July 7th - Pouring the Floor

So the floor is finally going in.
Here is a series of videos showing the activity for putting in the basement floor

Up to date view of the rear of the house

So the wall of the addition is complete and Jose has back filled the hole. We finally have level ground again in the back.

We decided to change the plans a bit and move the entrance to the basement. The media room in the basement was going to be to small based on the original design. So we basically flipped the doorway to the other side of the beam line adding an extra 3 feet in width to the future room.

How does the tubing actually work?

Here is Steve giving us a good description of the radiant tubing along with a quick explanation of the basement ejector pit

Putting in the radiant heat in the basement

Here is a video describing how the radiant heat system gets installed in the basement before the concrete is poured.

- You get to meet Bob Grubbs and Steve Linksy, the mechanical contractors. As you can see the have a great sense of humor

What's up with all the sand?

So I was asked why is there so much sand, normally you would expect to see dirt.

It is my understanding that Lake Michigan, way back when, actually went all the way to Ashalnd Avenue, which is west of the house. As the lake receded sand was left behind.

It is actually a really good thing. Sand is a great material to build on. It compacts very quickly and very tightly, this explains why the house is so level after all these years. The sand, so long as it remains "contained", will not shift vs plain dirt which can take a long time to become fully compacted.

New Addition Walls

Here is a video of the new wall. It was just poured yesterday. This really gives you an idea of how large the addition will be.

The basement floor will be going in this week and framing starts on Monday

Digging Out the Back

So the addition is underway. Here is a video showing the addition being dug out.