Basement bathroom plumbing and something else July 30, 2007

I went up to the property today to see if the plumber had come this morning to put in the basement bathroom plumbing in case we want to add the fixtures later once we see how much this castle is going to cost. If we come in with money left in the budget we'll do it, but if not we'll hold off on that till some time later.

If we didn't do it now and decided to put in a full bath later it would be a major deal since the floor would have to be torn up. So, we're doing it now.

I have no idea what the thing in the last picture is. It's on the opposite side of the house and it goes through the wall and comes out the other side. Any ideas? Tom? I guess I'll have to ask Scott the next time I see him. He's supposed to be there tomorrow, but Kathy has a doctor's appointment tomorrow so we may not make it up there.

The plumber also laid down the pipe that goes along the outside wall on the sides that will have dirt up against them so that water that seeps down there can have a way to escape. The pipe has little slits in it that allows water to enter and then it's routed to drains that will direct the water down the hill behind the house. I didn't take any pictures of that today. Aren't you glad?

Basement Walls and moisture barrier July 27, 2007

The basement walls went up on Thursday 7/26 and today they took off the concrete forms leaving the concrete walls.

Then they sprayed on a rubberized moisture barrier onto the outside of the basement walls that will end up being below ground. That's to keep any moisture from getting into the basement. The guys doing it had to wear suits and masks to keep the stuff off of them because Scott says that once it gets on it just has to 'wear' off.



The black stuff is the sprayed-on rubberized water barrier. This first "row" of it is sprayed just above what will be ground level later. According to Scott, the rubber-like stuff will not come off if you get it on you so the guys doing the spraying wear suits and masks.


The above picture is along the left side of the house. They put these yellow pads onto the house up to just above ground level on both sides that will eventually have dirt against the basement walls above the bottom of the garage floor footer level. The pads protect the rubberized sealant against being cut or having a hole put in it by a rock or something when the dirt is put back in against the walls. It sticks to the black stuff since it is very sticky until it dries.

Note the yellow pads stacked up to the right of the guy spraying. Later he'll put them on the wall.


Then while the barrier was still sticky they attached these yellow pads that were about 3/4" to an inch thick. They are there so that when the dirt is backfilled (put up against the walls again) there won't be any rocks or anything that can hit the rubberized barrier and poke a hole in it or cut it. That would allow water to get up against the concrete wall if it did.

Later they will put in a trough along the bottom of the walls so that pipes with holes in them. They will have a cloth-like covering to allow water to enter the pipes but to prevent dirt from going into the holes so that the pipes don't get clogged up. The pipes will funnel any water that comes down through the dirt against the basement walls to drains leading down the hill away from the house. One pipe will go from the left side of the house down the hill. Then drains from the front of the house and from the retaining wall area will go under the driveway and then down the hill on the right side of the house. Thus, any underground water is routed away from the house.
Our road turns off the road from which the view below is seen and it goes toward this valley. Our house also looks south toward this valley. Right now the trees on our property are between our house and the valley view. We may cut some later to get a clearer view, but for now we're going to leave the trees at least till we live through 4 seasons up there so we can see whether we want to cut them or not. After all, the view is good, but we also like trees!

The links below will allow you to view these and lots of other pictures taken at the http://www.kodakgallery.com/ website if you just sign in the first time. If you have never registered there it is free and painless.

The basement walls, etc are at:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=1a374oj.4lxb9s7z&Uy=nwcxkm&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=1

Pictures of a neighbor's bull are at:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=1a374oj.ahl6cpwf&Uy=aimc0z&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=1

Pictures of a neighbor's view:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=1a374oj.7r3eq2qn&Uy=d2tlvu&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=1

Pictures of the view from the road that runs through the bottom of our land:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=1a374oj.4hdo1lcv&Uy=-z3acnh&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=1

Concrete walls for basement- Thursday 7/26/2007

Although we didn't go up there today, I called Scott and asked if they had finished the forms for the walls today. He said that they said that they would be done in time for the concrete truck to start pouring the walls for the basement this afternoon.

He said that they should be able to pour the walls today. Tomorrow they should be able to remove the forms from around the walls.

