6 AM - still dark - Sam Pickenpaugh - General Manager of Vulcan Materials - made sure his concrete delivery was perfect. They say it is a big deal when he comes along.
Sunset came around 8 PM. The slab was done. No one got to carve their name in it. the workmen already removed the forms. I will pressure wash the 2 x 12 from boards this weekend and they will be used to frame the house. They are brand new spruce and we re-cycle them. Note the camper van in the background. That is another story.
Friday was a busy day. We were at the construction site well before 7 AM. It was still a little dark and the crescent moon was bright and directly overhead. Robert Norton's concrete crew was all ready to go in their mud boots with their trowels and shovels. They would do the hard work of moving this mud around to makes sure every cranny was filled.
The weather was perfect - not a cloud in the sky. The sun was still far east - not even in the tops of the pine trees. We were supposed to have rain during the night but not a drop fell. It was predicted that we have a 5 hour window to do the deed.
The trucks from Vulcano Materials started to arrive right away and kept coming - 9 in all - until around noon the footers and floor were complete. The workers asked me who did I know. Sam Pickenpaugh - general manager of Vulcan was there for the pour. Usually he send one of his lieutenants - but when Gary wants concrete- usually Sam comes along with the deal. Gary has been buying his mud there for longer than he can remember. Lulu and chuckled - because my Mom grew up in a small coal patch town called Vulcan. It was a pretty rough place of 20 old company houses near the mine entrance. As I re-call they did not have indoor plumbing there until 1958. So Vulcan is in the family.
Sam is very proud that Vulcan Material that gotten the Green Start rating from NRMCA - National Ready Mix Concrete Association. It means they are good to the environment - they recycle all their water. For this job - they sent all of their new "front pouring" trucks. The chute comes out right over the driver's head so he can deliver the concrete to the exact spot. Robert's men like that - not that it makes their job any easier - but it allows them to perform their craft with speed and precision.
During the big pour - Travis Jones - of Big Bend Roof Truss came by to review our roof truss order. Our trusses will be 60 feet long when installed. The will span the entire house and porches. the trusses must be manufacture to the new Florida Hurricane Law - they must be able to survive 150 MPH winds - like those in Andrew. The trusses are made with 2 x 6 lumber and tons of metal connectors. They are pressed together at the factory. When they are installed - they are strapped to the steel anchor bolts installed in the foundation.
All along I thought the attic was going to have a 15 foot ceiling peak. But Travis said the plans call for a flat 9 foot ceiling in the attic. This makes the truss even stronger with more "triangles." So above the attic ceiling will be a "mini - attic" with another 6 foot peak. The attic "box" with be a 20 feet by 9 feet x 60 foot box. The floor will be plywood - the sides and top will be liquid foam insulation - like an igloo. Lulu said we can hold square dances up there. The trusses will be every 16 inches to be able to support a 40 foot open span over the living room - kitchen - dining room - open area. No other supports required. The trusses will be tied together with a 3/4 inch thick plywood roof deck and a 3/4 inch plywood floor deck - all tongue and groove. What a tangent that paragraph was.
It was easily the biggest and busiest day of the the project. But by 1 PM - the men were using the rotary power trowel to get everything perfect. The porches that run the length of the building will pitch one inch away from the house - like the Parthenon in Greece to keep the for clean and dry with no puddles.
More on this later - another story was developing. I got an urgent call from Camping World. It could have not come at a worse time. Lulu and I have been shopping for a special kind of camper van - and one of available I had to act quickly.
I left the site - came back a couple hours later to a beautiful foundation with all the forms removed. Gary says the most important part of a house is its foundation. If you get that - everything else goes easier and quicker. We got a great start
The front pouring trucks are special. The drivers act like surgeons to get just the right amount of mud where you want it. Good mud is worthless in the wrong spot.
Code requires 2500 PSI concrete. Gary used 3000 PSI. Here is is lacing the steel anchors into the mud just right. The 2 x 6 inch walls will be bolted down. Garry is making sure to leave a space for the fornt door.
The footer for the back wall is a load bearing - so it is over 2 feet deep.
There were at least 8 guys shaping the foundation - just like plastic surgeons doing a yummt tuck.
The entire 60 x 60 slab is within a 1/8 inch tolerance - laser style.
Usually I throw away "rabbit ears" photos or cut out the person doing them. But Travis Jones of Big Bend Roof Truss is such a nice guy and he is going to make us some perfect trusses for the photos - so here is. Still - Gary isn't smiling.
The city finally got power to our site. Up to now Bill Gwynn the neighbor two doors up the street was providing us power. Bill is Bill the Builder that built our pool and guest house. He is retired now and writing a novel.
This is a temporary meter for the work site. But it is the modern digital kind that can be read by computer form the office. They can monitor every thing your do - including knowing if you have big lights in the house to grow marijuana. Our new house will not have a meter on the side. It will be away from the house in the bushes.
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