July 2010 Archives

This is what should be under all that stone...

The pump truck, in this case from Lehigh Concrete Placement Inc., (Frank works with them regularly and feels comfortable using them) has a long boom arm to deliver the concrete to where it is needed even if its too far away from where the trucks themselves can reach. In this case, the mixer stayed on the street and the pump truck on the driveway where it meets the street.



The truck driver can control the boom remotely (the man on the left side of the left picture) while Frank and his crew work in and next to the forms, making sure the concrete flows smoothly, where it needs to go and then smoothing the top of the footers.



This is what the site looks like after they finished for the day.



A view from where the driveway will be at the front of the house, looking along the basement wall under the office (lower section) and garage (upper section), and another view from along the back (foundation) wall for the garage.



And, yes, our concrete-encased electrode/Ufer ground is still there.

Here is where the drywell used to be located, as well as a closeup of one of the piers.





A few more pictures to give you a general overview of the site.

Finally, in case there was any doubt, we did pass our footing inspection. To make sure we knew, the inspector found a convenient spot for the sticker.

We also got a delivery of rebar.

By the way, in case you were wondering what an insulated concrete form (ICF) block looks like, we have a sample. This particular one is a 6" Amvic ICF block. The black spot in the first picture is where some of the foam has been removed to reveal the plastic web inside. To give you some perspective, a dollar bill (approx. 2.61" x 6.14") and a quarter (0.955") are also shown.

The ICF block is composed of two expanded polystyrene (EPS) boards, 16 inches high by 48 inches long, and come with 4, 6, 8 or 10 inches between each board which gets filled with concrete. (The 10 inch core block is 24 inches high.) Each foam board is 2.5 inches thick and they are joined by plastic webs placed every 6 inches. (After installation, we can nail or screw things into these plastic webs, just as you would normally fasten to a wooden stud.) The top and bottom of each board has foam "pegs" (1" square and spaced 1" apart) so that the blocks can lock to each other just like Lego blocks.




Finally, in case you were wondering, mom's garden is doing just fine. Of course, getting to it is a little difficult for her but its feeding some of the local wildlife just fine.

Victor from Conquest Builders then expanded on the stakes with painted lines and string, followed by Walter Heckel and "the machine" going to work digging for the basement, foundation and footers. Though it is rocky under the dirt - not surprising since the house is on the side of a hill and the former Houdaille Quarry is just around the corner. But, one scoop at a time, Walter digged away and Victor kept marking the land as the old marks were removed with the dirt.


You'll never know what you'll find underground but thankfully we only had one surprise. At some point, many years ago, someone had apparently built a dry well on the property. Rocks, stacked on top of each other, made a place to collect rain water. But, Walter and his machine removed it easily and filled the hole with gravel. To give you some idea of the size of this hole, the last picture has a few letter-sized sheets of paper sitting on top of the gravel.


And, of course, there are the obligatory before and after pictures!


Unfortunately, further work is delayed a few days. We got a lot of rain and, despite the high heat, the already high humidify didn't help the holes dug for the footings to dry out. But, a mudbath is supposed to be good for you, right?