Foundation... continued...

There's a lot more to this whole foundation thing than we thought. (Actually we didn't give this part of things too much thought at all. We do know that it is important to do this stuff well though.)

Grace, Paige and Hannah actually did most of the work this week since I was working some pretty long days. Last Saturday I brushed a sealant on to the foundation where it will be below grade. (That's the black stuff that you see on the foundation.)

Over the course of the week, Grace picked up several utility trailer loads of gravel, some PVC pipe and some landscape fabric. Then she laid down the fabric, threw a couple of inches of drain rock beside the footing, laid out the pipe, covered it with several more inches of rock and then folded the fabric back over her creation. This is to whisk water away from our foundation and into a small french drain that I have yet to dig. (Actually, now that I think about it I'm going to get Jesse to do it...) I helped shovel in the gravel - it's pretty sweaty work. You can see the (almost) end result in the picture below - the fabric isn't folded back over yet.
I know you wouldn't think that Grace did this - if only because she doesn't show up in the pictures. There seems to be a fairly stringently enforced rule about not taking pictures of Grace while she's working on the house. I'm going to try to bend that rule more in the future

There's Norman in his typical supervisory capacity...

We hope to take siding off the house tomorrow; as well as finish up a few foundation details. (We have to backfill yet...)

Tomorrow we are getting a bunch of lumber and hardware delivered. We're not quite ready for it but we don't want to have to wait once we are.

Foundation

Our foundation is poured and we are, for all intents and purposes, on our own. The main problem now is that things haven't quite progressed to the point where we feel a great deal of confidence in our abilities...

The foundation was poured on Tuesday and we stripped the forms on Wednesday afternoon. I told the contractor we would take the forms down; I didn't know how much work that was going to be. Everybody pitched in and we were done in about three hours or so. It went all right - with the exception of snapping a 2x4 which I was using as a lever to loosen one of the form boards. It broke; I went head over heels to the bottom of the stem wall. I think I hit every stray rock, board, and leftover chunk of concrete during the course of my fall. Thankfully, I only ended up with a scraped up elbow and an oddly shaped bruise on my left butt cheek. I was kind of stiff at work today but I got through it. Hopefully this isn't a portent of things to come in regard to this project.

There's Grace (and Norman of course - Riley's there too). I'm inside the foundation. This is a prelapsarian picture - my elbow and buttock are intact at this point.

So now the forms are all down. The contractor has collected them. Grace has called B&P about foundation sealant and drainage. If it doesn't rain tomorrow she will brush the sealant on - then we'll do the whole drainage thing and some back filling on Saturday.

I can't wait until we get to deal with lumber and nails and things...

Footings

Forms

The forms for the footings are up. Rebar is in place. All we need is concrete and we're good to go.




And there's Norman inspecting the forms. (Don't let him fool you - he doesn't know a thing about forms or concrete. Maybe more than the other dogs though...)

Two down; one to go.

As you can see I got the flashing above the barn doors done. If you look closely through the right hand window you can even see one of the lights in the barn. That just leaves rain gutters and then we're actually finished that project. (A new gate and fence is a separate project altogether.)

I'm very pleased with the way the flashing turned out. I made it out of three 8 foot sections of aluminum; I broke a one inch flange on the top so that I could secure it to the barn and there is a lip on the bottom that parallels the wall. It looks sharp and should go a long way to keeping things drier in there (- rain gutters would go further in that regard but I have to do a little modifying in order to make that work... It'll happen.) I still have to caulk the seams around the flashing but I have to wait for a dry day - today was not that day.

I also finished my workbench this week. I used it for working on the flashing, cutting the blocking, etc. Was it ever sweet not to have to work on the ground or on some ersatz table constructed of rickety saw horses and a warped piece of plywood! It's like I've died and gone to DIY heaven! I haven't got a picture of my workbench but here's the one from the plan. Obviously, it's not in my barn (it's WAY TOO NEAT & ORGANIZED!! That guy couldn't lose a tool if he tried!); equally obvious (if not moreso), that's not me in the picture (nowhere near good looking enough); nevertheless, that is what my workbench looks like.

I've been working quite a bit on my workbench and the flashing this week because on Monday the concrete guy is coming to set up forms for our footings and foundation. This afternoon I had to square up the trenches a bit and clean them out. Thankfully they didn't totally fill up with water. After the forms are set we have to arrange an inspection and then by week's end we should have a foundation and then - we are on our own.

Here are our trenches - ready for forms, footings and foundations.

Below you will see our dog Norman jumping over the trench. Norman is, without a doubt, the stupidest dog in the history of canine-dom. He has been digging in those trenches for a week; knocking dirt back into them, wallowing in the mud, running up and down the piles of dirt. He's the one who chews the cords off my power tools. He once chewed through an extension cord that was plugged in. He still didn't learn. Last Saturday while I was putting a new plug on my reciprocating saw, Norman was chewing the cord that was hanging off the end of the table. He will walk away with my tools if I set them down even for a second while I'm working outside. I've got several hammers, screwdrivers, etc. that have Norman bite marks all over the handles. In addition to all of these wonderful qualities, he is a veritable poop machine. I wouldn't trade him for anything.

You can also see Riley in the background. You can just see Abbey back there too. They're dumb too - but Norman is seriously unbelievable.

We've got trenches!

Of course, now it's pouring rain and they are filling with water... Forms and foundation next week.

Tragedy...

Today I was working in the barn when something horrible happened. I burned out one of the batteries for my cordless set. Maybe I will get something neat for Father's Day... Father's Day is just around the corner you know. Really, it's only a couple of weeks away - not too much time to get a great gift for the handyman dad in your life. Hmm; we'll see... If only there was some subtle way to let my kids know this...