The Lego Basement

We went out to the acreage to see if there was any progress since our last visit.  The weather here has been terrible as winter tries to maintain its hold on us.  Tons of snow and cold temperatures over the last week left us feeling that any progress from our last visit was unlikely.  However, much to our surprise, as we drove up to the lot, we saw that there had been activity.  We were shocked to see the "lego basement" walls up and the footings poured.

A traditional cement basement is constructed by cribbers who use plywood to create a form within which cement is poured for the basement walls.  Once the concrete has set the plywood forms are removed leaving the concrete walls on top of the concrete footings.  We chose to build an ICF basement after discussing the benefits of this approach with the president of Green Living Homes, Arnie Gable.  Arnie has been a joy to work with and really makes us feel that he wants to build us a beautiful house.

An ICF basement (Insulated Concrete Forms) consist of blocks of styrofoam that are hollow in the middle.  The block is held together with plastic struts.  See picture below.

The blocks are stacked one on top the other to form a wall on top of the footings.  Rebar is laid in the hollow and rests on the plastic struts.  Once the lego wall is completed then the cement can be poured into the hollow space in the wall.

Once the cement sets, the styrofoam is left in place to provide a well insulated basement that is supposed to be much warmer than the traditional cement basement.  

The cement still remains to be poured in the lego walls but we suspect that will happen any day now.  Here are some pictures of the finished lego basement.

Well that is all for now.  Needless to say, today was an exciting day!!  Stay tuned for more updates.

Les and Sandy

Footing Forms

Nothing too exciting in this update :(

We didn't make it out to Fuller Heit's today but Sandy's Mom and Dad (affectionately known as Muti and Vati) went out to see what was new.    Sandy's Mom took some photos of the footing forms being constructed today.  So we continue to see progress.  Hopefully the footings will be poured this weekend.  We are expecting cold temperatures and snow tonight and tomorrow.

Vati and Muti knew the fellow working on the forms.  He was a framer that they had used previously on one of their house builds and has worked quite a bit with the builder we are using.  They say he is known for putting together a very well framed house.

The hole in the ground seemed so huge but now we can see the extent of the house foundation.  Clearly the excavation left lots of room for weeping tile and backfill.

Keep checking in.  I will try to keep this blog up to date so you can see this house begin to take shape.

Take care,

Les and Sandy

Hole in the Ground

March 11th, 2013

The basement has been dug!!  We went out after work and saw that Fuller Heits has changed again.  I cannot believe how much soil (NOT dirt!) was taken out of the excavation.

The soils consist of 2 types of glacial till.  A medium to moderately fine textured till with quite a number of cobbles overlying a moderately fine to fine textured till at about 3 foot depth.  The underlying till has fragments of coal and relatively low coarse fragment content.  Should be a good material for supporting a house.  However there was a pocket of fine sand at the front of the basement.  The surficial soils were gleyed Gray Luvisols.  Very typical of this mixed wood boreal forest on glacial till.  The basement was dug in a slight depression; hence the gleying.

Here are a few pictures.

Sandy standing in her new basement.

That is not where the stairs are supposed to go!!

A Gleyed Gray Luvisol on Glacial Till.  What a beautiful work of art!! 

Piles of soil everywhere!!  The orange tarps are to keep the underlying materials from freezing where the footing will be poured tomorrow.

I can't believe how big this hole in the ground is.  I have to remember that it includes three extra feet around the footings to allow for weeping tile and backfilling.  We shall see if the footings are poured tomorrow.

This is quite an experience for me.  First time ever designing and building a house.  This is Sandy's FIFTH house that she has built.  She has never lived in a house that she has not built, except as a child. The Heit's seem to be recreational house builders.  They sure love a house build.  I can see why.

Take care,

Les and Sandy

First Blog

Well I decided to venture into the wonderful world of blogging.  I will use this forum to track the building of our new house on our acreage we call "Fuller Heits".

We have contracted a builder called "Green Living Homes".  This builder has been in the business of building new homes for a long time but has recently started this new company to promote the building of energy efficient homes with "green certified" materials and processes.  So far we have been very impressed.

After a long delay in obtaining the right builder we finally have seen some action on our acreage this last week.  On March 7th, the heavy equipment arrived to start clearing snow and trees from our building site on the lot.  Needless to say we were very excited to finally see some progress after much planning over the last year.

Here is the unit that pulled in on Thursday morning (March 7th)

I think I should have one of these machines!!  Very cool.

Sandy applauds as the hoe moves onto Fuller Heits.

The John Deer Hoe at work.

Fuller Heits at completion of clearing and staking.

The next step is digging the basement.  Hopefully that will happen today (March 11th).

Stay tuned for updates.