The crew that lays the blocks is a couple of days behind on another house. They should be able to start our chain walls sometime this coming week. We're still hoping for a pour late this week, but with the holiday weekend, that probably won't happen. No big deal.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
Roses, Windows, Footings, Ulcers, and Beds
The wild roses are blooming. David's brother, Eric, gave us four little plants about 5 years ago and we planted them along the fence. Now the fence is a solid wall of thorns, with beautiful white roses for a couple of weeks in spring.We spent a good portion of this weekend picking out windows - sizes, materials (vinyl, AL), dividers, Low-E, Impact Resistance, and so on. It would have been so much easier if we had built a stock plan, but then again, it wouldn't have been our dream home. We decided on the vinyl windows that the contractor gets direct from the factory for a good price. Everyone on-line says that you have to buy Anderson/Jeldwyn/etc. $300+ windows or else. But I can't find out what "or else" means, so we're going for the contractor stock, which are energy efficient, meet the Miami-Dade hurricane pressures, and have a lifetime warranty. We probably will not get the impact resistant windows.
The footings were poured this morning - the concrete trucks were supposed to arrive at 9:30, and the workers had about an hour of work to prepare for the pour, but at 9 a.m., the workers still hadn't shown up. By the time they showed up and started the pour, they were scrambling to add the missing rebar in the pilings and to install the bulkheads where the foundation steps (David ended up donating some spare lumber). The concrete estimates were off, so it ended up taking 4 deliveries by the concrete trucks before the pour was finished. So another day of language difficulties and stress for David. Did I mention ulcers? The end result looks pretty good though:
And a decision of the bed - we bought this one instead. We might be reselling it if the lay-off rumor I heard at work is true. Something about laying everyone off if the strike isn't over in 5 weeks...
Going forward - they should start placing blocks on Friday for the chain wall, although the weather report I heard on the way home said it might rain. It'll take 1-2 days to set-up the blocks, place rebar, and brace the walls. Hopefully we'll get the inspection Monday or Tuesday and will pour concrete mid-week. Stay tuned!
Friday, March 23, 2007
It's the end the stressful week one. 
On Tuesday, David spent the whole day rerouting the septic. Notice that he didn't dig the trenches by hand! There were two pipes that were re-routed - the drain pipe to the septic tanks, and the pipe through which the effluent is pumped to the mound. Not a fun job.
Because of how quickly the contractor started, there were a lot of coordination issues. Luckily they were all worked out. The first crisis (after
the septic) was to figure out how much rebar was needed, when it was needed, and who would order it. The contractor ended up giving the lumber yard the material list for the footings, chain wall, and slab on Tuesday, and it was delivered on Wednesday. Here's a picture of the $1400 of rebar, ties, and wire mesh - not real impressive, is it?
The crew came back on Thursday - once again the lack of an english-speaking member of the crew was a difficulty, and David spent a lot of time calling the contractor, who called the crew chief, who called the crew and relayed David's concerns. About 1 pm, the crew drove out, leaving David wondering if or when they were planning to come back to finish the hour of work that was left before he called for an inspection. By the time the contractor, crew chief, and David met to look over the foundation, it was too late to get an inspection for a Friday pour. The contractor & crew chief assured David that everything would be ok with the foundation/inspection. The North wall that weaves back and forth 4" is within tolerance, the inspector wouldn't notice that there were only 2 pieces of rebar for the pilings instead of the 4 that are needed (they will add the missing pieces before the pour), the missing bulkheads at the steps is no big deal, and the other areas where some additional dirt needs to be dug out where the rebar touches the ground weren't bad enough to keep from getting approval from the inspection (this is only in a couple of places).
The crew chief/contractor were right. The inspector came out this afternoon and the foundation passed with flying covers. They didn't notice the missing rebar. Their only comments were that some of the loose dirt/clods need to be removed, and that the septic pipes need to be cut flush with the edge of the trench. They complemented the quality of the footings, saying it was the only good foundation that they had seen in 3 weeks of inspections.
