New House Build

[ovrszd]

Last March we started planning a build at our farm site. Started with a shop building (48x39x14). Am doing the finishing touches inside of it now. Next to the shop we are building a house. Finally got started on that a month ago. Construction is painfully slow here. Now we are getting unusually cold/snowy weather which is delaying it even more. Hoping to get it closed in this Fall and finished thru the Winter. That hope is fading.

Started by hauling approximately 1,700 yards of dirt to create a build area. Building method on both is concrete footings and a slab. The house slab is 5" thick. 2" pinkboard insulation. 1/2" PEX pipe for floor heat. Steel rebar for support. Plumbing buried under the concrete.

Here's a pic of the floorplan. Handwritten numbers are window/door sizes. Excuse the poor quality. Just discovered I don't have an electronic copy....

 

[ovrszd]

Once he footings were poured and slab forms set the plumber was able to get in and bury the plumbing. Buried PEX pipe encased in insulation under the slab as well.

This is a complex process. Error margin is slim. We'll discuss that in more detail later.

 

[ovrszd]

When the plumber had all the piping set the trenches were filled will 1/2" dirty chips material and packed. Then 1/4" limestone crusher ran gravel was added to bring the grade to within an 1". This was also packed. Then an inch layer of 1/2" chips was added, leveled to grade and again packed.

I didn't get a pic of the guys doing the final check, sorry. They ran string line across the pad measuring every 12-18". Shot paint symbols on the grade telling them where it needed raised, lowered or good. I also didn't ask the meaning of their symbols. It was a combination of dots, X's and numbers. I should have video'd the process. This was all being done by the concrete crew.

 

[EddieWalker]

Nice floor plan without any wasted space. Are you going to have a fireplace?

Since the pics are a month old, is it safe to assume that the drain lines are already buried? I know that some places allow glue to be used on the drain pipes, but for about the same money, purple primer and clear cement will actually melt the PVC together where just using glue has been know to fail. The purple primer softens the PVC and then the clear cement melts it together that is kind of like a chemical weld that is unbreakable. Once done, the pipe will break somewhere in the middle before it fails at the joint.

 

[ovrszd]

Once the pad was to grade they could start laying material.

When they had the pink board laid I walked around on the pad. Rarely did the board move at all. They did a very good job of getting the pad flat and smooth.

After the pink board they laid the PEX water line for hydronic floor heat. This too is taken very seriously. No joking around with the crew when that's going on. Heath is diligent about it.

After the PEX comes the rebar. I didn't measure, guessing 18" squares but might have been closer. Bar tied and set on chairs.

 

[ovrszd]

Nice floor plan without any wasted space. Are you going to have a fireplace?

Since the pics are a month old, is it safe to assume that the drain lines are already buried? I know that some places allow glue to be used on the drain pipes, but for about the same money, purple primer and clear cement will actually melt the PVC together where just using glue has been know to fail. The purple primer softens the PVC and then the clear cement melts it together that is kind of like a chemical weld that is unbreakable. Once done, the pipe will break somewhere in the middle before it fails at the joint.

No fireplace Eddie. The small room in the center of the house will house the HVAC, Water Heater, Softner, Hydronic heat system.

This is my "get old" house. No steps. No wood cutting. No painting on the exterior.

I can't say whether he used purple primer. He did use clear glue. My builder says if you only use one, use the primer. He said the same thing as you, that it will soften and melt the fittings together.

 

[Big Barn]

I’m definitely following. What a beautiful site, Richard! And everything built new to your specs!! NICE to say the least

 

[ovrszd]

Concrete day. When I arrived it was too dark to take good pics. The crew and the pumper were already setup and waiting on the first truck.

Heath uses "grade pins" driven into the pad for a guide while he's screeding. He has a four man crew including himself. He is the best finisher around here. One of his guys is not far behind him. The other two are good laborers.

Pouring concrete is a young man's game. Frenzied and stressful. I flew the Drone but stayed back away from them working. Didn't want to be a distraction.

 

[ovrszd]

The Pumper Truck is worth every penny. Costs $500. Speeds up the process dramatically. Eliminates back breaking labor. Much easier on the build area since you don't have trucks backing up to the forms all the way around the structure.

 

[ovrszd]

Now's a good time to talk about the critical part when setting up a pad. Each part of this ties back into all the others. My concrete guys are very good at getting a square, flat pad. My plumber is also known to be very good at what he does. Since the plumber isn't "Jesus", he's prone to errors. A large one was made.

The Laundry room is at the garage end of the house. Had to run sewer drainage for the wash machine and a sink. Decided to put in a floor drain in case of accidental flooding. The drain was supposed to be set 3/4" below concrete grade. The plumber missed by 2". The drain is 2 3/4" below grade.

This error was noticed by Heath when he was pouring that area and started probing for the drain. I was standing there watching him probe with the end of his trowel expecting to find it shallow. He finally started scooping concrete with the end of his trowel. Finally found it. Pushed the wet concrete away from it, looked up at me and shook his head.

He rough troweled a bowl and moved on.

In hindsight I wish now I would have said "bury it" and risk a leak.

But as I said earlier. Pouring concrete is a frenzied and stressful operation. You gotta make a quick decision and move on. So the drain was exposed and a bowl troweled. It's right in front of the washer/dryer. A total tripping hazard.

Here's some pics. Then with any ideas from those that know we can discuss a solution??

For reference, the drain in question is in the foreground of the last pic.