Excellent Tanning Opportunity

Yesterday (I'm breaking with my normal habit of back-dating posts to the day of the work) was a big day for radiant heat. I had never considered the difficulty of laying reflective foil-backed insulation on the ground on a really hot August day. You know how rich people on TV and Klinger from MASH use tri-fold foil boards held under their chin to tan more effectively? Imagine a 1988 square foot one of those.

Blood: check; Sweat: check; Tears: still several months to go. We (dad, Jim, and I) did succeed in getting all the insulation placed, and all seven circuits of Pex tubing laid out. Then we covered them with tarps to prevent direct sunlight, which I hear can degrade the oxygen barrier on the tubing. The foam stapler I rented from Washington (which you can see leaning against the wall in the foreground) worked like a charm. It was light-weight and easy to use, and did a pretty good job securing the tubing to the insulation. The alternative would have been to buy wire mesh and tie the tubing to it using zip ties, which I think would have taken longer, and surely would have been more expensive.

In the late afternoon, after crawling around on the foil while stapling tubing, I began to feel very weak and somewhat light-headed. As the youngest of the group and the owner of the project, I felt bad heading home while Jim and dad stayed to work in the heat on my house, but I really thought it would be best if I didn't pass out and/or die. I laid on the AC vent for about an hour, and Emily got me a popsicle. At one point I tried to sit up against the wall, but got simultaneous cramps in both my stomach and back, and felt that I couldn't move in any direction. I eventually made it back, but felt very weak the rest of the night. Today I continued to feel queasy and week, and thought my no-vomit streak might be in danger (March 2002). After some googling, I'm pretty sure I had heat exhaustion. Streak still alive so far.

The Dingo and the Vibratory Compactor

On my way to the equipment rental place in Jim's truck, Jason's brother called me (not sure why Jason didn't) to say that the gravel guys now said they could come on Monday. Too little, too late.

Here is a picture of dad operating the Dingo. He seemed to really enjoy it. He moved many, many buckets full of gravel to the spare gravel pile at the back corner of the garage, then dug out the extra dirt the excavation guys put in the porch area where the ramp should go, then did quite a bit of work grading the driveway area and filling in the front. The gravel part took longer than the first four hours of the rental, which meant we could keep it until 9:30 tomorrow morning. Even in the area where we could dig with the Dingo because of pipes, it was still very useful as a power wheelbarrow.

When we did finally get enough gravel moved out, and the remainder mostly leveled back out, I started laying out the insulation panels. I found that because I had raked the gravel to level it out, that left the surface very jagged, which made a lot of air space below the insulation. I walked on a couple pieces, and heard gravel popping through the foil on the other side with every step.

During our dinner break we decided to rent a vibratory compactor to squish the gravel. Jim came over after work to help out, and seemed to also have a lot of fun running the compactor. It made an amazing difference, as you can see in the picture the contrast between the rough, uncompacted areas and the areas he had already covered. By dark we laid out all of the whole pieces of insulation we could. Tomorrow we'll return the rental equipment, fit the rest of the insulation, and start laying out the tubing.

Arrrrrg! Too Much Gravel

I took a half day off today to start laying out the radiant floor heating system, and dad came to help. Imagine my dismay when I discovered upon arriving home that the gravel guys, instead of filling to 5.5" below the foundation wall like I asked them to at least three times, filled right up to the top of the interior footings, leaving no room at all for the 1.5" insulation that's supposed to go below the slab floor. I left two messages for Jason, and finally called the guy at the gravel company directly. He says he didn't hear about the 5.5" until they were halfway done. If so, why did he keep doing it wrong? He says all of his guys are now gone on four-day weekends, and he can't have anybody come fix it until next Wednesday. Having already taken a vacation day for tomorrow, and having dad here to help, that just won't do. And with the slab pour scheduled for Wednesday, I can't afford to waste the three solid working days between now and then.

Since there didn't seem to be any help coming, dad and I headed over with shovels and the wheelbarrow to start removing the 1.5" of extra gravel across the entire floor. We started by digging down 30" along the wall between the mud room and garage where the gravel guys allowed some gravel to get behind the wall insulation, leaving a dead space behind the insulation. After we fixed that problem, we started in the entry way, removing several wheelbarrow loads, and seemingly barely making a dent. It's amazing how many loads it takes to go down a tiny 1.5 inches.

We worked until dark. Rather, we worked until the wheel on the wheelbarrow became completely inoperable, which was almost at dark. With several man hours already spent on this unplanned project, and so little of it done, I left a message for Jason letting him know that if he can't send someone first thing in the morning to help dig us out, that I'm going to go rent whatever equipment I need to do it, and I'll expect whatever the rental amount is off of my bill.

Welcome to Garage Lake

We passed the temporary power inspection this morning (finally), and the interior footings are done.

The excavation guys must not have scheduled a sewer inspection for today, but they did leave a hose running on the garage for what looks like quite some time. When I got home around 7:00, it was overflowing into the sewer trench, which was quickly filling up. With the way the clay here absorbs water, we may need to look into opening a water park instead of a house.

Utilities Connected

Today the excavation guys got sewer and water lines connected and a conduit buried for the power. The water line is buried to the left of the sewer line shown in the picture. They also mostly completed the backfill of the overdig, but can't finish up in front of the garage until the sewer connection passes inspection.

Interior footings are scheduled for tomorrow, as is an inspection on the temporary power pedestal. Hopefully the third time is the charm. I told Jason that they could piggy-back with either the power or footing inspections for the sewer.

Utility connections part I, rough plumbing part II

Today was a big day, but not the kind that results in dozens of cubic yards of cement, or 275 tons of gravel. It took one trip to Standard Plumbing and multiple other trips to Home Depot after Standard closed, but Jim got the plumbing for under the slab completed. In the picture you can see several vertical things, including (from left to right in the front of the house) a toilet drain, a tall vent from the main line, a sink drain and vent for the bathroom, a floor drain for the pantry, the disguise pipe for the copper water supply, and the main sewer trunk that runs upstairs. In the foreground you can see the black drain for the sink on the kitchen island, as well as three conduits for electricity and cold and hot water. That's Jim with the shovel.

The excavation guys also came today and dug trenches for the sewer, water, and electric connections. They got the sewer hooked up, but were suprised to find a copper water supply line, for which they did not have the proper connections. They also didn't have conduit for the power line. They filled in part of the porch and back-filled part way around the outside of the house, but they can't really get to the garage to fill it until they fill the trenches for sewer and water in front of the garage. They'll be back Monday to finish all of that. Here's Lydia in front of the digging of the trench for the power line.

First round of fill in place

The guys came today to put in the first layer of gravel, up to 14" below the foundation wall. That leaves 4" for the slab and 10" for interior footings. Around the footings we'll use another 8" of gravel and 2" of insulation for the radiant floor. Here you can see the gravel guy with the controller at his waist shooting the gravel into the hole from behind the kitchen.

There were what I think were two eagles circling above in the dust could while the gravel guys were there. I tried to get pictures, but my camera phone only showed indistinguishable dots in the solid blue sky. No zoom capability.

I decided to go with option #2 from below for the insulation. I cut the top at about a 60 degree angle all around the family room, living room, and office, in case we ever want to attach tack strips in those places.

Here's the whole place from the corner of the mud room after the gravel was done. At the front you can see my hastily-assembled box for the elevator pit.

Damp-proofing and Elevator Box

This morning Emily had to be at the hospital by 9:30 for surgery, and the fill was supposed to come at 12:00, which meant I had to get a box built to retain the gravel around the elevator pit and act as the forms for the slab. I charged up the air compressor in the garage, took all the junky scraps of plywood I had in the garage, and slapped them together enough to work (hopefully).

