Rained out...

Well, we were planning on raising the south wall on Saturday... but we got rained out. Then we thought that we'd get it raised up on Monday... and it rained and the wind blew....

Today was a beautiful sunny day... but the wall still isn't raised... BUT... the interior 1st floor walls are taking shape.

Soon the South wall will be raised... then lots of interior walls... then the sheathing will hold it all firmly in place.

1st Floor wall raising

It took quite a while to get the floor joists and subfloor done for the 1st floor.

I'm surprised how fast the framing goes! Last evening with a crew of 10... we pushed up the long West and East walls. That was so exciting! It now looks like a house!!!

Today, Rich and I chalked out the floor plan. And now he's onto building the North and South walls. Hope to have them done by Saturday evening so that we can tie the walls together for better strength against any strong Wyoming winds.

Here's some pictures.









The above picture shows the back of the house with the day light basement which faces the West. The part the juts out will be our breakfast room on the 1st floor.

The Framing in the Basement is done!

Big news! We're be placing the floor joists this coming week. On to the 1st floor!!!!

Basement walls

The daylight part of the basement is all framed in! And most of the basement interior walls are done... I think just a few small walls left!

The floor joists for the 1st floor will be delivered today. That's the next step.

Framing has begun!

Yes... this is a momentus event! Our first framed in wall in the basement!

Now... what did I do with my camera? Hmmm... OK... pictures forthcoming!

Sewer and water connected...

Moving forward...
We now have the sewer and city water connected to the house.

Got some lumber that'll be delivered tomorrow. Let the framing begin!

Basement floor all done!

Well, below you'll find lots of pictures from the cement pour of the basement floor.

We rented the pump truck again and some power tools for cement work. But... it was still a lot of work!!! But, by mid-afternoon, it was all done. Thanks for many helping hands and lots of sweat!

The floor came out really nice.

Next step is framing. Today, we're heading to Billings, MT for some fun and to order the beams and specially manufactured wood for the floors and roof at a place called BCI.

It's all done. Just the curing left!!! And then there was a basement floor!
another picture by Toni

Grandpa and his sons... John in the middle and Richard on the right.
another picture by Toni

This was a lot... a lot... of work. Thanks John!
another picture by Toni

another picture by Toni

Grandma and Nephew Joe.
another picture by Toni

another picture by Toni

In comes the power trowel. When John first started this thing up... it whipped him around. Pretty powerful! What a nice finish to the cement.
another picture by Toni

More smoothing out.
another picture by Toni

This was such a cool picture... just had to take it. This gentleman ran the pump truck with the controllers you see to the left of him. It's amazing how precisely he is able to control the cement flow through the pump truck!
another picture by Toni

Thanks Cal!
another picture by Toni

More edge smoothing!
another picture by Toni

Be careful Lyman!
another picture by Toni

Smoothing out the edges.
another picture by Toni

another picture by Toni

another picture by Toni

More helpers arrive!
another picture by Toni

another picture by Toni

Thanks for your help guys!
another picture by Toni

Boy did this machine save us a lot of work!
another picture by Toni

another picture by Toni

a close up look.
another picture by Toni

more work in the middle. Grandpa is working the power screed.
another picture by Toni

Smoothing out the cement after the pour... part 1
another picture by Toni

Now the middle.
another picture by Toni

another picture by Toni

The pouring of the basement floor begins! In the background is the pump truck.
another picture by Toni

All the braces are down...

All the braces are down. That took a while to do. Matthew was a good helper for Dad... stacking all the 2x4s and all.

Tomorrow is another BIG day...
We pour the basement floor tomorrow... first thing in the morning.
The pump truck will be here at 7amish... followed by the cement truck... and hopefully lots of helpers...

Rich and I were snapping chalk lines around the basement walls to indicate how high to pour.

All done! Whew! No blow-outs!
another picture by Toni

Finishing up. This is a close up view of the top of the forms. Look at the beautiful, snow covered mountains in the background!
another picture by Toni

3rd and final time around!
another picture by Toni

Rich's Dad is doing the finishing work and putting in the anchor bolts.
another picture by Toni

Waiting the the next load of cement to be filled into the hopper of the pump truck.
another picture by Toni

Rich is filling the forms. First time around 1/3...
another picture by Toni

This is the pump truck.
another picture by Toni

Foundation all DONE!

Boy was having that pump truck great! It was worth every penny!

The whole pour was done within a few hours. Then a couple more hours to do the finish work which included setting anchor bolts.

I took lots of pictures. I'll try to get them posted today.

But for now... I'm starving! Nothing like a slinging some mud to build up an appetite!

The next big step...

Tomorrow for my 40th birthday... we are pouring the cement for our foundation. YEAH!
We've rented a concrete pump to make the job a little easier.

Stay tuned for more pictures! Oh.. and if you wouldn't mind keeping us in your prayers... that would be good too! (smiles!)

My dear husband, Richard. House builder... cement worker... framer... ???
another picture by Toni

Corner of the south wall.
another picture by Toni

All braced up and ready for the cement pour TOMORROW!
another picture by Toni

Walls back up!

