a place to grill and chill...

To me, there is something quintessentially Southern about sitting on a porch (or patio) drinking ice cold sweet tea, lemonade, or even an Arnold Palmer and watching the day turn to night.  I know you think I'm crazy, but looking at the pictures below makes me think of the many summer nights we'll spend, just grillin' and chillin' on our back patio -  looking out over the lawn, watching the lightening bugs as they blink and flash in the darkening night.

It's April 26, 2015, and our back patio is being framed out.  

This patio will be the "walk-out" part of our walk-out basement. There will be a door leading into the media room and storage room from the patio.

They've also added the bracers on our footings in preparation of pouring the slab.

We still have a ways to go when it comes to prepping for the slab -  our ground is still pretty muddy and uneven.

More bracing on our footings, I think this gap was left to allow the bobcat to easily move in and out of the lot.

One more shot from the left of the house.  You can see our neighbor's house under construction too.

Forming the Patio -  Day 99 of our build  

a porta-potty sunset

I've never been a big fan of going to the dentist, but on April 27, 2015 - I was excited.  Not for the tooth polishing or lecture on flossing, but instead because I knew I'd get to swing by the lot after my appointment and possibly catch some of the work being done.  

When I first drove into the neighborhood, I admit - I was pretty mad.  They had a bulldozer clearing yet another lot.  When Adam and I signed the contract, we were one of two lots available for construction.  Little did we know, the neighborhood was about to experience a boom.  I keep thinking it's because folks heard the Shears were moving in.. and wanted to join the fun.

All that to say - there have been two lots cleared while we waited for movement on the progress of our place.  I was getting a little fussy, and then when I drove up and saw ANOTHER lot being cleared.. well.. I'm just glad the HOA didn't witness the one-sided discussion I had in the car as I drove past.

I was amazed by how rich and black the soil looked at the new lot.. I was also surprised by the pang of jealousy I felt over soil.  That's a new one for me.. but it looked so nice, and fertile, and not bright red clay.

And then.. a truck came around the corner, with that same black soil, and dropped it off at OUR lot!

 

We're starting to see the lay of the land a bit as they bring more dirt in.

Hard to believe that not long ago, there was an exposed 10 foot concrete wall.

There's still work to do to fill in the porch and garage -  I think a gravel delivery is in order.

I couldn't resist capturing the beauty of building.. porta-potty, dumpster, and a lovely sunset.

I could get used to this view.. minus the photo-bombing dumpster, of course.

Celebrating dirt, porta-potties, and sunsets - Day 100 of our build 

riding dirty...

Through this process, I've become slightly, okay, completely mystified and mesmerized by the large machinery used to prepare our lot to build.  One of my favorites has to be the bobcat.  Seriously, I think we need one of these.

On our last visit to the lot, April 21, I recorded a video of one of the workers simply moving dirt around and filling in some trenches.  It may not be that interesting to you, but I really enjoyed taking a few minutes at the lot to watch the wonder that is the bobcat and it's complex choreography.

Enjoy!

 

 

"Riding Dirty" at the lot -  Day 94 of our build

waterproofing for the weepers out there..

We went a while without much progress.  The weather was really making an impact.  It had been one rainy day after another, but here we were on April 21, 2015 and we had waterproofing!

Everything covered in black will be beneath the ground.

The view from the left of the house. Crazy to think that only a foot or two will be visible once they backfill.

The garage and porch -  eventually they'll need to bring in a few loads of dirt to level things out.

The front of the house, and our trash pile.

We read a lot about waterproofing in our research, but it seems to vary so much by location, we didn't really know what to expect.  The black tar sure was shocking when we drove by for the first time.

I'm still surprised by how tall the walls are, but it means we'll have a nice cozy basement.

On the left of our lot, you can see where the ground levels quite a bit.  I'm so glad we have a fairly level back yard -  or will once it's all over with.

A close up of the "weeping tiles" - the black corrugated pipe curled on the ground.

Part of the waterproofing is the installation of "weeping tiles."  We'll actually have a French Drain setup for our house and yard.

  From Wikipedia: A French drain or weeping tile is a trench filled with gravel or rock or containing a perforated pipe that redirects surface water and groundwater away from an area. A French drain can have perforated hollow pipes along the bottom to quickly vent water that seeps down through the upper gravel or rock.

