February 3 - A load of fill dirt arrived for the garage slab. It will be spread soon (depending on the rain).
February 3 - Steel rebar is being placed in the main house footers. The footers have been prepped and packed in preparation for soil compaction testing.
February 3 - The downhill side of the guest house is rather low. Low enough, the foundation guys hit water when they dug the footers. The solution is to put stone in the footers to give the house a good base.
February 3 - The foundation sub brought a load of stone to the site this morning to be placed in the wet footer trenches.
February 3 - Unfortunately, the wet trenches are not close to the trailer, so they built a 'road' of scrap lumber so they could cross trenches. They are carrying the stone one wheel barrow at a time. The boards in the footer trenches makes steps in the footers as the land drops. The steps are about the height of a concrete block so as the block foundation walls are built, the number of rows of blocks will change.
February 12 - Finally, the rain has stopped and the waters have receded. This is the very first bit of concrete being poured. The first pour was the garage slab. Notice the pipes between the two workers. These are water pipes that interconnect the garage, house, guest house and wells. The slab is being poured on plastic and steel mesh.
February 12 - The first truck (20 tons or 10 cubic yards) has been emptied and we are waiting on the second one. The garage will take a little over 40 tons (20 cubic yards) of concrete. The footers in the house and guest house were poured after the garage slab. The interconnecting water pipes and electrical conduits are visible on the right back of the photo. The step in the front is for a brick ledge under the garage door.
February 15 - The forms have been removed from the garage slab. In the front, brick ledges (where bricks will be laid) are clearly visible. Anchor bolts are also visible.
February 15 - Blocks for the foundation walls are now on site. The steel 'ladder' reinforcement are on top of one of the cubes of blocks. In the distance, between the trees, mortar is under a plastic cover. Several yards of sand is past the mortar in large containers. The house and guest house foundation walls will be blocked up to the floor level. Once that is done, the interior will be filled with dirt and packed every six inches.
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February 17 - The foundation walls of the guest house are taking shape. The opening on the right side will remain until the fill dirt is placed inside the walls.
February 17 - The concrete footers support the blocks and distribute the weight of the house over a large area. The steel rods inside the blocks are embedded in the footers and will be bent over to be covered with the slab concrete.
February 17 - The top ledger blocks will form the outside form for the house slab. The rebar (steel rods) will be bent over before the slab is poured, so they will tie the footers to the slab.
February 17 - Blocks are being distributed around the footers of the main house. This keeps the materials close at hand for the masons as they lay blocks. The floor of the main house will be 8 inches higher than the batter boards.
February 18 - The foundation walls are being built on the main house. As you may (or may not) be able to see in the photo, the rough floor is 8 inches above the batter boards. The finished floor will be about 3 inches above the top of the blocks. The main house foundation is quite a bit larger than the guest house so it will take several days to complete.
February 18 - If you look closely, you can see the difference in the relative floor heights of the main house (left) and guest house (right).
February 19 - The main house block walls are being constructed. Once the blocks are set and inspections passed, the interior of most of the house will be filled with compacted dirt. Any mechanical items (water & drain pipes, etc.) that need to go under the slab will be placed. After plastic and steel is in place, the slab will be poured using the block walls as a form.
February 19 - This view is from the SE quadrant. It looks over the length of the house and has the guest house hidden in the background. More blocks are queued and ready to be laid.
February 22 - The back wall is being erected. Porch walls will be beyond the one laid today. The 'smoke' is dust where one of the workers is cutting a block.
February 22 - This is a view from the garage slab. Block laying is going well. If all goes well, it should be finished by the end of the week or shortly afterwards. Rain, however is forecast for parts of Tuesday and Wednesday.
February 23 - More block walls were erected today. The dark mortar joints are fresh (laid today). Within a few days, the block cells will be filled with concrete.
February 23 - The block masons are concentrating on the rear of the house. With seven or eight masons, the block work goes relatively quickly.
February 24 - Framing materials for the garage arrived Monday evening. Framing is scheduled to begin Thursday morning. Framing should take about a week. Once the framing is complete we plan to install the steel roofing.
February 24 - It is a dark and rainy day in our part of South Carolina. Little outside work will get done today. The forecast is for clear weather starting tomorrow and into next week.
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February 25 - This is looking along the rear of the main house. The first area is the master bedroom. The second will be a screened porch. The large area in the distance will be a closed in porch area. The plumbers were out today putting in sleeves for adding plumbing once the concrete block walls are filled with concrete.
February 25 - Framing on the garage has begun. The exterior walls are erected. Beams will be installed tomorrow and the roof framing will begin. The dark plywood is treated (for rot and termites). Treated plywood has to be within a foot or so of the ground.
February 25 - This is the front of the garage. The lumber piles are going down and the walls are going up.
February 25 - This is a view from the road. The center garage bay is longer that the two side bays. Between the trees on the right is a stack of plywood. Just over the plywood, the foundation wall of the house is visible.
February 26 - The plumber came out yesterday and put sleeves through the block walls (before they were poured solid). Water supply and drain lines will go in this sleeve. There are several sleeves on the foundation walls of the house and guest house.
February 26 - Most of the house walls are blocked. This area is to support a fireplace located in the Outdoor Living area. Monday, reinforcing steel will be placed in the block cores. If all goes well, steel inspection will be on Tuesday.
February 26 - Rafters are being installed on the garage. The wall plywood sheathing has been installed on some of the walls. This is how the garage looks from the front porch of the main house.
February 26 - Some of the garage ceiling joists are in place. The dark colored wood is one of the large beams that supports the roof. This is the door which will open onto the breezeway.
February 29 - The guest house is ready for inspection tomorrow. The inspector will verify the proper amount of steel rebar is in the concrete block cores. Once we pass that inspection, we will fill the concrete blocks with concrete.
February 29 - The main house is also ready for inspection. Once the block wall cores set up, we will fill the walls with compacted fill. The slab will be poured on top of the fill. The steel rebar holds everything together.
February 29 - The garage got more roof framing and plywood sheathing today. The dark colored plywood along the bottom is treated for rot and termites.
February 29 - The roof framing is taking shape. This view is from near the house front door.
February 29 - The front view of the garage shows the three auto bays. Framing should be complete within a few days.