38x30 in Iowa

Started by Alan Gage, April 03, 2011, 05:07:57 PM

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Alan Gage

Since I'm past the point of no return I figured I might as well start my thread. The house will be a little under 1000 sq. ft. Single story, two bedroom, slab on grade, and heavily insulated.

This is what the old house looked like when I bought it a few years ago:



And this is what's happened to it so far this spring:











A link to the video of the big crash:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7935459@N05/5586163079/in/set-72157625831700590

And what the house will hopefully look like:



More to come!

Alan




Alan Gage

The fruits of my labor up to this point:





Alan



nathan.principe

Looks like your off to a good start with all the salvaged lumber!

Alan Gage

After lots of cleanup:


Nails by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

There was finally nothing left but the slab:


Down to the slab by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

Then today the guy came in with his back hoe and made short work of it:


Slab destruction by Alan  Gage, on Flickr


20110410_004 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

Most of the day was spent picking up and hauling away the concrete. A few more foundation walls to take out tomorrow and the deconstruction phase will finally be over! Then it's time to start making the hard decisions.  :-\

Alan

Alan Gage

After the old slab and footing was removed it took over 100 tons of gravel to fill in the old well pit and bring the pad up close to where I wanted it. I had no idea it would take anywhere near that much! I've never worked with gravel before so had no frame of reference. I thought maybe I'd need 30 tons or something.

Then it rained and snowed for 1 1/2 weeks so not much happen. But happily it quit raining the middle of this week so my digger guy came out to dig the 4' deep (18" wide) footings yesterday and it went without a hitch!


Footing trenches dug! by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

After lots of flip flopping I decided to go with rubble trench footings so had the first load of crushed limestone delivered that same afternoon. 26.5 tons of 2" washed. It was bigger than I thought 2" would be.


Crushed limestone by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

It was hard stuff to work with. It locks together nice but that makes it tough to move around in the trench with either foot or shovel. They dropped off the second load early this morning (27 tons) and I had them bring 1" this time. Much easier to move around for grading it on top.


All filled in! by Alan  Gage, on Flickr


20110429_004 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

Very happy my dad decided to buy a new (to him) tractor this spring; it's come in very handy.

Next step will be digging in the sewer drain and pouring a stem wall on top of the rubble. Then the rest of the plumbing and the slab itself. Really looking forward to reaching that point so I can start putting up some walls.

Costs so far are $1300 to have the old slab and foundation removed, $1000 in gravel, $1250 in crushed limestone, and $400 to dig the footings. The gravel and limestone were more than I thought they'd be (gravel about $9/ton and limestone $21/ton, both delivered).

Alan



Alan Gage

Septic installed over the last 2 days. I've got a great guy doing my digging, he's done beautiful work.


Septic by Alan  Gage, on Flickr


20110504_002 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr


Leach fields by Alan  Gage, on Flickr


20110505_018 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

Put in 200' of leach field, four 50' runs. Used 3' plastic vaults. Went in very quickly.

Alan

Alan Gage

Spent yesterday measuring VERY carefully and doing a lot of digging. Today, after the rain quit, I started laying the pipe. First time I've ever done any plumbing but I'm really happy with how it's turning out. I ran short on fittings this evening so couldn't get it finished up. An easy run is all that's left though.

The real test will be if the pipes are in the right location when I start putting walls up.  :)


20110508_003 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr


20110508_004 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

I got the bill for the septic that was installed earlier this week. $4500 for parts and labor. About what I expected.

Alan


Alan Gage

A bit discouraged with how things have gone the past couple weeks. I'd hoped to have some cement poured by now but I waited too long to call rural water so had to wait about 1 1/2 weeks for them to dig in water. There wasn't much to do while I waited for them.

I buried a sleeve under the rubble footing and they were kind enough to not only lay pipe outside the foundation but inside as well. Unfortunately as they were excavating they hit a piece of the old foundation that was right up against the rubble footing. When they pulled it out the wall let go and the rock spilled out. Nothing they could have done about it.

