Finally building the house

[docone]

Hello to all,
It's been a while since I've visited here, as the summer has been busy. I've finally started on the house construction, and it has been a one man build, so it takes a while. In mid July, I put the footing forms in and poured the concrete. Then came the frost walls for the walkout basement, another few weeks in. The build is completely ICF 8" block from footing to roof, and to date I am at the top of the basement walls. My building supplier brought the entire house of block in one shot, three truckloads of Nudura block. I have only taken two week off from work to do this, so its been mostly weekend and evenings so far. With the winter season coming, I can only hope I have enough time left to get things closed in. I will post some pics a little later showing the progression.
Thanks for reading!

 

[prichard]

Looking forward to watching your progress and seeing pics. I hope to break ground in spring. I'm doing a one man build as well but stick built.

 

[docone]

Here's a few pics to start this off right! Enjoy!

 

[Woody65]

Looks really good. I will be following closely. I too, am doing a one man with a little help from my friends build. I have been looking into the same foundation method and plan on doing it myself as you are. Good luck and keep us updated as you progress...

 

[kevinwak]

I was looking through your pictures and was thinking that it looked very Alberta like. Then looked up your location and understood why!

 

[EddieWalker]

Never done anything like that, and I'm looking forward to following your progress.

 

[Knight9]

I'm guessing the snow last night may have put a damper on your construction plans for the weekend?

 

[LittleBill21]

what is the white block?

 

[docone]

Sorry for the delay all, been super busy, but back on the job again. Finally poured the basement walls on Wednesday afternoon, 2 degrees Celsius, 3 plus hours to pour 37.5 yds concrete.
Lessons learned; If you think your braced it enough, brace some more. My vibrator man found the two weak spots around the bucks, and blew out two wall connections. there will be a little fixing to do, but not a deal breaker. Prior to this, I set the beams last week with the help of a telehandler (rented for $800/ day). Took me 4 hours solo on and off the machine to get them set in place and braced up. Lots of running back and forth, but my helper didn't show. this weekend will consist of taking down the wall braces, and cleaning the residue from the pour. If time allows, I may set some floor joists. I got held up for 2 weeks waiting for the joist hangers to show up, but worth the wait, no ledger to install, just insert through the ICF block and pour the concrete. They were a bit pricy though, $1k for enough hangers to do main floor, loft, and wrap around deck on 3 sides. As for pricing, so far I'm in for about 45K including, permits, plans, septic tank, and elec panel, concrete so far is included in that figure. I'm guessing I have saved almost that much in labour cost.

 

[prichard]

Thanks for the update. Looking forward to pics.

I was wondering about the supports since there were none in the pics. Did you make yourself with lumber or rent?


We plan to get foundation done by a contractor and then it's all on me. Hope to start Jan/Feb.