Solid Foundation

Temperatures have finally broke a bit in the area.  You wouldn't know it by the massive amounts of snow that still cover the ground, but they have. It's finally warmed up enough that the air doesn't hurt your face when you walk outside, that it doesn't take your breath away.  This means that we finally have foundation.  

Main view of the floor in the basement.

This is a close up of the plumbing for the half bath.  I think.

This might be the rough in for the wet bar.  It also might be the sump pump.  My husband said he heard a sump pump running while he was there.  I guess I should be glad they have that hooked up already with all this snow melting!

Here's my almost 5 year old happy to be running around in the gravel of the garage.

We are told that our lumber should be delivered on Monday.  (Fingers crossed, toes crossed!) From what I've read from other blogs, the framing part goes pretty fast.  I'll probably try to make it out there every day next week so I don't miss anything exciting.  The garage slab isn't going to be poured yet. Not sure when that will be but my husband says they can frame without it. He's actually happy they aren't doing it yet, he would prefer they let it warm up a bit more before they do it.  Here's hoping we are completely over the weather delays!!!!

Brrrr has turned into Grrrrrr

Earlier this week our PM emailed us and said that it might be warm enough by the end of the week to pour the foundation for the basement and garage. We were pretty stoked because we thought maybe they could start framing next week. I drove by today and nothing was going on, so I decided to stop in and check with the SR because I hadn't heard any updates. She called the PM and found out that they probed the ground yesterday and the ground is frozen 3-4" down.  They are trying to find a heater/tent doohickey to heat the ground up enough to pour.  It appears that we probably won't get foundation poured until the first of next week. It doesn't matter much anyway, because our lumber won't be delivered until a week from Monday. At this rate I can't imagine the house will be ready before mid May.  We really, really, really want to be moved in before Memorial Day. This seemed like no problem when our original completion date was April 4th. If we have any more delays, it's going to be really hard to do. I understand that the weather is out of anyone's control and it's been a very unusual winter, but it's hard not to start feeling disappointed at this point. I'm hopeful they'll be able to make some time up through the rest of the process. 

The lot is cleared!

The lot that we are building on was the lot that has been owned by Ryan homes.  As such, there was a concrete washout and a couple of trailers on it.  

I have no idea how old this photo is.  Pretty old, I'd guess.  There are a lot of empty lots in this picture (courtesy of Google Maps).  From this view currently, ours is the only empty lot.... and covered in about 5 inches of snow.  

When we drove by earlier this week, every thing is gone, except some new black tarpy stuff (the tarp keeps the dirt from washing into the street and into the back of the lot.  We are moving along!   

We meet with the PM on Monday and they are supposed to break ground on Wednesday.  I don't know if the above mentioned snow will stop any of this. My husband is a structural engineer, so he has quite a bit of experience with construction.  He isn't too worried about the cold weather for pouring the basement - since it's warmer below ground, freezing isn't as much of an issue. However, he has some concerns about pouring the garage slab this time of year.  One of the questions he'll be asking the PM is what their guidelines are for pouring this time of year, since this is arguably the worst couple of months to do it.  I imagine we'll have another update Monday or Wednesday.   Wish us luck!