1846 Homestead Renovation

Laying the Ground Work for the Addition

A Solid Foundation

Before we got to the point of pouring the slab, we had dirt work done, and were were still wondering if there would be a step up or a step down between the addition and the old house.  We decided on a slab foundation.  It is a “floating” slab, which made no sense to me.  The premise is that 30+ holes would be drilled down to bedrock, rebar inserted and then the holes would be filled with concrete.  On top of all that, the slab would float.  Okay.

There was a steady stream of cement trucks arriving on 21 June to deliver the concrete needed for the slab.  They started before the sun came up and didn’t finish until into the afternoon.  After they smoothed the slab, we had to water it to keep cracking to a minimum.  The Texas sun in June is no joke, evidently, and if the concrete dried too quickly, it would be more likely to crack.  Surface cracks are one thing, deep down, foundation compromising ones are another.

The amount of preparation for the foundation was crazy.  Dirt work.  Piers dug.  Concrete for the piers.  Concrete guys built the frame.  The plumbers laid the pipes.  All of this had to happen BEFORE the foundation was poured.  There is a lot going on underneath the surface for sure.

 

 

 

Our Framers…Mike and Baldo

The slab was an exciting advancement towards our goal.  We started stepping off rooms and walking in spaces, imagining what it was going to look like.  The bigger excitement arrived on 3 July when Mike and Baldo, the framers showed up and started making the dream 3D.

Two guys to build the entire house.  They were so amazing to watch, I know Jerry and I lost a couple of days of work because we just stood there and watched them.  Jerry finally looked at me and declared that we absolutely had to get back to work on the old house.

Still, we were both standing in the yard taking pictures when the first wall went up later that day.

Learning From the Masters

Mike later told us that he had misgivings about us being on site while they were working.  Turns out, it wasn’t as horrible as he had first feared.  We were on site if they had a question or wanted to offer alternatives to the floor plan.  Decisions were made on the spot, with no wait time.

Also, Mike and Baldo were fantastic about offering advice about repairs that needed to be done on the old house.  When it was time to address the ceiling joists not reaching the logs on which they were meant to rest, it was Mike who told us we didn’t have to replace them.  He explained that we could use new boards and sister them together.

Having that kind of help was invaluable because it meant that our mistakes were minimized and that we weren’t making major repairs when minor adjustments were really what we needed.

We really did learn a lot from Mike and Baldo.  They had cool tools.  They ran around like there was no such thing as a fear of heights.  The level of teamwork they possessed was awe-inspiring.

When they finished and we all stood in the living room of the framed-but-not-finished addition, Mike told me that it reminded him of a church.  I loved that…

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *