Squerly and friends build a house...

[BigAl]

Yep, agreed TR! We plan to use sprayed Icynene Insulation throughout the home. Every effort will be used to make the home as energy efficient as possible.

Wish I felt good enough to jump in and help ya !!!!

 

[squerly]

The weather and holidays put a stop on work until day-before-yesterday. Funny about these guys up here, they won’t work on weekends. Now Sunday I understand, but wouldn’t you think that if you hadn’t worked in 3 weeks because of rain/snow/mud that you would be anxious to get to the jobsite on the next sunny day, even if it was Saturday? But that’s now how it works out here. Hell could freeze over but the job site will not be visited on Saturday...

So we finally hit a couple of sunny days (that didn’t fall on a weekend) and we got the last 500’ of ditch covered up. I hope to get rock on the driveway on Monday if it doesn't rain. Couldn't do it today even though the sun is shinning and the weather is perfect and nobody has worked but 2 days in the last month. Know why? Cuz it's friggen Saturday, don't you know...

This first picture is taken standing just below the pad and looking down the driveway. The square cement mini-pad is for the power company to set their transformer on.

This picture below shows the driveway that will go in front of the house with an auxiliary parking space to the left in the picture.

And picture 3 is taken looking back at the house site when standing in the auxiliary parking space shown above.

 

[tiredretired]

It you wern't so friggin' cheap and dug down a little and paid time and a half you might get these guys to show up on Saturday.

 

[BigAl]

I take it from looking at the last picture , you will have a "Day light" basement on the first floor .

The bank in front of the cut looks pretty steep ??? Any way of grading it to low slope angle . Sure would be a lot easier to get around if need be ?
Just asking ????

 

[squerly]

I take it from looking at the last picture , you will have a "Day light" basement on the first floor .

The bank in front of the cut looks pretty steep ??? Any way of grading it to low slope angle . Sure would be a lot easier to get around if need be ?
Just asking ????

Yes to the day light basement, or what we prefer to call the game room. And no to grading it as to do so would cut into the walkway / landscaping that is in front of the day light basement (game room). The current plan is to put some stacked stone on the bank so it will have some "curb appeal".

 

[luvs]

squerly, that machine in post 2, has that got a name~

there's 1 over by the Church & u can see them using it here & there.
the other conversation is on u guys. except for spray insulation. that stuff worked fer 2 minutes @ my Dad's.

 

[squerly]

squerly, that machine in post 2, has that got a name~

there's 1 over by the Church & u can see them using it here & there.

That machine is called a track hoe. Mostly they're used to ski with but you can use them to dig holes too.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiRqEdWjvkQ&feature=player_detailpage"]Track Hoe[/ame]

 

[Kane]

Beautiful site. I imagine you'll drop a number of tress along the roadway to capture the view. Can't wait! Hurry up!

 

[squerly]

Road finished, footers dug, tree's harvested and porta-john arrives!

Finally getting a run at it; got the road finished and covered with rock. Footers are dug and rebar will be going in tomorrow.

Rebar arrives!

Porta-John showed up next!

Wife (Trish) is watching as her front yard is being cleared!

And this nice Oak was harvested for the beams that will cross the living room ceiling. The tree measured 30" in diameter and is 45' long. The world rocked for about 5 seconds when it came down!

 

[bczoom]

Squerly,

Do you have a driveway to the upper floor of the house or just to the walk-out basement?

I ask because at least around here, the front door is by some definition the primary entry and the tax man taxes from that floor up as living area. Basements are taxed at a lower rate. I have a "front door" from the driveway and from that floor up is "living area". My back doors are for a walk-out family room and office. They tax that as "basement".

 

[FrancSevin]

Re: Road finished, footers dug, tree's harvested and porta-john arrives!

WOW!
I love all those toys!

 

[squerly]

Squerly,

Do you have a driveway to the upper floor of the house or just to the walk-out basement?

I ask because at least around here, the front door is by some definition the primary entry and the tax man taxes from that floor up as living area. Basements are taxed at a lower rate. I have a "front door" from the driveway and from that floor up is "living area". My back doors are for a walk-out family room and office. They tax that as "basement".

No driveway to the top floor Zoomer but there will be steps that take you there. There are also french doors that take you into the game room on the bottom.

