Car decking

The fir car decking came from the Second Use, it had been outside for a while so it needed a lot of sanding and oiling, each board took about an hour, and there were about 50 boards all together.

The car decking as we bought it

Sean using the orbital sander to sand the edges

Using the belt sander

Oiling

Sam  coming to check things out

Finished!

Standing in the living room!

View from our future bedroom

Sanding and oiling the beams

The beams came from an old Seattle warehouse. The warehouse was about a 100 years old, the vertical grain fir is likely 400-500 years old. It is beautiful wood and I like how you can see a few hole from the bolts which suspended it in its original location. The original beams were enormous. We had four 6"x 10" beams milled from half of one original beam!

My mom sanding the beams

My Dad routing the edge of the beams

After the beams were installed!

Goodbye ladders! 

Finishing the first floor

On October 10th we hired two awesome carpenters to help us frame. They are very fast! We were able to finish framing first floor walls, both interior and exterior.

We framed each exterior wall on the floor in ten foot sections and then raised them up.

Bathroom walls

Framing the first floor!

We are working our way out of the hole! This week we began framing our exterior walls for the first floor. We have lucked out with the weather but are working quickly to get out of the rain!

The footprint is 20ft by 20ft so we are building each wall in 10ft sections so that they are not too heavy to raise

The framing begins

After the car-decking was up, we framed our supporting wall which divides the stairs and laundry room from the rest of the basement.

The first interior wall!

The stairs are on the right and the laundry room on the left

The stairs are almost done

Beams and car-decking

After pouring our basement walls, our next step was to set our beams and then lay the car-decking sub-floor on top of them.

We lightly sanded each board to knock the dirt off

View of our basement ceiling!

After the car-decking we nailed down a layer of 3/4 inch plywood.

Pouring the walls

On September 22 the concrete truck and pumper truck showed up at 8 am and we began pouring our walls. We poured two feet at a time with 30 minute breaks to prevent our forms from blowing out. This was hard work! The hose was very heavy, it took three of us to handle it!

At the top of the wall we set our j-bolts, all thread (which will hold our building onto the concrete) and pressure treated ledger boards. When everything was set we hand troweled the top to make a smooth place for our sill plates to sit.

Below is a time lapse video of building the scaffolding and pouring the walls.

Building basement wall forms out of Legos

Next step, basement walls!!

Rather than building forms from plywood and then insulating we decided to use the Quadlock system as it does both of those things in one step. First we tied in our vertical rebar and then began putting the forms together was fun, it was like stacking big foam Legos! Once we set, leveled, and put spray foam under the track for the first layer, it went rather quickly. The white foam blocks are held in place by yellow plastic braces, which also provided a cradle to tie in the horizontal re-bar.

After the forms were up, we braced the center as we ended up with a seam going down the middle of the wall.the wall. Next we set up the scaffolding which we rented along with the Quadlock system.

Stacking the forms

Almost done!

Assistant Project Manager

Our only exit/entrance

Sean bracing the scafolding

My mom getting the j-bolts ready to set at the top of the wall

Forms are done and scaffolding is up, ready for our second pour!

Concrete Time

On September 14th the concrete truck and pumper truck arrived! We did a monolithic pour for our thickened edge slab. Now we have a basement floor!

Time lapse video of the pour!

New steel toe work boots

Finally we used a power troweler to smooth the surface

After the pour, we watered the slab to help it cure

Forming the footings

Our next step was to build our forms for our footing and slab. Sean and my dad carefully measured, leveled, and built the forms.

 

Building forms



Next we leveled gravel in the center for our thickened edge slab

 



Next we added foam insulation, a vapor barrier, and finally we set and tied the rebar

 

 

Pictures at an excavation

On September 1^st 2015 we began excavating our driveway and the hole for our basement. We ended up with an amazing excavator named Matt, he was a total ninja with his machine! The excavation took four days and he did a perfect job! As he dug, dump trucks hauled off the debris and dirt.

The entire process took four days.

The excavator arrived!

Getting started 

 





 

 

The beginnings of our driveway!

 

Simon checking out the new driveway







Beginning the hole for the basement!

  



Watching from the roof with my mom

 

Matt climbing out of the hole!

The excavating is done!

Curious cat

 

 

Laying out the footings

 

Tarps to keep the walls from washing away