At Home In The Woods

[EddieWalker]

The foundation contractor started finished putting up forms for the poured concrete walls on Nov 16, 2009. We decided to use poured concrete walls instead of block because I'm paranoid about leaks, mustiness and mildew in the basement. They placed styrofoam in the walls create the brick ledges.

On post #89, you have pictures of your footings for the concrete walls. They have rebar in them, and it looks like pretty big rebar. Rebar is measured two ways, in eighths of an inch, or the first number in eighths of an inch. 5/8's rebar is #5 rebar. half inch, wich is 4/8's of an inch is #4 rebar.

Are you using the same people on your slab that did your walls? The walls look very good. They know what they are doing.

The slab is full of red flags. No rebar in the footings and no chairs under the wire make me nervous.

Eddie

 

[JB4310]

I have one comment/concern. Why unformed footings? The most critical first step in a buildings construction is given little attention to detail like that. I know residential foundations are so over built as is, where typically one linear foot of foundation could support the entire structure.
Not saying your home's structural integrity will be affected, but being in the basement drainage field I can tell you that could make it a little difficult to properly install a sub slab footing drain system, which is critical for a dry basement.

I see no benefit to unformed footings, doubt it saves any time or money, probably more difficult to do and must be hard holding a grade.
I'm sure it's a geographically sensitive building practice, has to do with frost threat etc and is common there, but I've never seen that in 30+ years in construction.

 

[brin]

On post #89, you have pictures of your footings for the concrete walls. They have rebar in them, and it looks like pretty big rebar. Rebar is measured two ways, in eighths of an inch, or the first number in eighths of an inch. 5/8's rebar is #5 rebar. half inch, wich is 4/8's of an inch is #4 rebar.

Are you using the same people on your slab that did your walls? The walls look very good. They know what they are doing.

The slab is full of red flags. No rebar in the footings and no chairs under the wire make me nervous.

Eddie

Here is a picture of the pour on our footings when we built our house ..If you look close in the trenches you will see the rebar and chairs that Eddie is mentioning..hope this helps..

 

[mikefromnh]

Once again you have gotten good advice.

It seems to me that you don't trust your construction manager/framer/gc. Either you need to trust that he will start doing things right without your oversight or you need to find someone else.

New construction has a lot of variables. When people go with the low quote they often pay more in the end.

 

[bake321]

I'm ten miles north of the Tennessee state line in Kentucky. I'm also building a house at this time and living in a camper In this part of the world the contractors don't form up footers. They aren't even aware of the practice, also they use a footer mix that is impregnated with steel slivers instead of rebar. They also don't bring rebar up into a block stem wall of a craw space. A lot of things going on here drive me nuts having come from out west where things are done to the other extreme. I actually core filled my stem wall every six feet at the anchor bolts so that I would feel a little better. The builders here stuff the block with used cement bags and only fill the top block to set the anchor bolt. I talked with my 73 year old neighbor about how things are done here and he told me that his house was built sixty years ago this way and then pointed out the house next to his was built 150 years ago on rocks and hollowed out logs. I'm sixty years old and figure the house will last me.

Cary

 

[towmotor]

I've been checking this thread with great interest ever since I first spotted it just before Thanksgiving.

I can somewhat identify with Obed, since I lived in a 26' trailer with my wife and three kids while we built the house we live in now.

Our first house was one where I had to finance most of the cost. It was built in 1986, when, in southern New England, everyone was building something.
The bank forced us to hire a GC, and because of the boom then ongoing, the only ones available were the hackers.

The guy I had to settle with deviated from the drawings without consulting me first, he employed shoddy workmanship and building practices, and he never missed a chance to personally insult me or remind me of the screwing he could put on me.
His subs were no better.

Needless to say, the entire process was stressful for me, and I vowed never to endure such insult from a lowlife like him again.
It served as a challenge to me- that one day, I'd build a house by myself that was better in every regard than the one that arrogant hacker built.

When the mid 90's rolled around, and I had a substantial gain in equity in that house, we decided to sell and build a new house with cash.
I had befriended an architect who insisted that he would draw up a set of prints for me for cost-all in trade for a pan of home made lasagna (he was divorced and ate TV dinners all of the time).

Now, one big advantage that I had, and it seems that perhaps Obed does not, was that I built our house in our hometown, so I knew who the good subs were.
My excavator is a cousin to my wife, and he was a great help to us. The guy that handled the concrete work was one who has a nice reputation with the decent builders in the area, and he provided prompt, competent service.

I layed the sills the weekend before Christmas, 1995. The winter of 1995-96 was the snowiest I can remember. I must have shoveled out my living room ten times before getting a roof on the place.
Working nights(by halogen worklight) and weekends, I managed to complete the shell in about six weeks.
From laying the sill to moving in took me about a year and a half-and even then, there was much work left to be done; sleeping in that trailer was getting old and cold, so we didn't care.
The only things I didn't tackle myself were the chimney, basement floor, insulation and drywall. That was a big mistake-the guy I hired was a moron, we ended up re-taping/mudding most of the house ourselves, at a time when nerves were seriously frayed.
If I had had the money, I probably would have hired out more of the work, but hey, no guts no glory.

Alot of blood, sweat and tears-no doubt about it, but I can tell you this much: it was worth doing. The only GC I had to contend with was the guy I saw in the mirror.
We learned as we went and we got it done, for a price about a third what most people pay.
As a result, we were able to burn our (small to begin with) mortgage a few months ago, while many of our neighbors have endured foreclosure.

One thing I wish I had then:
Candid advice from builders, like some of the guys who have been posting in this thread.
What a help that would have been; it was just a few years before AlGore's invention really took off, so I was sort of on my own.

I'll keep watching this thread with interest. Cheering for the couple in the trailer.

 

[2manyrocks]

Congratulations on burning your mortgage.

I think we all want to see Mr. and Mrs. Obed and baby in a great home.

 

[Pops15]

Here in northern IL code calls for two #4 rebar in footings. That is NOT overkill by any means.
You CAN get the wire pulled up properly without using chairs. I've torn out driveways where I had to use bolt cutters to cut the wire after the concrete was hammered. Conversely I've also torn out concrete where the wire was still laying in the sand. It just depends on how contentious the workers are. Contentious workers will pull the wire up as they pour using long handled hooks, the tines of a rake, or their hands. The problem is finding contentious workers is getting harder all the time.
The concrete will generate a little heat as it sets up. If you're pouring at or below freezing you have to cover the concrete and insulate it. How well you need to insulate it depends on how cold it is. You might get by with visqueen and straw or you may need insulating blankets. Check with your concrete supplier to find out how temperature and additives affect set up time and strength.

 

[harpoonalt]

Hope all is going well on the house OBED! Having recently built a house myself, I know how hard it is to sort out all the information people throw your way. Even experts disagree on how certain things should be done. Hopefully no one here scared you back into the camper and onto the road Everyone just means well. I admire the way you've done things and you and your wifes ability to do things yourselves. Kind of the old pioneer spirit. Keep the updates coming and try to relax once and awhile so you survive the process!

 

[Obed]

We finally poured the concrete slabs! I'm glad this part is over. The concrete pouring began yesterday morning at 8 AM and was all poured by lunch time. The finishing work continued until late Monday night. We got a warm dry spell Monday - Wednesday. The pictures show fog but no rain. Overall I was impressed with the concrete contractor and his crew. They were very hard working and gave attention to details.