good thing it's only about 10 minutes away from our current house. By the time I make it over after work the site is clear from the days activities, so I don't see the work as it's happening, just the end result of a day's work.

As I turn up the block and drive towards the lot, the pile of dirt moved to the front of the lot and a large red dumpster obstruct the view into where the foundation work is going on which adds to the excitement even more.  The wonder of what I'll see as I pass by and look around the corner of the objects blocking my view and finally get that glimpse.  Today was not a disappointment, a very noticeable difference could be seen, take a look at my view...

As you can see they completed or have pretty much completed the framing out of the foundation walls in preparation for the pour.  Amazingly, only a week ago today this was just a dirt lot, and now we preparing the foundation for our home and the many years of enjoyment it will bring us.  I am hoping to have a chance to be at the site when they actually pour the foundation so I can see it really come together, and get some video of it as it happens.  I will have to give Bob a call in he morning and see if he has an idea of the timing, maybe I can make it over.

You can see in the picture above the remnants of that large rock pile that was there yesterday, and some unsettled earth around it.  I was able to get a view from the other side of the house from the curb , providing a little different perspective, as well a a look at how high the foundation will be once completed.  I only had my cell phone camera today so I wasn't able to zoom in for more close ups, I work on making sure to bring it with me for future trips.

A Welcome to the Neighborhood

After a rainy Monday to start the week the weather cleared up early afternoon on Tuesday.  I decided to stop by the site to get a look.  There was limited progress, a pile of rocks had been delivered and you could see the receipt for the stone laying in the middle of the pile.  You can't blame the crew for the weather and they are still ahead of schedule, so no big deal.  The process has a whole lot of moving pieces as the lot looks much different than when we first saw it.

That's quite a bit of stone, I can only assume it will be used as a base for the foundation to fill in the dirt in the center of the footing, I will see if I can find out next time I talk to Bob.

Even though there was not a whole lot of progress to see, I did get to meet the owners of the house across the street from our lot.  They were very friendly, we talked for a little more than a half hour, about the neighborhood, their experience with the build, energy costs, and some friendly chatter.

I was very happy to hear that their experience with the build was great, and Bob, who was their PM was very helpful and knowledgeable throughout the process.  Bob's reputation continues to grow.  He received  rave reviews from our Sales Rep, Jackie as well.  It seems the people are what makes the whole process go smooth, and so far we have been lucky on the sales and build side as Jackie and Bob have been solid.

The other great thing to hear was the Energy Star efficiency on the house is the real deal.  You hear the sales side and high level information in the preconstruction meeting but to hear it from a consumer it really hits home.  When my wife and I started looking at larger houses, I always wondered how much more we would be paying for heating and cooling, but based on my conversation we may not have to worry too much.

The neighbors have gone above and beyond by taking some pictures of the process which will be fantastic as they will be able to catch some things that I might miss.  I thought it was wonderful of them to do that and I can't wait to see what they have captured.  I should have left them my email so they could send them over, guess I need to add to remember for next time.

Great neighbors make the neighborhood, so I am happy to have met them!

Footing

Below the foundation the first building blocks from which the foundation will sit is the footing providing a stable platform from which the house will sit and help reduce the amount of settlement the house will experience over time.  I was unaware of this prior to starting this whole building experience, but found this to be an key to a strong foundation.  On Friday the footing for our Ryan Homes Florence model home received approval and was poured.

Florence Footing

Your looking at the front door and living room area in the immediate foreground.  Behind it will be the powder room and family room. In the back right you can see the morning room jetting out the back of the house.  The kitchen area is hidden by the area here in the front right which will be the garage.

Next up is the house foundation, which Bob (PM) said should be starting up early next week.  We are still ahead of schedule so things are going good on the construction side.