Saturday a plumber is coming to put in the pipes in the basement floor so that they can be ready to pour the basement floors early next week. Still looking like subfloors early next week and hopefully logs by later that week.

Non-job site goings on Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Well, we aren't driving all the way up there today since we have the loan closing today at 1:00. The builder was up there to make sure that the guys putting up the forms for the concrete walls of the basement really know where to put the windows in the prow wall of the basement.

They needed him there it appears. He said that their fellow employee who took the drawings with him in his truck who didn't come up on Tuesday, but was supposed to be back with the drawings on Wednesday did not bring them! So, the builder had to give them the page of his that was the copy of the basement drawings.

Today they are supposed to finish the forms and the concrete should be poured. We'll see.

Tomorrow we have to meet with the builder at our bank to get him to sign one form that was needed for the loan closing since we have begun construction before the closing. He has to agree to make sure that all the subcontractors who have already done work are paid. That's no problem. Heck, it's the subcontractors that ought to be required to sign agreeing to pay their employees not our builder agreeing to pay the subs! So far that's the only issue that has caused a problem. Our builder had to agree to pay the subs employees himself to get them to work since the sub's checks to his employees bounced last week!

Anyway, the plan is to finish forms today and get some concrete poured. Then tomorrow maybe they'll take the forms down. Again, we'll see.

LOG DELIVERY DAY!! Friday July 20, 2007

We got to the log home site at 7:15 this morning. We were alone.


The 10 or 12 Mexican workers who work for the company that was to put up the forms (to hold the concrete to be poured to form the basement walls) showed up at 7:45 am. They ate, rested, slept, talked and relaxed in the shade under the trees until at least 10:30. I finally found out (1 of them spoke a little English) that they couldn't work because their boss had not delivered the plastic forms that they use in the process! Finally, at 10:30 they began to work with the wire to hold together the iron rebar that the concrete is poured around. They could have started on that at 7:45! More on them later.

The man who sold us the logs (Roy Trucks) came at 8:00. He then about 5 minutes later left to see if he could drive around to see why the log trucks had not been there already.

The long truck with the lull on it came at about 8:10.

The builder came at about 8:15.

Tthe log trucks came at about 8:20 or so I think and the guy from CraneWorks/LoaderWorks began to unload various bundles of logs/beams/OSB, etc.

We paid what remained on the log package and the $2,400.00 delivery charge for a total today of $57,194.67. Largest one day total so far, but just by a nose.

I think it was shortly after 11:00 that Rose and Merrill came up for the event.

During the unloading process it rained hard and thundered a few times and work had to stop till it stopped.

Since work had to stop during the rain we went down the mountain to eat lunch with Rose and Merrill during the rain 'recess' and brought them back up to the land again after lunch. We ate at "The Smoking Grill" where they serve BBQ.

While driving through Springville we came upon a weather related scene at the town's main intersection (a 4-way stop). The power pole there had been hit by lightning and it broke it in two. The bottom and top half were completely severed and wires were hanging everywhere. The fire department and police department were there to route traffic through the gas station to get around the area. We ate and went back up the mountain.

Back to the Mexicans ... They left while we were away eating. They never returned today.

The guy on the lull loader (telescopic boom fork lift that has tires that can turn (front and back) that can all turn the same way or the front turn one way and the back turn another way) proceeded to pick up bundles of stuff up off the ground up near the highway and take them down the hill and up to the site where the builder wanted them to be stored. Scott had them stored so that the ones they'd need first would be on top and closest to the house.

Rose and Merrill left shortly after 2:30 since they had to be home by 4:00 to take cats to the vet.

