April 25, 2009: Second Level Walls Begin

The framers worked on Saturday and we went out midday Sunday to look at the work. Several of the walls were up on the second level and after days of telling everyone that I would be too "scared of heights" to climb up a ladder at the site, Preethi ended up being the one to not go up the ladder. Since a) Preethi didn't get a chance to see the second level, b) we had better light than normal (e.g., for the basement), and c) we didn't feel like we were in the workers' way (since they had gone home for Sunday), there's a few more pictures in this set than normal. To make sense of it all, I grouped the pictures into exterior shots, second level shots, basement pictures, and details.

Exterior Shots

View of the house from the road - you can see where work has begun on the second level where there will be three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

View of the east side of the house. The boxer is a neighbor's and followed us around a little bit. We didn't bring Fritz and Silver with us because it was quite hot (upper 80s / lower 90s). The part on the South Side is the Master bath and on the north side is a bedroom.

Different view from the East where you can see framing beginning on a different bedroom.

Looking at the backside of the house. The bathroom is framed in on the second level, but the master bedroom is not yet.

Second level pictures
The second level floor was all done so I was able to walk around and take a few pictures.

Picture of Preethi standing in the foyer as seen through stairwell hole.

Looking southwest from the second level across the stairwell. You might of noticed that there's no floor over top of the great room. That's by design. There are no rooms above the great room; instead it'll be a large vaulted space.

Looking from the master bedroom across the stairwell towards the north bedroom. We're quite happy about the view.

Looking from the master bedroom into the master bath.

You can see some of the prepatory chalk work (in blue) laying out where bathroom elements will go.

Looking from the bedroom at northeast corner towards the great room.

Looking from the bedroom at northeast corner towards the master bedroom (walls not up yet).

Looking from the bedroom at northeast corner towards the master bathroom.

North side bedrooms from near the stairwell.

Looking out a window in the master bathroom up the driveway.

Looking from the master bathroom north into a neighboring bedroom.

Basement shots

Mostly these are pictures to show the openness of the plan even in the basement. Even when we're underground, we're trying to open up the space.

Basement shot from the north east corner. That nearby framing support will be changed for an open span to allow for easier flow between the stairwell and the basement bathroom.

Looking across the basement towards the South from underneath the dining room. The windows are white because that's Tyvek over the windows (temporary).

Preethi standing in the middle of the den, shot from the southwest corner.

Construction details

I also took some shots highlighting some construction details.

Example of a support built into the foundation wall.

Detail of the joint of the two engineered wood pieces forming the support where the foyer meets the great room.

Detail of some of the patchwork done on the rebar holes in the foundation wall interior. I highlight this primarily because our current house didn't bother to do this. So we had to do it when we finished the basement.

Other

The window in the dining room got cleaned up a bit and now it's Preethi's favorite room in the house.

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April 13, 2009: Garage filled, some work done around the foundation and some random pictures from the lot

On April 13, the garage was filled in with dirt and some work was done around the foundation. The next day it doesn't rain, concrete will be poured to finish the garage floor with a slope of a 2" drop slope over 20 ft towards the door. In case your curious, it doesn't snow so much in Lynchburg (the traditional reason for a garage drain in the center is so melting snow in the garage has somewhere to go) so I would rather have some inherent water ingress resistance.

Preethi and the dogs (Fritz in front, Silver in back) standing on the filled in garage viewed from the driveway.

Looking at the house from a tree at the front (North East) corner of the lot. There's also Preethi and the dogs. I think it gives you a good perspective on the relative level of the filled in garage.

The top of one of the now buried concrete piers in the garage.

We had hoped that from the second floor we would have a good view of the ridge (much larger than one in our backyard) that effectively borders our neighborhood. But looking out from on top of the garage, it looks like we'll still have a good view from the first floor (at least when the leaves are off the trees).

Here you can see the hole underneath the foundation and a trench that will lead to the septic tank.

You can see Spring coming to the lot here with the grass growing in (looking across the stream to the field). That's me in the front (left), Silver in the middle, and Fritz on the right.

Some time ago we planted several patches of tulips along the stream . While the deer ate one patch, several other patches survived (until now). And now we have our first bloom.

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April 10, 2009: Drainage around the foundation and garage support piers (Updated)

Began filling in the space around the foundation with a mix of rocks and soil to improve the moisture seal of the foundation and improve drainage around and away of the foundation. Basically, if water can't drain away from the foundation *alot* of water pressure can build up against the wall and eventually, water will push its way through the wall. So it's important to channel the water down and away from the foundation walls. The following is actually a little more complicated than it appears, e.g., the rocks aren't there to look pretty - they're there because water will flow through those gaps better than through compacted soil. For a little more context see this pdf or this wiki entry.

You can pretty clearly see where the stones are lined up against the base of the foundation to help waterflow in this picture (the black stuff is the foundation seal). I believe there's also 4-inch perforated drain pipe beneath the stones (I saw them laying around, but like a doofus, I didn't take a picture) to further enhance the water flow away from the foundation.

Here's a closer view of the stones around the foundation. There's a permeable fabric over the top of the stones. I assume this is to somewhat limit the penetration of the soil into the stones which could clog water flow.

Against the garage-side wall (or more specifically against the main level bedroom East(ish) wall), fill dirt was placed over the stones. Note that in addition to sealing the foundation wall with tar, small treated boards are also installed. Foundation sealer tends to dry and crack and this can help protect and extend the life of the seal.

To help drainage along the East wall, there's actually a drain channel through the garage (top and right in the picture) covered in stone and the soil-fabric. Additionally you can see a couple support piers for the garage floor going up (soil has a nasty habit of settling and doesn't make for a long-term stable base to hold up a few tons of car)

A view of the garage from a little further away from the hosue on the driveway.

In addition to the backfiling around the foundation, they were also digging around and under it! (In addtion to the trench that I think is underneath the stones). In context, this hole is presumably to allow septic lines to flow to the outside as the septic tank site is relatively close to where this hole is located. And though you can't see it here, there's a matching hole on the other side.

Update

Went back to the lot and took a couple pictures I should've taken before to better illustrate the drainage.

The perforated drainage pipe that is placed beneath the gravel. The holes allow the water to flow into the pipe and then be funneled along and then away from the foundation.

The drainage pipe poking out (but taped over for the moment) from underneath the gravel and the soil mesh.

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