The Slab is Done!

My slab has been poured. It's done. It's really done! This is a huge weight off my shoulders, and a big milestone in the progress of the house.

After my last post about the day the post-tension cables were installed, it rained for a couple of days. My dad and I had to dig out some of the trenches around the front garage. They are deeper than the rest, and the rain had washed sand into these trenches, covering over the pilings. We cleaned them out so the tops of the pilings were exposed again. By doing this, we disturbed the termite barrier that the spray had created. So I called them out to re-spray these trenches. They did so without charging me.

Also during this week, we spent alot of time patching places in the plastic sheeting where they had cut big slits for pipes, drains, and other protrusions through. The large holes they left allowed rain to seep into the sand and wash out sections of some "islands" into the trenches. Also, having holes like this in the plastic would allow moisture to work its way up through the concrete over time. This could show itself as stains in a wood or vynyl floor, etc. So we added patches of plastic to make the barrier tight around the protrusions. It was long and tedious work.

I also made sure that the cables and highway wire were suspended just above the plastic layer wherever possible. In some cases, the plastic tees used to hold them up had either fallen over or sunken into the sand beneath. The idea is for the reinforcement to be sandwiched within the concrete and not lying at the bottom of it.

There was also the parish inspection. Before I could request the inspection, I had to bring in the survey that was done since the forms were up. It needed to be reviewed and accepted prior to a request for inspection. I brought in the survey on Wednesday (I think). They approved it on Thursday and the inspection happened on Friday.

You gotta love these inspectors... Now I'm completely new at this. I don't know all the ins and outs of the building & permitting process. And, I might add, the parish has not been forthcoming with lots of useful information to guide me. So when the inspector called me to meet him at the lot, I sped off with the copy of the plans I keep in my car. When I gave them to him, he said he needed the stamped copy. And he said it with a smirk or a smile that said, "what are you trying to pull here? You know I need the stamped copy." I explained that this is my first house and that I am contracting it for myself. I told him I'd run home and get it if he could wait. "But that's the thing: I can't wait," he said. I told him it would take less than 10 mins. He reluctantly agreed. He wouldn't accept the unstamped plans to work from while I was gone.

So I drove home with all due haste, grabbed the stamped copy and drove back in about 9 mins. After this, he seemed to be much cooler about things. He passed me, and gave me some pointers about making sure the tees were turned up so the steel would be in the concrete, etc. We talked for a few seconds and I think he started to realize that I was building this house for me and that I wanted it to be better than the code requires. He seemed to take his guard down a little after that.

Okay, so the inspection was on Friday and the pour wasn't scheduled until Tuesday. This was due to the weather forecast and also because no one could provide concrete until that day. There was more rain forecast over the weekend, and I was concerned that it would wash out the trenches again. But the rain really wasn't bad, and it didn't do any damage.

The Pour

Even up to the morning of the pour, I was making last-minute efforts. My dad and I added the pipes leading from outside into the drain boxes so that exterminators can squirt termite spray into them.

We installed these as the pump truck was setting up. The truck was pretty amazing. The boom could extend all the way to the back garage. It was something to see. And you can in one of the photos below!

When they started to pour, they began with the borders around the floating frames (the front garage, the back patio, the front porch, etc.). For the garage, they dumped some concrete inside and then used shovels to fill in the part of the ledge for the stud wall to be built on.

They would build up the concrete around the higher side of the border and flatten out a path maybe 2 feet wide. Then they began filling in around the sides by the brick ledges. They used a vibrator to make the concrete settle and fill in everywhere. (I'm anxious for them to remove the forms this week to see how good the brick ledges came out.) When they used the vibrator, you could feel it in the ground when you were standing within 20 feet.

After filling in the outside border, they filled in the rest of the trenches and the whole house slab. Some began working that slab while they poured into the rear garage. At different points during the hardening process, they would do different things, such as inserting the anchor bolts and metal straps at the corners.

They left the front garage floor until last. This was so that the pump truck's time could be used wisely. The truck was there for 5 hours, and then they cut it loose. For the front garage, they let the last cement truck back right up to it. This saved me an hour's time on the pump truck.

The pour itself lasted from 7:30 to 11:30. But the guys were there finishing it until around 5:30. There were different parts of the process. After flattening it with a board, they later used a big circular machine that looks like a floor buffer, but with metal blades that smooth over the concrete. They explained that they run this over it three times. By the time they're done, it's as smooth as glass. And it definitely is!

It rained on the couple of days after the pour. That was good for helping it cure well. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!

Post Tension Stuff Installed!

Whew! I'm glad this day is over. It was a success, but it was stressful. Because of the last-minute things I remembered the slab crew hadn't done last night, I worried that my one-sub-after-the-other schedule wasn't going to work out. I started the day by waiting at the lot for the slab crew. Neither the owner nor his son was with them. But the other guy who leads their workers was there. I asked him about the styrofoam in the rear garage and raising the level of dirt under the level parts of both garages. He seemed a little confused or annoyed (after all they were only coming to cut off the tall pilings), but they did the work.