The pile of dirt along the edge of the walls is covering our weeping tile.  Later they will trench the backyard and lay the pipes a few feet below the sod.

Just to give you a little break from all the concrete and drainage and dirt talk..
below is a recent stand off between our two kittens. 

 I'm not sure what all was being said, but my guess is that it's not suitable for polite company.

Crying for joy over weeping tiles and waterproofing -  Day 94 of our build

we have walls! well.. close enough

I'm going to warn you.. if you don't like concrete, and you aren't currently building your dream home -  this post might get a little boring.  (Not that all my posts are that exciting...) I've got a TON of pictures of the concrete walls..and we were so excited that they were poured so quickly, compared to the pace of most things lately, that I probably took one too many.  So I hope you bear with me, or completely skip this post, as I relive what we discovered on a visit to the lot on April 11th and 12th -  yay weekend!

The forms are down, and we have WALLS! (Kinda)

Earlier in the day the workers were still removing the forms and ties.

Standing on the sidewalk, the walls don't seem that tall.

We were perplexed by the rebar coming out of the top of the walls, but I think this is to help reinforce the porch and garage floor once it's poured.

There are some interesting cut-outs where Styrofoam was put to allow for additional supports down the line. This is the front porch area and garage to the right. 

There's quite a bit of space between where they dug out for the basement and where the footings and walls were poured.

The wet weather and lack of bright sun has slowed the drying process for sure.  You can see where the walls have been patched or are still wet.

This is going to be one of the favorite rooms of the house, at basement level -  our main room for STORAGE!

Looking down from the top left corner of the house -  outside the eventual master bedroom.

My favorite shot of the basement walls.. you can see the whole "house" from here.

If you'd like a little more action.. check out our "tour" of the walls from the side of our lot.

Now if it will just stop raining.. we might be able to explore a bit.  Or you know, take care of waterproofing, or maybe the slab, or something..

anything.. anything but rain.

 

Basement Walls, Complete! -  day 85 of our build

forming the basement..

I took a mental health day off from work on April 10th, and couldn't resist taking a drive with Adam over to the lot during the day when we might see some work.  As with most of our trips, we weren't expecting anything but were incredibly hopeful.  Still, we had just been caught in a mini-monsoon outside the grocery store so many of our hopes, we expected to be dashed. But as we drove up we saw.. TRUCKS!

And workers taking a break in said trucks! We were just glad we could grab some pictures of the progress without being in their way.  They had set out the forms for the concrete walls to be poured.

This is somewhat looking straight at the house with the front porch and then garage on the right.  The space in between the forms is where they will pour the concrete walls.

From the far left of the house -  I love how the walls will step down to the basement level.  The back doesn't have any walls formed yet since it will be a "walkout" basement, where we can walk directly out into the backyard.

I've seen a few houses built around our area, but never seen a home with a basement.  It's pretty crazy to think we'll have these huge concrete walls that really won't be able to be seen when people drive up.  

On another note, with all this rain and red mud -  I need to do some shoe shopping.  Can't you just see me walking the job site in some rain boots like these?

If only they will fit.. I think it would be perfect!  

 

 

Wall Forms are Up -  day 83 of our build

two guys walk into a rebar...

About two weeks after our footings were poured, and two days after our builder expected, the team arrived to start working on the rebar grid for our basement walls.  We drove by more out of habit than having any expectations late on April 7th. 

The workers were balancing on the rebar grid and planks of wood while tying the grid together.  They clearly have better balance than I do!  It was pretty interesting to watch how quickly and smoothly they worked. 

It's hard to see but the grid outlines where the concrete walls will be poured for the basement.  I couldn't believe how high it was going to be in places.

I expect there will be LOADS of dirt needed to fill in the yard and level it out.  To the left of the picture will be our bedroom, and my office, on the main floor.

You can see in the bottom of the picture that our water meter has taken a beating.  I'll be glad to have that repaired down the line.   Along with the busted sidewalk and curb. 

The next step is setting the wall forms and pouring the concrete walls.  Yay!

Rebar for the Walls -  day 80 of our build