While we were at the hospital, the guy who Derik recommended for damp-proofing came by and sprayed tar around the foundation wall. This is something I probably could have done myself, but it was obviously sprayed on, which must have gone quickly, and he only charges $0.25 per sq ft. I decided it's worth paying someone.

It turns out the gravel didn't come today. They had truck problems, and got behind, so they'll come tomorrow morning. Since Jim is leaving town for a funeral, it looks like we won't be ready for footings on Thursday like I hoped.

Foundation Insulation, Temporary Power, and Underground Plumbing Phase I

Dad came up this morning and helped me install foamboard insulation inside the foundation wall everywhere except the two elevator shaft walls, where the insulation goes on the outside so it doesn't interfere with the 12" pit. Stock and Colonial both wanted $35 for a 2" 4'x8' sheet of R10 foamboard, but I got these for $19 at Home Depot.

It was so windy this morning that when I tried to load the foamboard into the van, the wind caught one of them and snapped it in half. I decided to cut them into thirds inside the garage, then take the smaller, more manageable pieces over. The tallest foundation walls were supposed to be 30", so 32" should give us a margin for error, as well as a couple inches to snap off after we scored them along the top of the wall. The form ties sticking out of the walls were pretty easy to just punch through the foam, and held the stuff in place pretty well. With the tops trimmed off we didn't even need the adhesive stuff except on small pieces that didn't have a foundation tie to punch through.

Now I just have to decide in the next few days how to do the floor edges. Here are the options:
1. Leave the 2" of foam exposed and just pour the slab inside it. This provides the best insulation of the options, and would work fine for tile and floating or glued laminate or engineered floors, but doesn't leave a place to attach a tack strip or nail down a wood floor. This is also the easiest and cheapest option.
2. Cut the foam down at at least a 45 degree angle from the top of the wall to allow the slab to touch the wall at the top. This might be slightly better for attaching a tack strip, but doesn't fix the nailing problem for wood floors. This is the next easiest option, and still cheap.
3. Use a base plate 2" wider on the wall framing, hang it out over the top of the insulation, and pour the slab 1.5" higher, inside the base plate. We would still need a plate above the slab level for drywall and baseboards, so we would either have to block it all in or use a double plate. That means the cost of pressure-treated 2x8 around the entire foundation, plus an extra 1.5" of fill. It would be perfect for tack strips and nailing wood floors, but only around the outside of the floor. Hyrum said he normally uses the slab for some process I didn't understand when setting the base plate, but this would have to be in place before the slab, which would be harder. This sounds like the most expensive and most labor-intensive option.
4. Cut the foam down 3.5" all the way around and attached pressure-treated 2x4 along the top of the wall. This wouldn't require anything different for framing, but would require a tool to nail into concrete that I don't have and that Hyrum can't loan me until next weekend. This would be cheaper than 2x8, and wouldn't require any extra fill, so it seems better than option 3.

We also chalked a line around the inside of the foam 14" down from the top for the first layer of gravel, except in the elevator shaft where we need to be 24" down.

Hyrum came up and installed the temporary power pedestal. I didn't seem much of the process, but it seemed very quick. I'll call first thing Monday to schedule an inspection for it.

Jim also came to do the rest of the sub rough plumbing up to 14" below the foundation wall. He connected more 4" pipe to the sewer drain under the porch footings and ran it in 16' to the wall between the office closet and the pantry, then up above where the slab surface will be. Then he and Hyrum and I (mostly Jim and Hyrum) dug another trench under the porch for the water supply. We inserted a 1.5" sleeve that we will run the 1" copper pipe through immediatly before the fill comes, because we don't want it stolen. I emailed the building inspector to ask if the copper needs to be in place to inspect it, and if the sewer needs to be filled with water for testing.