We had been sitting in our Jeep talking with the builder, Scott, about various stuff. When Rose got out of the back seat of our Jeep and they went to get into their Jeep to go home I noticed that her window was down about 4 inches. I pressed the button to raise it and it didn't move! I knew what that meant since that is now the 4th window in the Jeep that has had the same problem over the last 3 or so years. It requires replacement of regulator motor assembly (the thing that moves the window up and down). The other 3 times it was mostly covered by our extended warranty. That is no longer the case. I called the Jeep place in B'ham within 2 minutes and told the builder that if they could fix before they closed then I was outta there! When this happens the window can be manually pulled up if you put one hand inside it and one hand outside, press them together and push up, but it will not stay up. It just slides down again. I could not go home and put the car in the garage like in Sebring (since we're living in an apartment till the house gets built), so it was critical that I get it fixed asap. The last time this happened we were just leaving Sebring, FL to drive back to Birmingham and had to delay our departure till the next day since it was later that day before we could get the Jeep fixed. We drove to the Jeep place in 45 minutes. They had the part and fixed it in about an hour and a half. For just over $417.00. Our 2nd highest check of the day.

We called our builder's wife while on the way to the Jeep place and found that although we lost a day getting the forms put up, they were supposed to come tomorrow (Saturday) and work on them and again on Monday morning to finish up the forms. They the concrete people are supposed to be there Monday afternoon to pour the basement walls. They normally don't work on Mondays, but they agreed when our builder's wife, Kathy, begged.

We got home and may never go back to the land again. (kidding)

Actually, although the Mexicans were the "face" of the delay, they were NOT the MAJOR cause of the delay since they would have been working had their boss provided the materials they needed for the major part of their job. I hope it's there today. I don't know if they are legal or not. It would be hard to know without asking for papers, but I know that only one of them yesterday could speak any English and it was also very difficult communicating with him.

Footers and road now has rock on it Wednesday 07/18/07

Today they poured the footers that will support the concrete walls later. The road now has the rock/gravel on it. The concrete trucks from Kirkpatrick Concrete Company actually managed to get down and back up with no trouble.
So far so good.

Digging the footers for the basement walls 07/16/07

They are digging out where the outside walls of the basement will be so that they can put up the forms that they will use to pour the concrete into to form the walls of the basement/garage. There are 2 dogs who are just some dogs from somewhere in the area that always check out anything that happens in that area. Kathy has given them the names Ruby and Tuesday!

Excavation begins - 07/10/07

I will try to post updates to the status of our Heritage log home being built by Scott and Kathy Pearson who own Heritage Log Homes of Lake Martin and Scott Pearson Construction Company in Alex City, Alabama. Scott and Kathy have both been terrific in helping us to get to this point. We believe that they are the best people we could have found to build our house.

Some of the initial posts are actually pasted comments that I have already sent to family and friends so there are going to be some duplication until I get up-to-date on this blog. I thought that it might be the best way for all of you to keep up with this process. If I find out that it is not then I'll re-think my method of communication. :-)
Rob

First, I'd like to give you a close approximation of what the finished home will look like. We are building a modified version (changed inside mostly although we will have a screened porch outside the master bedroom that the model below does not have. Also, our roof will be dark green metal roof instead of the red that the picture below shows. The model is one that Overland Trails Log Homes in Ellijay, Georgia uses as their sales office. Ed Grant (the president of that company) and his staff have been very helpful and willing to let us ask questions for as long as we wanted to even though we didn't buy our log package from them and are using another builder since we are in a different state. We appreciate their advice when we've asked them questions.

The picture below is their model:

Tuesday July 10, 2007 was the beginning of the excavation. They have to cut a place for the driveway to come in off Scenic Peak Rd and angle into the garage which will be on the right side of the basement. Then they cleared the area around the basement and dug it into the side of the hill.

The road has just been roughed in to allow the equipment to get in. Later they'll put in a mixture of rock/gravel/sand/rock dust to allow for a safer trip up and down the steep hills.

The man in charge of the excavation is Louie Owens who works for CraneWorks and is in the "dirt" division and his hat says LoaderWorks. Louie is a nice guy.

Excavation Continues on Wednesday 07/11/07.
The basement is being dug out of the side of the hill. From there is where I got Barbara some red dirt from Alabama. The area cleared out is huge! They removed trees from around 15 or 20 feet of where the house will go. They took out more in front than we originally expected, but it was so we can also put in a driveway that curves in front of the house so visitors can get to the front door rather than to our garage! The 2 trees left in front are Mountain Oaks. Louie says that they will fill out a lot now that the other stuff has been taken out. Let's hope so.