Wednesday-Thursday, Oct 10-11, 2018

On Wednesday, the concrete trucks came and poured all the walls that were framed for pouring.  We had an appointment with the designer who is helping us with plans for the interior, so we were unable to come watch. There wasn’t any point in posting any photos last night–since forms with concrete in them look much like the ones from the day before that are empty.

But  Thursday was a very different story.  All the wood forms were removed, so all the new walls are completely visible. The major one is, of course, the front door wall with its board formed texture. The opening is where the front door and a sidelight and transom window will fit. Picture 2 is a closeup of the wall. The wooden square on the right blocked out the space that will be the bottom of a tall window on the landing of the stairs to the second floor.

Picture 3 is the opposite side of the wall (the opening is where the front door will go), which is just the regular texture.

Picture 4 shows the west wall. Only the part on the left is new. To the left of that will be the edge of a floor-to-ceiling window that will wrap around the corner. At the left of the new section of wall, you can see the exhaust vent and air intake for the wood stove that will be there. To the right of that is the window, which will be in the dining room, that will allow in light that has filtered through the gabion wall. Further to the right, high in the wall, is the exhaust vent for the hood that will be over the stove that will be in the kitchen corner there. Continuing to the right is an opening for a window that will be over the counter but under the upper cabinets. Continuing on is the opening for the back door. Then, in the back wall is a high window that will be in the laundry room.

Next week the framers will come to build the interior walls of the first floor and the floor for the second floor. Before they can floor the second floor, however, they need to install a steel beam that will support one side of the second floor. Picture 5 shows the posts for that beam and the newly installed brackets to hold the ends of it. Yesterday, the fabricator came out to make precise measurements for the beam, which should be delivered Monday.

Once the framing is in place, the concrete guys can use the second floor, instead of scaffolding, while they build the forms for the concrete for the second floor walls. They should also begin working on the rebar for the floor slab in the great room and in the garage so that they can pour those along with the final wall.