Prepping a house site and building a house

[RocketScott]

Snapping a line around the top is how I usually see it done. It would just be by luck that the forms got to the correct height on their own

That finish isn't that horrible, I've seen worse. Some guys know how to use an Atlas trowel better than others. It was pretty rare to need to grind the concrete down. Usually I'd put the sill plate down and if need be trim or shim the rim board. That could solve most of the issues.

1' out of square is a lot. Nothing that can't be corrected by the framer but if I came onto a foundation that far out I'd tell the general to find another concrete guy

Sill seal:

https://www.dupont.com/products/styrofoam-brand-sill-seal-foam-gasket.html

 

[Columbo]

Snapping a line around the top is how I usually see it done. It would just be by luck that the forms got to the correct height on their own

That finish isn't that horrible, I've seen worse. Some guys know how to use an Atlas trowel better than others. It was pretty rare to need to grind the concrete down. Usually I'd put the sill plate down and if need be trim or shim the rim board. That could solve most of the issues.

1' out of square is a lot. Nothing that can't be corrected by the framer but if I came onto a foundation that far out I'd tell the general to find another concrete guy

Sill seal:

https://www.dupont.com/products/styrofoam-brand-sill-seal-foam-gasket.html

Yeah, as the framer I’m not too excited about fixing that out of square problem! Lol! But, that will be tomorrow’s problem.

 

[CM1995]

I do know it’s not perfectly square, I had about a 1” difference in diagonal measurements when I checked it immediately after they stripped the forms.

1' out of square is a lot.

1' or 1" out of square? 1" is nothing to fix on the floor system but 1' - that's a whole nuther ballgame.

 

[RocketScott]

1' or 1" out of square? 1" is nothing to fix on the floor system but 1' - that's a whole nuther ballgame.

OOops

 

[MikeVG]

That's standard practice here on the walls I've had poured. Usually the basements are all walkouts with staggered walls following the grade down to the rear basement level. The poured wall crews will use whatever forms they have to run wild on the top then shoot the TOW elevation with a laser. They'll shoot every foot or 2 and finish with a hand float.

Same here - been done that way for a long time.

 

[Columbo]

Haha, if it was 1’ out of square I’d be on here looking for advice on a hammer for my excavator and a lawyer! As it was I was able to get the plates squared up and bolted down without too much fuss. In two places the plates overhang the concrete by an inch; I wish they didn’t but all in all it could be worse.

Next up are the 10 precast porch piers to be installed.

 

[Columbo]

Foundation contractor finished up yesterday and poured the basement floor. I had put down the insulation, poly and two zones of radiant heat for the basement the day before. The first floor framing package should be in the production queue next week which hopefully means we’ll be framing in 2 weeks!

 

[CM1995]

Looking good!

Sill plate came out nice, the grinding paid off.

Curious question you may have covered but I missed - No protection board over the asphalt waterproofing on the foundation walls? Here we use a foam or fiber board or plastic sheets like real estate signs are made from in order to protect the asphalt from damage during backfill.

Haven't seen a front discharge truck in years. All the big companies used to run them here but phased them out 5-10 years ago supposedly due to maintenance costs. For a flatwork pour they can't be beat.

 

[ps66x4]

I haven't seen a rear loader in 20-25 years

 

[Columbo]

@CM1995 since the backfill was all clean sand I was told that wall protection wasn’t needed. Hope that’s right! I considered exterior insulation but didn’t like the chance of ants (or termites) being able to make it up to the house unnoticed and I’m not a fan of the metal termite barriers. I’ll insulate the inside of the basement walls instead.

In my area every concrete truck is a front dumper, I can’t think of a single company that doesn’t run them exclusively. Funny how things like this are so regionalized.

 

[skyking1]

no kidding. they are all rear discharge in WA state.

 

[CM1995]

@CM1995 since the backfill was all clean sand I was told that wall protection wasn’t needed. Hope that’s right! I considered exterior insulation but didn’t like the chance of ants (or termites) being able to make it up to the house unnoticed and I’m not a fan of the metal termite barriers. I’ll insulate the inside of the basement walls instead.

In my area every concrete truck is a front dumper, I can’t think of a single company that doesn’t run them exclusively. Funny how things like this are so regionalized.

Gotcha. The protection board is usually terminated 1' or so below the brick ledge then the asphalt water proofing spray is run up and over the brick ledge. The board is either fiberglass type material or the plastic sheeting. We have a ton of sharp rocks that "could" damage the coating and cause a leak during backfill.

Looking at your backfill material I don't think you needed any protection board either.

