I went on a road trip for the day near Saginaw, Texas [its the spacing of the pine trees with theses shrubs I found interesting; the train ---well thats for Bob], (NW of Ft. Worth) to pick-up the chemicals to stain the concrete floor in the new home. The business is called Concrete Colors, Inc. and you couldn't find a nicer bunch. The owner, Gary Hames's wife is the niece to the Cheatham's who live just down the road. Gary has helped us along every step of the way with samples and suggestions and answers to all our questions. We plan to stain the floors ourself once all the steel work is done and the sheet rock has been hung.
The road trip started out a little slow. I was driving down our road (182) heading for Clifton, when I saw a puppy running in middle of the road. I stopped the truck and all of a sudden I heard scratching on the door. I opened the door and ---well, let's just say we have a new member of the family. And it is a male!! That makes 2 males to 6 females. There where no house anywhere near where I found him, so I headed back to the house. Sam (that is what we decided to call him) fell asleep in my arms as I drove. Pam took him to the vet and got Sam started on shots. The vet thinks he's a sheperd mix and about 10 weeks old. He is very thin, but we will get that fixed fast enough. He and Fawn have become great play mates. Our littlest, Little Bit, is acting like an old mad, and Lady is being the mother over all of them. We tried to introduce Sam to the cats, but as they backed him into the corner you could see that he wanted nothing to do with them.
Tomorrow the wood on the storm room will be removed and the gang setting up the steel will get starting.
As for me; I can hardy wait to see the bones (steel framing) come together.
Today started out like the rest of the week - hot and due to get hotter. We have been hitting 100 plus degrees everyday for the last two weeks. Buddy when out and started digging, with the backhoe, the trench that will hold the gray water pipe that exits the slab near the NW corner. By noon, he had dug several feet(note the flag that marks the approximate placement of a double wye clean-out[this gives you acess to the line ,if the need should arise], cleaned pipes, attached a 3x4 adapter and joined two 10' joints. Buddy poured about 2 gals. of water in what will be the kitchen sink drain and watched with delight as it ran out the end of the pipe.Then the rain came!!! Yea!! Yea!! and Yea!! in all we got about 0.3". Temperature dropped from 105 to 83 in just 10 minutes.
Around 6:00 PM we got a call from Bob (the Mueller Steel provider driver) that was on the other side of Gatesville on Hwy 84 where it intersects Hwy 116 and would be there as soon as he could. 45 minutes later, he and his 73 foot rig showed up where the driveway forks to the left and winds through the native juniper and Elderica Pines[but thats a whole 'nother story]. After a brief discussion with Buddy on how to get the steel up to our home site, the driver got back in the rig, turned into our front pasture, and backed into the area where the sand had been. Thanks to a fork lift vehicle attached to the backend of his rig, the driver had the steel off and layed out in about 30 minutes.
It is hard to believe that this stack of steel will be the framework for our new home.
Rusty was the first on the site about 6:30 AM this morning, but I had awaken at 'bout 5 AM by the incessant barking of Fawn baby girl, our youngest dog. I got dressed, went outside, and started picking up the work area. Within a few minutes the rest of the crew started arriving. Along with the crew was a new worker with a piece of equipment - a large "Case" front end loader. The gang started finishing the outer form and tieing the rebar. It was a great morning for them since the weather was very overcast. while the work on the forms was being finished, one of the crew members started building a ramp from the sand. The ramp was to be used to elavate the loader so the bucket would clear the forms as it dumped load after load onto the top of the structure. The cement trucks arrived about 1:00 PM. It backed into the site of the storm structure and started pouring cement into the bucket. Then the machine went up the sand ramp and dumped the cement into the top of the structure. Opa & Chris on the roof worked at pulling the cement out of the bucket. The second truck topped everything off with 17 yards of cements going into the structure. Chris troweled the top smooth while the rest worked at cleaning up the site. Everyone was gone by 3:30PM. Now all we have to do is make that lasting impression and wait till Monday when Rusty will come back and take down the outer forms. For now, it looks like a huge wooden crate sitting on top of our new slab.
This last week-end was water, water, water. We kept the slab flooded till Sunday evening and boy did it cure nicely; with no cracks(as of yet).Gary Hames (the concrete colors agent manufacturer) brought by several samples for us to test on the solar slab
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Monday Rusty & crew set the inside forms for the storm room and then after they had left, in the cool of the evening (87 degrees) Pam stuff the utility boxes with paper and duct taped their exterior; then I attached them to the forms(42" off the floor for easy access). In this way the outlets and switch will be inset and flush with the finished walls.Talked to Gary Bray(HVAC contractor) about the duct box for the storm room. He said he'd have it ready for me and would bring it out tomorrow.
Tuesday as two of our watch dogs (Lady and Fawn) ,set and watched Rusty & crew tied the #5 rebar all around the formed-up inner forms on 12' centers and started setting the outer forms.
We're slated to pour about noon tomorrow.
The day started with Buddy and I waking up to the dogs greeting the first truck load of workers. That was at 6:25AM. The workers varied from the local high school's football coach to a 'would be' member of ZZ Top band. Buddy told Rusty that he appreciated all the help he brought, but that we did not expect ZZ. Rusty said they always bring him, hoping that the old coupe with the good looking girls will show up!.............but alas no coupe and no girls.
