Proposed Content:
Continuation of installation of wall panels from master bedrooms toward art studio. It is taking substantial time sorting through the shipped stacks for the correct labeled panel. Garret and Randy decide to use the loader to stage some of the wall panels, allowing the sorting to go more quickly. Gary begins to burn brush.
Gary cruising past staged wall panels in pantry, kennel, and office.
The beginning bonfire for burning all the brush accumulated from the clearing phase.
Proposed Content:
Initial installation of wall panels in master bedrooms and efforts to align them with the center post, roof beams and corner panels
Panorama looking Southwest at initial panel installation efforts:
Proposed Content:
Continuation of roof beam and outside wall panel installation
Correctly positioning of the walls requires a precise vertically plumbed center support
Vertically Aligning The Center Support:  |
Master Bath #1 Shower:  |
Proposed Content:
Expandng the roof support structure to the other octagon
Roof beam supports installed in the east octagon:
Randy and Norm hoist a roof beam support and secure it to the roof beam with a large bracket:
Proposed Content:
Positioning and installing the first corner panels and roof beams
Four of the eight corners established on the west octagon.
Proposed Content:
Putting up the central support columns
The two central support columns tower above the recently poured concrete while Randy and Garret plot their strategy for erecting the corner panels and roof beams:
Proposed Content:
Laying of Wire Mesh and rebar for slab reinforcement
Looking East From Master Bath 1  |
Proposed Content:
Delivery and Unloading of the First House Parts From Topsider Homes.
A tight squeeze getting into the driveway even after the entrance was widened
Proposed Content:
Amidst the shine of the floor foam and plumbers truck, Doug works on one of the manifold areas, where thermostats will manipulate actuators to control the floor temperatures of the zones on the east end of the house
Proposed Content:
The laying of the radiant foor heat tubing, and the installation of the underground Propane Tank
Placing The Propane Tank:
All Day:
Garret called to say no delivery from Topsider today as was scheduled long ago. Also said that it was too wet to begin foam installation. First Topsider shipment of house parts should be on Friday, Sep 27.
Proposed Content:
Partial repair of Driveway to shore up where trench was dug and installation of in-slab plumbing. Also discussed Propane system and buried tank location.
Proposed Content:
Getting the utilities into the house, installing inside plumbing, and east Dry Well
Incoming Utilities  | |
Eastern Dry well  |
Sand Base For Sewer Plumbing  |
Proposed Content:
Filling the under-slab areas in and outside the house
Proposed Content:
Installing dry wells, gutter down spout drainage, and sewer pipes
West Dry Well Pit
Proposed Content:
Continuing to Install Insulating Foam on Inside of Foundation Wall
Morning:
Gary and Lani arrived very early at the site with Ruff. Concrete crew members Wilson and Danny arrived shortly thereafter. About a half hour later, Tommy arrived and verified that the wall forms and the two center post boxes were correct and ready to be poured.
Pouring The Foundation Wall
The pour of the center posts footers and the foundation (stem) walls started when the pumping and concrete trucks arrived shortly after 8 AM. To facilitate rapid, accurate placement of the large and medium anchor bolts, Wilson had pre-marked their positions on the forms with horizontal nails spray painted in blue.
The pour was halted briefly when it was noticed that the brackets set over the top of the forms weren’t nailed down, causing some to pop off when the concrete was added. Tommy, Danny, and Randy quickly nailed all the brackets, while Wilson continued to place the anchor bolts.
The following video shows the foundation wall pour events
Pouring The Foundation Wall
Tommy begins directing the pour  | |
East Center Column Support  |
West Center Column Support  |
Anchor Bolt with Blue Guide Nail  |
Two Anchor Bolts  |
I'm currently working on a video that shows the foundation wall pour
Morning:
Garret called to say the foundation wall pour scheduled for today won’t happen until tomorrow. Randy will be at site all day digging and placing the center post forms. Gary, Lani & Ruff arrived at site around noon. The concrete crew (Wilson and Danny) finished up the foundation wall forms, bracing them for stability. We met Randy who was digging the hole for the east center post.
