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Concrete forms are coming up, and they look pretty nifty. They're standard-ish sizes and lock together, with the truly custom bits being done with cuts of 2x4's  Took a few days but forms kept going up, and rebar was being installed.  Forms are now in place, walkway completed, and just in time for the long weekend.   And because there's no rest for the weekends, I pulled some rocks in a bit of a fabri-cobled way.  Old enough to drink but the little lawn tractor did the job and pulled the stones off. They'll eventually find their way into a garden feature or something. Either way, seemed like a shame to use them as fill.  Concrete is starting tomorrow, so it'll be a fun day of activity, otherwise, it looks like we have a bunch of milkweed and we'll have monarch butterflies! That'll be exciting to see. 
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Jul 4, 2023 00:08
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Bajaha posted:Concrete is starting tomorrow, so it'll be a fun day of activity, otherwise, it looks like we have a bunch of milkweed and we'll have monarch butterflies! That'll be exciting to see.  Nice to see the build progressing!
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Jul 4, 2023 00:52
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After how long it took to work through the bureaucratic mess of red tape, it is indeed very nice to see things moving! Our cars are rusty up here in the north, so it's fitting that so is our reinforcing bar.  Some concrete arrives and unloads into the pump truck.  The long schnozz of the pump trunk snorting it's contents into the forms  Filling the transitions on each side first, letting it set, then continuing on so that the tall wall doesn't all spill out on the short grade beam at the corner.  Concrete in its rightful place.  SMOOOTH  After a period of 24hrs the forms are stripped, and the fresh concrete is exposed. The weather is really nice right now for curing, we have decent humidity, potential light rain in the forecast, and nice and cool 20°C temps.      Now we have to do the damp-proofing, dimple membrane, and let the concrete cure before we start the floor framing. Once we're framed we'll backfill and keep going. Bajaha fucked around with this message at 03:35 on Jul 6, 2023 |
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Jul 6, 2023 03:32
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That is so cool, I'm super jealous of you getting to watch a dream house happen. Not jealous of the stress and long wait.
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Jul 7, 2023 20:18
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Thank ya! So far we have some more progress! and we have framing starting late next week, as long as we get the shop drawings corrected and the trusses built in time... But onto some fun. Some blokes came out the other day and slathered on a layer of black goop. Then some more people came today and put some bumpy plastic all over the thing.    You'll notice it's not all the way up all the way around, which is neat to see in person and makes perfect sense with it being carved into the slope and the foundation won't be all under ground. For a flatlander, this concept of 'hill' and 'not flat' is weird and confusing.   Some of the closer up shots you can see the liquid applied peaking out at the top, and you can see how the dimple mat is fastened. Should be a pretty bomb-proof waterproofing method for the foundation. Dimple mat creates a void between the wall and soil giving a path for water to flow down and preventing hydrostatic pressure from building against the foundation, and if that somehow fails, anything that does hit the wall still needs to penetrate the liquid applied layer.
