Time Passes, Barges Go By, but No Concrete, Yet…

But Very Soon. The concrete crew is scheduled to be here this Thursday and Friday.  We have arranged for the 78 yards of concrete to be delivered.  Now all we need it Mother Nature to cooperate and give us a few more days of nice weather.  Jeff and I spent this weekend getting everything ready for the shotcrete.  We went over the entire structure tightening loose tie wires and putting little foam spacers underneath rebar if it was touching the foam forms.

 

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I stapled a white clothes line around the perimeter of the retaining wall arches.  When the shotcrete is applied, the concrete crew will use this as a guide to where to trowel to.

 

It will be so wonderful to finally have the shell done.  This has been a long, and sometimes arduous path, but there is light at the end of the earth sheltered home.

6 comments

Anthony Pinto
Wow I can’t believe its going to be covered soon. I will have to drive down to see it some day and of course you and Jeff.
Monday, September 13, 2010 – 03:05 PM
Jeff
it’ll be good to see you anthony.
Monday, September 13, 2010 – 05:44 PM
Steve
Unfortunately, the sky has opened up and is now dumping loads of liquid sunshine on our house.  Concrete has been canceled and rescheduled for next week.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010 – 02:49 PM
Steve
We started putting on the shotcrete Wednesday, 22nd but the rains came back on Thursday. Rather disastrous but we did manage to get about half the house done. My MacMini computer died so I won’t be able to update this site until that gets resolved.  I’ll have pictures to post then.
Sunday, September 26, 2010 – 02:35 PM
What is the latest news?
Do you have any picture updates?
Tuesday, September 28, 2010 – 09:32 PM
Steve
I will have to wait to get my computer fixed before I can update our blog.  I can email pictures directly if you like. The concrete crew will be showing up again Saturday Oct 2 to finish up.(hopefully)
BTW, we are thinking of getting one of your Mortar sprayers to create a retaining wall.
Thursday, September 30, 2010 – 04:12 PM

 

Ready to Rock (concrete, that is)

Hooray! All the foam forms are now in place.  The last section, the North entrance arch, was the most challenging but we finished it on Saturday.

 

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Our friend Matt came by and helped out tightening any loose tie wires connecting the lath boards to the rebar.  It was one of those tedious little jobs that we really appreciated the extra hands with.  We also spent time passing the electrical conduit through the foam forms wherever they enter the house.

 

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There are two places in our house where a stack vent must pass through the shell.  One above the master bathroom and one between the kitchen and guest bath.  We used a laser to determine where they needed to go through the shell and a hot knife to cut the holes.

 

There are just a few little details to finish up before we are truly ready for the concrete but it looks like we will have another weekend to finish up as our shotcrete contractor is now scheduled for around the 14th.