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Post by JohnG on Sept 12, 2007 14:12:26 GMT -5
Thank you TT.
Yes, people actually stop by to see the progress - which is very slow.
Yesterday I poured concrete for the most complicated of the footings. It has two soil stacks that rise through it plus two branch lines that run to the kitchen and downstairs bathroom for the sink and shower. In addition is had to have a step cut into it because it slightly invades what will be the bathroom and is about 9 inches above where the bathroom floor will be.
I laid heavy duty plastic over the concrete that I poured below the footing (that concrete was to give the footing support down to below the ground level outside the house so that there would be no tendency for the soil to push outward on the foundation stones). The plastic is to stop moisture that is communicated up from that lower concrete block. Then the rebar was put in place, forms set up, and I mixed and poured. The most difficult footing is now done. Behind the soil stack (large vertical drain) you can see the rebar where the rebar for the column will go. I calculated the fit so tight that setting up a form for that column is going to be complicated but you all will have to wait to see how I do it!
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The most difficult footing is now done. The drain that terminates at the surface of the footing is actually a clean-out that will be accessible from below the stairs. The green line strung horizontally was to insure that the couplings for the columns will all be in a straight line. Behind the soil stack (large vertical drain) you can see the rebar where the rebar for the column will join the footing. I calculated the fit so tight that setting up a form for that column is going to be complicated but you all will have to wait to see how I do it!
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Post by JohnG on Sept 13, 2007 14:18:52 GMT -5
Home delivery:
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Mixed and poured another footing:
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I caught another one!!!
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Sic 'em!
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Nice area to walk up the hill behind the house:
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JohnG
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Post by h3h8m3 on Sept 13, 2007 14:25:58 GMT -5
I love the pictures John, keep 'em coming.
I am really impressed that you continue so hard on this job. Do you have any kind of schedule set out for this job, or a list created of everything you'll have to do? ANything like that you're working from?
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Post by Mayberry on Sept 13, 2007 19:46:16 GMT -5
(Lovely leaping lizards! While I'm a pretty big fan of the concrete & rebar pics, I gotta say the local wildlife pics are pretty darned cool. Thanks for posting!)
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Post by smart1 on Sept 19, 2007 9:09:10 GMT -5
Hey JohnG, it looks like your house is progressing nicely. I love the pictures of the lizard and the countryside. I've always wanted to live near hills and mountains - guess it's because I've been a flatlander all my life. I've always lived in Illinois.
I wanted to let you know how much I enjoy the pictures and keep up the great work!
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kroc
Junior Member
Posts: 92
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Post by kroc on Sept 19, 2007 19:34:20 GMT -5
JohnG, Beautiful pic of the countryside. Reminds me of Ireland. I had no idea Spain was so green. I drove from Madrid to Barcelona to Malaga years ago. The land looked so dry. I remember seeing sunflowers and going over a bridge and no rivers below it even though there was supposed to be. Driving along the Mediterranean coast was so cool too. I enjoy your pics. The kitchen work you did looks great. I am curious to see what you do in your house. Take care.
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Post by Mayberry on Sept 22, 2007 9:45:30 GMT -5
Hello, JohnG!!!! When do we get our "next installment"? I know you've been busy with company this week, but *still*....need my picture fix! (I hope you can hear me laughing.) J
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Post by JohnG on Sept 22, 2007 14:30:45 GMT -5
Thank you Mayberry, Smart1, Kroc, and H3h8m3! I love the pictures John, keep 'em coming. I am really impressed that you continue so hard on this job. Do you have any kind of schedule set out for this job, or a list created of everything you'll have to do? ANything like that you're working from? I have a rough schedule in my head but since everything seems to take more or less time (usually more) than I expect, I just go each day with an idea in my head of what I want to get done for the day. I would like to get the downstairs floor, all footings and columns, and the second floor slab with rebar and concrete beams all done before I leave in November. For some of this I will need help so it will depend now somewhat on others (the schedule). Here are a few pics of another column footing being done: Images temporarily disabled by webmaster.i59.photobucket.com/albums/g320/shanroche/240.jpg[/IMG] Images temporarily disabled by webmaster.i59.photobucket.com/albums/g320/shanroche/241.jpg[/IMG] I have been picking and eating corn for about a week now. As I write this I have cooked ears in the pot and am going to enjoy them right now! There is something cool about picking them right off the plant. They have come out absolutely perfect: Images temporarily disabled by webmaster.i59.photobucket.com/albums/g320/shanroche/242.jpg[/IMG] I have been not posting pics because I lost my router in an electrical storm and uploading image files to the host is tedious. But tomorrow should have some good pics so I will try to do some more tomorrow. I will have a new router sometime next week. COMMENTS WELCOME!!! I need the encouragement sometimes. JohnG
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Post by smart1 on Sept 24, 2007 9:06:15 GMT -5
The corn looks delicious! I grew up on fresh veggies from the garden. The raccoons ate all of the corn my parents planted this year. The squirrels ate all of our tomatoes. You are doing excellent work on your house. I'm certain you will be happy when you are done with the concrete work. It looks wonderful. Cheers! p.s.: What? No animal pictures??
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Post by tootrue on Sept 24, 2007 9:56:41 GMT -5
There is some way that farmers store corn in old wells or something to keep it crisp and make it sweeter....that corn inspires me to go get some and have it for dinner soon. It also inspires me to remember to point out to my children "corn's gettin' high" as people like to say here all throughout the summer and early fall. I think that last lizard is smiling. What I am really thinking, and of course I do not mean to be rushing you John, is....when will the flooring samples be shown??? I know you and HML and others really are into rebar, but I'm just waiting patiently for the carpet and tile samples to be shown. The photos showing the before and after are really neat. What incredible progress! Thanks for sharing your work!
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Post by JohnG on Sept 26, 2007 16:05:54 GMT -5
What I am really thinking, and of course I do not mean to be rushing you John, is....when will the flooring samples be shown??? I know you and HML and others really are into rebar, but I'm just waiting patiently for the carpet and tile samples to be shown. There will be no carpet (wall to wall in not really a Spanish thing). There will be black slate in the kitchen, dining room, and both bathrooms (and the inside of the built in shower will be all slate). The living room and study are will use the old pine plank which will be stripped, treated for insects, relaid over a subfloor, sanded, and sealed with a satin polyurethane. Some areas will have rugs. Here is how one corner of the downstairs looked a few weeks ago: Images temporarily disabled by webmaster.i59.photobucket.com/albums/g320/shanroche/297.jpg[/IMG] Here is the same view, with much of the concrete at the level division laid, three new footings, and plastic laid over gravel in preparation for a new slab where there was a wood floor before: Images temporarily disabled by webmaster.i59.photobucket.com/albums/g320/shanroche/298.jpg[/IMG] Cutting the reinforcing steel to size: Images temporarily disabled by webmaster.i59.photobucket.com/albums/g320/shanroche/299.jpg[/IMG] Slab laid. This area will later be leveled. Because this was converted once to a stable for animals, the concrete that was laid is uneven and intentionally sloped in some areas for drainage. The entire floor will be leveled later with a finer grade of concrete (less gravel, more sand for a smoother finish). So the floor I laid today is not perfect - it is flat but slightly lower than the highpoint so that later I can level everything with one thin coat. Images temporarily disabled by webmaster.i59.photobucket.com/albums/g320/shanroche/300.jpg[/IMG] There haven't been many photos lately because I have been without DSL since an electrical storm. It looks like my motherboard is messed up because the router AND ethernet card were friend, I got both new and they work but the system will not install the driver for the ethernet card. I reinstalled Windows XP today and it still will recognize the adapter card but won't install the driver. Windows included drivers for this but it won't even install the one that came with the card. I may need a new motherboard. JohnG JohnG
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Post by rockwell on Sept 26, 2007 16:33:19 GMT -5
you da man!
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Post by tootrue on Sept 26, 2007 21:08:09 GMT -5
LOOK!! There are the sheep!! Our collectively adopted sheep!! Through the door behind where John is lighting a sparkler!! Elphie, I hate to tell you this but I do think that it could be possible that one lone goat has entered the pasture....he is way in the back. It's hard to tell. I will have to get out my special night vision bionic goggles and check.
I am always very impressed by what the motivation of one person can produce when I read this thread. It is inspiring. In my work one of the departments I manage does maintenance work. While for the most part they are excellent, today I saw one person on a ladder changing a flourescent (sp?) lightbulb while three others stood at the bottom of the ladder watching. It reminded me of the classic joke. And when we see this work on this house it, to me, is always a reminder of how much can be accomplished by one person!
Slate is excellent...that will look great. And it will last forever! Is the lower part of the floor where you did all the digging? Will that part be a step down from the other part or will it all eventually be the same height. As always, thanks for sharing your work.
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Post by browneyedgirl on Sept 27, 2007 11:44:16 GMT -5
JohnG. All I can say is WOW. That is the most impressive before and after of the bunch!
OK, I have a confession to make. While I FULLY understand the importance of structural soundness, I have to admit the previous pictures were a little bit like:
BEFORE: messy dirt AFTER: organized dirt.
And now suddenly, there is no more dirt! We are getting glamorous now!
I have a small suggestion. You mention the slate and the wood flooring and maybe some rugs here and there. Well, I can find you a beautiful Persian rug to cover some of that concrete. In fact, why don't we get a bunch of rugs, scatter them around and skip right on to the paint colours and decorating selections, um and maybe some walls and windows would be good too. LOL
(now ducking from the rotten corn JG is hurling at me)
All kidding aside, you are doing an amazing job on that house. I think the overall progress is going to seem much faster now that the floor is so much closer to being complete.
BEG
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rabbet
Junior Member
Posts: 56
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Post by rabbet on Sept 27, 2007 17:35:41 GMT -5
I've been meaning to read this thread all the way through from start to finish for quite some time now, and am most happy to report that I've finally managed to do it.
What a wonderful story, and the pictures are incredible! I can now fully understand why everyone was so upset when Wes recently had to disable the image function. People seemed less upset about the porn trolls posting stuff than they did about "no JohnG house pictures"!
Are there any of Spain's red-legged partridges in your neck of the woods? Not that I would ever actually shoot at one of them, but I think it would be nice to trump through the fields and watch them flush just out of gun range...lol
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