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Jul 14, 2023 04:03
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Progress is slow, caught a minor/major issue in the truss design which necessitated some re-work and re-review of shop drawings that have been approved by the structural engineer, and a one day delay on shop drawing approval somehow turned into a week delay in production schedule. The snafu was that we want zero threshold showers, and want to have the mechanical room and the spa area have central drains. Which means we need to have some way of sloping the floor. So we need the trusses to be depressed in certain areas so that we can properly slope these areas to floor drains and so that we can do showers with zero threshold and have a chance of draining the water without it going everywhere, or having to resort to retrofit style ramped areas. Oh, and with the structural engineer looking at the loads again, he's got some concerns and we might need to add some additional structure as a 'just-in-case' as the numbers for the pressure on the front wall under the entry is quite high. So... we will see how that impacts things, but for now. Onwards!  Teleposts are placed, they aren't affixed to the piles just yet, but in due time.  Bottom plate is now affixed with concrete anchors, and so are the LVL ledger boards.  I've also improved the on-site amenities for the various trades / crews coming through. We've had the cooler since the start, but now there's a 
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Aug 10, 2023 03:46
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Materials have been dumped on site. In case anyone was interested in what $50k looks like in the form of engineered wood products and steel.     I'm a bit cuckoo when it comes to straightness of lumber, so in the pursuit of straight lumber and compromising since prices are still a bit crazy, we went with machine stress rated (MSR) lumber for all the dimensional lumber, and will use LVL studs for areas where straightness is more critical (bathrooms, kitchen, and tall wall in greatroom)   Main benefit of MSR is that it is actually tested for its structural properties and isn't just visually graded like most lumber is. From what I could tell online it seems MSR is generally more straight than visually graded lumber which was my main decision making points. To give you a bit of a breakdown in terms of costs: LVL 2x6 ~$4.009 / linear foot MSR 2x6 ~$1.415 / linear foot #2 2x6 ~ $0.8288 / linear foot Approximate amount of 2x6 lumber on project: 3170 linear feet. LVL cost: $12,708.53 MSR cost: $4,485.55 #2 cost: $2627.30 #2->MSR Difference: $1,858.25 MSR->LVL Difference: $8,222.98 LVL cost is 283.3% of MSR. For the interior framing: LVL 2x4 ~$3.280 / linear foot MSR 2x4 ~$0.7956 / linear foot #2 2x4 ~$0.4469 / linear foot Approximately 7545 linear feet of 2x4 lumber. LVL cost: $24,747.60 MSR cost: $6,002.80 #2 cost: $3371.86 #2->MSR Difference: $2630.94 MSR->LVL Difference: $18,744.80 LVL cost is 412% of MSR. You can likely see why I elected to use MSR in most places over LVL studs.  And now for everyones favorite geometric shape... Triangles!  Every piece is tagged and has a semi-unique spot to be installed (there's say a few F01's that are interchangeable, then F02... etc etc) I believe there's about 24 unique trusses in this package. . . . . . .   
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Aug 12, 2023 03:00
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Nice! Not familiar with that MSR stuff. Do you have site security while that's sitting around? 
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Aug 12, 2023 15:43
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Nosy neighbors, lte camera with push alerts to my phone, and insurance which hopefully won't need to be used. Has me a little worried but not much I can do to really secure it more. At least it's bulky and heavy so not really a good target for theft of opportunity.
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Aug 12, 2023 17:22
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Progress! And nothing was pilfered!  I really like the overhead shots like this. Modern consumer tech is awesome.  Today a bunch of shirtless men came and did some banging and pounding.  Basement floor trusses are almost all in. Still some odds and ends to be done tomorrow, and we're skipping some steps and sheathing it immediately before moving on to the main floor.  First three rows of trusses are blocked with full height TJI joists.  You can see here where the concrete wall has a minor bow in it.  The floor looks nice and flat and level. You can see the areas that are dropped 3" to accomodate floor drains.  Along the ledger boards on the concrete walk-out grade beam they had to notch the joists to accommodate the concrete anchors.  And we impulse bought another tree... now to find a place for it. 
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Aug 15, 2023 02:26
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I don't know if I've seen floor trusses in a basement instead of just a slab before. Is it flexibility for running utilities, or are there other considerations it's done for?
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Aug 16, 2023 00:43
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There are a few considerations: - Cost (this was the main driver for us) The wood truss package for the basement was $25,000, plus a few thousand in labour to install. A structural slab (required due to the pile foundation and not being able to bear on the slope due to the AHJ's requirements to ensure river bank stability... pretty onerous but it is what it is) was quoted at $225,000 or so (was initially quoted as a package with the foundation walls, quotes came back in the $500k range so we started looking at alternates) - Warmth. A wood floor will be warmer to the foot than a concrete floor. This is a bit moot if you're doing in-floor heat. - Crawlspace. Simplifies running under basement services immensely, gives flexibility for scheduling trades. Currently we don't have any roughed in plumbing, but with a structural slab we would need to have that done prior to pour. Downside is now you have additional area to condition (or not depending on your approach). We're planning for a crawlspace that's part of the building envelope so it's essentially an extension of the home and is a conditioned space. There's a bit more than that, but those are the basics. In our case it made sense to revise to a wood floor and add a crawlspace than trying to nickel and dime down the structural concrete floor quotes.
