Foundation Work!

 After a month of watching my 285 Martin Drive come undone, it was pure joy to see the events begin that add to the value, rather than detract from it! 

On Friday, after days of excavation and preparation, the first of the concrete was poured. Not much to look at but these channels and footings become the anchors for building upwards again. Super important… and for me, super exciting. 

Of course, I didn’t have time to actually witness concrete going in, but the next day I took pictures:

April is one of our wettest months and while Boulder needs the rain, IMHO I have been “lucky” enough not to have more than a few showers and no big snow storms yet (touch wood). The guys made sure the concrete was protected from the elements a little over the weekend and on Monday they were back to work.

There are plenty of people better equipped to explain the next step in getting foundation poured, but you’re reading this blog and the price you pay for that is listening to my version of the process. It’s flawed and not very eloquent but here goes:

The concrete channels are uncovered and then some 2 by 4 looking lumber is fixed in place on top of it with some metal bolt-looking fasteners. To this can be attached the metal plates, which form the molds. There also appears to be re-bar that penetrates the channels and rises upward. Then more concrete can be poured, thereby making foundation walls  which will be required under the new wall at the front room/dining room and under the room that will cover that swimming pool looking hole in the back yard – my new living room @ 285 Martin Drive!

The concrete truck arrived Thursday around 3:30 pm. Once the wet concrete is poured out of the truck it enters a hopper looking device that feeds it into the flexible pipe you see on the ground here. That pipe is threaded through the house – yes, physically through the walls in this case – to the back yard, where it is pumped into the empty forms.

Jeter 2 (sorry I didn’t catch his name) stands on the pipe to keep it in position as the concrete fills the forms. Aaron, in the background, has a vibrating stick that he puts in the wet concrete to shake out any bubbles or pockets that might have gotten trapped in the newly forming foundation walls.

About 2″ from the top it’s done. Now Ken, Joe and Jeter 2 set about smoothing it off. Making sure its even and such.

The forms are removed in 24 hours. Apparently it could be done in as little as 8 hours!

The concrete for the base of this crawlspace is a project for another day.

And finally… Did I mention how much I appreciate Storm Form, LLC for letting me capture the entire process along the way? How do you think I knew to be at the house at 3:30 pm today? Ken, thoughtful as ever, gave me a heads up!

Thanks Ken, Joe and Aaron, for showing up each day to make our dreams a reality!