Of hay field and house

[wmonroe]

You don't know how prophetic your words where man. I've got another two loads of rock coming today to repair the really bad spots... Also got word that they poured an 8' ceiling instead of the 9' that we where planning on. At least that will save a little money. The contractor is going to triple the footer and that will gain me 4-6 inches of basement height, I hope. They say framing starts on Wednesday so stay tuned for more pictures if it happens.

I understand about the driveway, when we built almost three years ago the driveway was the first big headache. Isn't the footer already done if the basement walls are poured? I would talk to him and find out what options you have to get back to the 9' you wanted. It's a hassle at times but when we were building I tried to get to the house every other day or every day if a lot was going on to try to catch mistakes. It is a lot easier to fix things that are found right away as opposed to a week later. And let's face it, most of us make mistakes. Good luck, building can be trying at times but is a great experience and a lot of fun, just remember that things can be fixed and don't stress it too much.

 

[deranged]

I said the last part wrong. We are looking at a triple plate to get the basement corrected. Wmonroe was correct, the footer are already in place. It is not too bad, the iron beam across the basement that will be the lowest point will be at 8'2" in stead of the original 7'10". Since my wife is only 5'4" she will fit just fine...

 

[flusher]

Its been fun out here the last few days so not much computer time. But I'll try for a quick update. We are fighting or better said waiting on mother nature to calm down. The day the footings where poured it was 50 degrees out. The next day the high was 9. So much for living in the temperate part of the country. While we are waiting on some warmer weather to be forecast, I got the road rocked and the concrete crew has the high wall piers up. (I hope I said that right). View attachment 357648View attachment 357650

I've been learning why three bids is a good thing. On the septic side the county's install sheet listed 1,200' of pipe. The last bidder noticed that the county guy had read the soil sample wrong and listed our soil load for low pressure pipe instead of normal pipe. So my pipe length has gone from 1200' to 600'. What a relief.

Also due to some reading on here of people smarter then myself, I took my first tree down with the backhoe root ball and all. That was too much fun to watch the weight of the tree take the root ball out instead of digging it out after felling the tree. Much easier so thanks guys.

Septic systems can be a headache. The contractor had to dig three test trenches on my place before he found decent perking soil. I had to move the location of the house about 40 feet (no big problem, just shooting new locations for the corner stakes with my theodolite) which turned out to be better (slightly higher ground). Only needed 100 ft of leach line for my 3-bedroom house. Total cost with a 1250 gal concrete tank was about $2800.

 

[kevin37b]

100 total , or per bedroom ? That is a cheap system at 2800.00

 

[deranged]

Only needed 100 ft of leach line for my 3-bedroom house. Total cost with a 1250 gal concrete tank was about $2800.

Man I'm jealous, I need 600' for my 3 bedroom house. But it's better then the 1,200' they originally specified.

 

[TnWV]

Also got word that they poured an 8' ceiling instead of the 9' that we where planning on. At least that will save a little money. The contractor is going to triple the footer and that will gain me 4-6 inches of basement height, I hope.

Same thing happened to a guy I know. He had 1 or 2 rows of block laid on top to bring it up to where he wanted.

Good luck with your house, I'm enjoying the pictures so far, and look forward to following as you go along.

 

[walker450]

Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to future progress.

If you haven't thought of it yet, I suggest taking a few time-lapse videos of the construction process. Framing would be an ideal time. I use an app called "osnap" for the iPhone. Android should have the same or equivalent.

 

[deranged]

After a lot of talk between the wife and I and the contractor we are going with a triple plate. I hope the picture speaks for its self but if not ask away. The bottom two boards are bolted to the concrete and the other two are glued and nailed profusely. I have been promised hurricane straps in addition along with the glue and nails. I don't think it's going anywhere.

They think that the steel beam and the floor will be up tomorrow. We'll see.

 

[flusher]

100 total , or per bedroom ? That is a cheap system at 2800.00

100 ft total. The soil on my place is Arbuckle sandy, gravely loam--ideal for septic leach systems.
I lucked out buying here on the valley floor where the soil is better. When I was looking for property about 10 years ago, I was thinking about buying in the Sierra foothills. Not good perking soil up there. In some places it's so bad that you have to go with one of those above ground mound-type septic systems that require you to truck in the soil for the leach system and cost at least 10 times what I paid for mine.

$2800 is inexpensive--the system is not cheap. It was installed by a top notch general contractor. Entire job was professionally done in about 5 hours by a crew of 3.

 

[EddieWalker]

Sorry that they got the height of the wall wrong, but wondering why you didn't just build a one foot wall to make up the difference? No way would I settle for a shorter wall if I wanted it 9 feet from the beginning. This isn't one of those easy to live with changes and I would take the time to do it right instead of just moving along to make all the contractors happy.

As for hurricane straps, who are you going to do this? Bolting metal from the sill plates is only as strong as the sill plate. If you wanted maximum strength, the straps should have been attached to your rebar and inside your concrete. Then after the framing is done, the straps are attached to your studs.

Who is the General Contactor on this project?

Eddie