Imagining the View!

During a break in framing, we marveled of the view to come while standing in front of the framed wall on the lakeside.

The discussion quickly focused on the need for two trees that needed to come down -- once we have the cottage and deck built of course.


It was a fresh feeling standing on the floor, at over a story high and out of the basement or previously the excavation. The breeze was a nice change from the opr4ssive heat we had experienced the past 2 weekends.

4 Steps to Rasing a Wall: Square, Prepare, Lift, Level and Brace,

Raising a wall is certainly not for the weak of body or mind. It requires strength and a mind for ensuring the wall is:

• Square
• Plumb, and
  
• Braced

Step 1: Making it Square
Well you don't actually make it 'a' square. Very seldom is a wall a perfect square!

What you need to do is make sure that the top and side studs are at a perfect 90 degrees. This is by applying a mathematics trick you learned way back in high school: a rectangle is perfectly 'square' when the distance from one corner to the another equals the distance on the opposing pair of corners. It takes a bit of effort making the wall square - usually done using a "persuader" ( a sledge hammer in our case) to drive a corner while holding the opposite corner in place. While blocks nailed temporarily into the floor can be used to secure the opposite corner - having a helper makes this process faster.

Once 'square' you will want to freeze the square by nailing in a temporary board to the wall. Here you can see we used a piece of plywood.

Step 2: Prepare
We used temporary blockers on the floor to backstop the wall as we slid it in to place and lifted it into place. Can you see them still in place?

Before we lifted the wall we first nailed a 12 foot 2 x 6 to support the wall. In this case on the left side of the wall, can you see it in place in the above picture? I secured it with one nail and had it lying so it was sticking past the top plate. This is so as we lifted the wall the brace would follow us dragging on the floor.

There are a few other things you need to get and have nearby:

• Air nailer with plenty of nails
• loose 3.5" nails and a hammer
• A level
• More bracing boards if you think you may need them
  

Step 3: Lift
Lifting a wall, especially when the wall is large can't be done alone. Get help! This requires at lease two people. It is a good idea to first raise and prop the top plate with a scrap piece of lumber. This make it easy to get your hands under the wall in the "clean and jerk" action you are about to do... Yes! framing Olympics...

Step 4 & 5: Level and Brace
The action of leveling and bracing really happens at the same time. First you do some bracing, then some leveling, and then repeat the process.

Once the wall is in the right location, secure the sole plate to the floor. Make sure you are getting lots of lumber when you nail. Put your nails through the sole plate and into the joists in the floor. ASIDE: It helps to have marked their location before your lifted the wall.

I like to level the end of the wall with the prepared brace first. This requires at least two people - although a third is sure handy. One holds the wall, and uses the level to ensure that end of the wall is perfectly vertical. The second person takes the brace and nails the other end to the side of the floor. Both ends of the wall should be secured in this way.

For this wall we simply put the small wall (right side of the wall in the picture) in place, leveled both walls simultaneously and nailed them together.

In the above picture you can also see we had the next wall, to the left of this current wall ready to lift, level and brace.

Framing, the 1st Wall on the 1st Floor

On Friday I was able to start framing the walls of the main floor.

I started with the smallest wall. This wall is east facing and has one window in it. In the picture to the right you can see all the components needed to frame a window. Can you place them?

• Header (Clue: it is made of 2)
  
• Sill (Clue: there is 1)
  
• Trimmers (Clue: there are 2)
• Sill Trimmers (clue there are 2)
  
• King Studs (there are 8)
• Jack studs (there are 3)
• Bottom(sole) plate
• Top plate
  

The longest part of the framing process is measuring and cutting the lumber as I use an air nailer to assemble the wall.

Notice the wall was assembled on the floor just in front of were it is to go. To ease the process of lifting it into plate you can see two temporary pieces of 2 x 6 that are sticking up from the floor - right at the end of the floor. These serve as a stopper so the wall doesn't fall over the edge as we raise it.

Prior to raising this wall I also framed the short wall that attaches on the right of this wall.

NEXT POST: raising the wall, making it plumb, and attaching the next wall.

Our First Basement Flood

On Saturday evening and early Sunday morning, it rained causing the first basement (and hopefully the last ever!) flood in the basement.

AND, I discovered another reason why basement floors are poured AFTER the entire house is closed in.

