Building my home

[Amkeer]

D,

Rockers are rockin!

I can here the scream of the screwguns from here. Whats the builder using for wood around windows?

I bought 370 board feet of Cypress in the rough for my soffitt and fascia. Its sitting in my shop ready to be planed down and straight line ripped to width. I paid about $1.89 a BF which is a 12x12x1 is equal to a bf. I probably still need 200 more bf.

The trim I will be getting from my supplier is 5.25 inch baseboard and 3.25 inch casings.

The slab will be finished for the pour on Thursday. The pour will officially happen Monday. I have some inbeds to place before that pour. I will get some pictures on Thursday.

 

[drm7]

I suffered a minor problem. The rockers cut one of my coax/cat-5e runs. Apparently they will half cut a bowed 2x4 to straighten it when they hang the rock. Somehow they managed to not EVEN look on the other side of the stud at the 5 (yes 5!!! wires, 2 coax + 3 cat-5e) and cut 3 of them. Fortunately I think I can re-run those 3 without too much headache. I can only do this because the one room they haven't finishe seems to be directly below the outlet box that these cables route to.

 

[drm7]

All is well. I just got back from fixing the wires they cut. I had to cut a small hole below the outlet in the upstairs bedroom to release the cable tie and dig out the fire caulking. After that it was really easy to pull the new cable. I taped the new cable end-to-end with the damaged cable and pulled it through.

How is the foundation going?

 

[Amkeer]

D,

Glad to hear you rectified the problem with minimal headaches. You have to watch the tradespeople like a hawk.

My slab people will be out tomorrow for final prep. I will get some pictures up.

 

[Amkeer]

Well the slab is done and ready for the pour. The steel is in, termite treat is done and visqueen (plastic) is down. I have to set the anchor bolts for 6x6 post for front and back porch which is all that is really left to do. Looks like the pour is Monday.

Pictures are up:

http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c186/amkeer/

Oh, by the way it was hot today! I think we hit close to 90. I can feel my skin cooking, pass the salt!

 

[drm7]

That is one BIG slab! I don't see any rebar. Do you need rebar for something that large? Or do those trenches with rebar keep the slab in shape? My garage wing (converted to family room) has a slab with 2 trenches like your's appears to have. They drilled the rebar into the foundation and built an 8" square trench front-to-back with 4 rebar tied up making a column front-to-back. Interesting to see how things are really built. Good luck with the pour.

The rock is supposed to be going on my foundation now. It's raining today so I'm guessing they'll have to wait until next week to continue.

 

[Amkeer]

D,

The footers are the trenches or foundation. They have rebar at the bottom of each. There is 2 number 5 bars on chairs. The foundation part is 12 deep by 16 wide. The rest of the slab is 4 inches thick.

I believe your home is done with foundation and poured walls. They then come back and pour the basement floor.

 

[drm7]

Yes, my walls were poured a month or more before the floor was done. As far as I know the floor isn't tied into the walls at all. Just poured on top of rock and some sort of plastic sheeting.

I'm thinking about using something like Drylock on the walls and floor before I finish the basement as living space. My theory is that any water that may wick through the cement won't penetrate the Drylock and this will keep some humidity out of the house during the summer. What do you think?

I have a french drain around the foundation and only maybe 4' of the front wall is under ground. I'm thinking rain or ground moisture might be prevented. I won't get any wet spots as all modern basements around here are dry but I think you still might get vapor.

 

[Amkeer]

D,

As long as the exterior walls are sealed and the drain is installed properly you will not need to coat the inside walls. You will still need a moisture barrier when you go to frame up the walls even if you use the coating. So who knows. I wouldn't coat the interior for a while since you want to check for leaks.

 

[drm7]

Great suggestion on checking for leaks. This being the spring rain season I'm going to keep a look out for water. I won't be finishing the basement for 6 months or so. Too many above ground projects to do first.

On my last house I studded a wall about 1/2 inch off the poured wall and used fiberglass insulation with paper for barrier. But, any air vapor will go up into the truss area. Any thing wrong with this?

 

[Amkeer]

Air is good. I would install visqueen between concrete and stud wall as added moisture protection.

Slab has been poured. They started pouring at 6 a.m. yesterday and the final truck left about 8. It was about 60 yards of concrete. The concrete finishers were done around 2 and then the slab was cut.

Pics up...

 

[drm7]

Looking good! You say they cut the slab? Why do they cut it? It looks like in one of your pictures a guy is running a saw. That is a lot of concrete.

