Setting the Steel

Today they are getting all of the steel in for the footings but still need another day to tie the vertical bars that will become the walls.  We called for an inspector to approve the steel on Thursday morning.

Here are a few photos of the steel:

They tie the rebar together with steel wire to hold it in place while the concrete  is being poured in

The cages which are sitting inside the footings and are held off the ground by little concrete blocks - this allows the concrete to surround the bars on all sides

This is where the engineer has called out for extra reinforcing at a corner

The new footings also need to be connected with the existing footings - to achieve this they drilled into the existing footings and used a very very strong glue called Epoxy to attach the rebar into the existing footing.  This rebar will get connected to the rebar from the new footings so that they all act together in case the house settles or in case of an earthquake.

The Excavations Inspection

Today we had our first inspection.  The soils engineer came out to evaluate the excavations.  He made a sketch of them in plan and then went around the entire site with the contractor and the foreman and surveyed each one for depth from the top of natural grade to the bottom of the footing and also from top of bedrock to the bottom of footing.  

Inspector making the sketch

surveying the excavations

Approval letter 

Now that we have approval on the excavations we can proceed with laying the steel in.  The crew has already started forming the cages that will be set at the bottom of the excavations.  These are for the footings and will be the first concrete pour.  If they get all the bar in place today and tomorrow and we pass the steel inspection on Wednesday we could pour concrete as early as Thursday.

They build the cages outside of the trenches and then lay them on top of spacers which are little blocks of concrete.  

Taking out the last of the footings

Today they are taking out the last of the footing and digging the final trench 

where the old footing used to be. 

...they perforated the concrete with holes...

 using a roto hammer...

...and then got out the sledge hammer...

This was the last corner to go...it was the hardest to get out..

Time to take out the jackhammers...

view from the back...sans footings

profile of remaining footing

view from under the house

Dumping the demolished footings in the back via the raised ramps...

Pile of demolished footing

Taking out the Footings

Today they added two additional crossbeams for the shoring and started taking out the footing and excavating for the new and improved footing.  It will take a couple of days because the bedrock happens to be very hard and close to the surface at this location - but this is also good news for us.  Monday morning the Soils Engineer will come and inspect the excavations and if they sign off on everything the crew will begin laying out the steel.

new cross beam and crew excavating

under the house

Because the trenches are so deep they 
needed to set up an elevated ramp to get 
the demolished footing and excavated 
earth out of the way...
here he's dumping a load of
soil onto the pile...

They were adding extra supports to it
even as they were using it!

...going back for more...

...excavating under the supports...

view from the new ramp

Rainy Days

 

To make sure the trenches don't cave in or fill up with
water we tarped the house...



Samples have been coming in from salvaged wood mills in Oregon and Kansas.  Today I visited a local company that buys wood from out of state and re-mills it right here in Los Angeles.  We're not sure which species to go with yet but the cost of the salvaged wood is comparable to newly milled wood and has the bonus of being harder, denser and of course, re-used.  The older wood was cut down long ago from more mature trees than what we use today so they're grain is tighter and the woods are denser.  Below are some samples of the woods we are looking at- they have been torn out of old barns and buildings and re-milled into Tongue and Groove flooring.  

Walnut

Chestnut

Vertical Grain Douglas Fir

It may seem early to start thinking about the flooring but it will take up to six weeks for the wood to be milled and delivered and it needs to sit in the place it will be installed for at least three weeks (six is better) so that it acclimates to the house.  Because of these two factors we will need to order it in the next couple of weeks.

Rainbow

Day Six....Rained out :(

soggy pomegranate

soggy chickens

soggy pillows 

soggy site

soggy guava tree

soggy E

soggy Hanah Montana shoes

soggy succulents

soggy wheelbarrow

soggy lime tree

soggy plants

soggy lounge chair

Day five...getting ready for inspection

Today they trenched two short footings that lead from the addition to the existing house - at this location the bedrock is pretty much at the surface of the natural grade so they are not nearly as deep.  In order to make all the footings relate to each other structurally they need to step and the rebar cages will extend between them so that they can act in unison if there is any lateral movement - which there is a lot of here in Los Angeles (i.e. earthquakes).

Here are some photos of the footings stepping...

where the footing steps at the corner we will need a new sketch from the

structural engineer because it deviates from the plans.  The step was 

required based on the crew following the rule to be 2 feet into bedrock.

This is what it looked like this morning:

movie  of excavation:

This is what it looked like when a freak thunderstorm came through:

Tuesday we will call for our first inspection and we are all hoping it goes well because that will determine the pace of the project.

The rebar is waiting on site and if we pass they can start installing it during the second half of next week and then start pouring concrete the following Monday.  Otherwise....

rebar stirrups for the footings