We talked about whether to install a bucket for a future sump pump, and where to locate it and drain it to. We considered the floor of the elevator, but I would have to check with the engineers at the Elevator Company, and since that's also acting as the footing for the walls around the shaft, it might not work. We also didn't want to dig another trench under the porch to drain it. We decided it would probably be best to put it in the pantry, then run the drain out the back where the foundation wall is lowered for the dining room wall. It will need to be deep enough to reach below the elevator pit, since that would be the first place water would appear.

My next task will be to build a box around the elevator slab that will hold the gravel outside the pit back, act as the form for the pad, then act as a form for the outside of the wall around the pit that we'll pour at the same time as the floor slab.

Foundation Walls Done!

The foundation guys finished setting the forms this morning, the mud came at 11:00, and they stripped the forms this afternoon. I talked with Omar this morning to make sure they blocked out all the doors (they missed the garage door), and asked him to block out the entire dining room wall in preparation for when we're rich enough to punch out the wall and replace it with a sliding glass partition wall.

The only possible issue I see is the column dimensions on the side of the porch. It looks like they didn't count the thickness of the foundation wall when they laid out the columns, and they ended up 8" too thick, probably intruding into the 10' sewer easement.

It is very exciting to walk around inside actual walls and imagine the spacing of the house. This project has been very long already, and it's a relief to finally have something concrete (pun intended) to look at.

I emailed Derek about a couple ideas for making the elevator shaft taller, and the possibility of doing a second rear elevation with the deck added.

Foundation Forms Mostly Set

I met with Derik this morning while his crew was beginning to lay out the foundation forms. I walked around with him and Omar as them measured stuff and marked wall heights on the footings. We also talked about blocking out the doorways, so the slab can be poured into the opening. That will avoid the problem of being able to see the rough top of the foundation wall under the threshold between the porch and inside floor. I made sure we were on the same page about the porch wall height so the porch cap would end up the same level as the slab, so there won't be a step, and about having the wall across the front of the ramp the same height as the rest of the porch, so the ramp will be hidden.

We talked about the patio height. I am more convinced now that we'll have to have the balcony above the patio if we want it at the same height as the dining room floor.

It looks like they haven't quite finished setting all the forms yet, and it looks like they forgot to block out for the garage door. And I forgot to mention the plan for the glass partition wall on the back of the dining room, so I left Derik a message about those things.

Engineered Fill vs Gravel

I emailed Eric at Farmington City to ask for a definition of "engineered fill", and he said it's anything that comes from a gravel pit that has a Proctor number. I stopped at Lakeview Rock Products on the way home tonight to find out what a Proctor number is and to see if I could get enough answers to decide between using engineered fill and just using gravel. Turns out a Proctor number is a rating of compactibility.

The least expensive compactible material is 4" bank run, which is $5.35 per ton. The cheapest gravel, which doesn't have to be compacted, is $9.30 per ton. I figured out the volume we'll need for the first round of fill, and calculated it would cost about $1000 more for gravel. However, the other fill would have to be compacted every eight inches, and would have to have compaction tested every eight inches, which would be slow and cost a lot in labor, likely eating away any savings. Since gravel is preferable for drainage and for placement time, and doesn't appear to be significantly more expensive, I think we'll go that way.

Permit Issued, Footings Done, Sewer Pipe Installed

This morning I met Kenley, the footings guy, at the lot at 7:00, and gave him the previous version of the foundation plan and lot layout to get started setting the forms. Then I headed over to the city to pay for the building permit, then back to the lot to give Kenley the updated copy of the plans.

I noticed that the footings seemed to be set back a bit from where Hyrum and I had staked the position of the front of the house. It turns out he had measured from 6" behind the sidewalk, but the actual property line is at the sidewalk. It looked like they didn't quite have half of the forms placed yet, and he said he could move them forward. The back yard space is going to be precious.

Kenley called in the late morning to warn me that because the excavation wasn't level, the forms were sitting up to 8" off the ground in some places, and would require extra cement. When he called he said he was already 5 yards heavy.

The footing forms inspection was scheduled for 12:30, and must have passed, because they poured in the afternoon. Here's a picture of the pumper truck.