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Aug 16, 2023 04:52
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How does it compare with a beam and block floor? Like a prefab suspended concrete floor rather than a poured slab.
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Aug 16, 2023 09:32
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Haven't heard of beam and block and had to look it up, Looks to be a uniquely UK / Euro thing, doesn't seem to have really caught in north america for whatever reason. Not exactly sure why, it seems like a really sturdy way of building, most of the websites mention its cost effective once you consider installation costs. I know from the commercial / industrial side of things, precast concrete seems to be mostly wall sections and hollow-core slabs from what I've seen on most projects.  We do have a hollow-core portion on this project. The garage floor above the lower storage area will be hollow-core with a topping to match the rest of the garage.
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Aug 17, 2023 04:47
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As mentioned, framing is exciting because things change in a blink.   You might notice some haziness. Because the north is on fire, and so is the west, we are getting a good amount of smoke and some air quality warnings. Not to complain too much since well, the on-fire areas are getting hit much worst, but yeah, not a great time to spend too much time outdoors.  And in the blink-and-you'll-miss-it news, two days later and we have a sheathed basement floor, mostly sheathed rear, and some main floor trusses in place.   And I succumbed to peer pressure and bought my own expensive aerial toy.    And my favorite view, straight overhead  The view is going to be amazing once we're finished building  Monday the floors should be done, Tuesday we have groundwork planned with moving dirt and digging the garage area out, then we finish off the week with new piles. Until then, enjoy the doggo. His logic is "wood = stick" regardless of what part of the tree it came from. Or how heavy it is. 
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Aug 19, 2023 23:34
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Skilled laborers with their work laid out before them are so fun to watch
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Aug 20, 2023 00:47
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That is going to be one spectacular view.
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Aug 20, 2023 02:10
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Dang, looking good
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Aug 20, 2023 06:23
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Looks fantastic man. I'm sure the Mrs. and I will be visiting friends in Winnipeg one of these days, will have to drop by and say hi to the family again. Also, good call with the Min i3. I picked up a 2 last year and really liked it. At the time bought it because if Litchi support, not sure if the 3 has it yet or not but I know the 3 is a great unit! 
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Aug 20, 2023 15:36
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That’s going be one drat fine house. Kudos!
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Aug 20, 2023 17:26
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Between work and the house I have been run ragged. I've got some vacation time booked now so hopefully I can breathe a little and de-stress. But In any case, some progress photos as things are moving along. I appreciate the kind words and will do a more effort-post soonish, but for now, enjoy the photo dump of the last two week progress.      And finally, GARAGE PROGRESS  HOLE    PILES  And for the exciting bit, BIG WALL  Lots of bracing  Kitchen Views  Engineered wood products!   Natural Wood being watered  And I picked up some rocks and wood.  More progress iminent. And the burn rate for money is something else
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Sep 1, 2023 03:48
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My aunt and uncle live on a very similar riverside plot on a bend on the adjacent, lesser river, and yes, the view never gets old. Especially considering the alternatives in the area. And a walk out basement??? In this province?? Everything looks real nice. Sorry about your money but so far seems worth it.
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Sep 1, 2023 08:48
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It really does look great man. Did the high wall get built to a slightly different spec (IE:closer centres) or all the same?
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Sep 1, 2023 14:32
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Tall wall is designed for the same framing style (2x6 24" OC) but is done in LVL studs to get them perfectly straight, and because the wall is pretty much just framing for windows I don't actually know if there ended up being any members that are actually 24" OC. There's a bunch of reinforcement due to the windows taking up that much space so you can see where they've sistered a bunch of LVL between the windows.
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Sep 1, 2023 18:28
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Bajaha posted:Natural Wood being watered Please get that child some medical assistance, that volume of piss cannot be healthy.
