Concrete for garage and porch

This morning the garage floor concrete was poured and smoothed. Later the concrete for the front porch was poured,

The concrete on the garage before the final finishing

Preparing the front porch for concrete

Rough finishing the porch concrete

Final finishing the porch concrete

We have windows!

The windows that were delivered yesterday were installed today.This begins the process of enclosing the shell of the house. The doors will be installed soon, so we can protect the components for completing the interior of the house. In addition, the sand fill, gravel, and the rebar was completed so the concrete for the garage floor can be poured.

The floor of the garage is ready for concrete

West side windows

South side sindows

Windows and sand arrive

The window guys delivered the windows and external doors to the house this morning. In the afternoon the guys from Iowa Walls delivered sand fill for the garage, in preparation for concrete later this week.



The main floor windows

The exterior doors

The first truck unloading sand

The garage nearly filled with sand

Exterior structure is complete

In less than three weeks of construction (not counting weekends) the outside of the house is complete with the installation today of the waterproof layer on all roof surfaces. The remaining tasks on the exterior are the installation of doors, windows, siding, the metal roof, and the installation of the solar electric system. Additionally, the concrete floor in the garage, the front porch, the sidewalks, and the driveway need to be completed. Then, focus will turn to completing the interior of the house.

A view of the garage from what will be the driveway

Leonard staring into the sun from the front porch

The house exterior nearing completion

The framing crew made great progress today! First, they finished the roof trusses and then put on the roof sheathing. They also put on a strip of waterproof material along the drip edge. At the same time other workers were framing in the window openings, removing the braces used to support the internal and exterior walls, and built the temporary staircase for access to the basement without going outside. After finishing work on the roof, some of the crew built the structure over the front porch.

Installing sheathing on the garage roof

South wall of the house- roof sheathing completed

View from the windows in the great room

Completed structure over the front porch

View looking east from the great room

View from door to deck

Temporary stairs to the basement

The roof trusses are nearly complete

This morning the crew assembled and installed the interior walls on the main floor. This afternoon the roof trusses were moved in position with the crane. Only a few trusses remain on the garage before the roof skeleton will be complete. The next step is to nail sheets of plywood to the roof trusses, and the main floor will remain mostly dry if it happens to rain.

 The west end of our new home

The entrance to our new garage

Looking from the great room toward the east end

Looking through the south wall of the garage

Rita standing in the great room near the front door

Leonard standing by the west wall of the great room

Main floor perimeter walls are completed

The framing crew began the morning with construction of the individual panels that make up the perimeter walls. The crew moved with amazing speed to first construct the bones of the panel with studs and stringers, allowing for the placement of doors and windows. The panel is covered first with plywood, then with one inch Dow blue-board, and finally with Tyvek housewrap. The openings for windows and doors are cut out before the completed panels are lifted into place by the crane. By quitting time all exterior panels, including the garage, had been completed and nailed in place. Tomorrow the crew will build the interior walls.

The crew begins building the panels

The first three panels in place

Setting the final south-side panel in place

Floor joists and subfloor are completed

The morning began with the movement of the manufactured floor joists by crane to their place atop the basement walls. The next step was to arrange the joists in their proper places, and nail them to the perimeter walls and the interior walls in the basement. A number of joists were nailed in pairs with pieces of plywood on each side to provide additional stability . John then used a chainsaw to cut off the extra length in the cantilever side. Edge caps were then nailed on that edge. The final step of the day was to nail the plywood subfloor on top of the floor joists. This will essentially weatherproof the basement. Work on the upper floor will begin on Monday.

Placing the floor joists atop the basement walls

Doubling the floor joists to create beams

The crane moving a beam into place

The completed subfloor ( note the temporary guardrail around the stairwell opening)

A view up the future stairwell

Wood in the basement!

This morning the framing crew began building the wooden walls for the basement. They first put one inch Dow blue-board around the perimeter of the concrete walls below grade. Then they began the individual wall panels, and then fitted them around the perimeter above grade until the entire basement was walled. The next step was to frame panels that went over the concrete walls. The final step was to construct panels for the interior of the basement. Tomorrow, the plan is to position the floor joists and lay the sub-floor.

Beginning work on the basement wall panels (note the stack of Dow blue-board)

Constructing basement wall panels

The very first basement wall panel

Positioning a south wall panel (this panel is very heavy)

Putting up the last exterior panel

Nailing in the last exterior panel

Framing the concrete walls

Beginning the interior wall framing

The interior wall framing nearly completed

The basement is poured!

This morning the concrete guys poured the basement. They used many of the same machines that they had earlier used for the walls and footings. After the concrete had set up, they used a motorized circular float to finish the surface. Later in the afternoon they sawed grooves in the floor. Finally, in late afternoon, Gordon Lumber brought the first loads of wood to build the basement walls.

The motorized float used to finish the concrete



Basement concrete looking west

The first lumber arrives

A worker from Gordon Lumber delivers materials to the worksite

The basement floor after grooving

Building material being delivered

Lumber ready for construction