Here is the story! After a long day framing, and a beautiful day weather wise, I procrastinated in putting the tarp back over the floor and to cover the hole for the stairwell. My fault - but tired and with supper cooking on the BBQ, I took a chance...

Of course it rained. And it rained very hard, not once but twice.

The result was about 3 inches of water in the middle portion of the basement.

The problem is that although the plumbing has been put in the floor, all the drain pipes are sticking out of the concrete and above the level of the water, waiting to be cut and be glued to a drain. Even if the drains were in the sewage basin doesn't yet have a pump.

I pushed the water our of the basement and out the space where the patio door is to go with a makeshift squeegee. An hour later the floor was dry - but I had wasted time that could have been devoted to framing.

A lesson learned for the next time... ;-)

A Hole in the floor...

The stairwell from the main floor to the basement has six steps down to a landing a 180 turn and 7 more steps to the basement floor.

To make this happen a bog hole needs to be cut in the main floor.

This hole is not a rectangle as might be expected but takes a bit of a jag over the downward half the of the stairwell.

Taking that much of supporting joists out of the floor means more bracing has to go in around the stair well opening in the floor AND and additional beam is used to support the section at the entrance to the stair well.

The beam is supported by three columns in the basement as shown in the next two pictures. The engineered joints are still exposed so you can see that that there is plenty of support from the center beam through to the extra beam for both the floor section ending at the beam and that section of the floor that is cantilevered over the new beam.

You will also notice that the cantilevered section of floor is also cut at an angle leading down to the basement. The purpose of this angle is to provide the building code clearance for your head as you step down the stairs.

Finally there is a set of blocking with short pieces of the engineered joists to provide further support at the end of the cantilevered section of floor. There will eventually be a rim board which will cover the ends of both sections to further strengthen the end portions of the floor.

For safety and to support the tarp which we not dutifully place on the floor every night and at the end of our weekend of work, we place lots of lumber and two hunks of 4' x 8' over the hole.

Human nor water can now enter the basement through the stairwell opening, at least not until the stairs are built!

Houston, We have a Concrete basement Floor...

When I arrived on This past Friday I was pleased to see that the contractor have poured the concrete basement floor.

The basement floor is usually poured well after the roof is on and the building closed in. This is so the concrete is not rained on or otherwise compromised by materials destroying the nice finish the concrete contractor puts on the floor.

It was kind of a nice feeling having the basement floor in - sort of a milestone of sorts... I could imagine what was to be built in the basement - two bedrooms, a workshop, bathroom and a laundry room, plus another living room area.

The floor is given a nice smooth finish and the concrete sloped, ever so gradually towards the drains that I install earlier. There are two drains. Can you determine where they are in the above picture? A clue -- there are a few water marks that give it away.

In a previous post (see "How to Make Sh#t Flow up Hill"") I described the process of putting in the plumbing under the basement floor. In the above and next two pictures you can see the almost finished product.

The first picture at the left shows, starting in the foreground, the water intake from the lake (with the wires taped to it), the sewage basin, the shower drain and the toilet waste pipe.

Of course these fixtures are not yet finished in that they need to be connected. each will have a specific adapter glued to it. For instance the toilet waste pipe will have something called a closet flange.

In the picture to the left, you see, from left to right, one of two floor drains and the wastes and vent pipe that will be used to drain the laundry tub and the washer.

The pictures don't quite do it justice but the floors are really smooth!

The Secret to a Noiseless Floor

The secret to a non-squeaky floor is not a secret at all. Make it strong!

Some of the elements to making a floor strong include:

• Use engineered joists, they tend not to twist as they pretty much arrive dry and not prone to movement
• Use bracing between the joints - here we used 1" x 4" bracing across the bottoms of the joists at 4 foot centers
• Use screws to secure the floor decking material, and us lots of them - definitely do not skimp here - we put them every 6 inches
• Use additional bracing between the joists at key places where the structure may suffer more weight or have cutouts in the floor structure such around stairwell openings.
  

Batten down the Hatches

We covered the framed floor with a massive tarp (30 x 40), both after we put in the joists and then a week latter after put on the tongue and groove flooring material. We did this for two reasons:

1. The engineered lumber is not meant to be exposed to the weather for long lengths of time. Because we are not continuously building, and hence will not have the roof up quickly like the professional builders, the material will be exposed longer than is usual.
   
