Well the foundation wall forms are almost completely in place. As I type, Tino’s crew is at the site buttoning up the last sections. Hopefully the rain will hold off so we can pour them today also. Below are a couple of photos we snapped at the end of the day.
You can see in the picture on the top right, that this is the 100K House wall that abuts the neighboring house. There is only one side of the form needed here as the foundation and side yard of the adjacent house provide the other wall. There is no need to underpin or provide any other type of support to the foundation of the neighboring house due to the shallow depth of our foundation walls. This is a big time and cost saver. The images below show the back corner of the 100K House and the full view of the 120K House from the back.
Lastly, we’ll end with our daily photos from the front and back of the site. We are up to day 5 of construction now. We’re not counting the weekends in this count unless there is work done on Saturday.
5 comments ↓
I am curious as to why you are using poured concrete foundtion walls and not CMU? Also what is the green content of the concrete, if any? Fly ash? Recycled aggregate?
Poured concrete is the norm here in Philly. Not sure exactly why but I think it has to do with needing to reinforce the neighboring slabs as much as possible and reducing labor costs.
I’ll have to get back to you on the green content. We asked for Fly Ash but said told our builder it budget and schedule did not permit, then use whatever the foundation crew normally used. We’re all about budget and timeline now. There will be compromises, but obviously we will be taking notes and improving upon many things the second time around…
I see no reason why fly ash or recycled aggregate (well maybe aggregate) would cost us extra or delay construction if we properly prepare for it in advance.
Costs should be minimal for fly ash, and it could even make your concrete stronger. I do understand the budget/time crunch that goes on at this stage. Thats why you did all the planning ahead of time. Makes the construction go that much smoother.
1- I grew up in port richmond (philly) and was concerned at the age of 17 in 1946 with cooling our row house. I found a heating and cooling book at the aia office in town and learned of the phychometric chart developed by westinghouse which displayed the range of temperature and humidities which afforded comfort to individuals. If I had the money I would have puchased a byrant silica gel dehumidifier for the basement and and a well to provide collant thich would have provided a reasonable humdity and temperature for our family.
the westinghouse chart would provide you more confidentence and the geothermal system would provide you with adequate summer collant water.
You would be surprised how independence hall was “air conditioned before 1976″. ( a free flowing 6″ city water water pipe”.
2. Insulation
You may want to investigate using radiant reflectant foil to insulate the roof. it will reduce heat load thru the roof by 95% (in summer and winter). Check “insulation 4less.com”. I installed it in my daughters attic and it has made a noticeable improvement.
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