Last Wednesday our basement walls went in! The crew spent the rest of the week leveling and tamping the stone to support the concrete floor, roughing in plumbing, and doing other important stuff that I don’t really understand.
We chose to go with a company called Superior Walls because our builder recommended them and Eddie, who is a professional engineer, was really impressed with the kind of concrete they use and the way they are installed on top of many inches of stone. Apparently, the way they manufacture and install these walls is very similar to the way some types of bridges are built and, since a bridge is made to be much stronger than a house, this is a good thing. They are also more water-resistant than your average basement. Eddie says this is because of the fiber and steel-reinforced high-strength concrete that they use, which is continuously poured within climate-controlled conditions. Although they are more expensive up-front, they come with insulation (R 12.5) and concrete studs with metal facing already in place, which means it will cost us less money and be a faster process when we go to finish the basement in a few years.
My favorite part, though, was that it only took about 3 hours for them to go up!
I spoke to Eddie at 8:45 and the crane was just arriving. By the time I pulled onto our land at 11:15, this is what we saw:
We went back a few times this week. Saturday we spent all day relocating a few baby trees and climbing giant piles of dirt.
The kids were in their element, especially Nick.
I liked being able to get a good idea of the size of the basement and see actual work being done! We’ve spent SOOOO long just waiting for permits and weather that it was an overwhelmingly happy experience to see it start to become a reality.
The concrete floors are scheduled to be poured today, but it has been raining all week so that might need to be postponed another day or two.
I’ll check back in next Wednesday. It will be fun to see how much gets done each week!
Stephanie, it is so exciting to see the foundation of your house being put together! Woo-hoo! And your kiddos (and you, my sweet friend!) are so adorable! Thanks for sharing your journey with us here đŸ™‚
You are too kind. I’m glad someone likes following along with us. The hubby is stopping by after work to take more pictures. It was a beautiful day, so hopefully the concrete was poured. Fingers crossed!
The water resistance for a basement would be a big factor for me also!
How incredibly exciting. It is great that your kids will have a big emotional investment in this house also by seeing it built from the ground up. Congrats!
How exciting!! I love that you get to see your house being built!