2. We would like to have the basement floor poured earlier than is usually the practice. The concrete contractor prefers to pour the floor after the building is closed in, and hence, the concrete is protected from the rain.

My foundation contractor takes pride in his workmanship. He prefers not to have any chance of rain spoiling the nice glassy finish of the basement floor. So my deal with him is to ensure the floor is covered and virtually leak-proof, hence, the floor in place and covered with a tarp.

A benefit of doing the basement floor sooner is that pouring the concrete will be much easier. The opening in the floor for the stairwell can be used to pour the concrete rather than the small entrance of the basement window.

The Rule of 16

Ever wonder how that handyman you hired always seems to know where to put that nail or screw into the wall?

Well the answer is in the "Rule of 16"!

Virtually all houses, and in our case cottage, are framed using a standard distance of 16 inches from the center of one stud to the center of the next - Always!

This means you can always depend on where the studs are as long as you have a starting point of reference for the first stud - and that is usually in the corner.

There are exceptions to the rule. There can be more studs, like trimer and king studs around doors and windows, but these are always extra studs which may not conform to the rule of 16 because the window or door just doesn't conform. In the above picture one set of king/trimmer studs happen to fit in to the 16 inch center pattern and the other doesn't. Can you determine which?

Another portion of the lakeside wall showing the framing for the patio door, and the window framed for the future basement bathroom.

Framing Windows - No need to rush the view

Over the past 2 weekends we have accomplished much. We have:

• Framed the lakeside walls for the basement
• Installed the floor including the beam, joists and decking
• Installed the plumbing in the basement floor

But I haven't shared much about the framing work.

The basement is a walk-out basement, hence, concrete walls were not used on the lakeside of the cottage. I used pressure treated lumber for the framing of the basement walls that were not poured in concrete just to be sure that moisture did not affect the structure.

This picture illustrates the framing used:

• 2" x 6"Pressure treated stud walls
• Sill gasket between the concrete and the wood
• 5/8" Pressure treated plywood
  

Also illustrated is the framing for a window including:

• Laminated 3 by 2" x 10" header
• Trimmer studs supporting the header
• King studs beside each trimmer stud
• Jack studs (also called cripple studs) supporting the window sill
  

Anchor bolts are a key support feature. These are bolts embedded in the concrete which come through holes in the sole plate. These are secured using washers and nuts which really make the prefect bond with the foundation.

Here is a diagram of the elements of building a wall with a window in it.


Why not rush the view? Well the windows are not arriving for several weeks, and cutting out the plywood where the window goes just isn't needed right now. Besides there a number of benefits to leaving the plywood there:

• protects the basement from the weather
• putting on a whole 4' x 8' piece is just easier and it provides greater structural integrity
• and provides some security if you intend to cover all the openings while you are away.
  

The Neverending Battle with Bugs

As you can imagine the bugs have been very bad this year with all the rain we received in the Spring. While the hot weather seems to abated the mosquitoes somewhat the black flies and deer flies have been hanging on. Black flies have been bad in the evenings especially and the deer flies during the day.

While bug spray has been very helpful, in the evenings, while sitting around soothing our sore muscles, and reviewing the progress of the day, we have found that strategically placed citronella candle pots have been very helpful. I highly recommend them!


One tip! Get more than you think you need...

Bringing Water to the Cottage

I have chosen to pump my water up from the Lake. The water in the lake is quite good and I already had installed a temporary pumping system.

I am using a submersible pump - so it is sitting at the bottom of the lake about 20 feet off the shore line. The supply line runs up the hill to the cottage. The height, or head as it is called in pumping lingo, is about 70 feet. The cable tied to the supply line is the power for the pump.

To protect the combination of water supply pipe and the power wires the entire length of the pipe from the lake to the entry point at the cottage is encased in 4" plastic weeping tile pipe (the stuff with no holes in it).

The supply pipe and the power line enter a 4" sleeve that was put in pace before the foundation was back filled. The sleeve enters the basement through the footing. We of course threaded the supply pipe and wire through the sleeve after the foundation was poured. This was a tough feat requiring all the strength of my son and I to pull the pipe/wire combination through the sleeve after fishing a pull line from inside the basement.

