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Ohm Sweet Ohm

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The basement takes shape!

8/30/2015

 
It was a very good week!  
The slides above show how much the look of the house changed over a single week.
Interior support walls are being raised and the floor trusses are all in place.

You may also note the trusses seem to hang over the basement walls in the above photos.  This is no optical illusion, they really do extend out a few feet.
The main reason we did this is that we wanted to build a house in which we could live on the main floor.  
As we age, if we find the stairs more difficult to manage, we have everything we need to enjoy life upstairs.  

As such, we have a cantilever extending a few feet to give us a bit more square footage upstairs than down.  The insulation around that will need careful attention, but is nothing insurmountable.  
As a side benefit, it actually is more structurally sound!
With additional weight over the "edge" of the lower level wall, the weight of the first floor is better distributed.

 
The floor trusses were a very interesting process.  Each one can be slightly, or more than slightly different.  Each one is labeled and the blueprints show the exact placement of each one.


You can see them labeled in the image below (and no, they are not in numeric order).  It is times like this that I appreciate the care and focus of the framers, as well as our builder and designer more than ever.  I know I certainly would not have managed to get them in the right order!

Right next to that you can see the trusses lined up to provide the duct chase. 
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Meanwhile, downstairs, you can now see where our future stairs will be!
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Stairs! Steps not included ;o)
This next week work on the walls will continue.   I'm working the Minnesota State Fair in the Eco Experience building (talking to people about our experiences with electric cars).
So the next blog may be a bit delayed, or short.  We will see how this introvert handles the Fair this year;-)

The seed is planted!

8/24/2015

 
Last week the rest of the work on the basement walls were completed!
All the below ground walls have been waterproofed, and the exterior walls of the house have had three inches of Roxul insulation attached to the outside.

This will help insulate the house so it requires less energy to heat in the winter.


On the inside of the concrete walls downstairs we will have a four inch wall with additional insulation for a wall assembly R value of about 28.  For reference, Minnesota building codes are for an R value of 15.

To the right is a photo of the basement wall, looking down from above.


The trenches around the house and garage have been backfilled, and some conduit installed between the house where the mechanical room will be and the garage.


It is so nice seeing the basement of the house, rather than trenches and piles of dirt everywhere!


During this week, the frame of the main floor will be going up.  It should be a very fun thing to see the rest of the house taking shape.
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Exterior insulation

The walls, unveiled!

8/16/2015

 
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It was a very productive week!  The forms have been removed, leaving behind the concrete walls.  
Work is progressing on the waterproofing, exterior insulation and the drain tile.  
Some areas such as the exterior of the garage have been backfilled so it is now a bit easier to see the footprint of the house.


This week we will be meeting to discuss the built in cabinets as work continues on the foundation.

Fun with Concrete

8/9/2015

 
Last week the foundation footings were poured.
It was fascinating to watch the process (as I was completely unfamiliar with it).



To deliver the rock and concrete, a truck with two conveyor arms was used.  
The two arms can rotate as well as extend.
The rock/concrete haulers would pour their cargo onto one conveyor arm, which would then carry the material to the second conveyor arm.
The second arm was then maneuvered to drop the material exactly where it was needed.
It took a lot less time than I thought it would and the precision was amazing.  No concrete went anywhere except exactly where it was supposed to!
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Before the rock and concrete were poured, first the footings were framed.  In some places with wood planks, and in others a form of plastic.
The plastic forms were constructed in such a way as to act as drain tile. 


Rock was poured around the edges of the forms first, and then the concrete was poured into the forms.  The concrete set very quickly.  I was told this concrete is rated at 5,000 lbs.
Surprised, as that seemed very heavy to me (remember, I know nothing about such things) I double checked I heard correctly.  Yes, the concrete weighs 5,000 lbs per cubic yard! 

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Some rain slowed things down a bit during the week.  The guys are doing a great job working through it as soon as it dried out just enough.  I really can't tell you how much I appreciate their hard work and dealing with the elements (primarily mud)!

By the end of the week the forms for the concrete walls downstairs were in place, the city inspector cleared the foundation footings and we were all set to pour the foundation on Monday.






Breaking Ground!

8/3/2015

 
We had a wonderful ground breaking ceremony in June.  
Family, friends (both old and new), associates and friends from a number of organizations, our builder, Kerry Hage, and architect, Marc Sloot and a number of other contractors were all in attendance.

A number of our new neighbors were there to hear a bit about what would be happening at this formerly open area.  
Marc and Kerry spoke a bit about the house project, we all shared cookies and had a great time learning about our new neighborhood, answering questions about our future house and just generally enjoying the evening before it rained (the rain held off almost to the minute of the end of the ceremony).

We are so appreciative of everyone that came that evening, it was a wonderful way to start!
We also want to thank Morgan Mosiman for the wonderful photography.

The next step, the actual ground breaking with the big toys, took a bit of time to get everyone lined up (excavators, concrete guys, landscapers, etc).

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In late July, we broke ground, with the big toys, for our new home!

A few trees had to come down, which saddened me.  The beautiful apple tree in the center of the lot was diseased, and needed to come down anyways, so that didn't sting quite so much.


In a storm (which happened to be one of the delays we ran into) half of the apple tree actually came down early, all on its own.

Luckily, one of the oldest, grandest trees, we should be able to save.  It is an Ash tree, and we have already contacted an arborist to help us stave off any Emerald Ash Borer infestation.  At this point, it seems to be free of EAB, which is fairly common in the area.

None of the trees were appropriate for the local wood reclamation companies.  They were either rotten, or not straight enough.  The excavator will be using the debris for fuel back at their headquarters.

Concrete forms should be here later this week for the foundation and basement walls.

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    Mark really doesn't like to talk about himself, the house is much more interesting.

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