BTW, how do you anchor the house to the slab down there? They put J bolts in my wall before/during the pour and these are used to bolt down a treated lumber top plate. They placed plastic type foam between the concrete and treated lumber.

 

[Amkeer]

D,

The saw cut in the slab is about an inch deep and is done to allow the concrete to contract, crack where the cut is made. If you make the cuts in the right place you will avoid cracks in other areas "control joint".

The anchor system for interior walls will be either Simpson Anchors or Redheads. We put those in after the pour since it works better that way. On load bearing interior walls we use Pro Bolts which are a long bolt from top plate all the way into the concrete. Those will be drilled out with a hammer drill. Works like a champ!

Florida has the stringest building codes in the country so uplift is a huge concern especially with the storms.

 

[drm7]

With that much concrete and those anchor bolts I don't think your house is going to uplift one inch!

The latest pictures are up now: http://dougm7.googlepages.com/home

Changes since last update:

· Drywall is complete.
· Rock on foundation and chimney is complete. Where there is no rock we’ll have porch skirts to hide the foundation. The porch has yet to be build on the side of the house.
· Electric service is live.
· We’ve ordered all the cabinet pulls.
· We’ve received the tin panels to be used as the range backsplash.

Next steps:

· The phone will be hooked up tomorrow.

· The painter starts Monday and will finish Tuesday. Can you believe that? 8 guys are going to show up and prime and finish coat in 2 days.
· I have to prime the trim over the weekend. We are responsible for painting the trim to save $$$.
· The wood floor and trim will start next Wednesday.
· The yard will be graded next week.
· The grass seed may go down next week.
· The water pump and service will be hooked up next week.
· We may order the appliances tomorrow.
· We will approve the cabinetry colors early next week and they’ll start making them within a week or so.

Its starting to move fast now!

 

[drm7]

Oh yeah, the @#$% cable company has determined that I'm more than 300' from one of their precious boxes so they don't want to serve me. I wanted their broadband service. I've been on dial-up for 5 years and I HATE it.

I'm about 12 miles from the wifi provider and probably won't get their service either. DSL isn't available. We are arguabaly the most advanced country in the world and we can't get broadband to county residents? The kids around here are going to be left behind. This includes my daughter. I'll get satellite if I have to when she is old enough. She's 17 months now. I'm hoping that Verizon will bring their cell based solution here soon. Or somebody puts in something like Wimax. I'm #@#%$!!!

 

[Amkeer]

D,

Home is looking sharp!

or

That stinks that you can't get high speed online service. I get 6 meg service here and hopefully its like that at the new home.

My home the block layers start next week. I will try to get the site people out before that to grade out the dirt since it is getting pretty tore up.

 

[drm7]

A: What's new?

My interior painting is done. I have to paint one small bathroom this weekend but the rest of the house is done. The walls, not the trim. The flooring and trim will start next week. The pump has been put in the well and the phone has been hooked up. The tile should be done this week as most of it is done execpt the outside rows that need cut and the shower stall. The electrician may start hooking up lights on Thursday and some outlets. Money is getting VERY tight at this point.

The builder has been right on budget. He spec'd a grade above the builder grade products. We've gone above that for most things so I take the blame for overages. We planned the overages though as we knew what the estimate included. We are paying out-of-pocket on many items to keep the mortgage where we want it.

 

[Amkeer]

D,

We have been paying out of pocket for alot of things too. When is the scheduled move in date?

Block layers are scheduled this week, hopefully they start. Site people graded the lot again to make it nice since it was all tore up. We finally got water after a 8 week long battle.

 

[drm7]

We are hoping to move in by the first or second week of June. No official word from the builder but it seems that the remaining subs are lined up well and working one-after-the-other.

Our yard will be graded today and may be seeded by next week. That will be nice to see as we have about 10 loads of dirt piled up in the yard now. The builder really wants to grade the lot for water shed around the house.

I'm assuming you are on public water and have been battling the bureaucracy of the city/county.

I hope to finish building my central wiring panel for phone/network/TV this weekend. I'm using 2'x2' 1/2" oak plywood from Lowes. I could really use your fine wood working skills.

I want these panels to be pretty. I hope to have some pictures up on these by Monday.

 

[Amkeer]

Concrete block was delivered on Thursday. Block layers to start Monday or Tuesday.

We are 1 week behind schedule at this point.

Pics to follow later.....