Readying Electrical conduits for the Foundation

There's a break in the storms and today's a beautiful sunny day. Rob's up working on getting the electrical conduit in so the foundation can be poured over it. Yesterday he was able to work a bit before it rained and get the conduit that goes under the garage from the main service panel to the utility room subpannel locatio. He also got all the conduit bent so its ready to install. Today he's working on digging out the sand that was put down to go under the concrete for the conduit runs to the great room, lower master bedroom and other key locations that benefit from an underground run.

The foundation contractor is looking at Thursday or Friday to pour the concrete. However, Thursday is supposed to be another raining day, so it's more likely to be Friday or next week.

Almost ready for concrete

Here we are today. The forms are finished and the re-inforcing wire has been laid. Sand has been ploaced over a plastic sheeting. Rebar has been placed for footings and the perimiter of the house. Tie downs have also been added for the walls.

In the photo we're looking down the south wall of the garage as it heads east across the house to the great room. Notice the wood forms at the right for the base of the wall and the rebar in the trench providing the strong footing for what will be a two story part of the house.


The last step before pouring the concrete is to put in the conduit for the electrical. Since Rob is doing the electrical for the house, we worked today on digging the mini trench for the PVC pipe. Of course we hit a spot that had rock near the surface. So in the photo he's using the jackhammer to break up the rock. Unfortunately, the brand new generator kept shutting off so, some of this had to be done with a hand pick.

It also started raining which is expected to continue over the next couple of days. The pour is planned for next Wednesday after the rains. The challenge will be to get the conduit in and ready for when they pour.

Rough Plumbing

Eventually, the rough plumbing was put in. This included the water lines for the bathrooms, kitchen and downstairs laundry as well as the lines that go from the toilets to the septic. The piping in the photo shows the plumbing for the outer island sink, near foreground, and inner island, farther back and left. Before the concrete slab is pored, the pipes on the ground will be covered.

Because we've started on the house we now have an address. Wow! In order to make it easier for the construction crew to find the building site, Rob installed our address numbers on the gate. In the photo he's temporarily screwing in the numbers. There wasn't quite enough wood to screw in to, so he later added another piece on top. Putting up the numbers make this all seem more real.

Foundation Prep

In the month and a half since I first posted, most of the foundation work has been done.

Things sat for a few days after the chalking step and then the foundation was rimmed. This involved trenching so that the outer rim of the foundation could be put in place. Additional trenching was done for the plumbing lines. This resulted in lots of piles of dirt, as in the phot at left, which seemed to sit there for a few weeks.