This is a picture of the supply line entering the basement through the sleeve in the footing. We had not yet pulled though the entire length required hence the wires are not visible yet. Once the package was though I cut the supply line and clamped on a 90 degree elbow and pipe extension. The exit point on the basement side of the footing was further protected by more tile pipe and the whole area supported and buried in crushed stone.

The combination of water supply pipe and power wires encased in the 4" tile pipe runs on the ground beside the stair from the top to the lake. The tile pipe was threaded over the supply pipe and wires. This turned out to be more difficult than expected. One of the obstacles to slipping the tile pipe over the supply line was the cable ties holding the wires tot he supply line.

The solution was to slip the tile pipe on in sections of 20 - 30 feet, and using tile connectors at each joint.

Jack (posts) supports the floor

Even though the LVL beam constructed in the previous post is very strong, the span is just too long so support is required under the beam. The plans call for 2 columns - steel jack posts - set at 11 feet intervals.

Jack posts have 6 components:

1) two metal plates
- a bottom plate which is secured to the concrete footing so that the jack post does not move, and
- a top plate which is secured to the underside of the beam. This plate has a special hole in to which the an end of the threaded bar fits.

2) two metal tubes, one of fits inside the other. The smaller diameter tube has a number of holes in it.

3) A short 4" solid metal bar which fits into the holes in the smaller diameter tube. The two tubes are adjusted in length to fit the distance from the footing to the beam, and the length secured by placing the short bar in one set of holes.

4) a plate with a threaded bar in it. The plate fits over the top of the small diameter tube, and the other end of the threaded bar fits into the top plate secured to the bottom of the beam.

The height of the jack post is adjusted in 2 ways. Gross adjustment is done with the 2 metal tubes, securing the length by placing the short bar in holes in the small diameter tube. Fine adjustment is made by turning the threaded bar using a wrench.

The idea is to adjust the jack post so it is just supporting the beam.

This picture illustrates the top plate and the threaded bar. The top plate is secured to the bottom of the LVL beam, and the threaded bar is inserted into a hole in the top plate. A smaller plate rests on the top of the smaller diameter tube.

There are 'bumps' on the bottom of the smaller plate into which the tube fits.


This picture illustrates how the bottom plate is secured to the concrete footing and the larger diameter tube is placed on top of the bottom plate.

There are 'bumps' on the bottom plate over which the tube fits to hold it in place.

When the concrete floor is eventually poured the bottom 4" or more of the post will be embedded in the concrete floor, and hence permanently secure the post.

Support worthy of a dance floor...

There has been new building materials, commonly called engineered wood products, on the market for quite some time. One of those materials we are using in the Cottage is laminated veneer lumber (LVL) for the main beam supporting the floor.

Similar in appearance to plywood, LVL is an engineered wood product that uses multiple layers of thin wood assembled with adhesives. It offers several advantages over typical milled lumber: it is stronger, straighter, and more uniform, and is much less likely than conventional lumber to warp, twist, bow, or shrink due to its composite nature. LVL is typically used for headers, beams, rimboard, and edge-forming material.

LVL is still a relatively new product; it was developed in Canada in the late 1990s. High-tech, computerized sawing systems are what makes it possible to produce large-size, top quality construction material using relatively small trees.

The beam we are using is made up of three pieces of 1.25" x 9.5" LVL that are each 33 feet long. These things are long, awkward and heavy. Two people can pick up one of them but three pieces would be impossible without a crane. So we assembled the full beam by inserting each piece into the slot formed in the concrete wall on opposing sides of the foundation and then nailing them together while in place. We used clamps to hold the pieces while we nailed them.

Like all framing, any wood must be insulated from the concrete using a thin bit of plastic called a sill gasket. Hence we lined the inside of the slot in the concrete wall with a sill gasket. From the picture you will notice that we also used some wood spacers to 1) raise the beam so that the top was flush with the sill board, and 2) to fill the gap on one side of the beam (essentially filling the rest of the slot.

The picture at right illustrates the slot, the wood spacers, and the sill gasket. If you look closely you can see that the beam is actually made up of 3 LVL beams.

Building Windows in Concrete

The cottage design calls for one window to be placed in a concrete wall. I was curious how this is done.

What happens is that the foundation contractor actually embeds the window right inside the concrete form as they pour the concrete walls. So the window is not crushed by the weight of the concrete and the concrete pouring operation, the contractor takes the glass part of the window out and temporarily replaces them with wooden support.