I thought about telling them not to bother backfilling the hole but it was busy at work and I blew it off. By the time I got back out there they were done and gone. I scraped up the over dig with the tractor and got about 6 buckets worth. That's 6 buckets of gravel that used to be tightly packed below ground next to my foundation. This got me to worrying about settling in the future and if perhaps I should re-dig what they just did and fill it with crushed rock. Lots of indecision and I was pretty bummed out since all I wanted to do was move on with the project.

That night we got 2 inches of hard rain and when I went back out to the building site the area they'd dug inside the foundation had obviously settled, and quite a bit. That clinched the decision for me, it will need to be dug back out and refilled with crushed rock. Sucks but at least I don't need to worry about what decision to make anymore.

Rural water will be back tomorrow to hook up my neighbor. With any luck I can talk them into excavating it for me. Otherwise I'll call up the guy who dug my foundation.

I can't wait to get above grade!!

Alan

Alan Gage

Re-excavated around the water line. Started worrying about it breaking under the slab in the future so I went to our electric cooperative and bought some 2" semi-flexible conduit they use underground and sleeved my water line. Came above grade with schedule 40. If there's ever a problem in the future I'll only have to excavate outside the foundation, pull the old water line out and slip new 3/4" pex through the sleeve. Filled the hole with crushed rock.

Spent this past weekend packing and leveling the rubble trench and then building and leveling footing forms. Poured today. Got the guy that will be doing my block work to come out and take charge of the pour since I've never done any cement work. I was happy that the forms held and everything went smoothly. Feels so good to finally get some cement down. If my sub-slab insulation shows up this week I hope to have the slab poured this time next week.


Forms by Alan  Gage, on Flickr


20110605_002 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr


20110607_001 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

Alan


speedfunk

looks great.  Nice job in all your saving of that good lumber from the old house.  Some times I go by a site and watch a track hoe just smash everything to peices and just think of what that could build. 

:)

Alan Gage

#10
Strange weather here lately going from 50's to 100 and back to the 60's in the course of a week. Beautiful today though, 70 degrees and mostly sunny. The block guy finished up a couple days ago and did a great job. I can see where it would be nice to have the money to hire someone to do the whole build. Kind of neat to spend all day at work but still have things get done on the house.

Saturday today so I spent the whole day working on the place. Took down batter boards, filled in with gravel around the footing, did some cleanup, and dug in the pressure water lines. I'm constantly surprised how slow things go when working by myself. Things that I think will take just a few hours end up taking the whole day. The dog kept herself entertained hunting ground squirrels.

Sounds like rain tomorrow but hopefully it will hold off. I'd like to finish grading the pad.


20110611_001 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr


20110611_003 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr


20110611_004 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

Alan

Alan Gage

A few sprinkles this morning but it actually turned into a very nice day. Worked until about 8 o'clock tonight leveling the pad and getting it ready for foam. It was a long day of shoveling gravel but it's good to have it done. Waiting on foam and clear weather now.


20110612_001 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr


20110612_002 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

Alan

Alan Gage

Scattered rain most of last week so no concrete went down. My foam showed up mid-week and I was able to get the penetrations cut and the pieces trimmed so it would be ready to go when concrete time arrived. Then I took it back out and stacked it back in the trailer to wait.


20110617_001 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

The perimeter foam was salvaged from the house I tore down.


20110617_002 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

Was really hoping to pour on Saturday since the weather was supposed to cooperate but my concrete guy was leaving town for the weekend. There really wasn't anything else to do so I started building walls.


20110619_003 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr


20110619_004 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

The first section of wall seemed to take forever. Took a long time figuring out the window openings. Went a lot faster after that. It felt really good to be working with wood. Everything except the treated sills is salvaged lumber.

More rain expected the next couple days. Tentatively planning to pour on Thursday.

As usual Sadie spent the weekend stalking the ground squirrels.


