Friday, June 26, 2015

Moving Along

From Monday to Friday this week has been a transformation.  Material arrived on Monday... to now having walls (interior and exterior) with window/door openings and insulation siding.

This phase is occurring very fast.  Having to coordinate multiple contractors and material suppliers in a certain sequence has been a learning experience for me.  But is has been exciting too. 

 It's been like an ant hill of activity at times.  

Today the trusses arrived, the foam board insulation (blue siding) is going up, and the vertical posts are in place for the carport.  Monday, incidental trim-work will take place.  Tuesday, the trusses will go up.  Decking and dry-in will follow.  

Week three, windows and exterior doors will be installed.

                                            




Monday, June 22, 2015

Framing Began Today


The framing crew arrived about 6:00 a.m. this morning and worked until 2:30 p.m. this afternoon.  It was blazing hot.  I mean life-threatening hot.  Temps in upper 90's with the heat index at 108 degrees!

They framed the outside walls and braced them in place with temporary braces.  Tomorrow they will work on the interior walls, then tie it all together with more rigid bracing and bolts.  

A lot was accomplished in eight hours.  With the  wall up it is beginning to take a 3-dimensional shape which gives me a better sense of scale and feel for each room.

Material Arrived


Beams for the Porches and Carport

View from the Rear
View from the Front



Saturday, June 20, 2015

Concrete Poured!


This is how I spent most of my time last week - getting ready for, and assisting with the cement pour.

To begin with, I did all the back-filling myself (as well as the compacting of the soil).  

You'll notice this is a high foundation - it's four block high -i.e., we added the fourth course as a change-order - which required more dirt , more time, and more concrete to fill the cavities, and more cost.

By my best calculations, I moved 183 tons (or 270 cubic yards) of fill dirt that I had delivered several years ago. It took me several weeks to move it from the back of my property to inside the foundation, but I saved myself about $4,000 by doing it myself.

This week, on Friday, the concrete arrived and with the finishers on site, the foundation phase was completed. The pictures below show how the day unfolded.  I had 65 cubic yards of concrete poured.  That's a lot of concrete!  

Btw, the finishers did an exceptional job... smooth finish... attention to detail... very level... and they also cut control joints for me (to control where cracking occurs).  I am very pleased with the quality of their craftsmanship.  I would recommend them to anyone needing a finisher.  They charge 55 cents per square foot.

I was very interested and reassured in seeing the concrete flowing into the cavities of the block (i.e., I have one picture of that below).  This makes for a very solid and tight foundation... all of which is built on undisturbed ground... giving me great peace of mind.

The pictures below are in sequence....


This is the Carport 


Notice the depth of monolithic footing for the carport 


Some of the concrete trucks poured from the front - which was very precise.


Carport being leveled


House Foundation - notice the concrete flowing into the block cavities


This machine creates a smooth finish


My on-site office... the tailgate of my pickup truck


Pour complete....


View from the other end...

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Sunflowers in the garden.  A closeup of bees on a flower (I plant flowers to attract bees). And a bunch of tomatoes I picked early this morning.




Saturday, June 13, 2015

Veracruz Style Red Snapper


This is the dinner Renae and I prepared last night for a family meal (the kids, grandkids, mom, and the two of us - four generations).

The main dish was Red Snapper prepared in a Veracruz style (i.e., Mexican Gulf Coast).  Basically, the fish is baked in a bed of selected vegetables (after they have been sauteed and seasoned to taste on the stove top).  

In this meal I used cherry tomatoes (halved), sweet white onion (chopped), fresh garlic (minced), jalapeno pepper (de-seeded to remove the heat, then diced), capers (not shown) green olives (sliced), and fresh oregano.

The dinner was rounded out with boiled shrimp (locally caught), fresh corn on the cob (locally grown), a corn salad (with sun dried roasted tomatoes infused with olive oil), fried mullet, steamed broccoli, and a platter of tomatoes (yellow and red) from my garden.

"This is how we be doing it at my house."









Thursday, June 11, 2015

Almost Ready for Concrete


Almost ready to pour concrete. Plumbing is roughed-in and passed inspection. Foundation guys finished compacting today and forming the carport. Later today the termite treatment will be applied and then covered with visqueen (vapor barrier). Tomorrow, another inspection. If the inspection passes, we'll begin pouring next week.