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The first truck… working on footers
After several weeks’ worth of preparation (I had no idea there was so much involved before we did this ourselves), the foundation pour happened! Two nights before the pour (Sunday evening), we got a wonderful heavy rainfall. We were concerned at first that it might do damage to the trenches, but all was well. Our concerns over the muddy road were also unfounded.
Footer between garage and house
Then Monday evening, we got another heavy rainfall (have I mentioned that we have not had any rain since May prior to […]
In order to protect the plumbing from the concrete during the pour, after the pipes for Showers, Toilets and Bathtubs are cut to 1/2″ below the finished surface, sealed with duct tape and then protected with cardboard. For the toilet drains, three layers of cardboard is fitting around the PVC and one layer of cardboard is cut to size for the top. For shower and tub drains, a cardboard box is cut to the correct height, filled with filldirt and sealed shut. A small amount of fill dirt is placed on the box flaps to hold its position. This allows […]
Since we are doing all the prep work ourselves for the slab foundation, we also did the installation of the rebar for the foundation. We did get some help from a couple of local construction workers who worked with us for an hourly wage. That helped a great deal and made the work go much more quickly. The entire family did learn how to wire rebar and how to insert support rebar for the footers. Here are a few photos of the process:
Nearly all rebar in place…
Corners bent without Cheater pipes.
18" […]
I’m a bit slow in posting updates (we’ve been really busy!), but here is a panorama shot of the house with form boards in place.
Form Boards in place
I immortalized the final bit of footer cleanout with this video:
Overhead view of footers
Just a quick post to let you see how the footers looked just after digging with the Ditch Witch. Since then, they’ve been completely cleaned out and form boards are cut… another update picture to come.
We decided to tackle our own foundation. The estimates we are receiving for much of the work on the house are in most cases double the cost of doing doing it myself. The cost for labor is very high, and sub contractors are adding a percentage on top of the cost of materials. As a result I have decided to manage my own monolithic foundation pour. I will do everything except the actual pouring of concrete. I have a sub who will inspect the pre-work, make recommendations for improvements, if any, and bring a crew to mash the mud into […]
Now that the Ditch Witch work is complete, there is quite a bit of hand work still to be done on the footers. Cleanout of the remaining loose dirt, redistribution of all the augured dirt on the pad and cutting a 45 degree bevel on the inside top of each edge of the footer require some sweat.
Here is a drawing to illustrate the footer/slab plan:
Footer/Slab Details
Photos of non-cleaned out section of the footer:
Lots of pickaxing still required…
No beveled edge yet.
Photos of cleaned-out sections follow. Note the 45 degree […]
Ditch Witch Machine
After a few weeks’ delay, we are back on track with preparation of the foundation. Friday and Saturday we were able to get all the footers dug with the help of a rented Ditch Witch. This machine will dig the 24” x 12″ footers using modern building methods.
Through planning the order of the cuts, we were able to minimize the amount of hand work that will be required to fully prepare the footers to support the foundation. We had to go through a slight learning curve as we began the work. Discovering the best […]
Amidst a bout with kidney stones, extremely hot and windy weather, we finished our building pad and foundation lay out. I started by staking out a general layout of the foundation, placing corner stakes for the foundation in the location that we wanted the house to sit. This was not an exact layout just a general one done with a tape measure, stakes and string lines. Since we sit on 5 acres with no required set backs and no easements, I was not concerned with citing the corner of the house +/- ¼”. It was sorta a “looks about right” […]
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