The pest control sprayer hadn't gotten my message from the evening before where I said I'd need to push him back from 7:30 to 8:30. So he showed up at 7:30 along with the slab crew. He said he had to go off to another job across the lake and that he'd be back around noon or 1pm. It was forecast to rain alot later in the day, so I figured I'd have to postpone all the day's work until tomorrow.

Then I called the post-tension slab company. I had left them a voicemail yesterday evening telling them to push back from 9:00 to 10:00. The lady who answered today said she thought I had left that message two days ago. Their crew had already left Slidell to get down here for 9. I was told that if they called them back it would cost me more than if they got down here and waited idle for a while.

So I let them come, and I called the pest control people to try and get the sprayer guy back. They sent me another guy in his place. The owner, who I had left the message with the evening before, apologized that he hadn't gotten the message to his employee. He had been sick when I called.

So the schedule went like this:

• 7:30 - Slab crew arrived & started work. First termite sprayer leaves for other job.
• 9:10 - Post-tension crew arrived. Started laying out materials and marking where tendons would go.
• 9:50 - Second termite sprayer arrived & began spraying from back to front.
• 11:20 - Spraying completed. Poly layer being laid down from back to front. Plastic was down before any of the haevy rain started.
• 11:30 - 2:00 - Post-tension cables laid out, along with rebar cage in the bay window areas. Sporadic periods of heavy rain with breaks in between.
• 2:00 - Post-tension crew finished laying highway wire in the areas where I plan to have tile or wood floor. They left at this time.

The bottom line is that everything was installed today that I had hoped to install. There was heavy rain for a few hours after the work was done. I worried about the rain messing up the termite barrier that was sprayed in the trenches (where there is no plastic layer). An uncle of mine who has built lots of houses went out to look at everything afterward and said I was fine. The termite protection wasn't broken.

So I'm relieved that everything got done. Tomorrow, the slab crew should be coming in the afternoon to install the floating forms (forms inside the perimeter like the sunken utility room, and the ledges in the garages, etc. After that, I get the inspection. Then I'm ready to pour.

Here are some pictures of the house as of today:

Trenches Dug - Well on the Way to Being Ready to Pour!

I can't believe it's been almost a week since my last post. In that time, they've finished digging the trenches for the chain walls. Today, the slab crew was on-site installing the styrofoam blocks that make room for the brick ledge around the house.

They wrap the styrofoam in plastic wrap to make it easy to separate later from the dried concrete. He described it as regular plastic wrap and called it Saran Wrap. So I bought two rolls of that stuff, thinking that they just strung it along the back of the blocks. I found out today that there's actually larger rolls of this available from Home Depot that they use. Sorry, guys!

I met the slab contractor today to go over some final details of how the garage floors will be formed. There are places where the ground is level and other places where it is sloped, etc. I used Google's SketchUp software to draw what I wanted. He told me he likes dealing with someone who provides detail on what they want. I was glad to hear that.

We talked about being ready tomorrow for the pest control people to spray the soil. Then the post-tension people can come after and lay the poly (plastic) layer and install the post-tension cables. Hopefully, we can do all this before it rains.

BUT, I just thought of a couple of things while typing this that may ruin that plan: They didn't add styrofoam to the garage or fill in dirt where they needed to. These are all things that need to be done before the spraying! So I need to call them in the morning to see what's up with that.

Progress on Fat Tuesday

Three words of advice: inspect, inspect, inspect! After the plumber finished installing the drains and the underground copper last week, I walked the lot to make sure all the necessary lines were in place. I saw that there was no water line to the icemaker in the kitchen. I called him on Monday (yesterday) morning. They had just had the parish inspection. He thanked me for noticing that because they had completely forgotten about the icemaker. They installed that line, along with the utility room floor drain, that day.

With all the plumbing done, it's the slab crew's turn to come back and dig the footings (chain walls) down to the pilings.

Today, it's Mardi Gras here in southern Louisiana. Those festivities stopped being attractive to me long ago. But I was told that all the slab guys would have the day off. So I asked the slab guy to CALL ME when they would be out there again. He said he would. I went out this afternoon to do a little cleanup and organizing of wood stakes, etc. Lo and behold, the crew was there digging out the trenches with shovels! Hey, at least they're ahead of schedule. But I wish they'd let me know when they're going to be there.

If they dig these trenches and then it rains, the trenches will get filled in and they'll need to clear them again. But hopefully we won't have much rain, and they can finish them quickly. Then, I'll need to schedule the termite treatment of the soil and the installation of the poly layer & post tension cables (hopefully one right after the other).