DaysToCompletion

Thursday, June 23, 2011

The Foundation

The foundation is poured, the molds removed, waterproofing done I think, and under basement plumbing started.

Front of house looking directly at the front door.  Notice the little ledge on the walls to the left and right of the front door...that is part of the reason brick costs more then other sidings...the foundation is wider where the brick is to create the little ledge to hold the weight of the bricks.
 3 car side entry garage
 kitchen area
 back, fireplace, basement windows
 back of sunroom
 looking across back, sunroom nearest, family room, morning room
 waterproofing - anyone know what all this is?
 Plumbing
 More Plumbing - what is that round item
 Croquet anyone?  That will lead to the drain at the bottom of our walkout from the basement.
 Garage wall - Anyone know what the notched(red arrows) out section on the wall is.  The other side wall of the garage has the exact same pattern.  Do they run Ibeams across the floor of the garage?
 Wall without the waterproofing is the outside wall of the walkout
 Wall of Solarium and more plumbing

Above I said waterproofing finished(I think) because I am not sure if there is more to it.  I know there will be a french drain around the inside wall and I thought they usually do some sort of stone and drainage pipe along the outside base of the foundation, but not sure if that is done everywhere.  Also not sure what those vertical sections of waterproofing are and why they are only in certain spots...like under each of what will be the basement windows.

I still don't know what that flexible tube under the footer is for.  The inside piece is still there and the outside piece is covered in dirt now.

In other news, our sales rep called and said the plans won't get approved with our custom Hybrid water heater because of the number of bathrooms we have.  The capacity is only 40 gallons and code requirements say we must have an 80 gallon capacity for the number of bathrooms...so back to the decisions...we can get a standard electric water heater, a high efficiency version, or a gas tankless water heater...anyone have any suggestions?  Anyone already have a tankless water heater...does it work well?

10 comments:

  1. Looking good BD! You finally have walls! OMG!!!! You have been patient and I am happy for you.

    I like the fact that not only do they tar the foundation walls, but they wrap them as well! Our basements will hopefully never flood or have water issues!

    Great pics and good night!

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  2. Wrap around the house looks good. The foundation is a beauty. I'm clueless about water heater tank. Sorry can't help you out in that area. Things are looking great so far. Your lumber should arive soon.

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  3. Thanks...should get an update from our PM tomorrow. Does the basement get poured before the framing starts?

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  4. The round thing looks like your basement sump. The notches are for where the steel beams will anchor...

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  5. Our basement wasn't poured until well after the framing was started. They just run the machinery through the windows/stairway.

    As far as the hot water tank...I know several people with the tankless and the verdict is the same in every scenario...the males in the family rave about them...no giant tank in your basement, and they pull out the argument that over time they'll save you money. All of the females have the same complaint....you can never run 2 things at once if you want hot water for both. So no running the dishwasher or laundry if you want a hot shower, and no 2 showers at once. We didn't go with the tankless because of the later complaints, and with the thought of kids on the horizon, there is a lot more laundry, baths, etc. in our future. We got the larger capacity tank because of the soak tub.

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  6. Our basement was poured during the framing through the window! I don't know much about the other stuff. House is looking great! hUGE!!

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  7. The progress looks great...you will catch up to us in no time. Sorry to hear about the water heater...just when you think all of the decisions are done.

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  8. Hey BD! Looking good. I wish I had answers for you on any of your questions, but I've got nothing. :) Well, except maybe for the water heater. We had asked for prices on a tankless water heater for our home, and were told it would be a $2500 upgrade, which sounded pretty high to me. I'm pretty confident we could do it ourselves for way less than that, so we are getting the standard option. I think that the standard (or high efficiency) water heaters are so much better now than they used to be for energy use - so even tho I'm a big old, climate saving hippie, I'm ok with the regular tank, until we have to replace it. Then we'll get something super efficient.

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  9. Thanks everyone...especially those that provided feedback regarding the waterheater...greatly appreciated!!!

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  10. @Mike - almost right about the round thing...I should have know what this was because we just talked about it a couple weeks ago...it is the whole for the ejector pump...because our sewage line will be a couple feet above basement level our sewage and waste water will be pumped out...hence the ejector pump. The black tube that runs under the footers is part of the drainage system and will be tied into the sump pump.

    @Ranter and Becky - Thanks for your thoughts on the water heater issue...we have decided to just go with the standard water heater. Personally, like Ranter, I would much rather put in something that is very efficient, but most of the new technology ones are way to costly to make it worth it...even the savings from a tankless take you years and years to break even...I guess we will wait till we need to replace it and maybe by then the super efficient ones will be super affortable.

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