Saturday, September 18, 2010

Full of Concrete-y Goodness

Pouring the ICF basement walls
The first working Saturday of the build, and four concrete trucks (including the Giants' truck) ascended to the site on a warm, foggy morning. First, the eight piers were filled in the lower retaining wall. The I-beams still have to be cut so that they are all level, then the trench can be filled and the pressure treated lumber will be slotted in. At that point we'll be ready to backfill almost to the top of the retaining wall.

Hector the Happy Framer dumps more concrete into the ICFs
Once the lower wall was poured, it was time to move onto the basement. At first it seemed that we wouldn't be ready for this today, but Hector and his crew did a great job preparing the basement and getting it all braced and ready for today's pour. The team marked out the positions of all of the steel tie downs to the satisfaction of Chai the Inspector, and we passed our inspection yesterday morning.

Hector and the Giants' truck
It was so nice today that I didn't want to leave. We stayed long enough to see the final concrete being emptied from the last truck, and while Hector was doing that the rest of the team was wet-placing the steel tie-downs - that is, they were placing steel into the wet concrete that will later be used to bolt down the steel posts and Simpson strong walls.

Delicious wet concrete forms the garage door header
Next week the site will be a hive of activity. The kit arrives first thing on Monday morning; the TJIs for the sub-floor arrive on Monday or Tuesday; the sills have to be set on top of the basement walls; the sub-floor and deck trusses have to be built; and then we'll be ready to start erecting the kit. Stay tuned for news, photos and videos.

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