concrete – Primm & Property

Posted on June 12, 2020 by Emily · 1 Comment

Day 238

So, they were supposed to pour the garage and basement slabs Monday or Tuesday. The weather was uncooperative (thank you, Cristobal) so that didn’t happen. I decided to drive out to the property on Tuesday between meetings on the off-chance that it wasn’t raining there and there was concrete being poured.

It was raining heavily. And there was no concrete being poured.

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This photo was taken shortly before I stepped out of the car and my foot was nearly swallowed whole by the mud.

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This was after 10 minutes of cleaning.

There was only so much I could do with a roll of paper towels and a travel size bottle of hand sanitizer.

Also, did I mention I was between meetings? As in, after this I had another client meeting?

Thankfully, I had a pair of flip flops in the car. Hopefully that is the first and last time I will wear flip flops to meet a client.

Moving on.

We had an early morning meeting with our builder today and we were pleasantly surprised how much had happened since the shoe incident on Tuesday.

They were pouring the garage slab as we arrived.

Maybe I should ask them where they got their boots…

The also poured the basement steps today. The basement slab will be poured tomorrow.

At least I didn’t step in wet concrete…

The lumber was delivered yesterday (on schedule!) and they got quite a bit done in one day.

This makes me so happy.

This forecast makes me and my shoes even happier!

Posted on June 7, 2020 by Emily

Day 232

Framing is supposed to start this week – woot!

I can hardly keep it together. I am SO excited.

They have rough graded up to the house (and covered up most of the ugly black waterproofing).

This will be a lovely patio one day, shaded from the western sun once the house is complete. Currently, without the shade, it feels like 137 degrees. Welcome to June in Tennessee.

The exterior access basement stairs are formed and ready to be poured along with the basement and garage slabs. Fingers crossed this will happen Monday or Tuesday because lumber is being delivered on Wednesday!

There is still a bit of work to do on the hill by the garage, but John was focusing on grading up to the house this week. Josh should be level with the garage where he is standing.

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In addition to grading around the house, John worked more on the driveway.

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We have over 200 videos documenting this process…

Still not 100%, but getting there.

Josh, assessing the situation. He says there is another 3-4 feet in elevation to be built up at the low spot.

I told him that’s what I thought, too.

(I actually have no idea exactly what this all is supposed to look like other than the layout. This is why Josh is in charge of exterior items.)

We took a new route from the property to my parents’ house and stumbled upon some of our future shopping options.

I have never been in a “Dirt Cheap” before but I am most curious as to what they offer.

I guess there’s only one way to find out…

Posted on May 15, 2020May 18, 2020 by Emily

Day 210

It is looking more and more like we may actually get this house built!

Today, they poured the basement walls. We arrived just as the pump truck was departing.

Check. It. Out.

Word is these forms will likely come off tomorrow.

This whole “forms and pouring concrete” process blows my mind.

This lovely little section is where the exterior steps to the basement will be. There will be a lot of dirt filled in around it once the forms are removed. Thank goodness.

We will probably use this access 12 times in the next 50 years, but hey, we will be glad we have it when we need it.

The view from the top of Pride Dirt Pile.

Also, many piles of split face concrete block have arrived for the non-basement parts of the house where we will have a crawl space.

While I may use the exterior basement stairs on occasion, I hope I never experience the crawl space firsthand.

John (earthwork guy) was busy moving and distributing Pride Dirt Pile because he has to dig a lengthy trench for the electrical that will run from the start of the driveway all the way to the far corner of the garage.

It sure is great to have so much space until you have to put in the infrastructure for utilities.

On the bright side, “Meadowcrest”, as we’ve named our property, is looking super meadow-y out front.

Can’t wait to see what’s next!

Posted on May 9, 2020May 9, 2020 by Emily

Day 203

Just over 200 days in and there is cause for celebration!

We have footers, y’all!

The weather has been uncooperative, per usual, so after a lot of back and forth, they decided to dig the footers and pour them all in one day to beat the rain. Josh and I headed out to the property after work/meetings just in time to catch the last few minutes of pouring around 6PM.

I could not believe my eyes when I turned onto the easement road and saw this machinery as tall as a skyscraper!

OK…slightly taller than the trees.

This is some major equipment.

John, our earthwork guy, inspecting everything.

This looks like ancient ruins to me so I’m glad someone knows what’s going on.

I’ll be honest. When they said they were pouring the footers, I had no mental picture of what that was going to look like. I’m not even sure I would have gotten it right on multiple choice.

I might have guessed they would look more like big blobs or squares of concrete rather than a strange concrete maze.

Good thing I’m not in charge of this operation.

Josh is much more familiar with concrete pouring so he was eager to check it out and walk dangerously close to the edge of the wet concrete.

Here he is walking through the hall into the dining room. I’m imagining many lovely, leisurely meals in that room, soaking up the golden hour.

After those lovely meals, we can head out to the front porch to watch the sunset. This is where the front steps and porch will be.

This terrifyingly narrow and deep trench is for drainage. Josh is a major drainage nerd so he was delighted to see this.

I was less delighted, but still appreciative of the water mitigation planning.

I still can’t believe this is real.

2020 has been the most bizarre year of our lives. Though we have had sadness and challenges, we have so much to be thankful for. Building our forever home brings us a lot of joy in the process and in the hope of many happy times to come.