Lowering The House

The concrete foundation was given 11 days to harden before the house was lowered today. The house really didn't drop at all given that the new concrete foundation was poured up to the level of the new sills. In both of these pictures you can see that the wood support structures that had been holding up the house have now been removed. The next stage is for the builders to level the sand and finish the plumbing before adding a layer of gravel, laying out a rebar grid to reinforce the soon to be poured slab and the radiant floor tubing that will be tied to the rebar grid. If all goes well, the concrete slab will be poured before the end of November.

Pouring The Concrete Foundation

Today the builders poured the concrete for the foundation. It took a total of four cement trucks to deliver the required 30 cubic yards of concrete. The bolts sticking out of the concrete will be bolted to the house once the carpenters complete the necessary framing. The engineer who designed the foundation had originally specified 5-bag cement but a few days before the pour upgraded the specs to 6-bag (more cement in the concrete) as this would further strengthen the foundation and it would shrink less after it dried. Next week the builders will remove the wooden forms and the concrete will be allowed to dry for 10 days before the house is lowered. The first picture shows the brick wall now wrapped in concrete, the second shows a section of the new concrete footing. the rebar sticking out of the footing will tie the slab to the foundation when it is poured (the next stage of the project after the house is lowered). This will include all of th necessary plumbing and radiant floor heating.

Reinforcing The Brick Wall

The 6 foot high brick wall that separates our property from our neighbor's was a complete surprise to everyone when it was discovered during the demolition stage of the construction project. What had been expected was a foot high brick wall footing with wood posts on top. In some ways it was a blessing. A major challenge during the planning stage of the construction project was how to preserve my neighbor's foundation and prevent the sand underneath his house giving way once our brick footing was torn down (his house is on higher ground than ours). The structural engineer on the project designed a system that reinforced the wall with rebar, encapsulating it in concrete. The wall will then be tied into the concrete slab with rebar further into the project.