Reach for the Skyyyyyyy

Our house with the ramp back filled in.  It sure looks like it is resting on the foundation, but it is about 1" too high.  The northwest corner is resting on the sill plate though.  That was the low point of the house

Here is the house all tared up (good job Sandi)

We got all of the gravel we think we need inside for the radon system, so now it's time to close the wall up.

A shot of Liam (almost 5) giving a look of do I really have to be in the picture Daddy?

On July 3, we had a taring and wire cutting party. (Thanks so much Mom & Dad, Lorri & Becca)  We tared the walls that were done, as well as cut out all of the exposed wiring that was under the house.  See an earlier post for a picture of the rats nest that was there.  Sandi and I had gone back and fourth about trying to use the upstairs wire while we were working downstairs, but it just looked to dangerous.

A section of finished wall.  It sure looks great.

One of the 4 holes for a slider window, 48"x48".  It sure looks a lot bigger than I drew it up.

With the blocks in the hole, the masons have something to work with.  This is where block really shines.  Every block that he set is plumb and level, which means my wall is plumb and level.  Also, working around the cribbing is tight in some spaces, but I can't imagine how you would do form walls and expect to get them out.  Here was the first days progress.  Just about as high as you want to go standing on the ground.  After that, it will be on scaffolding. 

 

The first truck is here to deliver blocks.  90 blocks to a cube, 7 cubes delivered.  This guy never came back, our contractor picked up the rest on his trailer.  It was pretty slick watching him pick up all of the blocks, and drop them right where we wanted, all from remote control.  I guess playing video games as a kid might not have been such useless waste of time after all? :-)

The blurry shot you see here is the makeshift bridge that was constructed to get gravel over the footing and into the basement.  In the end, there will be about 8" of gravel for our radon system, lousy naturally occurring radiation.

Thanks for the intro Woody. (Toy Story)

Getting the house (blog) back on schedule.  Last time we were at footings.  Since then, we have watched block being laid, tar being applied, wire being cut, and gravel being poured.