 

[luvs]

That machine is called a track hoe. Mostly they're used to ski with but you can use them to dig holes too.

Track Hoe

thanx, squerly. is another machine, tho. looks similar in structure. i took a close look @ it. this has an arm that literally raises to the roof of the church. i should be passing by there in a day/2, & i'll get a pic if it's raised. there's a name on the arm, so i'll get that if not a pic.

 

[muleman]

It could be a crane or a Genie lift or a tele handler for raising materials up. Usually on churches they are man lifts to get up and repaint or repair on the high steeples or repoint masonry.

 

[squerly]

We passed inspection and will pour the footers tomorrow AM!

 

[muleman]

Is the step footer for a garage?

 

[squerly]

Is the step footer for a garage?

Yes!

 

[squerly]

Pouring Footers!

It's a rainy day but the crew has a lot of heart!

 

[muleman]

You better scuff it up on the surface for the mud to grab. Rain tends to make it slick off too smooth.

 

[squerly]

Joined You Tube! Here is the first cement on the project! lol, humor me...

Cement!

 

[luvs]

i humored u, squerly. that cement sure is takin' its time!

here's that machine, guys. muley was correct.

 

[bczoom]

That looks like the Genie I've been thinking about buying. Friend up the road just bought one so I may just use his instead... I was close to getting one but the weight at 20,000 pounds scared me off. Too heavy to trailer with my existing equipment.

 

[luvs]

That looks like the Genie I've been thinking about buying. Friend up the road just bought one so I may just use his instead... I was close to getting one but the weight at 20,000 pounds scared me off. Too heavy to trailer with my existing equipment.

woah, those weigh plenty enough. that one here is quite hefty-lookin'.

 

[squerly]

It’s rained for a week straight and when I say “rained”, I don’t mean your common everyday household variety of rain. This has been monsoon grade stuff. Anyhow, we now have the forms up for the back wall. When concrete is poured between these forms, a 12" thick wall will be created, thus creating the back wall of the house as well as a barterer to hold the mountain up.

 

[FrancSevin]

Looking good their Squerly.

That looks to be a 14' high wall. With buttresses. I presume mostly as a retaining wall?
Is it also part of the foundations of the house?

 

[squerly]

Looking good their Squerly.

That looks to be a 14' high wall. With buttresses. I presume mostly as a retaining wall?
Is it also part of the foundations of the house?

Pretty close Franc, they’re 12’ high and they serve as a retaining wall as well as the outside wall for the downstairs. The buttresses will be hidden within interior walls and serve to hold up the retaining wall.

 

[FrancSevin]

Impressive!

 

[muleman]

Cool!

 

[squerly]

Busy day today.

We poured the walls for the back and side of the house. Just a side note... Mexicans are crazy, that's a long ways down!

Also ran wire through the conduit that will control the pump in the lower holding tank and connected the water pipes we installed in the ditch under the road 6 weeks ago. The pipes will take water from the lower (1,000 gallon) holding tank up to the upper 1,000 gallon holding tank which is located above where the house will sit. (Holding tank 2 is well above where the house will sit so in times of no power the water will gravity flow to the house, eliminating any interruption of service.

Another underground water line takes water from the lower holding tank and gravity feeds it 600’ down the mountain to my current cabin. Note: the cabin I’m living in now will become a weekly rental after the house is built. The cabin is currently fed by its own spring but the spring up the mountain is of much better quality.

Setting the pump in holding tank 1 and connecting the pipes that direct water both up and down the mountain was challenging and required we first remove the water (1,000 gallons). This was accomplished with a 100GPM pump driven by a 3.5 gas engine. Once the tank was empty we drilled holes in the tank, connected the water pipes and set the pump.

Draining the lower 1,000 gallon tank.

This is the spring output being channeled through an overflow tube. I would guess it is producing about 20 GPH.

Me testing the water... it's g-double 0-good!

And finally, a couple of pictures of the site after everyone left. Quiet again...

 

[Kane]

Re: Busy day today.

And finally, a couple of pictures of the site after everyone left. Quiet again...

Beautiful home site, squerly.

Do you plan on thinning some of the trees along the road to enhance the view of the yonder hills?