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Sep 10, 2023 02:36
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devicenull posted:that volume of piss cannot be healthy. I'm sorry to hear about your weak bloodline vis-a-vis pissing. Those Calvin pissing on _____ stickers got nothing on my girl.
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Sep 10, 2023 05:15
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Progress!      The decks are quite a thing in person. Thinking of making the top one a balcony and nixing the stairs on the north side, but we'll have to mull it over a little more. As the usual with this place, the structure is crazy overbuilt. The spec calls for 4.5" diameter shaft screwpiles, min. 8000lb capacity. According to the contractor that came and installed the piles based on the installation process they can support about 70,000lb each. The rear deck can support a weight of over 3/4 of a million pounds. Guess I now need to put a dozen hottubs to justify the strength. We also went with cedar 6x6 pillars to support the upper deck, pressure treated would have matched exactly but apparantly beams this size in pressure treated have a bad habit of twisting like crazy when they dry. so wanting to avoid that, we went with cedar. Reinforcement for the basement garage area.  And here it is with the forms all removed.  The hollowcore is 7-8 weeks out for shop drawings, let alone material, so we're looking at temporary bracing to allow us to continue with the garage. Otherwise we cannot back-fill the pad and it slows everything down. Always something...
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Sep 14, 2023 00:57
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Yeah, that deck is gonna be sick.
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Sep 15, 2023 01:10
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Rectal Placenta posted:Yeah, that deck is gonna be sick. And with the river right there, yeah this place is shaping right up.
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Sep 15, 2023 01:41
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I am super jealous of how nice your place is turning out. Good pick of site, good planning decisions, and overengineering to boot. Has to hurt the wallet, but it'll be one of those places you live until they carry you out the door on a board.
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Sep 18, 2023 08:42
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Definitely hurts in the wallet, but it may have masochistic tendencies so... could be worst. Once we have the roof on and the windows in we can have the bank come out to do an assessment and release some additional funds. Right now I'm pilfering our retirement funds with the HBP withdrawals and crossing my fingers we'll have enough cash on hand prior to the reassessment to ride us through. In any case, we have delays and progress, so let's get to it. Damp-proofing is the same as the rest of the foundation. A tar based solution is sprayed on and then spread with a roller. Once it's dried overnight the crew comes back and applies the dimple mat to the foundation walls.  Inside the walls you see a keyway for the poured slab, below that we wanted to do a dirt fill and a few inches of gravel, buuuut turns out that getting a skidsteer through the door may not be possible due to the height and hand-bombing it going to be crazy labour intensive. so the alternate is just to have the gravel truck bring more and spray it all into the hole.  So boom. Should at least be a very solid foundation for the slab on grade for the lower slab.  Garage grade beams have been poured and the forms removed. Now we can properly see the footprint for the garage.  Insulation is installed on the rear wall of the storage area, it's a semi-conditioned space. It will only get radiant heat from the slab above and will have some insulation from the outside, but other than a tiny HRV providing ventillation, it won't have it's own heating or cooling.   My favorite overhead shot update  And progress on the deck getting the perimiter of it completed.  We also have our Hydro meter socket installed so we can get the clock started for the utility to put in the electrical service. Permits been applied and paid for, I went for an underground service as I did not want to have a pole on our lot and have an overhead service. It was under $2k extra for this method so I think well worth the expense for a much cleaner install.  And of course, I've been sluething around Kijiji and FB marketplace for deals so picked up a bunch of flagstone pavers that I want to use for a patio area by the quay.  Sketched out what I think would look good here.  And this is what the pavers looked like installed before they were removed:  And finally, to end it off, a peaceful shot of the river off the quay. 
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Sep 22, 2023 23:42
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Bajaha posted:We also have our Hydro meter socket installed so we can get the clock started for the utility to put in the electrical service. Permits been applied and paid for, I went for an underground service as I did not want to have a pole on our lot and have an overhead service. It was under $2k extra for this method so I think well worth the expense for a much cleaner install. At the risk of saying something obvious, make sure you mark on your prints EXACTLY where all your underground services go. They will be consumed by the earth and forgotten by humankind within the year otherwise. iin a decade when you need to find something or want do dig somewhere, getting the locate will suck. Throwing washers in the trench is a good backup so you can find them with a metal detector instead of having to get an actual locate done.