I met Jim to talk about scheduling the sub rough plumbing, and although he had been at work since 1:30 AM because of a plumbing emergency, he decided it would be best to punch through the soft(ish) bottom of the footings under the forms to put the sewer pipe through, rather than wait until it was completely cured. We ran to Home Depot and bought a digging bar, a 10' long 4" pipe, and some duct tape to cover the ends. Then back to the house where Jonah and Sawyer and I helped him install it. The picture shows Sawyer, Jonah, and Jim all demonstrating how strong they are.

Here is Jonah "tracing" the footings (his word for doing laps), and Sawyer following him.

Building Permit Approved, Concrete Tomorrow!

I got a voice mail this morning from Sue at Farmington City saying there were just two more issues on the lot layout that needed to be resolved, then the permit could be issued. One was the label for the floor height needing to be 4223', which I talked about with Ken at the city last month, and he agreed it could be 4222.54, which it is. It turns out he had checked that one off, but Sue didn't notice.

The other issue was that we needed to show the detail on the lot layout for a water retention area. I made it to the office just before closing time, and Ken helped me sketch it in along the Northeast corner of the lot. We just drew some curvy lines to indicate berms 40' along the back and 20' along the East side, then labeled it as 1' deep. Presto, building permit approved.

It turns out Farmington City doesn't accept credit cards, so this major purchase won't help get us to Tahiti. It also means we have to either get a whole bunch of cash or a check, neither of which I had with me, and there was no time before closing to figure a way to get either. We can't afford to wait for a draw from the bank before getting the permit and scheduling the footings, so I plan to use a "convenience" check that will put it on the credit card account, but won't earn us any reward points. Citi says there won't be a balance transfer fee for this check, which I hope holds true.

Derik also called this afternoon to check on the permit status. It turns out their project in Eden is not going quite as planned, and they wanted to start our footings tomorrow instead of Wednesday. With the permit verbally approved, they went ahead and added us to the schedule.

Verbal Approval from the Building Inspector

Eric at Farmington City called this morning to let me know that all the changes he requested on the plans looked like they had been made satisfactorily. All that's left is for Ken the zoning guy to approved the changes on the lot layout, then we can get started.

Re-application for Building Permit

I emailed Derek last night to let him know we were ready to re-apply for the building permit, and he called me this morning to let me know he had sent the plans to the printer last night. He dropped them off at his house at lunch time, and Emily made a trip to Layton to pick them up. Since she was working around tutoring, 4-H, and nap times, she was cutting it close to get back with the plans before the city office closed. I met her there just before 5:00 and made it official. Eric said it would be about a week.

I called Derik the foundation guy, and he added us to the schedule for next Wedesday.

Excavation Done and Approved

I met Mark Christensen, the soil engineer at 8:00 this morning at the lot to check the excavation. Somebody from the excavation company was there too, but I didn't catch his name. Mark thought the clay was okay, but there were a lot of teeth marks from the excavator that he said we needed to remove. He also observed the roots in the Southeast corner and said we needed to take out six more inches. And he confirmed we did need to remove all the stuff in the middle where the interior footings go, but not necessarily the garage part. I decided to take the risk of leaving the stuff in the garage so we won't have to bring in as much fill.

The excavation guy let me drive the thing for a couple minutes. There was a lever for the left tread and another for the right. It was pretty simple to steer, both to go straight, one or the other to turn. I didn't try any digging.

After the extra digging was done I called Mark and he came back and approved the hole. He'll email the stamped approval letter tomorrow morning so we can re-apply for the permit.

Excavation Issues

We left for Bear Lake Friday with the understanding that the excavation would be done on Saturday. We got back tonight, and there is a hole in the ground, but it doesn't look like I expected it to. The perimeter is excavated, but there are still buttes in the middle of the garage and the middle of the house. I thought we agreed to remove everything from the whole footprint. I also see what looks like root fibers in a few places, which I don't think is allowed. I left a message for Jason.