Ok, I've gone through a lot of the Medal of Honor stories (still got a few left, but I'm keeping them in my pocket in case of loss of story creativity) and I've added a couple of stories about flying which I think interest a lot of you. But, I'm dredging the bottom of my story index, so, I thought I'd show y'all the progress on the house. No Beans, we're not that close to moving in. Yet! But, in spite of some uncontrollable setbacks (AKA Weather) we're getting closer. Here's the visual story of construction progress.
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| Demolition of the old house (very old and decrepit) |
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| Cleaning up the site |
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| Electricity installed on property |
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| Framing the foundation |
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| Framing took 2 or 3 days |
Okay, we’ve survived the financial and weather hoops that needed to be jumped. Evidently 6 inches of rain in a couple of hours upsets the construction crews. What did I know.
But back in action again
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| Adding soil in preparation for pouring the slab |
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| :Lots of fill AKA dirt! Lots and Lots |
Weather cooperating this week, the next step is to level the dirt and then the plumbers and electricians will come in and set the pipes and pull wires and plumbing into those pipes. After that will be pouring and curing the
cement foundation of the main house. Builder says this could take 3 to
6 weeks for the cement to cure depending on the weather and there's
only one entity that controls that. While that's curing, they'll pour
the foundation for my Brother's cabin and get it started curing also.
Lots of balls in the air.
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| Concrete has been poured in the horse barn. |
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| They've even started on my brother's house |
The weather has improved greatly and heavy rain is not forecast for a while. But, as can be expected in June, July and August in Texas, it's hot as H377. (You know what that's code for.) But progress is being made.
We shall see what we shall see when we see it. Hopefully something like this!
Please Lord!
Peace out, y'all!
Thank you for the update. I was thinking about it just yesterday.
ReplyDeleteGood that progress is being made, even slowly. Also that your contractor seems to be communicative.
Joe, yeah he’s a pretty good guy. When we brought a mistake in the blue print to his knowledge, he agreed and took care of the change immediately. Looking at a blueprint and looking at the framing for the cement are horses of a different color. But glad he agreed and fixed it.
Deletejuvat
Also good contractor is not rushing the job. Old Guns using wife's Facebook.
ReplyDeleteOld Guns,
DeleteNope, he's a pretty good and reliable guy. Tells us what's going on and what's next. Once he gets the slab poured, a LITTLE bit of rain is a good thing. But a deluge of Noah''s condition would be bad, (Well regardless of the house building).
I'm learning quite a bit about this thing called Patience. Never been much good at it, but I seem to be improving.
juvat
When we built our shop, the cement contractor took 2-3 days to form it up. Spent lots of time doing it right. When the building contractor came on site, the first thing he did was get out of the truck and pull a tape across the corners to judge if it was perfectly square. It was and the fellow was very gratified. (and surprised) If the foundation is not perfectly square, the whole job gets more difficult. Sounds like your concrete guy was doing a good job.
DeleteI always say that if there weren't threats of an ass-whipping or a divorce, you haven't built a house.
Ed
Ed,
DeleteThanks for the info. How do you check for square? (On a large object with many ~90 degree angles).
juvat
juvat. https://archive.lib.msu.edu/tic/golfd/article/1964may72.pdf
Deletehttps://www.mytrigcalculator.com/blog/how-to-square-the-footings-of-a-building-a-complete-guide-us/
Ed, "the cement contractor took 2-3 days to form it up. Spent lots of time doing it right. "
DeletePuts me in mind of the old saw, "Never time to do it right. But always time to do it over. :
On job interviews when asked about my best quality, my usual response was. "I'm lazy. I like to do it right the first time. "
Joe,
DeleteThanks for the How to Links.
juvat
Joe, I painted houses during the summer in Mississippi to put my way through college. My boss, a USAF Master Sgt was also doing the same to earn money to retire.. He's the first guy that told me that saying. Haven't forgotten it.
Deletejuvat
I don't like meddling, but if there is a demand for expediting a project, test cylinders are cast during a concrete pour. Depending on the amount of concrete, the amount varies, but usually the first 50 yards require at least eight. Typically, there's a three day break, a seven day break, and a 28 day break. Two are usually broken in a hydraulic test machine for an average for each time period. This takes care of 6 cylinders, and the last two are thrown away if any of the other tests indicate the concrete achieved the required strength.