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Sep 23, 2023 01:05
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I don't know about the vast waste lands of Manitoba where I'm pretty sure the OP is from, but in Ontario, locates are mandatory regardless of how well things are mapped out by the owner. That being said, putting in tracer wires for plastic pipes now, mapping, photographing and measuring would all be very helpful in the event that locates need to be done in the future. In this case, the OP would likely have various private utilities that can be mapped for future reference.
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Sep 23, 2023 01:14
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Looks really good man. I know you are a super smart guy but please make sure you do the re-funding of your various retirement funds. I've known more than 1 guy who did that and hosed himself over once home ownership and family life happened. babyeatingpsychopath posted:Throwing washers in the trench is a good backup so you can find them with a metal detector instead of having to get an actual locate done. Also, and you're already doing this, but LOTS of photos during construction. I've relied on photos from 5-10 years ago to see what's in a wall, how things were laid out all sorts of little reasons that you'd never think of while you are doing it. You probably remember now, but good chance you won't or, misremember 10 years from now. When doing the in-laws house back in 2017 I could have sworn he put reinforcement around his bathtub for future grab handles. He didn't think he did but low and behold, going through old photos I took you could see some extra 2x4s put between the studs around the tub for no other reason.
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Sep 23, 2023 16:39
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Do Canadian Prairies do cold rooms / uninsulated basement spaces like the houses in the GTA do? Does this house have something like that earmarked?
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Sep 23, 2023 19:52
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I'm trying my best to document things as they get built. I'll have to eventually go through and organize the photos a little better, particularly once we start running services everywhere. The metal along the plastic conduits is a great tip to make locating in the future easier. Either way, as mentioned we need locates to be done prior to any permitted work that may impact underground services. Plan with retirement funds is to re-fill them once we have the place built, the HBP withdrawals require returning the funds or else it gets taxed and I assume some penalties for early withdrawal. It's mostly to cover the cashflow issue, the bank has only released $200k, yet we're into it around $500k at the moment. Once built, we'll have the majority of the mortgaged funds released to us, and upon sale of our current home, we should have enough cash on hand to re-fund the retirement funds. As for the coldroom, we tried to have one and showed it in the original plans submitted to the municipality for review, but it got shot down by the municipal plan review guys. Their argument was that it could cause issues structurally with a portion of the foundation wall being uninsulated and the remainder being insulated. We didn't want to push too hard against it so we revised to having the storage space as part of the conditioned space and left it at that. We have one in our current home and it's been over 25 years and we haven't had any issues with it but eh, with how much red tape we have had to deal with I didn't want to get tied up with it.
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Sep 23, 2023 21:12
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Bajaha posted:I'm trying my best to document things as they get built. I'll have to eventually go through and organize the photos a little better, particularly once we start running services everywhere. The metal along the plastic conduits is a great tip to make locating in the future easier. Either way, as mentioned we need locates to be done prior to any permitted work that may impact underground services. You can go full nuts with this and get a 3d laser point cloud rendering of your house before the drywall goes on if you really want: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GeS-y2gvNk
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Sep 23, 2023 21:28
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There's nothing I hate more than having a question about a project (mostly cars of course) where the answer to that question is juuuuust out of frame because when you're taking pictures you're never quite aware of what you'll want to know later. The drone shots are awesome, I'm weirdly but genuinely excited about that deck for you.
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Sep 24, 2023 16:51
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I do product support work and the one thing I keep trying to hammer into our sales reps heads is to take more photos. Take the same photo a couple times. Take it from slightly different angles. Take the wide shots that give context. Take shots showing the thing next to the thing you're actually interested in. You pretty much never regret the extra minute or two spent doing this, and it's surprising how often it pays off.
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Sep 24, 2023 16:55
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Nystral posted:Do Canadian Prairies do cold rooms / uninsulated basement spaces like the houses in the GTA do?
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Sep 24, 2023 17:38
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