The whole window assembly is covered in thick plastic to protect it from the concrete.

After the concrete is cured and the forms are removed, the window becomes a seamless part of the wall structure.

The wood supports are removed and the glass parts of the window are inserted, usually after the window opening is used to pour the concrete for the basement floor - but that is a story for another post.

3 Key Conveniences for a Happy Construction Team

Except two weeks of vacation, the construction schedule has most of the construction happening on weekends. We all have day jobs -- so my construction team, consisting mostly of my three sons and my wife, donate their weekends to the cause. I have been taking every Friday off in the month of June to prepare the construction site, and to get whatever I can get started.

Long and hot days make for tired and sore bodies. Out in the great outdoors it is difficult to have the conveniences of home - but we try.

1. Comfortable Sleeping arrangements
Nothing is more dangerous is tired workers. I set out to ensure we could provide the best under the circumstance. I am fortunate in that I had a headstart. I had previously built a small one room bunkie which can accommodate 2 -3 people, and a gazebo.

In the gazebo I have semi-permanently (for the summer construction season) pitched a 3 - 4 person tent. I furnished it with comfy mattresses, pillows and sleeping bags.

The bunkie has a futon for two and a small loft with a single mattress. Both come with pillows and blankets.

2. Private Toilet Facilities
There is an outhouse with a composting toilet. Composting toilets although taller than conventional toilets have the same features once you climb on to them.

3. Washing Capabilities
For full body washes (aka showers and baths) the facility is found just over the edge of the dock. Combined with a ecologically positive bar of soap and bottle of shampoo, the lake makes for effective if not a bit cool wash-down. As it has been very hot and humid I haven't been hearing any complaints!

In the interim and for times when a bit of touch-up is required - like when my wife insists we wash our hands before meals, we use wipes. They work very effective, and they are great for getting the insect repellent off just before climbing in the very welcome bed and sleeping bag each night.

4. Good Food & Drink
Food and drink is probably the easiest. We simply use a BBQ and carry our food up to the cottage for the weekend in a cooler. Our BBQ comes with a side burner so making coffee or tea or boiling water to wash dishes is very easy.

Keeping drinks and food is a bit of a problem beyond a few days as the ice pack are really being taxed in the hot weather. However, we retrieved a refrigerated cooler from storage and have plugged that in to the generator during the day. The 'boosted' cooler seems to keep things just a bit cooler. It only runs when we have the generator on to power our construction tools but for the past two weekends that has been pretty consistently from 9am to 7pm each day, with short spots for lunch and supper.

We keep the booster cooler with drinks and a big water jug right at the construction site, within easy reach for anyone to crack open a cool one.

...and regarding the 'Cool ones', beer is strictly for the after-supper celebration of a fine day's work, and to help ease the pain of those long under-exercised but now overused muscles. We use drinks with great electrolyte balance, like the most commonly recognized Gatorade.

How to make Sh#t Flow Up Hill!

Yes it can be done!
You can indeed make the ugly stuff of toilets, showers and sinks flow up hill.

The problem is that the basement of the Cottage is below the septic system. This is a problem because I intend to build a bathroom down in the basement, complete with a toilet, shower and sink. Furthermore, the laundry room will be in the basement. I think we all realize that our modern sanitation systems make heavy use of Newton's discover of gravity to take our waste away. (BTW - that is the hole in the concrete wall that will eventually lead tot he septic tank.)

The problem is solved by burying a sewage basin under the concrete floor of the basement, into which all the sources of water, both black and grey water, in the basement are piped to. A special macerating pump is installed in the sewage basin which pumps the evil mixture up into the sewage pipe leading to the septic tank.

6 Steps to making Sh#t flow up hill:

STEP 1: Plan
You need to know exactly where your bathroom fixtures are going to be right down to the center of the holes (where the pipes go) for the toilet (usually about 16 inches from the side and 12 inches from the back), and the shower (this one is trick because every manufacturer does it differently - so pick out your shower and get its dimensions ahead of time.

STEP 2: Dig
...and I mean lots of digging!
After planning out the rough locations of the toilet, the shower (or bathtub), and where the other fixtures go, like the laundry tub, the washing machine, you will need to dig a trench for all the waste (sewer) lines and in the case of the sewage basin what seems to be a gigantic HOLE. The picture to the right shows the sewage basin and that hole, as well as the trench to the toilet.