Did you or are you going to put a drain in the garage floor? Had floor drains with a hot and cold water bibs in the last two houses I built and loved it. Super easy to wash the floor, a car or catch the water from a rain covered car. Imagine it might come in handy in snow country.

 

[Columbo]

Gotcha. The protection board is usually terminated 1' or so below the brick ledge then the asphalt water proofing spray is run up and over the brick ledge. The board is either fiberglass type material or the plastic sheeting. We have a ton of sharp rocks that "could" damage the coating and cause a leak during backfill.

Looking at your backfill material I don't think you needed any protection board either.

Did you or are you going to put a drain in the garage floor? Had floor drains with a hot and cold water bibs in the last two houses I built and loved it. Super easy to wash the floor, a car or catch the water from a rain covered car. Imagine it might come in handy in snow country.

Absolutely on the hot/cold water bibs, I did that in my parents house I built and it’s awesome! Super convenient in the winter. Technically floor drains are a no go here with the environmental police. For now I have a 2% pitch planned for the garage floor and then external drains outside the garage. But….

 

[Columbo]

I started on the porch piers this afternoon, I’m about 1.5 ft below my target elevation when I got out of the fill material and into virgin ground. I added compacted crushed stone to bring it back to the correct elevation. I was going to cut fill the trench to the same elevation but that’s going to take a lot of stone. I think I’ll fill in between the pier locations with native soil then add the crushed stone in a 4’x4’ pad under each pier. I’ve got 10 piers in total for the front porch and side screened porch.

 

[Columbo]

You may never have a problem with it, but I would have used (2) 4" outlet pipes, instead of a single 6", on your drains. I have not compared 6" SDR to 4" lately, but I guess that (2) 4" may be cheaper than (1) 6". Even if not, my primary thinking on this is not cost motivated anyway. The reason that I prefer to use separate pipes (for foundation drain and roof drain) is becasue of the possibility of clogging. I am aware that it may take a lot to clog a 6" pipe but there will likely be a lot of leaves on that roof someday (it is in NH after all), and it is still possible for a critter to crawl up that pipe, create a nest, and or die, and swell up, etc., even if you put some sort of critter guard on the end. After all, critter guards are not impenetrable, and even if they were, they will probably be much less prone to allow other debris to pass. Regardless, one can imagine how much water will be available from (insert however many square feet) of impermeable roof surface area, that any rainwater may now have nowhere to go, accept around your foundation, or up into your basement, in a significant rainfall event with the ppe being plugged, or even restricted. I'm sure that there may be those that would offer several arguments as to why this may not, or likely would not, happen Yet the fact remains, that running separate 4" pipes would eliminate the possibility of anything other than the water simply rolling off the roof instead of backing up into someplace that would be much more expensive, and inconvenient to repair

Any other opinions or feedback on DGODGR’s suggestions above? Specifically I have to decide if I’m going to combine the gutter drains into the footer drain discharge pipe or run a separate drain line. Thanks in advance!

 

[materthegreater]

Run a separate line. The footing drain should be the only thing on that pipe until it daylights. Everything else (gutters, floor drains, outdoor shower etc) can go into a separate drain line. If a pipe clogs and blocks those other things from draining it's simply an inconvenience. If the footing drain clogs, you risk frost damage to your foundation. I've dug up 4" drain lines clogged with various things like roots and sediment. Not something you want to do if you can avoid it.

 

[CM1995]

In the overall cost of your build it's not that much so I would run separate lines for all the reasons mater and DGDR said.

Our new house will have separate lines but that's how we do it down here.

 

[Columbo]

Ok, separate line it is! Thank you @DGODGR @materthegreater and @CM1995

 

[Columbo]

Pretty good couple of days, the weather finally cooperated! I set 4 of the 8 precast porch piers yesterday and the wife helped me set the remaining 4 today. Much easier to have her on the ground to grab the piers and guide them into the right spot. I had to work around the sewer pipe on one side and the footing drain pipe on the other.

Tomorrow I’ll finish backfilling and hopefully clean up the grade around the house in preparation for framing.

 

[CM1995]

Love seeing how people have to build in different parts of the country and the world. Never seen pre-cast deck footings like those, understand the reason just never thought about pre-cast footings like that.

Here our "frost line" is 1' which is laughable as it never freezes for more than an inch or 2 and only for a few days. A 2x2 footing 18" thick is all that is needed. I'm going to run the house footings continuous around the covered porch outline, pour 2x2 pads 1' thick on top of that and set the 4" steel columns the pads.

Kicking back and forth between a steel frame with metal pan and concrete deck or PT SYP wood deck. We have enough I-beams from salvage jobs for the frame.