I have been giving step by step progress of our first floor house construction using Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF). I am truly amazed at how fast the wall go up.
As you can see at 10:00 am Thursday we have 2 courses done. With the concrete scheduled to be poured at 1:00 Friday, we still have a lot to do!
While some of the children continued to glue and snap together wall, others began to put the bracing together. From our 20 year old down to our 5 year old, everyone wanted to be involved. Even our 22 mth old walked around picking up screws and trash. (A large family certainly comes in handy!) I love the opportunity for them all to be involved and learn character and skills that they will use in their lives.
Back to our progress … The forms will hold the concrete but the bracing is used to insure straight walls. The brace parallel to the forms will be screwed into place before the concrete is poured. The blue metal pole coming from the wall at a 45 degree angle will be screwed into a block of wood which will be glued to the slab.
So the morning continued snapping, gluing, putting up bracing complete with walk boards on top. Although we tend to grow them tall, once we reached the fifth course, the top could not be reached. The walk boards were used to finish the last course as well as pouring the concrete.
By Thursday evening we had finished the fifth course and begun the sixth.
As the sun set I noticed the view our our soon to be kitchen window:
We continued to work into the night. I moved the van so the headlights would shine upon our work area but .. the mosquitoes! They were vicious man, woman and child eaters! So, at 9:40 pm we were pulling away for a much needed night’s sleep.
For those of you who are new, we have just begun the first floor (basement) of our new home which will overlook the vineyard. We are using the Rewards Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) and were able to finish the first course or layer yesterday evening. We chose the Rewards ICF not only for their insulation and strength characteristics but also their price.
It is amazing how easy the ICF is to snap together. They are really like legos! Inside are plastic dividers which give strength and we will place rebar before concrete is poured for added stength.
First came marking the slab as a guide. So, we popped the line. Our concrete slab is not blue as the picture portrays – it is really gray! This line is our guide to make sure the blocks are square.
Each block is 4 ft wide and has teeth (remember legos) to snap to the next course. Since the first course will be sitting on the slab, the teeth of one side were cut off. A line of glue is then put down on the slab using a glue gun and lining it up with the inside edge on the line, the block laid on top. For the next block, glue is put on the slab and up the ends of the previously laid block.
The blocks are then held down for a few minutes until the glue sets.
What happens if the block is too wide – you just cut it to fit!
Hopefully, most of the walls will be up by this evening with bracing. For now, though, I am off to buy more glue!
We picked up the door and window frames to be used with the Rewards Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) today. John and the children began assembling them immediately. It is amazing how easily they are put together. The 16 foot pieces were cut to size and then screwed together with sheet-rock screws. Of course, there are always mechanical difficulties!
Corner braces are then added to maintain the 90 degree angle as the concrete is poured. Additional bracing with 2×4′s will also be added to prevent the forms from bowing.
Here is a picture of the door frames completely assembled. The corner bracing will be removed after the concrete is set.
Since these are plastic, the sawing to size creates a lot of snow-like trash. So, we have our own cleaning crew!
Tomorrow we will pick up the bracing and begin laying the ICF blocks. On Friday, if all goes according to plan, we will fill the forms (which will make our walls) with concrete.
Doing it yourself is a lot of work but also a great sense of accomplishment. It will be a wonderful experience for our children. Especially the younger ones who were not old enough (or not around yet) to help with our house in Alabama. Plus, we will be saving a ton of money!
You might be wondering what happened after the pouring of the slab for our new house which is to overlook the vineyard.
The answer – Nothing!
After pouring the slab and picking up the insulated concrete forms, the vineyard work picked up so much that we have not had time to work on the house. This is a wonderful problem to have (I mean, so much work as opposed to no work because the vines died!) and the work will probably slow down this month. At that point, we will get back to working on the house. In the meantime, the walls sit on the slab waiting.
How am I handling this?
Mostly, I am so thankful that the grapes are growing well and that there is work to do, that I am a big girl about it. But … there are days …
Have you ever watched your child throw a tantrum and then pout? Some days, I feel like throwing a tantrum! I am so ready to get out of this small rental and into a new place with a big kitchen. If it gets dirty (“if” is inappropriate here – “when” is more like it ), it is our dirt that must be cleaned and not years of other people’s dirt. But, thankfully this only happens sometimes and hormones are usually involved!
Mostly, I am being a big girl about it! When I stop and count my blessing (naming them one by one) this rental house is one of them. It is so convenient to be able to walk back and forth to the vineyard! The size has also been a blessing. We have not had a lot of house to clean and with the busy days of summer, that has been a blessing. We have also learned character through this. Especially, patience with everyone in such close quarters. Waiting for the bathroom is a good example. So, I do count this time as very valuable for our family. After all, if the Alabama house had sold immediately, we would not have had this opportunity to learn all we have.
That said, I ‘m tired of learning!
Here are some pictures of the basement slab being poured. We ended up having 5 cement trucks come – which was very exciting for our little boys, the big ones too actually! OK, we were all excited about it!
Because the trucks were coming from 50 miles away, the slab was worked in sections. As the concrete was poured it was spread out over the plastic.
After spreading the concrete, it was leveled.
Once leveled, the men used a wire mesh tamper to cause the stones in the concrete mix to sink. This helps give a smoother surface to the finished slab.
After the surface had become dry enough, a whirlybird was used to finish the concrete to a smooth surface.
Needless to say, with a family our size, we had plenty of supervisors!
Here is the slab almost completed and we are waiting on one more truck!
Once sufficiently dried and the surface finished with the whirlybird, the slab was covered with plastic. This prevents the concrete from drying to quickly and allows it to cure slowly giving a stronger slab.
The walls will be next!
As mentioned in New House we had picked out a spot for our new house – Now we have officially broken ground! Until our house in Alabama sells (or our grapes are in full production), we plan to build the basement and live in it. It will actually be larger than the rental house we are in now! After a few plan modifications, I think we have a very workable, comfortable living space designed.
After several unsuccessful attempts to have someone do the slab for us (digging out, forming and then the concrete work), we decided that John would do it himself. I had a backhoe lined up to be delivered Monday. But then, last Thursday, in our mailbox was a card advertising concrete work. After calling the number, the man came out on Friday and looked the site over. On Saturday, he called with an estimate and on Monday, he started. He was actually not much more expensive than we could have done it ourselves. I checked all the prices – backhoe rental, concrete and then there was the wood to form the slab, rebar, nails, plastic…. and most of all time!
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Grab My Dime! 
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About Me 
God has amazingly blessed me, Dina-Marie, with a wonderful husband and 10 beautiful children. Moving from our "secure" life in Alabama to the "exciting" life of starting a vineyard in west Texas has been challenging to say the least. I have had the opportunity to take a crash course in frugal living and become a real farm girl - complete with milk cow and chickens. I have learned the importance of health from the inside out, "traditional" cooking and cod liver oil!
I hope to encourage you to make the most of where you are and what you have. |