On Saturday we got the long East wall forms (for the basement) back up. What a project! Because the forms interlock like leggos... part of the South and North wall forms also had to be dismantled.

Today we put the West short wall form back together... and got most of the bracing done. We were racing against the impending storm with hail and tornado warnings heavy on our minds!

Luckily the storm passed over us with brisk winds and some rain. We were pretty much soaked by the time we finished the last of the bracing.

The cement pump is scheduled for my birthday... June 13nth!

On Wednesday (Rich's birthday!) we had a storm that included rain, hail, and a great gust of wind.

We were working on bracing our basement forms (for the cement pour)... but hadn't finished. Down came the rain.. and nickel sized hail... and then a great gust of wind knocked down our forms on the long East wall and short West wall.

We worked all day yesterday breaking down these walls and piling the styrofoam blocks in piles of good, usuable, and broken... Today we will rebuild those walls. Unfortunately... rebuilding means that part of the good walls must be dismantled because these foam blocks fit together like leggos in a pyramid fashion.

Please pray for light... soft... gentle wind while we get this up and braced!

This ladder looking thingy goes on top of the forms to stabalize them.
another picture by Toni

Wind damage from the hail storm on 6/1/05. A great gust of wind blew down our basement cement forms on the short West wal and long East wall...
another picture by Toni

The view facing West with the mountains in the background... on the right side is a huge dirt pile from digging out the basement.
another picture by Toni

Below are some long awaited pictures!

We're almost done putting together the forms for the basement walls. They will be 8 feet tall when done and braced to the hilt!!!

We've been having some wind problems... The wind can be strong here in the Spring and we've had wind damage to our forms more than several times... unfortunately.

The boys got out of school last week (May 25th) and have been helping Daddy every day while I have been working on my business.

From atop a huge dirt pile looking North toward our Russin Olive forest.
another picture by Toni

The forms will go up 8 feet high!
another picture by Toni

The forms are half way up! This is the view from the back of he house.
another picture by Toni

So what happens when 2 geminis...

attempt to fortify the foundation forms?

One gemini (the female version... me!) gets stuck in the house pit because the male gemini left no escape route!

Forms being put together for the foundation!
another picture by Toni

Forms continue to go up...

OK, it's beginning to look like something! The foundation forms are in process. They're actually going up pretty fast.

We're back at it again...

It's so time to get going again!!!!

So... last week we were down the property measuring and measuring... deciding where the marks should go... because the next step is to put up the forms for the basement walls!

Got all the marking done (in pencil)... then it rained and snowed for 4 days... markings all gone!

The snow has melted... the winds have calmed down... clear skies...

Back we go to redo the measuring and marking... in permanent marker this time. Also put down the chalk lines... may have to redo that again.

OK... now to pray for less wind so that we can get the forms together for the basement walls.

More later!

Finished with the pit run...

Earlier this week, Richard finished distributing the rock and gravel (pit run). It is about a foot thick covering the dirt within the footings.

We just received the stuff (that's a very technical word!) to build the basement walls. But before that gets put together we must measure and mark the footings for where the walls will go.

The work continues...

Strip off the wood supports from the footings... remove all the nails...

Loads and loads of rock and gravel...

Next task:
Distribute rock and gravel inside of footings. Rich has already started on this huge task.

The boys, our niece Jennifer (age 8), and I were helping with this. We decided to pay the kids to help. They each earned enough to buy their way into movies to see Sponge Bob.

Footings finished!

Finished the rest of the footings today. Actually, we were done shortly after noon.

It went much smoother this time because we weren't worried about the footings blowing out.

What a nice day for cement work. It's about 60.

We had a little extra cement left over... so we ran down to our little house and put in part of a walk way to my back door. We'll finish that off in one of the next pours.

What a joy it will be not to have all that mud and dirt tracked into the house by the kiddos.

The Cement truck comes...

Oh my goodness...
Yesterday the cement truck came at 1pm. We were still putting together the footing that runs down the middle of the house....(thought we could get it done before 1pm!).

We poured the cement for the footings on the East and part of the South side of the house...
Helped came just in a nick of time to help us brace the forms... need I say more?

I could barely get out of bed this morning I am so sore and achy from yesterday! I'm not used to all that manual labor!

Today...
Brace... brace... brace... brace... the forms...

Lessons.

• Brace forms really good! Those wooden stakes are useless! (At least the ones we used!)
• Have the cement truck bring less than 12 yards the first pour... Brace the forms...
• Next time, if there is... a next time... or if anyone asks... Hire someone to do the cement work! Oh, did I mention... Brace the forms really good?

Our new house...

Here's what it will look like!

http://www.williampooledesigns.com/SearchEngine/results_Plans.asp?ID=187

Footing casings are level

Rich has spent the last couple days leveling out the footing casings. We're using this neat Form-A-Drain stuff.

I was joking with Rich the other day that he was just playing with big leggos. The forms go together really easily.

The plan is to order cement this week for the footings!