Step 3: layout and Dry fit
It is very important that you get all the angles and lengths of pipe right before you glue all the pipes together. I found it important to lay it all out, fitting all the pipes together, and making sure it is all level and plumb. There is one rule! the pipes must all flow down hill at a grade of at least one quarter inch per foot of length. Sh#t really does only flow down hill after all...

These two pictures illustrate a few stages in Step 3 and 4.

Step 4: Level and Support
OK! I am going to tell you to do something again... Now that it is all together in a dry fit configuration, you need to keep for level and that quarter inch flow rule. THEN move the soil under the pipes to support the structure in the exact position it needs to be.

I found that the dry fit isn't as easy as it seems. When the pipes are dry (that means NOT glued), they don't really go all the way into their sockets, so this part is a bit of an art. You have to estimate the lengths.

Step 5: Gluing, and Final Leveling
Gluing is kind of neat. You put the glue on both parts: the pipe and the connector it is going into. Then move REALLY fast, because the glue sets very quickly. I quick back and forth twisting action makes the pipes go to get together really well.

TIP 1: Be sure to mark the place of each joint with a big long line on both parts so you know where and how they are to join. Also make sure mark goes beyond the area where the glue is going or you will loose the mark as it disappears into the connector.

TIP 2: Every structure is different but I found that creating logical assemblies and them putting the assemblies together really helped

Step 6: Bury your work.
Painful as it may be to bury your work of art you need to cover the whole works to maintain the level, stabilize it and to protect it from the weight of the concrete. And yes! Be sure to make sure all that burying hasn't put the structure our of level - so check constantly!

The next two pictures illustrate the finished structure with the crushed stone supporting and covering most of the pipes.

The first picture shows, in order from the front to the back, the pipes sticking up for the following: a floor drain, the waste and vent stack for the laundry room, another floor drain, the sewage basin which will eventually also have coming out from its top a vent stack, and the pipe to pump the water up to the septic tank line, the shower pipe and finally the toilet.

The second picture gives a closer view, going left to right, of the top of the sewage basin, the shower pipe, and the toilet pipe.

NEXT POST: I have so much to tell you I don't know what will be next - only to say there will be lots of next...

"My Three Sons" make their Mark...

A virgin concrete wall and a can of fluorescent paint nearby... A combination that is just too hard to resist! The construction team which consists of my three sons, myself and anyone else too close to avoid being drafted the made their indelible mark on the concrete walls of the basement.

Egin, my eldest, married and the father of my grandson, Noah:

Nathan, the family mechanic, his friends call him Gudy:

Adric, the youngest:

NEXT POST(S): I reveal my progress over the weekend.

10 Key Elements of a Concrete Foundation

In the previous post (see 7 steps for pouring a Concrete Foundation)I described the basic steps for building, or as they say in the industry, pouring the foundation. In this post I describe a few of the elements important in building a poured concrete foundation.

1) Excavation
The excavation is the hole that in which the foundation will be built and then filled in. It is very important for two reasons: Safety during the building of the foundation and safety of the building. During the building of the foundation the workers will be moving in and about the excavation so appropriate sloping of the excavation walls is needed to ensure the safety of the workers.

The safety of the building, and ultimately the inhabitants is secured by ensuring that the foundation is placed on ground that can support the weight. Most of the time this is accomplished by placing the footings on undisturbed earth.

2) Footings
The footings receive the load of the house through the load-bearing walls and posts. The type and size of footing is based on a number of factors including soil conditions, size of the house and slope of the site. there are three kinds of footings wall, column and stepped. This cottage foundation has all three. It is obvious that wall footings support walls. Column footings support posts which in turn support beams that support floors for instance. On steeply sloped sites, like at this site, steeped footings are used to keep the footing below the frost line.

3) The Frostline
All building codes require that the footing be placed on undisturbed soil that will be always below the frostline. Frost is nasty thing. Water in the soil if it was below the footing and froze it would expand, thus heaving and possibly cracking and otherwise destroying the foundation.

4) The Key
The key is a slot in the top of the footing to ensure a structural join with the concrete wall above it. The footings are poured and cured - usually a 2 day process before the foundation walls are poured.

