And Then There Were Foundation Walls.....

And Then There Were Foundation Walls....

July 15th and July 16th -- After a very soggy weekend of torrential downpours, the concrete pour for the foundation walls was rescheduled for Monday.


As soon as the pick up truck with the generator-powered pumper showed up, and the cement mixer backed up to meet it, it started pouring rain like crazy, which is why this first shot isn't very clear.

Here is a better view, as the rain let up:

 Another downpour as the concrete is poured in between the forms for the foundation walls:

 These next two shots show how the crew members would stand on top of the foundation wall forms to guide the hose pouring concrete.

Here is a shot of the wall forms filled with concrete.

 The next day the clouds were gone, the sun had returned and everything was drying out, including the concrete.  The crew started taking down the forms.

Here is a good view of the foundation walls with the brick ledge and where the fireplace will be along the west wall of the gathering room addition.

This view shows the pier system for the infamous stairs to the basement.

Here is another view of the pier system and the foundation wall on the north side of the stairwell to the basement.

And all that heat and rain brought the very first sign of ripening tomatoes!

Next up will be a few more days of work on the foundation including removing all the forms, patching where necessary, waterproofing the walls and putting down the vapor-barrier.  After that, I will be looking forward to the return of the Bobcat driver who will back fill around the foundation walls!

Called on account of rain....

Called on account of rain....

July 14th -- the concrete walls were supposed to be poured on Friday, but that didn't happen.  Instead a rain storm came through yesterday and the foundation site could have passed for a swimming pool!  

Before the rains came through I took a few shots that highlight some of the more interesting features (at least to me!) of how this foundation is being constructed.

In a previous post I described how the foundation includes a pretty neat pier feature that ties the stairs to the basement to both the existing house and the new foundation.  Here is a good shot of part of the pier system that includes this anchor that will be outside of the wall of the new stair well.

This shot give a bit more perspective of how this pier is "outside" the foundation wall, but ties into it.

A friend, who has been reading these posts recently remarked to me that it seems sad that all the construction work that goes into setting up the forms for the foundation and even the framing of a building are only seen for a short time and then are hidden under the exterior siding and interior wall board.  His solution to that is to have a structure with transparent walls!  While I certainly have a much finer appreciation for the carpentry work that goes into the various phases of construction than ever before, I think I'll skip the idea of transparent walls.

However, before the forms are filled with concrete and then taken down, here are a few shots that show the craftsmanship that goes into assembling sheets of wood, rebar, all sorts of wires and planks that are part of the crafting of the actual foundation forms.