Something new is afoot.

Today when I peeked out of the curtains this morning at 6:30 am the concrete pumper truck was pulling up in front. No time for breakfast today! We had the massive truck positioned and set up in a hurry and the first concrete truck pulled up at 7:00 am sharp!

The pour went quick and without incident. (Always a good thing with concrete.) By coffee time the concrete was in place and largley done. The footings for the new house were DONE!

Instead of the usual sono-tubes we used the new Fast-tube  www.fab-form They worked pretty cool and were easy and quick to set up.

With most of the land forming now roughly in place it was time to put up the contractor and supplier signs. There will be more added in the next days.

It was a great day! Tomorrow the LOGIX walls wil be started to be set in place. It is starting to look like a house!

-grampa dan

Raising the roof (and floor)

Today was a busy day as we checked and double checked everything in readiness for the concrete pour first thing tomorrow.  The city building inspector came for a look and also told us (at last) the required height of the floor of our house. Because we live on a flood plain we have to build up the land considerably. 

The view should be pretty good from way up there.

-grampa dan

Trying new things

With each project we like to expore new things. It is a great way to learn.

As I did my research to learn about the latest and gtreatest new techniques in home building I found a new way to build footing forms  for the house. We could use a plastic fabric to line the forms. This fabric would perform a variety of functions. First we could use less lumber. That would save money. The fabric would protect the lumber from the messy concrete meaning the lumber we did use was reusable with virtually no work required to clean it off. The fabric also meant less concrete would seep under the forms and be wasted. That would save more money! The system was designed right here in British Columbia. Joey from Fab-Form http://www.fab-form.com/fastfoot/fastfootOverview.php came out this morning to teach our crew the proper techniques to put this great system to good use. THANKS Joey!! 

The waterproof forming system also stops ground water from being wicked up into the concrete walls. With our high water table in Yarrow this was an important consideration to building a dry and comfortable house.

It didn't take long for Ryan and Colin to get up to speed. The carpenters finished up the footing forms and tied in all the rebar. Before quitting time today we were ready for the engineer inspection tomorrow morning bright and early. 

Today was also a banner day in that the city finally issued our building permit late this afternoon. Our first inspection is tomorrow afternoon. Concrete is scheduled for 7:00 am Thursday. :)

-grampa dan