New House Build

[ovrszd]

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

Thanks Terry.

I bought the 20 acres I live on now and had a house built. Then added a shop later. That was 40 years ago. I'm not a rolling stone. I tend to gather a lot of moss.

The build location is the farm I grew up on. Got a chance to buy it. So am sortta moving back home.

I'm actually not "excited" about the new part. I'm very content where I am. I go to the farm every day though. As I get older I'm getting more tired of doing that. Just want to get up in the morning and be there. It's a ten minute drive.

 

[Big Barn]

Richard. You’ll be totally “excited” (relieved/happy) when the house is done!


I’ve lived on the farm in the same spot my entire life so I kinda know what it’s like.

 

[ovrszd]

It's a treat to watch concrete guys do fine finish work. It's a timely thing. They get on the concrete way sooner than I would consider doing so. I guess that's their secret to success. They used a large walk behind power trowel and a ride on power trowel. Heath and Rocky are the power trowel guys. John and Damian are busy doing hand trowel work around the edges. They were done troweling this pour around 3 p.m. The pour started around 6:30 a.m.

 

[EddieWalker]

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.



View attachment 578429

View attachment 578430



View attachment 578434

If you still want the drain, I would remove the concrete around the pipe with a small SDS Max hammer drill until I had enough exposed pipe to work with, and then raise it to being flush, or almost flush to the floor, or tile, or what every you are planning to use. Coat the concrete with a bonding agent and then fill the area with self leveling concrete. If you don't want the drain any more, coat the concrete with a bonding agent and fill the void with self leveling compound. Either way, it's a pretty simple fix.

 

[ovrszd]

Next step is pouring the porch. It's 54'x8'. Terry chose stamped concrete in what's called buckboard design. Looks like old barn board. Will also be colored.

They drilled 8 piers across the front, poured full of concrete with steel. Drilled the house slab and added pins to hold the porch floor level at the house. No heat under this pour.

Then our weather went South,,, or should say North..... Tomorrow we'll have a high of mid 20s. Doubt they'll try it. So Tuesday maybe, highs in the upper 30s. They covered the area with tarps and plastic before the cold temps and snow.

 

[ovrszd]

If you still want the drain, I would remove the concrete around the pipe with a small SDS Max hammer drill until I had enough exposed pipe to work with, and then raise it to being flush, or almost flush to the floor, or tile, or what every you are planning to use. Coat the concrete with a bonding agent and then fill the area with self leveling concrete. If you don't want the drain any more, coat the concrete with a bonding agent and fill the void with self leveling compound. Either way, it's a pretty simple fix.

Eddie, excuse my lack of technical terms. The drain is a complex unit with the trap built in it.

Let's clarify. We plan to seal the concrete and live on it. So imperfections in the finish are important. Strategically placed most of the expansion joints where they would be seen the least. This drain will be the first thing you see on the floor when walking into the Laundry room.

Rocky (concrete guy) said cut the drain out in a square. Raise it, reset, pour the square back with correct slope. Oooppss... Can't do that because of the floor heat.

Heath (concrete boss) came up with the best idea so far. Remove the drain cover and it exposes the vertical drain tube. It's threaded. Get a trapless drain whose vertical outlet tube is also threaded. Add adapters and a short piece of pipe raising the new drain to the correct height. Great idea.

Then we get to the finish it part. Heath says the self leveling concrete can't be poured thicker than 1/2" for fear of it cracking. Okay. If we leave the drain 1/4" low we need five pours.

Either way it's gonna be very visible. I already know how Terry will handle this. She'll throw a rug over it. Which is fine.

I called my plumber, Chuck, the day of the pour. Said we have a problem, the laundry room drain is set 2" too low. Without hesitation he said they must have stepped on it cause he shot it with a transit. An old school stick transit. I said they didn't step on it, I was right there watching them pour that area. The drain is sitting perfectly level. If it had been stepped on and smashed down it would be tilting. He said let me think about this and get back to you. He has not. That was ten days ago.

I told Terry Chuck has two strikes against him already. One for setting the drain wrong. Two for not getting back to me with ideas of a fix. Again, we all make mistakes. You and I have spent more time considering a solution this morning than Chuck has and it's mistake.....

 

[ovrszd]

Richard. You’ll be totally “excited” (relieved/happy) when the house is done!


I’ve lived on the farm in the same spot my entire life so I kinda know what it’s like.

You got a little moss stuck to you also!!!!

Yeah, it'll all be good when it's done.

I bought an old Ford 555A TLB a year ago. It's pretty much paid for itself. I've buried all my water, sewer and electrical. My old scraper has paid for itself, again, with 300+ loads of dirt.

All of this has kept me busier than I like but it's all good.

 

[Jchonline]

Great project. Subscribed. Thanks for sharing!

 

[ovrszd]

Great project. Subscribed. Thanks for sharing!

Your welcome. This will take most of the Winter. I don't expect to move until late March/early April.

 

[Wakey]

Glad you started your thread Richard, looking forward to more of the process.