Unfortunately, the concrete supplier is booked up tomorrow, so they won't pour the footings until Monday. Maybe that will David some time to relax! And maybe he'll have time to look at the bed I found on Craigslist, if it hasn't sold yet!
On Tuesday, David spent the whole day rerouting the septic. Notice that he didn't dig the trenches by hand! There were two pipes that were re-routed - the drain pipe to the septic tanks, and the pipe through which the effluent is pumped to the mound. Not a fun job.
Because of how quickly the contractor started, there were a lot of coordination issues. Luckily they were all worked out. The first crisis (after
the septic) was to figure out how much rebar was needed, when it was needed, and who would order it. The contractor ended up giving the lumber yard the material list for the footings, chain wall, and slab on Tuesday, and it was delivered on Wednesday. Here's a picture of the $1400 of rebar, ties, and wire mesh - not real impressive, is it?
The crew came back on Thursday - once again the lack of an english-speaking member of the crew was a difficulty, and David spent a lot of time calling the contractor, who called the crew chief, who called the crew and relayed David's concerns. About 1 pm, the crew drove out, leaving David wondering if or when they were planning to come back to finish the hour of work that was left before he called for an inspection. By the time the contractor, crew chief, and David met to look over the foundation, it was too late to get an inspection for a Friday pour. The contractor & crew chief assured David that everything would be ok with the foundation/inspection. The North wall that weaves back and forth 4" is within tolerance, the inspector wouldn't notice that there were only 2 pieces of rebar for the pilings instead of the 4 that are needed (they will add the missing pieces before the pour), the missing bulkheads at the steps is no big deal, and the other areas where some additional dirt needs to be dug out where the rebar touches the ground weren't bad enough to keep from getting approval from the inspection (this is only in a couple of places).
The crew chief/contractor were right. The inspector came out this afternoon and the foundation passed with flying covers. They didn't notice the missing rebar. Their only comments were that some of the loose dirt/clods need to be removed, and that the septic pipes need to be cut flush with the edge of the trench. They complemented the quality of the footings, saying it was the only good foundation that they had seen in 3 weeks of inspections.
Unfortunately, the concrete supplier is booked up tomorrow, so they won't pour the footings until Monday. Maybe that will David some time to relax! And maybe he'll have time to look at the bed I found on Craigslist, if it hasn't sold yet!
Monday, March 19, 2007
Day One
Day One was a stressful day for David. The "subcontractor administrator" didn't have the latest foundation plan, so there was some confusion as to what needed to be done. Luckily, with David working on-site, most of the problems were sorted out. It looks like we're getting a better foundation than what was drawn - the footers for the porch columns are now tied into the rest of the foundation. That will cost in materials (concrete, rebar, and ICF blocks, and possibly labor), but it's never a bad thing to have a stronger foundation. David did stop the crew before they dug a trench for the center beam running in the middle of the house. That will be dug in the fill dirt later.
We thought that they would use a back-hoe to dig the footings, but they did it by hand. So much for the clause in our contract that there will be an english speaking worker on-site at all times during construction. But they did a great job - 200' or so dug in one day, plus they hit a couple of tree stumps that we didn't know about.
David was hoping that the foundation would be above the septic pipes - no luck. So he spent this evening running between Home Depot and Lowes purchasing pipes to rerun the septic, and he'll be renting a back hoe in the morning.
This has happened so quickly that we have not been able to purchase the rebar for the project. Our contractor is supposed to be getting us contractor's pricing at a local lumber yard, but that hasn't happened yet. Hopefully they'll be able to "borrow" rebar from another site tomorrow and David won't be scrambling to supply rebar in between the septic work.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
We signed our contract last Sunday - We already have our building permit, so they are starting to digging the foundation today. We should be blacked-in in 2 months. Not much to see, but here's the building site and the portalet: 
Ok, so a portalet isn't the most exciting thing, but that's all we had as of Sunday morning!
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