Undoing

After spending a great deal of time putting up braces to support the walls during the pour, today was spent taking all of the bracing down! Here Dwayne is loading some of the bracing back onto the trailer. He and Frank worked for at least seven hours and still didn't get all of the braces down. This home construction stuff is a lot of work!
Frank taking down the braces in the trench between the t-walls for the porch and garage. Have we mentioned before that we love Frank?!!!!!

We have walls!

The first concrete truck out of 8 (that's right-8!) loading up the pump truck in preparation for the pour. The concrete truck continuously fed the pump truck until they ran out, then the next truck was usually waiting to pull up so there was very little lag time in between. When all was done, we had poured 72 yards of concrete and had no blowouts!! It was a pretty smooth (although long!) day!


We couldn't get over how tall the pump was- we could see it before we even turned onto Lucas Lane. The pump truck was anchored into place and the operator controlled the pump from a remote control that he wore around his waist like a fanny pack. It was very cool!


Frank and Dwayne doing some last minute bracing. The pump truck operator was very complimentary of Dwayne and how prepared he was for the pour. (He was very prepared-thanks to a great deal of planning and a lot of help from friends!) Have we mentioned before how much we love the view?

Dwayne manning the pump on the porch. Once the concrete started flowing, the operator could slow down or speed up but there was no shut off valve, so the concrete kept coming until the truck ran out. The only time it got really messy was moving down to fill under the windows. Oh, and when Dwayne flipped off of the ladder. He somehow managed to flip off of the ladder, spin around and still grab the pump and keep going. Amazing!


Lyle Carlson vibrating the walls to eliminate any air pockets. He and his wife, Pam, have built a home out of this same material and were wonderful enough to be on hand for the pour. They were a great help!

More pictures from the pour

The garage wall after the pour. A sill plate will be attached to this and the rest of the garage will be stick framed.
Buddy could hardly contain his excitement today!
Rebecca vibrating the porch wall.
Lee, the pump truck operator, was awesome!!! You can see his remote for the pump- he said it's like playing video games all day!
Ellis Kyper filled in for our Nudura rep for the pour. He was a great help!

Pleasantly Suprising Evening!

After the heavy downpour we had around 4:00 today, Dwayne was thinking that this evening might be a wash as far as getting much done. He was very pleasantly suprised to have 5 guys show up to help out! The kids and I went out for about an hour or so and were amazed at all the work getting done!




Contrary to what I would prefer people to think, I actually do help out occasionally!











Frank came prepared to stay late! The kids are now having a fit for a headlight!!!











Jeff and Mike making braces for the windows.









Jonathan and I thought it looked like fireworks on the fourth of July, but it was actually Nick and Aaron cutting rebar.

Sights from the site

Looking at the back of the walkout basement. The indentation will be a covered porch.










Another view of the walkout basement.











Aaron, Mike and Jeff working on the side porch. Mike (on the right) is actually on a very tall ladder.





Dwayne and Frank down in the trench, building up one of the t-walls. You can see where the basement wall has been cut to allow concrete to flow into the t-wall, so that the basement wall, t-wall and porch wall are all one continuous piece of concrete.






Streeeeeetch Frank! Frank is up on a ten foot ladder working on the front porch t-wall.







The guys taking a break to eat. We do try to take of those that are willing to come out and help!

Moving on to the porch

For those of you who know Dwayne and I very well, you know that everything we do tends to be more complicated than we think it is going to be . This weekend, Dwayne and his awesome help worked on stacking the front porch and the t-walls that will connect the porch to the house. We cannot express enough how grateful we are to have such wonderful friends who are willing to give us so much help! Our plan calls for a wrap around porch that is eight feet wide (which equals a lot of block!)




Looking across the front of the house. The trench footers that were poured for the porch have several step downs, which makes stacking the block a little more interesting!









Looking down the side of the house. You can see the wall connecting to the house. The basement wall has to be cut in for the t-wall to attach so that when the concrete is poured, it is one continuous structure. The garage base will be added the same way.

Our first window (sort of!)

We are using a neat product called Vbuck to buck out our windows and doors before the concrete is poured into the basement walls. Here, Dwayne and Jeff have pieced together the first window frame. Rebecca was great at providing some entertainment!






Jeff and Jacob carrying the window frame to the wall to install it in the right spot.











The frame was hoisted up over the walls and then slid down into place.









Dwayne checking out the frame after it was placed. The concrete, when poured, will go around this frame and the windows will then attach directly to the Vbuck. This is supposed to save time over having to buck the windows out with wood and then removing the wood after the pour.








No, it isn't the fly! It's just Dwayne in his safety goggles!

Block Party!!

We had an awesome day today and we can't say enough about how blessed we feel to have such truly wonderful friends! We had people consistently coming and going all day helping stack block and put up bracing. I'm so sorry not to get pictures of everyone who was there. We can't believe how much progress was made today! It's very exciting to see!









Dwayne and Frank up on the bracing. Dwayne thought it was pretty awesome to be able to stand in the house and look down the driveway. We haven't been able to do that before!!!








Dwayne and Frank putting up more bracing. The braces enable us to go higher with the block, but they will also support the styrofoam during the concrete pour.










Traci and Dwayne stacking block and putting in rebar. Larry and Carla were great at handing things up the scaffolding. Saves a lot of time when you don't have to climb up and down constantly!












Frank and Vivian were in a groove with installing the braces. They did a tremendous job!













Kids were a big help today too! It's really exciting to see the basement shaping up!

Our shelters are back!

As many of you know, we have been through several awning/shelter type things. Where we are up on a hill, they are easily taken out by seemingly mild winds. (The wind even picked one up out of the basement area and blew it down the hill, across some trees and into the neighbor's yard!) Since we still have the awning covers, Dwayne decided it would be best to build his own frames, and put the awning covers over them. The guys from CLS came to help and they finished the awnings and more!





Kenny helping Dwayne with the frame for the smaller awning.










The inside of the large tent- I think Dwayne could build his own barn!!









Aaron and Rusty snapping a chalk line on the porch footer before drilling holes for the rebar

Starting to take shape

After the basement slab was poured, we were able to start stacking ICF blocks again. Jeff and Dwayne stacked two more levels of block, which meant cutting out windows. Now we are able to see how things are going to look, on the basement level anyway!

We have a basement floor!

With the extreme heat we've had lately, the concrete crew started pouring the basement floor before 7am. Dwayne was with them until 3 that afternoon. They really had a long day and in the end, it was the most beautiful concrete slab I had ever seen! (Funny how your perspective changes as you get older!)















All of Dwayne's hard work on the radiant floor heating system being buried under concrete.











One of the concrete trucks got stuck. (Deja Vu? No wait, that was a gravel truck!) Here a second truck is trying to pull him out.








Unloading some of the weight of the truck that is stuck.

















Kenny Hall using his buffer tool on the floor after the pour is complete. He and his crew have been great!