20110619_001 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

Alan

Sassy

Hope you get some good weather!  Looks good so far.  Sadie reminds me of our Susie & Princess - always out hunting something, their favorite animal is the skunk  [noidea'

Keep the pictures coming!
http://glennkathystroglodytecabin.blogspot.com/

You will know the truth & the truth will set you free


Alan Gage

Supposed to be rain free today and tomorrow and then rain into next week. Plastic and foam went back down this morning. Concrete guys going to get their prep work done this afternoon. Fingers crossed that the weather man is right and that we get it poured tomorrow morning.

Alan

archimedes

I don't think I've ever seen a foundation done that way.  Very interesting.

Looking good.   d*
Give me a place to stand and a lever long enough,  and I will move the world.

Alan Gage

Quote
I don't think I've ever seen a foundation done that way.  Very interesting.

Me either, at least not in person. Hope it works.  :)

The rock doesn't hold water so can't expand when it freezes. So dig the trench below the frost line, fill it with crushed rock, and top if off with a concrete grade beam. Searching for "rubble trench foundation" will pull up quite a bit of info on it.

Alan

Alan Gage

What a relief to finally get some concrete down today. Unfortunately they decided to do it in two pours so only half of it got done. It's supposed to start raining again so if the weatherman is right it will get finished on Tuesday.


20110624_001 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr


20110624_004 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr


20110624_006 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr


20110624_007 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr


20110624_008 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

They're a small and old school crew but the best in the area. They finished it off by hand and the finish is excellent. It will be my finished floor.

Alan

Texas Tornado

Is the concrete poured on top of the foam??

Alan Gage

Quote from: Texas Tornado on June 24, 2011, 09:35:04 PM
Is the concrete poured on top of the foam??

Yes.

Gravel, plastic, foam, concrete.

Alan


Texas Tornado

How thick is the final layer of concrete?

Alan Gage

Quote from: Texas Tornado on June 24, 2011, 09:55:02 PM
How thick is the final layer of concrete?

4" was the plan but by the time I got done grading it was about 3.5"

Alan

Alan Gage

Haven't updated in a while but I've been busy.

After waiting out the rain the concrete guys finished up the second half of the pour. With that out of way I could get back to the business of framing and sheathing the walls. The sheathing was the first thing that's gone faster than I thought it would.


20110709_001 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

From the front door:


20110709_004 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

The living room:


20110709_006 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

Set a couple posts in the patio area in preparation for trusses:


20110709_002 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

Help showed up Saturday:


20110709_013 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

We got the beams up on the posts and then spent the rest of Saturday straightening the tops of the walls:


20110710_001 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

Laid out marks on the top plates Sunday morning and started setting trusses. Thankfully my dad (not pictured) showed up to give us a helping hand. They weighed a little over 200 pounds each and were 37' long:


20110710_015 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr


20110710_017 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr


20110710_004 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr


20110710_006 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr


20110710_007 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

We only got 2 of the trusses up but they were the most time consuming. It didn't take long for the trusses to go up but then 3 hours setting and nailing all the jacks in place. The remaining trusses should all go up fairly quickly since it will just be tipping them up and adding braces. Hopefully I can dodge the weather and get some help during the week so I don't have to wait for the weekend.

Alan


Alan Gage

Hooray, the trusses are up!


20110716_001 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

Finished them up Thursday night and hoped to start laying down sheathing this morning. But, as usual, it didn't happen that way. As I lay in bed this morning thinking about what I needed to do before putting down the roof sheathing I started to come up with a pretty big list and realized I might not get any down this weekend.

Did lots of little things today and ended with notching some strips of plywood around the trusses to keep the insulation in place. More little things to go tomorrow but hopefully I'll start getting some sheets down.


20110716_003 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

Alan

duncanshannon

man you are cruising!  making it look easy.

thanks for all the great pics!
Home: Minneapolis, MN area.  Land: (no cabin yet) Spooner, WI area.  Plan: 20x34 1 1/2 Story. Experience Level: n00b. 
Build Thread: http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=10784.0