5) Rebar
Other material are used to strengthen both concrete footings and walls. Long metal rods call reinforcing bars or rebar for short, usually made of cast iron and is given ridges for better frictional adhesion to the concrete, are placed in the concrete as it is poured or just after it is poured to add strength. Concrete is a material that is very strong in compression, but virtually without strength in tension. To compensate for this imbalance in concrete's behavior, rebar is cast into it to carry the tensile loads.

6) Poured Concrete Wall
This is the most visible part of the foundation. It takes the load of the house and provides the walls for most basements. Like the stepped footings, concrete walls often are stepped, roughly following the shape of the site. The missing parts of the walls are later built using lumber.

7) Window insert
How do you put a window in concrete? This is done by inserting the frame of the window with a special supporting structure temporarily replacing the glass part of the window. So the once the wall concrete forms fo the walls are taken off the window is stuck in place.

8) Anchor Bolts
Everywhere the concrete foundation meets a wood structure above it anchor bolts are embedded in the concrete so that the wooden walls can be bolted to the foundation securely.

9) Knee-wall
The part of a foundation wall, really just a thinner part of the footing that is completing buried in the soil, is often referred to a knee-wall. The knee-wall depth is determined by the depth of the frost wall. Commonly in this area knee-walls are 5 feet deep. The part of the foundation wall that seems to missing in the picture actual has a a knee-wall buried, because of the slope of the site. Remember this is the Cottage on the Edge!

10) Floor Ledge
Eventually the basement floor will be poured in concrete. that will happen after the cottage is closed in a bit more to ensure rain doesn't damage the finish of the concrete floor. The concrete will be at least 4 inches thick and will be poured above and on the portion of the footing that sticks out under the wall. But with the knee-wall the footings are 5 feet under the ground -- of a notch is created in the top of the knee-wall to act as a ledge for the concrete floor.

NEXT: finally I get to use my hammer...

7 Steps to Pouring a Concrete Foundation

When I arrived on Friday (June 6th) the foundation was poured and ready to start building. While I wasn't present for much of the time that my contractor was putting in the foundation, I did make a few trips on prior weekend to see the progress. There are 7 basic steps to creating a foundation:

1) Excavate
The hole is dug, usually using a backhoe or shovel. The whole must be bigger than the area of the foundation in order to accommodate the workers

2) Pour the Footings
The footings are created using forms, place on undisturbed ground. The footing is always wider than the concrete walls. Also a number of smaller footing to support various posts inside the cottage are also usually poured at this time.

The forms for the footing are removed the day after they are poured, but must cure for at least 720 hours. This is to ensure they are strong enough to support the poured concrete walls.

3) Pour the Concrete Walls
Like the footings, forms are used for poured concrete walls. Prefab forms are used 99% of the time. You can see the outline of the forms left in the walls in the various pictures in this post.

Again the forms are taken off and the walls are cured before the next step.

4) Wet Proof
The exterior of the foundation walls are coated with a material which seals the concrete from water. This is often a black asphalt material. Only the portion of the exterior wall to be covered by the soil needs to treated in this way.

5) Weeping tile
Another means to keep water away from the foundation, and hence out of the basement, is to surround the outside of the foundation with a weeping tile. This comes in various forms but in this installation it is a 4 inch diameter flexible pipe with lots of holes in it that is place in a cloth sleeve and covered in washed clean stone. The idea is that any water flowing in the the soil near the foundation collects in the weeping tile and is is carried away from the foundation.

6) Backfill
After the weeping tile is in and the wall wet proofed then the outside of the foundation is backfilled. The soil that is put back is graded such that it slopes away from the foundation, again to ensure water flows away from the wall.

7) Basement floor
The last part of the foundation is the basement floor. This is usually poured when the cottage is built so that the floor is covered so that rain does not ruin the finish of the floor. Most of the time this is done when the house is 'closed-in' but in our case we are going to do it once the main floor is in and covered with a tarp. The reason is that we would like to have the basement completely finished so that we can use it during the rest of the building process for storage and to allow us to continue to work if it rains.

[NOTE: as of today the basement floor has not yet been poured - we are hoping that will be done the week of June 16-20]

Next Post: We will share more details about foundations.

Building now! I'll update you on Monday!

