More walls....

Work continued on Saturday - while I went to the dream machine auto show with the Oakland.  At this point it is all about walls.....

Another section of the back wall was added as was one of the bathroom walls.

When Oma was asked what she wanted in this new house, she was quick to say high ceilings.  Now that the inside wall is up you can easily see she will not be sorry.  She has nice high open ceilings.  The ridge beam goes in the slot at the top.  

We have a floor and a wall

Take a look see at our crack building team and the fruits of their labor....  Ribs for dinner!!!

Hard to get good help....

Casey brought Steve out from Colorado to help with the framing.

This morning Annette smelled gas as she left for work.  Now I happen to know we have not worked anywhere near a gas line so I was not worried about that.  I was a bit concerned that something may have happened next door.  The smell was in the front, the garage, and in the back.  A call was made to PG&E.  They arrived and began sniffing around to find the leak.  After 15 minutes or so we found the bbq had been left on but not lit.  The breeze moved it to the front and into the garage.  Steve was the head cook last night when we bbq'd burgers.

Take a look at the comment put on the PG&E service report.

After that we went into the back to start the day.  Within 2 minutes Steve had knocked the entire chop saw table into the planter.

Then it was Steve in the bathroom where he went to flush the toilet and hit his head on a small cabinet (that has been there for years).  The cabinet fell off the wall and broke the trash can.

No power tools for Steve today.

Lots o' work with a big payoff.....

Busy busy busy.  For the last few days we have been laying down the floor joist and installing the sub floor systems (sewer, gas, electrical main, water pipes heater duct).  Everything that is under the floor has to be inspected before we are allowed to put down the sub-floor and build walls.  Late this afternoon we passed the inspection (as I was putting on the last 2 connectors).

Here are a couple of pics showing the work.

Here you can see the bathroom.  Grey pipe will be the electrical panel.  Black pipes are toilet, vents, sink, bath tub.  Red and blue are our big experiment trying out the new PEX water piping system.  Bondo is installing the heater duct which will run from the heater (over the bathroom) to the front room.

Lauren is helping Robert (not visible) secure gas pipe under the floor.

Casey providing a little above floor assistance to the gremlins beneath.

Hot and busy

so much activity.  On sunday Casey's friend and work partner Steve arrived with his son Aubrey to complete the framing.  The spare room (aka camper) was set in front of the house and we were ready to go.

A picture of the fleet lined up and ready to go.

Today it was 90.  Very hot for this area.  The good news is that did not stop the work.  Our debris pile was removed from the front of the house while in the back the framing crew got down to it.  Lauren and Aubrey moved floor joists were moved from the back patio up to the work site.  Casey and Steve talked and figured and calculated and talked.  Steve put in the last of the sills.  Casey met with the window guy.  The utilities pipes (which Casey so kindly chopped off with the sawsall) were uncovered.  The pad was dug for the AC compressor.  I put in the sewer pipe for the sinks, tubs, and toilet.  Then the joists started moving into place.  It actually began to look like a house was being built!


The floor joist for the studio all set in place.

Casey and Lauren setting the great room:

 

We are up and out of the ground!!!!

Concrete was poured and the forms have been removed.  Monday we start on the wood work.

Here are a few pics of the new foundation.  When you look at it remember that there is a wrap around front porch facing away from the new wall.

The forms are being removed and trucked out.

Annette standing on the corner of Oma's new studio

Looking from the studio across the great room and out the front door.

Three trucks later

And the concrete is poured.  

Here they are filling in the forms

Putting in the last little bits.  It should be noted that we used every last drop out of our 3, 10 yard trucks.  

Once poured it gets pounded a bit and then the top is smoothed off.  

Finally Casey gets to play in the mud.  He sets the final plates with long bolts running into the concrete.  Who is that helper?

Well looky there.  Casey's daughter Lauren is out for the week to help out with the floor.  Nice to see her.  It has been far too long.  Here they are placing the anchor bolts.  

 And look here.  Oma has a new tub.  This will be installed a little later.  A steal on craigslist.

Last pour day..... we think

It has been a rather big push but we think today is the day for the foundation pour.  The forms are 95% complete and the guys are out there now completing the last few items.  The sewer pipe is installed.  Casey has most of the sill bolts in place and is completing those as well.  The pump will arrive at 10 am this morning.  After that the cement truck will roll and we will have a foundation.  

Let the forms begin....

And continue....

Just about there....

From up on the hill....

The whole picture....

Behind schedule

The foundation is taking a bit longer that we had hoped.  We are guessing about a week delay.  The forms are being built now and the steel put in place.  

Of course that is not slowing Casey down .  Today his floor package arrived.  This is all the stuff he needs to build sub floor structure.  Here the wood is being unloaded (aka dumped) off in front of the house.

With the help of his slaves, we moved the pile from front to back.  Yes your eyes are working correctly, that is Andrew.  He had time and Casey could use the help.  Great opportunity to learn how a house is built from the ground up by a guy who really knows.  

More digging....

Moving on to the foundation now.  

Looking West

Looking East

Backfill completed

The backfill was completed today.  Drainage in place along the top.  All tamped down and inspected multiple times. All passed.  

Here is a picture.  Note the drain pipes sticking up.  

I know OMA worries that we are working too hard so we forced ourselves to hit the giants game this afternoon.  After all the weather was a PERFECT 80 degrees.  

Now all Casey has to do if figure out how to get the backhoe off the side of the mountain before it falls over.

 Actually this is a picture of a job going on across the valley from our site.  They are literally building a driveway (and we assume a house) on the side of the mountain.  So far they have 200' of driveway at an estimated cost of $500k.  Now they are continuing on up the mountain with more driveway.  Driveway alone will be $1M.  

Look OMA - no pile....

Yesterday and part of today were spent waterproofing and backfilling.  

Here the waterproofing material is on the wall and the drain material is being added:

With that done, let the backfill begin.  

Behind the wall is a guy running a tamper over every 2' of dirt put in.  Needless to say, this wall is here to stay.  

Here is a birds eye view:

And the movie.  No clue how to rotate it.  Sorry.  

And our big pile of dirt is shrinking away.  Look the tree is back!

The big reveal

The wall has set for a couple of days and it is time to take down the forms.  

Here is the left side stripped down:

And the right side.  The wings on either end will be exposed.  Everything else will be behind the cottage.  

Here we are from the back.  There were forms back here which had to be removed.  You can see the waterproofing that has been added.  Today we will fill with rock then dirt, and add the top drain.  

 And here is a view from up on top of the hill.  This gives you a good perspective of the overall space.  The wheelbarrow is at the front door which faces the tree.  The form boards are in the bedroom.  

The making of a wall....

It rained hard last night but we poured this morning.  Mud bath is an understatement...