August 1 - The footers are dug and the steel is in place. The rebar on the ground is temporary to hold the vertical rebar upright until the concrete is poured.
August 1 - The bottom of the footers has a considerable amount of steel rebar. The white PVC pipe are grade stakes that show how deep to pour the concrete.
August 1 - The concrete arrived about 9 am and pouring began. Each truck holds about 9 cubic yards of concrete.
August 1 - All together, the footers took about 31 cubic yards (62 tons) of concrete. Block walls will be laid starting on Monday.
August 4 - The layout strings are being put back up in preparation for laying the block foundation walls. The block work will begin in a few minutes and be complete today or tomorrow.
August 4 - The concrete blocks will be laid over the steel rebar protruding from the foundation. Additional steel rebar will be put in the blocks walls once the wall is laid, before the blocks are filled. This additional steel will tie the slab to the foundation walls.
August 5 - Block walls are being laid. Once the walls are up, the inside will be filled with dirt.
August 5 - The garage block walls are up. The far side is where the automobile door will be. The golf cart door opening is to the left.
August 5 - The house block walls are nearly complete. Tomorrow, they will have steel put in them and the walls will be pumped full of concrete.
August 6 - The block work is complete except for the corner beneath the fireplaces. You can see the partially finished block on the left side. The reinforcement steel is in the walls. An inspection is scheduled for this afternoon.
August 6 - The concrete block foundation walls have steel rebar in them and are now being filled with concrete for added strength.
August 7 - The blocks are filled solid with concrete. Today, fill is being put inside the foundation walls and packed. This will take a couple of days. A total of about 120 cubic yards of fill will be needed (8 dump trucks full).
August 8 - Dirt is being packed inside the foundation walls. Early next week, plumbing pipes that go below the slab will be put in the dirt.
August 8 - The well driller is here today. He will have the well in before he leaves this afternoon, weather permitting.
August 8 - DHEC has been out to check the ground for perk to make sure a septic drain field would work. You can see the hole they dug just to the left of our stake.
August 11 - The well is in. As soon as the house is finished, the tank and control box will be moved inside the garage. All that will remain outside is the well head.
August 11 - The temporary power pole was installed this morning. Soon the power company will have power run to the lot.
August 11 - The plumbers have installed the plumbing that goes beneath the slab. The electricians have also installed two boxes for floor outlets in the living area.
August 11 - Inspections will be secheduled tomorrow for the temporary power pole and the underground utilities. If all goes well, vinyl will be placed on the dirt tomorrow and insulation will be installed on Wednesday.
August 11 - The road base is being installed. This will serve as a service road for now and the base of the final driveway to be installed at the completion of the house.
August 12 - There are grade beams below the slab for extra support. The plumbing pipes will be sleeved before the grade beams are poured. An electrical box is in the background.
August 12 - The grade beams have steel rebar in them that is hooked up over the foundation walls for added strength.
August 14 - The grade beams are poured and the fill has been re-leveled. 6 mil thick poly has been put down for a moisture barrier.
August 14 - The garage foundation is now being filled with dirt. It is being packed as it is filled to insure a solid fill.
August 14 - A rigid foam is placed on the poly to insulate the floor. Once the foam is in place, a steel mesh will be placed on it. Next comes the pipes for hydrostatic floor heating. The pipes will be installed early next week.
August 14 - The rigid foam insulation is in place. It will be covered with a steel mesh (note roll on the right). The heating pipes come next and then the concrete.
August 14 - The garage fill is almost complete and packed. The door at the top left is for a golf cart. Notice the steel rebar in the foundation walls that will be bent over the steel mesh.
August 15 - Steel mesh is being put down. Notice the rebar is bent over the mesh. The pipes have foam around them to protect them from abrasion from the concrete. The septic drain can be seen in the lower right corner of the photo.
August 15 - The garage floor is packed. It will be dug out slightly around the doors when the forms are put in place. The garage will get steel mesh, but not insulation since it does not have floor heating.
August 18 - The steel is in place for the house slab. In the next day or so, the hydrostatic floor heating pipes will be placed and then the slab will be poured.
August 18 - The garage slab is ready to pour. It does not receive floor heating.
August 19 - Forms are in place for the doors. We are going to recess the doors into the concrete floor because it is the finished floor. The floor was extended in the master closet with some forming also.
August 19 - The piers will support the front porch. It will be decked with IPE, a very hard wood from South America. The garage door form is in place on the right edge of the photo.
August 20 - The floor space has been divided into 7 areas for the in floor heating. Pipes for the hydrostatic heating are being placed today. If (hurricane) Fay stays in Florida and rain holds off, we will pour the slab tomorrow.
August 20 - The hydrostatic heating system is being installed. Five of the seven zones are now in place. The zoning is just so the system can be balanced to even the heating.
August 20 - The pipes terminate in the garage. There will be a valve where the water flow can be adjusted for an even floor temperature. As you can see from the wood form, two more circuits need to be run.
August 22 - The hydrostatic heating pipes are fully installed. Pouring the slab will be delayed until Monday at least because of the rainy weather.
August 22 - Here is where the pipes originate and terminate. They are pressurized to make sure there are no leaks.
August 26 - The framing material is now on site. Although it does not look like it, there is a house under the plastic. You just have to cut and nail in the correct place and you have a house. Framing will start a week from today (the day after Labor Day).
August 27 - When concrete cures, it shrinks a small amount. This typically causes cracking. To control the cracking, the concrete can be scored.
August 28 - The slab is being poured this morning. The orange paint marks where reinforcing steel is in the walls so we don't try to drill holes to fasten down sill places where there is steel.
August 28 - A power screed is being used to make sure the surface is flat. The white pipes are for plumbing.
August 28 - The black pipes are for heating. The boards are to provide a recessed area for the exterior doors. This will keep the threshold height correct since the concrete is the finished floor.
August 28 - Fifteen cubic yards later, the slab is poured and roughly level. Now comes the power trowel and hand troweling to make sure the floor is very nicely finished.
August 28 - It is about 10:30 a.m. and the power troweling has begun. Originally, we had planned to pour the garage tomorrow, but now we moved it up to noon today.
August 28 - The house slab is finished very nicely. On Tuesday, the framing starts.
August 28 - The noon concrete truck arrived about 12:30 p. m. and the garage pour began. There will be a small garage door on the right for a golf cart.
August 28 - The garage slab is poured and now has to be finished. This is the front of the house. The large garage door is where the men are standing.