HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH! (Another sing-along...)

Howdy Y'all!

Do we have a great blog today, or what! (As apposed to the other previous blogs?) This one will be a big lengthy given the number of pics included, so we hope you enjoy the educational effort.

As some of you know, we have been a bit frustrated with the glacial process of getting this foundation built. Our latest setback came last Friday, the day the builder was set to pour concrete, and a day that was forecasted at 20% rain. Well, that "20% chance" turned into 3.5" of Texas rain all day Friday and most of Saturday. Rain and dirt foundations do not mix well, but as luck would have it, the foundation gods smiled on us and spared us any wall cave-ins or foundation erosion. We've now gone from bags, rebar and roadbed dirt to a real concrete foundation!

This is where we left you on the last blog.

As of Monday evening, the builder was going to pour the foundation on Wednesday, but on Tuesday we woke up to a message that said "we're on for today", and was starting at 7:30am. So, we rushed up to the site and saw....

Hallelujah! All lined up ready to go!

This lineup went on for most of the day, by count we had 28 trucks that delivered 280 cubic yards of concrete (or again, for the analytics, about 420 tons of cement.)

Jan and I took about 75 pics during the course of the day, but we are going to spare you the traditional 'home movies' version. We've culled it down to a few that pictorially describe the progress during the day, and that you might find interesting.

The magical pump truck, without which we would be wheel- barreling concrete into the forms.

This puppy has a reach of 200 feet. Couldn't quite make it to the last pipes in this picture, so we had one truck pour the last load here at the edge.

They poured all of the outer forms half way up and then started on the inner beams.

Jan and Jeff (our Project Manager). Notice the big smiles since we were finally pouring the foundation!

A great picture of the boom pump at work. (I was supervising (-:

Pump operator on the left.
This is the job I want. This guy stood around all day with a wireless joystick hanging around his neck moving the boom pump all over. Very cool!

Applying vibration to the form edges to settle the concrete.

Waiting for more concrete.

Pizza lunch break!

Pouring the final patio section.

Screeding and leveling.

Working the edges.

Smoothing the surface.

Finally, DONE!!

Jan and Cathy (our wonderful neighbor) basking in their supervisory roles.

Also, a huge shout-out to Jorge Riojas and his foundation crew. These guys worked at leveling, framing, filling, tamping, bagging, rebarring, and pouring a complex foundation for 60 days straight without a complaint or missed day's work. They are also now responsible for the knock-down of the frames to allow the framing guys to begin their work next week. Yesterday they started at 7:30am and left the site at 8:30pm. What a great team to work with!

But wait, there's more!

Here is a night shot of the cattle. Jan and I were leaving a neighbor's house when the longhorns decided to have a block party in the middle of the road. The picture isn't great (reminds me of the advertisement on poor low light camera quality on smartphones), but the cattle didn't mind. There were about 50 longhorns standing around partying.

And still more!

As we were going up to the property Tuesday morning for the foundation pour, this little critter (4 feet) wandered across the road. This is him, thoroughly pissed off, after I ran him over with both tires! He finally moseyed off into the grass a little later.

See ya later.

- John and Jan - 

THE ROMAN RUINS, or BEAM ME UP

Howdy You'all!

When we last left you, we were installing some of the plumbing. Since that time, we had a bit over 2" of rain last week which slowed some things down, namely the 'graders'. 

We also had a cave-in of one bag wall (no biggey) that needed to be repaired. 

Bag cave-in. Bummer!

'Graders' is an interesting term that describes the trenching that needs to be done within the foundation to create the concrete beams that support the foundation. (Somehow that doesn't make logical sense to me, but, what do I know?)

When I first saw the trenches, I was struck by how much they reminded me of the excavation sites Jan and I have seen in Italy within the Roman Ruins, but I digress. Because the foundation slab is so long and thick, these beam locations are engineered to provide support to eliminate any movement and cracking.

But, before any concrete can be poured into the beam sections or along the foundation perimeter, there needs to be steel re-bar inserted into the trench lines and the outer walls. Enter the "Re-Bar Guys"! 

The following pictures are of Miguel and his team beginning the enormous task of laying re-bar in, and across, the entire project. I've got to say that this is one of the toughest, and most tedious jobs, on the project. Each intersection of re-bar has to be hand-tied, so think about how many intersections of two re-bar pieces exist in this kind of project. Thousands!

So, I'm told that by Tuesday the foundation project will be complete and ready for inspection sign-off, which means that we get to pouring concrete by mid-week. Pray for sunshine!

See ya then,

- John and Jan -

Posts, Posts, and More Posts

Howdy You'all!

You probably thought we forgot about you, right? No Bucky, we haven't - just took a small break while more truckloads of dirt were brought in to finish the foundation leveling. Other than that, it has been pretty much the same'o, same'o - bring in roadbed, fill bags, water, compact. Repeat the same.

This last week saw the emergence of the Plumbers to start laying pipe. This involves trenching the foundation fill, laying the appropriate pipe lengths and stub-outs, running an air pressure test for leaks, inspections, and then refilling the trenches again. Water, compact, repeat the same.

Plumbers in the sand box on Friday

On Monday, most of the excavations for the plumbing were completed. At last count, we had about 30 posts (stub-outs) sticking up from the trenches on Tuesday.                                                                                  

For the uninitiated, these are drain and vent locations throughout the house. (Let's hope they got the locations right!)

Chavez, the Master Plumber

My good friend, Chavez, finalizing the last post, filling the system with water, and pressurizing for 3 days with air. (He doesn't look happy but he really is.) Since he and his team also come back to finish the plumbing once the framing is finished, I know he wants to get it right at this point.

Yes! 7 psi and holding!

But wait, there's more!

This is Jan's personal pet collection. Actually, the deer come in daily knowing that some of the apartment residents will feed them corn. If you think about it, they've actually trained us pretty well! The deer in the foreground is pregnant. (Jan will be sending shower invites for those that want to attend.)

Brunch at the Boutsikaris'

And of course, we must have the obligatory Longhorn picture every once in a while.

Queen of the Hill!

And, even more!

I was going to show you a picture of a 9'5" rattlesnake killed in Midway, Texas (near Lubbock) last week, but Jan said it was gross and none of you would ever visit us after seeing that picture.

So, here is something more interesting (to me, anyway). I volunteered to be Grid Marshall for the Porsche Club Cup Races this weekend at Circuit of the Americas raceway, here in Austin. For the uninformed, this is the new inaugural track designed and built to F1 specifications, where the F1 race in November was hosted. Before we took our places as volunteers today, some of us got to run hot laps on the track before the Cup Race started this morning. OMG! (Yes, I am a very, very, happy camper.) I just need a much faster car now.

Potpourri of Porsche Cup cars

Paddock (Pit) area (early)

Grid Marshall

Happy Mother's Day!
- John and Jan -