ReplyDeleteMost house foundations require 3000 psi concrete. In my career, I achieved that in 7 days, and sometimes in as little as three days. Admixtures allowed a concrete with a lower slump than specified without the additional water. That permitted the flowable concrete to be easily worked, and avoided the problems associated with placing concrete with the required water/cement ratio that can set too fast for something like a house slab.
Placing more water than designed always leads to a weaker concrete, undesired shrinkage, and usually a concrete that doesn't meet strength requirements in the usual 28 days that is in most specifications. I've never seen a concrete design that doesn't mandate that in 28 days, and with additional cement and admixtures, that strength is usually obtained in 7 days in the Summer heat. Of course, testing costs more, but if time, with quality assurance, is needed, it's money well spent. That, and additional costs for admixtures is never wasted money.
Jess, Lot's of good info there that I know nothing about. I think I'll ask him a dumb question as to how the pour is accomplished. I'm certainly not going to offer any "advice", but it would be nice to know what the plan is vis a vis concrete. Thanks for the "lesson".
Deletejuvat
I look forward to your updates, thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rob!
Deletejuvat
Step by step.....ah........first slab is down, more to come. Good to see an update on the homesteads juvat, thanks for the visuals.
ReplyDeleteNylon,
DeleteMy pleasure. I'll keep all y'all as updated as I can. Well....until we move in, anyway.
juvat
It will be interesting to see the finished product.
ReplyDeleteSarge,
DeleteYes! Yes it will! And while I'm doing my best to be patient, I (We) are looking very forward to completion and move in.
juvat
I enjoy the updates as well, Juvat. It is nice to see the progress being made.
ReplyDeleteThanks THBB,
Deletejuvat
Patience. You can't be impatient if you have none to begin with.
ReplyDeleteWSF,
DeleteI'm working on it, a lot! Some progress (on the patience side) but...
juvat
Outside design looks fantastic. You just need a couple of rocking chairs and an adult beverage to enjoy the view. What direction is the front of the house facing?
ReplyDeleteGerry,
DeleteIt faces west, but there is a very dense forest of extremely high oak trees (my cell camera doesn't show their height very well) with cedar interspersed which pretty much surrounds the house. The "Forest" is very dense. So, I think we'll be OK. Been out there several times mid-day and the temp isn't too bad.
juvat
Forward progress, even if it is slow, is still forward progress!! Yay!!
ReplyDeleteBesides, fighter pilots are probably picked for their ability to not be patient...just saying...
Suz
Suz,
DeleteMe? Not Patient? YGBSM! I'm the most patient person around here. (not) Just sayin!
;-)
juvat
I could swear I saw this story here once before! :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I posted a few of the first stage photo's a month or so ago. I added the latest pictures Sunday (I added my brother's picture after I posted this morning). I wanted to show progress.
Deletejuvat
And, much further back than that, I think we all sloged along with you in the lovely "burg homestead.
DeleteBut, it is great to see tangible progress on the home front. No heroics, no one maimed of killed, no medals, no medical maladventures. Keep it up. AVANTI! as the French soldiers like to say, or maybe "Chianti!" if you want some spaghetti while you are waiting.
Cheers!
JB
JB,
DeleteYeah, we loved that place in the "Burg". Very nice, good neighbors at least 1/2 mile away. Quiet, but easy to get to town. But....The kids had no interest in living in their. MBD and family are in College Station and Little J and family are in England. So...Nobody around but me and the Missus. Getting older, we might have no one to take us to a Dr appointment or some other meeting we might need a ride to. On the other hand, both Daughter and Husband work, so they have a sitter on hire. But, if the nanny needs to visit a Doc or isn't feeling up to stuff and doesn't want to infect the kids, we can fill in for her. So, a win/win situation. Getting used to College Station, quite a bit bigger than I thought/remember from when the kids were at A&M but doable. We've met most of our new neighbors in the area around our new house. All pretty much in our age group, very friendly and have given us a lot of helpful information on living where we're going to be. So...I'm pretty sure we'll do OK.
As to Chianti, my grandmother was an Italian immigrant, my mother learned to cook Italian from her and passed it down to me. So, when someone says "Chianti", I'm prepared with a large dinner with several courses to teach them a bit about Italian Cuisine.
So...Cin Cin! (aka Cheers)
juvat
Progress is good, even if it's incremental, and seems like it's taking forever!
ReplyDeleteOld NFO,
DeleteAll three segments of your comment are absolutely and exactly correct! Well done.
juvat