12/1 - Foundation Walls

Saturday we spent the day cleaning the gutters, raking the leaves and tilling them into the garden at our old house. We had to get the outside work done before winter set in in earnest. It was not fun chipping the frozen leaves out of the gutters. They came out in chunks of ice a quarter of an inch thick. Once this was all done we headed up to check on progress on the new house. We were hoping to leave earlier, but the work needed to be done.

Darkness fell as we drove the twenty minutes. As we drove up to the house site, we could see foundation walls! With the headlights illuminating the site, we took a few pictures and and then headed back home.

West end of south basement wall.

The foundation and basement walls that will be below grade are Superior Walls. These are insulated, pre-cast concrete walls. They brought them in on a truck, used a crane to set them on the pea gravel in the footing trenches and then they were bolted together. The walls are almost a foot thick.

North end of east basement wall.

There will be a steel beam running down the center of the basement to hold up the floor trusses for the main floor. They placed small concrete pads on top of pea gravel. The posts that will support the beam go on top of these pads.
Post Support Pads

Our builder was concerned about the gravel freezing before everything settles, so he covered the footings with tarps.

Jim covering footings.