At Home In The Woods

[dcyrilc]

Absolutely, but that is also a main reason to keep penetrations out of the foundation walls if possible. Around here, most electrical service comes in through the rim joist, if it goes in to the basement. Very little chance for water intrusion that way (assuming reasonably proper detailing...) as it is above grade. When all you have is the caulk as the seal, you will eventually get a leak... In your case, you clearly understand the need to keep roof drainage and surface water away, you just aren't done yet. Carry on!:thumbsup:

The best means for a belowground entry is to drill the forms and poar the wall with the conduit already in place. Many concrete contractors don't like this though as they like to reuse their forms, but it does eliminate the issue of leakage since the concrete bonds directly to the conduit. It is also more work for everyone involved to make sure that everything is placed correctly and will not move during the poar.

 

[Obed]

The waterline and pressure tank got installed yesterday. The orange wire runs to a 220V breaker in the electric panel in the basement. Inside the grey conduit is a #10 wire that runs to the well to power the pump. When pressure in the tank gets low enough, a pressure tank switch powers the pump in the well.

We have a freeze protected garden spigot at the well. There is a bed gravel at the base of the spigot. When the valve is closed, water in the pipe drains into the gravel. Before backfilling around the well, I will put some landscaping fabric over the gravel to act as a sort of French drain.

You can see the two waterlines; one is a spare and is capped off at both ends. At the house, there is a tee with a capped off line for a future waterline for the garden.

 

[Obed]

The best means for a belowground entry is to drill the forms and poar the wall with the conduit already in place. Many concrete contractors don't like this though as they like to reuse their forms, but it does eliminate the issue of leakage since the concrete bonds directly to the conduit. It is also more work for everyone involved to make sure that everything is placed correctly and will not move during the poar.

Cyril,
The electrical conduit was installed through the wall 5 months ago and had never leaked until this week. It was a situation of simply having too much water because the temporary gutter drain pipe came apart and dumped a ton of roof water into the spot where the electrical conduit penetrates the wall. Two days later we got even more rain, 2 1/2 inches in one night, but no leak because we had fixed the gutter drain. I'm not worried that this will be an issue in the future.
Obed

 

[Obed]

I worked on backfilling the trench today. I first covered the pipes with a few inches of sand to protect them from rocks. To I placed a piece of landscaping fabric over the stubbed line that will go to the garden. I'm hoping that when I dig this line up later to connect the waterline to the garden that the landscaping fabric will make it easier to uncover the line. I also placed a piece of landscaping fabric over the 3 inch sleeves to minimize silt getting into the sleeves.

 

[Obed]

After shoveling sand of the pipes, I backfilled a few inches of dirt by hand. We have so many rocks in the backfill, I just didn't want to take any chances. After covering the pipes with sand and some soft dirt by hand, I then used the FEL to finish filling the trench. It took me most of the day to backfill the section of trench between the driveway and the house. I'm probably going overboard by backfilling so much by hand but I really don't want to damage the piping.

 

[Obed]

There's a section by the house where I did not finish backfilling. Tomorrow I intend to run the remaining 10 feet of phone conduit into the house. The basement wall hole for the conduit is just to the left of the orange paint.

I also still need to backfill from the other side of the driveway to the well.

 

[Obed]

Here's the stone we will place on the fireplace hearth. The stone is 2' x 7 1/2'. My got it at a stone yard 1 1/2 hours away from here. She picked out the type of stone she wanted, then had them cut it to size. The edges of the stone have been chiseled for appearance. The stone weighs 300+ pounds.

Yesterday the stone mason was supposed to start working on the fireplace but he did not show up. He was also supposed to help us unload the stone. My wife tried to call him but his phone wasn't working. I need to drive the truck to work on Monday so tomorrow we will have to try to unload the stone using the tractor.

 

[dcyrilc]

I worked on backfilling the trench today. I first covered the pipes with a few inches of sand to protect them from rocks. To I placed a piece of landscaping fabric over the stubbed line that will go to the garden. I'm hoping that when I dig this line up later to connect the waterline to the garden that the landscaping fabric will make it easier to uncover the line. I also placed a piece of landscaping fabric over the 3 inch sleeves to minimize silt getting into the sleeves.

It's a little late now, but spray foam works well for keeping dirt/silt out of the sleeve. If you need to use the sleeve in the future, you just dig out the foam, add a pipe, and reseal with new foam.

 

[Obed]

Obed,
Fantastic thread! I've been skimming through and it really is amazing to see how much attention to detail you've given this project. Sorry to hear you're having problems with some of your subs/designer. I guess that's the price one pays when being your own GC.

If you had the chance to go back and start over, and money wasn't an issue, would you let someone else oversee all the work? Or are you happier with the results you've obtained by being so involved in all aspects of the build?

77transam,
Glad you're enjoing the thread. Actually I just can't image money not being an issue. Originally, we didn't choose a GC because of costs. However, when we got bids for the house, we only intended for the GC to dry in the house. We intended all along to act as the GC for finishing the inside of the house. If money weren't an issue, I would probably hire one of the GC's that bid the job. We had a lot of confidence in one of the GCs and think he would have done a good job; he was just very expensive. However, even if a GC had been involved, I would still inspect the work of the subs.

Yes, I think we have gotten better results by being so involved than if we had hired a GC. However, there are a few things that probably would have been done better by using a GC because of the poor quality of work the first framer/construction manager did. However, after we parted ways with the CM, I believe we got consistently higher quality work than if we had used even the good GC.

If I could do it all over again and know what I know now, I would choose being the GC over hiring one. However, you don't know how to build a house until you've built a house. Some things about building the house by yourself are intimidating, perhaps too intimidating to want to attempt it. For example, I had no idea how you go from house plans to staking out the house and getting the foundation poured. Now that step seems pretty easy. You just hire a surveyor to stake out the house, hire an excavator to dig the basement, and hire a foundation guy after the basement has been excavated. What seems simple to me now seemed huge

Obed

 

[Obed]

Floodlight Question
We need to buy floodlights for the house. I would like the floodlights to be controllable by the future home automation system controlled by an HAI Omni Pro II controller. The spec sheet can be found here.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what floodlights to get?
What features should I look for?
Should I get X-10 compatible floodlights or use some other automation standard?

Thanks for your help,
Obed