Well the day has finally come! The day I raise my hammer and nail the first nail as we build the Cottage on the Edge".

I am up at the Cottage this weekend, June 6-8, with no access to the internet, hence, no posts over the weekend.

Stay tuned! I post on Monday.

5 To Do's for the first Construction Weekend

The foundation is in, the first load of building materials arrive tomorrow, now it is time to plan for the construction team.

Here are my five To-Do's in preparation for the weekend:

1. Inform the Construction Team
If you have been following, I am fortunately to have three adult and strapping sons who are all know which end of a hammer to hold. The trick is herding them together and at the same time. The first weekend of construction is critical so I need all of them to pitch in.

From the start I have created a project plan and kept my sons fully in the loop as to timing -- they all have booked this weekend for the first big push. In fact they have all checked in to ensure the plan is still on track.


2. Keep it Safe, and Sane
Just because this is a family affair doesn't mean that all the needs of a safe construction site should not be observed. So be sure to ensure that all members of the construction team have all the necessary safety gear and appropriate gear, such as:

• Hard hats
• Work boots with steel toes and shanks
• Sun protection - sun screen, long pants and shirts, and hats
• Gloves
  

On site there are a few more rules that need to be effectively communicated and understood, including:

• Proper use of power tools
• Proper carrying techniques

Understand that with the summer heat, tight time frames, and potential set-backs, that you and your the members of your family construction team will be frustrated and that tempers will flare. A cool head from the leader will help to minimize the impact of frustration.

3. Grub and Hydration
Construction is hard work, and the hot sun and humidity play a significant part in the wellbeing of your construction team. So plan for great meals, and plenty of fluids. The issue of fluids can not be stressed enough. Keep these points in mind:

• Have them always easily available
• Have plenty
• Keep them relatively cool
• Pick fluids with good electrolyte balance (e.g. like Gatorade)
• Ban alcohol during the working part of the day

The beer should be kept for the end of the day celebration of accomplishment, over dinner and the camp fire. Just keep it in moderation because remember construction starts bright and early at 7 am sharp the next day...

On meals, I shouldn't need to tell you to keep them nutritious and simple.

4. Accommodations
If you are building in the great outdoors like we are then there won't be a hotel nearby so it is important to plan for as comfortable sleeping arrangements as possible. After a hard day of swinging a hammer the body needs its rest so it can start all over again the next day. My recipe for sleeping arrangements includes:

• Tents for every two members of the team
• Portable bed mattresses (single)
• Summer sleeping bags
  

On the subject of making is as comfortable, you need also to consider:

• Outdoor Kitchen: BBQs, coffee machine,
  
• Outdoor dining: Picnic table
• Covered area: in case it rains - it won't of course...
• Restroom: a portable toilet with a tarp over and around it goes a long way to making the female members of your team comfortable
• Washing arrangements: This will likely mean a bar of environmentally-safe soap and shampoo, a towel and the lake.
• a clothes line...
  

5. Teamwork
Remember that the family-based construction team are generally not professional framers and such, so building of the family cottage tends to be part learning experience. Take the time to communicate what needs to be done and how it needs to be done. Good communication leads to a good understanding of what needs to be accomplished and in what order:

• Describe each task clearly
• Assign tasks appropriately taking in consideration the skill and experience level of your team members. Pair up one experienced members with an inexperienced member.
  

...and there is one more key thing to remember...

6. Keep it fun
Everyone on the construction team is there because they want to. They are not being paid. They are doing it as a labour of love, and to share in the benefits of a family cottage. Don't make it a job -- try to keep everything upbeat! Even when disasters happen. Get their input, ask their advice, keep everyone involved.

So what is the plan for this weekend?

When we arrive tomorrow the foundation will be in and backfilled. The sonotubes for the surround deck will be in place. I intend to arrive early in the morning to set-up and receive the first shipment of materials. I also need to stop by the city offices to pickup the official building permit, and also to drop by Dale's Home hardware to pick up some of the small, loose material I need for the weekend.

The construction targets for this weekend are:

1. Frame the lakeside wall of the basement
2. Install the engineered floor: joists, rim boards and floor sheathing.
   
3. Install the plumbing in the basement floor in preparation for pouring the floor next week.

This is a tall order but if we don't encounter uncooperative weather it is doable... Keep you fingers crossed!