Floor Supports

After filling the hole with concrete it is time to install the floor system.


John and Ray are putting the beam in place in what will be the Great Room.








 

After the beam is set in place Ken and his new nail gun get to work putting down the 2x10 floor joists.  

You will also notice that there are all thread rods sticking up; they are welded to rebar that was
secured into the concrete.  This is what we are using for anchor bolts. 

Foundation Filling and Beams

We have used our sawmill and cut the beams that will support the floor downstairs.  For us it was better to cut one solid beam rather than nail 2x12's together.  They range in size from 4x12 up to 8x12 and the longest one is over 26 feet long.

It is hard to find a tree that is big enough to get a solid beam of these sizes, so on some of these beams you may note that there is still a little of the outside edge, not to worry this will be the side that goes down which will leave the flat side up for nailing. 

Another part of the foundation work is going back and filling in all of the blocks with concrete.  Originally we were going to fill every other one, but it is proving to be more difficult to do this so we just decided to fill them all. 

John and I have been mixing concrete nearly every day for over a week, we are about 75% finished with that and we will finish it up on Thursday.

Pouring into small holes is proving difficult, which not only adds to the time that it is taking but also to the amount of wasted concrete mix.

A helpful note, keep the drying concrete mix scraped off of the blocks very good, it will help when installing the rim boards.

Having FUN!

While getting the work done is important, it is equally important to have fun (safely) while working.  After all of the work is through, it will be the funny things that stick in our memories.
So with that being said, here are some funnies from us!

John would like to point out that you should NEVER fall asleep on the job!  We will not wake you up we will simply build you into the wall.  Getting out of the wall when you wake up is your problem.

Have fun but remember SAFETY FIRST! Or these heavy beams could be on you!

Please NOTE *no idiots were harmed during the making of these images.

Foundation Wall

This was what the site looked like before they arrived

While we may be good at a lot of things, we decided that we were not good or fast at laying concrete blocks.

So we searched around and found a block mason and hired him and his crew to come out an put up the block walls for us. 

This was at the end of day one

At the end of the second day they were done with the foundation blocks.  Now it is back to pouring concrete for us!

This was at the end of day two.  The foundation wall is up!

 

 

An End To The Delays

The early part of this year was a series of delays.  Rain, cold weather and illness played a huge part in delaying our project.  These things combined with Ken being out of town has put us really behind.  Hopefully we are back on track now and I will try to keep this site update a little better.