Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Foundation Done!

We finally finished the foundation, which was a lot of both hard work and slow work. The hard work was moving 840 pound steel beams and drilling holes through the .4" thick flanges, sometimes upside down with a magnetic base drill. The slow part was getting everything perfectly level and square. It was also filthy work.


Lou with the mag drill .... Dirty Andrew

We had to return the mag drill before we finished the holes, so we had to drill 60 smaller ones by hand, which took a long time even with three of us.


Drilling upside down . . . . . Marcy drilling

Finally when we finished the holes, we bolted 2x6 lumber to the steel to attach the wood framing of the house to. We also spent a long time leveling this with a water level.


Now that we had a foundation, we we ready to build the floor.

Marcy spliced LVLs for the ends,which need to carry higher loads and we cut the I-joists.



Today we set the I-joists, squared everything carefully, nailed them down, cut the required blocking and nailed it between the joists, and started attaching the rimboard.

Here's our nice straight and level floor.



5 comments:

Belle Etoile said...

How did you learn to do all this stuff Andrew? It's amazing. The floor really looks great.

Anonymous said...

Good... Just keep telling everyone I learned this stuff...

Deb and Dan said...

Hey! What's this nothing currently scheduled crap. I am sure that there is lots of wood piles to move so you had better not be taking any breaks.
It all looks really good so far. How nice to have Lou there for the extra hands. Wish we were having a few thunderstorms here. All we have gotten in the last couple of weeks is cold winds that are drying everything out. Marcy be thinking about a spot for your raspberry plants. Up by the power line might be a good place. I am bringing a few more flowers than just the lillies. Ok, so I went crazy with the flowers but I can't help myself. Anyway, we are getting ready to get ready to come up there so we'll call you before we leave. Love Mom

Anonymous said...

Wow-zer! Save some work for the rest of us! Can't wait to help out in a few weeks. I bet you both will be pooped by then.

Om another note, there is a really neat exhibit in the "Building Museum" (there is a museum for everything here) on Green Houses (not the plant kind, but the environmentally friendly and energy efficient kind). It's right next door to where I have jury duty. Need me to do any research on any green building ideas on my lunch breaks? (I'm all about the water gradens, by the way).

Anonymous said...

Amazing!! Even Barry, who has been in the carpentry/painting/construction industry for many years says, "Wow,I don't even know how to do all this stuff!!!!" I'm proud of you both. What a project!!! See you soon. Love, Mom