Foundation Wall Forms:
East Octagon Center Support Footer  |
Garage, Office, Kennel Room  |
Fireplace, Living Room, Master Bedrooms  |
Electrical Panel and Radiant Heat Wall Section  |
Panoramic Overview, Looking West  | |
Afternoon:
Later, Garret arrived and said Randy has been having problems setting the center post. The east center post was more difficult because it sits up against the foundation wall and a corner of the form must be trimmed off to position it correctly. Also the hole was full of several-foot diameter rocks. Randy stayed to work on placing the form for the east center post. Later in the day, Garret went back to the site to help Randy install the center post form boxes from Topsider in both center post footers.Morning:
We arrived at site mid morning. The concrete crew continued to set up forms for stem wall. Later, Garret set up a form for the conduit footer gap that will be poured when the walls are poured.
Foundation Wall Forms:
Living Room and Master Bedrooms  |
Radient Heat Buck Out  |
Conduits For Circuit Breaker Panel  |
Sewer Conduit In Finished Wall  |
Garage And House Center Note footer form below conduit
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Breakfast Nook, Kennel Room, Office, and Garage  |
Foundation Wall Forms Detail  | |
Afternoon:
Doug Felton, of the Plumbing Connection, arrived. He and Garret set up a buck out for the radiant heating connections in the back garage wall and installed conduit for the sewer in the dining room wall. After discussions with Doug, Gary & Lani selected propane for the energy source to heat the house. The system they are designing for us has an 80 gallon holding tank for domestic hot water. Coils in the tank transfer heat to the sealed radiant heat tubes (4000 feet, almost a mile of them) in the concrete slab. We also discussed the number and location of zones with Doug who gave us an overview and said that Bret, his radiant heat expert, would discuss the details at length with us. Propane heat exchangers are very efficient when compared BTU to BTU. Response time is much quicker than electric, requiring only hours to get our system up from a cold state rather than days. Propane will fuel the domestic hot water, radiant floor heat, the range cook top, a gas grill, and a backup 10 KW generator.
Propane is considered a green fuel for the environment but is not a renewable fuel. Click on this paragraph for a brief description of the green aspects of Propane.Morning:
Garret called to tell us they misread the location of the circuit breaker panel and had mistakenly left an open space in the footer along the east side of garage wall. The circuit breaker panel should be on the back wall of the garage. They jack hammered the footer in the back garage wall to provide a gap for conduit installation. They will re-pour both sections of the footer when they pour the stem wall.
Correct placement for Conduits
Afternoon:
Lani and Gary arrived at the site as electricians were leaving. The electricians had installed the conduit in the back wall of garage. The concrete crew began setting up the two-foot high stem wall forms.
Conduits Installed
Initial Foundation Wall Form Panels
Putting Up The Forms
Morning:
Today was the big concrete pour day. The concrete crew from Tom Wood Concrete, Tommy, Willson, and Anthony, finished the footer forms, adding two rows of reenforcing bars between the two boards of the footers
The completed forms:
Looking west along the south side of the house  |
Looking south along the east end of the house  |
Footer form detail showing the bent and positioned rebar  | |
Angeles Concrete Cement And Slurry Pumping Trucks On Site Ready Go:
At about 10 AM, Angeles Concrete arrived on scene and set up a large pumping truck. The tall boom was able to reach all areas of the footer. It took two trucks to bring the concrete needed. There was a point when the pumping nozzle became clogged because the second load of concrete was too thick. After getting the nozzle unclogged workers ran the concrete back into the mixing truck adding in more water to get it flowing again, and then switched to a different, more flexible, tube nozzle.
Afternoon:
The whole crew worked in unison with Tommy positioning the nozzle and directing the flow of slurry, Anthony following to scrape away excess concrete, ensure all voids were filled, and remove the horizontal rebar support wires, and Wilson completing the process by smoothing the surface and placing the required vertical rebar pieces.
The following video compresses the entire 4 hour event from start to finish into 9 minutes:
