finally!

we started construction on the new house on September 10, 2007... sorry for the horrible lag in posting but I've been mad busy this month.

here you can see the sequence of events -- the original house before demolition

then the demolition

and excavation

then the footings/foundation

and lastly the first course of Integrated Concrete Forms (or ICF)

ICF is interesting stuff... like giant, styrofoam lego blocks.  I was expecting it to be more dense & solid but it is basically just styrofoam with spacers, steel wire reinforcement and vertical rebar inside.  They fill the cavity between the outer and inner walls with concrete, 4-5 feet at a time, and place more rebar in the wall and then build another course.  Apparently the styrofoam-like compound bonds well with the concreate and creates an (up to) R-51 wall. 

To seal the below-grade portion from dirt and moisture they apply a tar-like coat on the outside, with a rough, bubble-like material (to wick water away from the blow) and then finally some loose stone/gravel to keep water away from that.

On the inside, there are nailing strips under the styrofoam every vertial 8" or so that can be used for nailing... apprently they nail drywall directly to the interior wall and can easily create channels for electrical and plumbing etc.

According to the vendor literature, two guys can raise a wall very quickly using eco-block (the brand we're using) so I'm hoping they're right as we're waaay behind schedule... about 3 months in all.  I'm praying for no or little rain in the near future so they can make fast progress but in Seattle that is never very realistic.

We got off to an auspicious start when the demolition guys delivered the dozer at 6:30 am on a Sunday morning, resulting in one of the neighbors leaving angry (nay:  mad, crazy, over-the-top) voicemails on my and Greg the builder's phones.  It was really distrubing stuff, including threats to sabotage our project and worse. Of course the demo guys shouldn't have brought in a dozer at 6:30 am on a Sunday, but the reaction was absurd.

And in fact the next morning we discovered that molasses had been poured all over the seat and controls of the dozer during the night which pretty much confirmed the 'sabotage' threat.  So then it was serious.  I thought about calling the cops, but decided to talk to the neighbors instead.  I assume they're harmless but just spouting and pissed off...

Since then things have settled down again and everything is fine, but the guys working onsite now tease each other that "the pancake lady" is going to come over if they don't toe the line... that's what they call the neighbor, who shall remain nameless :).  Hopefully that is the last of it.

*Anyway* -- we're off and running, finally, so now with some speed and luck I can report real progress over the next few months!

Snaps are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcm/sets/72157602243759654/

Comments

[Trish]

Congratulations on getting started! Looks like it's all happening very quickly... I can't believe someone poured molasses on the bulldozer... that's so juvenile. I hope talking to the neighbours improves the situation, and makes them feel shameful!

Please keep posting updates and photos!

[Greg Plum]

Was it Kate?