Gravel and Tar and Drains, Oh My!

I promise we have been working even though I haven't posted! 

Waterproofing the foundation took several steps. First we had to to tar and seal. 

I'm not always up on fashion, but that white suit is pretty incredible!

Next we ran a perforated pipe around the foundation to carry any ground water away that might drain toward the house. The big vertical pipe in the corner is where we will drop-in a sump pump to lift the water out and away. 

 

We backfilled the foundation in order to drive the excavator close enough to dig away the dirt support columns that were holding the old house up while we did the new foundation. 

Compacting helps to keep the dirt around the foundation from settling. 

Stay tuned for the next installment for even more exciting changes. 

How Firm a Foundation

Time for some basement walls!

The first step is getting the forms in the hole. 

The crane truck comes in very handy. 

The garage had to be enlarged by a foot because the old house isn't square so the plans didn't exactly fit with what is actually there. Bigger garage? Ok!

The outside wall of the porch will be poured first so that once it sets we can brace off of it in order to single-form the opposite wall that is against the house. That inside wall will be poured with the form on one side and the existing rock wall on the other. Doing it that way will allow the porch wall to adhere to the rock and provide structural support for the house. 

We found a few holes in the rock foundation once we pulled the old porch off. We made forms with angle iron and tubing and wafer board. The metal and wood pull against the rocks and each other with large bolts and double sided nuts. The concrete will fill in the spaces and provide additional support. 

Look at those forms!

Starting to look like a Labyrinth. I almost expect to see David Bowie walking on walls anytime now. 

You can see that not all the walls are connected. So that the house doesn't fall into the basement, we have to leave some dirt in place for now and pour a couple of walls in sections. Tune in to a later post to see how all the sections fit together. 

Time to pour. 

The forms have to be covered again so the concrete won't freeze before setting. 

The sea of tarps. 

We've got walls!

The concrete actually set in the cold temperatures. 

 

Now to seal the concrete and install the french drain. 

Frigid Footings

After excavation, comes the footings. 

With the cold weather we had to use concrete blankets to keep the ground from freezing. These blankets show up a lot in this post. 

Setting the line. 

All bundled up for the night. You can see the outline well. 

It snowed! Good thing we covered the forms. We had to shovel off the blankets before we could proceed. 

Uncovered. 

Working around the old house meant we needed a concrete pump truck to reach all the footings. 

The cement trucks pump into the hopper on the pump truck and then it gets sent up and over and into the footings. 

Filling the forms. 

The pump truck boom is maneuvered by remote control (that's what he is holding). 

In order to get concrete in the forms under the house they had to make a chute. I'm pretty sure I heard the concrete contractor cursing me out under his breath at this point. 

The two older kids and the woman-in-charge came to see the progress. Concrete pumping is an exciting day!

All bundled up again. Almost ready for wall forms. 

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