Sticks & Stones...well...concrete, anyway.

Sorry, no pictures in this post. I don't have my camera with me and my regular computer is in the shop. So, you're stuck with my ramblings. The basement floor was poured at the end of last week, and the framing started yesterday and will continue today and the rest of the week. The garage floor is also going in today. It's pretty amazing to see this part of the process. We can see where windows are going and what the views will be out of each of them. It's becoming a lot easier to visualize how the house will look too. It's finally jumping off of the paper!

The basement floor is all insulated from the bottom. They use an expanded foam 'blanket' of sorts that almost looks like a pool cover. I has a reflective coating and altogether has an R-value of 10, which is pretty darn good for just a basement floor. It will not only keep the basement warmer, it will keep it dryer which will, in turn, make it feel warmer when we finish it off in the distant future. They also put 1-1/2" foam sheets around the subterranean portions of the exterior of the foundation which serves the same purpose and has the same effect as the insulation under the floor.

By the end of yesterday, all of the basement walls and openings were framed. I met the framers too, which was kind of nice. Seems like a good group of guys - five in all. They are technically independent contractors, but are busy mostly just working for True North Homes. Rich is really good at finding quality contractors and then keeping them busy so that he gets a very consistent product in all the homes he builds. We really like that about him.

We did hit one small snag in the layout of our basement level storage area and its relation to the garage level workshop. It's a long story, but for a while there it looked like we would have had two steps leading in to the workshop and unnecessary 9' ceilings in the storage area. I think it just boiled down to a little miscommunication, but regardless, Rich got it fixed right away and we're all set now. We'll be able to drop the floor in the workshop so that it's a straight walk in. That will result in a shorter ceiling in the storage area, but that's ok. That area is really going to work more like a shed for garden tools, lawn furniture storage, etc... so lower ceilings are ok. And by lower, I mean nearly 8' - so it's not like you'll have to duck your head or anything.

Today, they'll be putting the garage floor and floor drains in and framing the first floor. That's REALLY exciting! The floor joists - which are 14" engineered wood "I" beams should arrive early this morning. Once they are set and the basement walls are squared up, they'll deck the first floor and go up with the walls. That and the second floor will take the rest of the week and into next week with roof truss installation some time next week. This is the part that goes really fast (refer to the "homeowners emotional roller coaster that I posted earlier). Then the slow-down begins while all the little things are taken care of.

That's all for now! Don't forget to leave a comment - but know that all requests for guest-suites and special freeloading accommodations will not be posted. You know who you are! ;-)