POURING THE FOUNDATION

On Monday, the concrete guys poured the foundation!! 

We were a little nervous because it was slightly colder on Monday than it had been the week before (Christmas week).  Of course, during the week of Christmas, temperatures were in the 50's (almost 60 degrees!) and it would have been PERFECT for concrete to set.  But, they didn't come to pour it.  (Apparently concrete workers deserve Christmas vacations, too .... )

So, on Monday, when temps were in the low 40's and even 30's while they were pouring, we were nervous.  They poured sometime in the morning on Monday and let it sit for a day.  Temperatures got down to the 20's overnight.  If concrete freezes before it sets, it can crack.

On Tuesday morning, they came to check the concrete and remove the forms/staging.  And .... drumroll please ... all was fine!  The concrete had enough time to set itself during the day while temperatures were (barely) above 32 degrees.  By the time the temperatures dropped to below freezing, it had set.  Phew!!!

On Tuesday while I was at work, Carleton sent me these pictures from his phone:

 

We have walls!!  And little basement windows!!

 

 

See how the walls gradually step down towards the back of the house?  That's because we will have a walk-out basement.  Right now, Mark the excavator man has dirt up around all four sides of the house so that trucks can drive back there, but eventually he will remove the dirt in the back for our walk-out.

Naturally that picture scared the living daylights out of me because Carleton's friend Mike is balancing himself on the wall.  Don't worry.  He is alright!

But, back to those walls!  Don't they look gigantic?  Like, castle walls?  They do to me.  :)

The reason the walls look so tall is because they are!  We will have 9' ceilings in our basement!  You heard me right, folks.  The standard for a basement is 8'.  (I think.  Maybe even 7' for some basements?)  More than a year ago, Carleton and I stumbled upon an Open House sign while we were out for a drive.  The house was super cute so we decided to check out the inside.  This particular house had 9' ceilings in the basement with a walk-out and we both LOVED it.  It didn't feel like a basement at all!  From that day forward, we decided tall ceilings in the basement were a must-have if we ever built a house.  And, now, here we are!  Building a house!!  With our 9' basement ceilings!  (Isn't life sweet?)

So, fast forward to today, Friday.  Three days later.  And, today, I get this picture while at work:

Apparently that truck is filled with crushed stone that will be spread out so that the basement floor can be poured over it.  Moving right along!

All the good stuff happens while I'm at work!

Until next time ... !