The first concrete truck showed up at 6:42 AM. Rusty finished placing the steel bars in the wall area of the future tornado room and in the hole where the fireplace was going to be. (The concrete walls and ceiling for the tornado room will be poured next week.) The first area to get the concrete where the beams and the storm room. As more concrete trucks came the slab started to form. Then crew worked from the southeast corner, around the north side, to the west side, then back to the southeast corner. One minor accident - no one hurt, but the coach forgot that the section of the floor where the fireplace will be is quite a bit deeper with cement than the rest of the floor. He as walking across the slab and all of a sudden one of his work boots and leg went out of sight. It took him a little time to clean up before he could get back to work. Everyone took turns leveling the concrete out with a 2"x4"X10' metal screege and then "ZZ" started using the long bull float. Prior to the pour, the area designated for the showers, in the north west corner of the house, were framed out with lumber so that their floors would be 3 1/2" below grade. The coach started by sloping the floor towards the drains then after the concrete was worked into this area of the house, Billy and Opa took up the boards and smoothed out the shower floors. Over all, it took 68 cubic yards of concrete to finish the slab. We even had enough concrete left over to form a small slab for our temperary building we will use to house our solar power inverter(DC to AC) and battery bank.
After the concrete had settled a few minutes, Rusty and the crew started the finish work. This was done by hand around the edges and close up to all the stub-outs while Rusty and ZZused two gas powered trowels. It looked like the power trowels were the only way to go. I would hate to have to do it all by hand! By 2:00 PM, Rusty and the boys had gone and it was now our turn to try and keep the concrete cooled down as it dried. Since the temperature was in the lower 100's, with very few clouds, it was going to be a challenge. Buddy tried using the tree sprayer for the first 3 or 4 hours, but that was getting tiring and we could not keep that up all night. So, we decided to try the sprinklers on a cycle of 30 min. every 2 hour overnight and that worked great!! The plan, for now, is to keep the slab flooded for the week-end, which should allow sufficient time for it to cure to it's greatest strength with the least likelyhood of cracking(so they say).
It is now 9:00 PM and the slab looks like a calm lake with the sun setting on it and all is right with the world - or at least in our part of Texas, here at "Thee Place"
July 15, 2003
They came back with a full complement of workers and tied the remaining steel. Rusty and Chris set the forms for the inset shower .pan
While everyone was working, I headed for Waco to pick up copper wire, and
check on the door units I ordered from Home Depot and when I got back, our water company had started laying the new 2" water line to our place. This had been scheduled for over a year. Funny how everything is coming together at once.
July 16, 2003
All is quite today. I finished my work on the electrical by wrapping the copper wire around the rebar. There are three sets of copper wires. One set goes around the steel rods and under the foundation for grounding and the other two goes around the steel rods and back to the electrical subouts to the electrical panels.
Gary, our steel framer, came out today and marked the forms to locate the steel foundation plates. These plates will be used to steel frame the house.
Tomorrow is THE DAY. Concrete will be layed for the floors and steel frame for the tornado room will be installed.
Rusty and one of his workers came out this morning and layed the polyand positioned the steelfor tieing. Some of the steel was tied ,but they ran short and called for additional steel. It was delivered that evening and additional 4 loads of sand was delivered to be used for back grade away from the slab.
Ed and Billy showed up later in the evening to connect the water lines. As Ed soldered the headers
Billy cleaned and fitted the fittingskeeping just ahead of Ed.
As I expected this week-end has been hopping with activity. Rusty and crew back filled and cut the inner beams as they worked from the east end towards the westwith the aid of his new "Bobcat"skid loader (this was its first job) on Friday.
Saturday started at 6:30 a.m. when I turned on the web cam only to view people moving around on the filled area. I could tell, once the sleep was rubbed from my eyes, it was Ed and Billy hard at work. So I got dressed and went over to see them. Joe arrive a little later and we all had to pause to discuss "things with the fellas" before Joe and I started laying in the various electrical and data lines. Mid-morning I went to Clifton for some supplies. On the way home I decided to buy lunch, so I picked-up a load of chicken w/ corn on the cob, and fried orka. When I got back Ed and Billy had left so we set-up our lunch under the old Post Oak and enjoyed the light breeze and witty conversation. Joe and I worked till almost 8 p.m. and called it a day
So with the exception of laying in the plastic sheeting (as a vapor barrier), and tieing off the rebar (the inner steel grid that reinforces the concrete); we are ready for the pouring of the concrete which is slated for Thursday. That is to say, all electrical
This week Rusty and crew finished forming-up and pouring the exterior perimeter beam (12"X24"), and Ed Summers (the plumber) has started his rough-in of the sewage and grey water lines. Rusty is suppose to back fill the area between perimeter beam up to grade on Friday. This week-end should prove to be very busy . Joe (the electrican) will be setting conduit , Gary (the metal building constructor) will bring by the weldplates and mark the forms for their placement, Ed will lay the hot and cold water lines, so I'll be sure and take lots of pictures for later postings.
This has been a very active week.
It started Tuesday when Rusty came by to mark the pier hole drilling sites. A brief explaination of our "slab" - there are 18" columns that extend from ground level to 6' to 11' where ther is solid rock. The columns are 15' apart in a grid fashion. The perimeter beam is 12" thick and 24" high, enough said for now ...
Wednesday started early with the arrival of the pier drilling machine. The drill operator, Russ, went to work and while some seem to drill quite easily, others seemed to gave him a good bit of trouble. While the drilling continued, Rusty called for the first load of concrete. The truck arrived about 1 PM and filled exactly half of the piers. Rusty and his crew of two, Chris and Cody, called it a day about 1:30 PM and said Russ may be another 3 or 4 hours from finishing. About 6 hours later the drilling stopped and I could tell he'd done a thorough job.
Thursday saw the completion of pouring concrete in the other piers and the outer forms where ereced. I told Rusty, Chris, and Cody to have fun and be safe this 4th of July week- end. Rusty said they'd see me Monday and may be get the perimeter beam set with concrete.