New year 2012.

2011 was an interesting year no matter which way you look at it.

Here's to hoping that going into 2012, more people start to accept the fact that there's an emergency on planet Earth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_El9jYpbzU
It's way past time to get our shit together.

But the begining of a new year is a thing to celebrate - so happy new year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PXxPQKxggU

Framing the basement walls.

As the title suggests, this post will cover construction of the stick-framed portion of the basement walls. I didn't take many pictures during this phase of the build - I was so eager to get started on the framing - so I'll use graphics to illustrate instead. The process was very similar to "Framing the main floor walls" but with a few added details. Over-all this is probably the most complicated part of framing this house because close attention to measurement must be kept in mind for several reasons I'll get into later.

Framing the main floor walls.

I'm skipping ahead with this post, as I will probably do now and again. This will be the first post that covers some of the practical aspects of air sealing this house. Just a reminder that all these "practical aspects of air sealing" are the application of what I have laid out in the "Details" section of this blog. Please note, this post doesn't cover the "building out" of the walls (ie: framing the truss wall) - that will be happening later. It's worth mentioning at this point that one big advantage I've found with the truss wall approach to framing the house is that since the exterior truss framing is all non-load bearing, a pretty straight line can be made to getting the roof on. It's just like platform framing any conventional house but with some added air sealing details. The truss wall can be "built out" at any time.

Footings.

Using a simplified foundation plan I had made from the architect's plan, the concrete contractor and I marked out the outer edge of all the perimeter footings and the center-lines of the peninsula footings. Even with the slim steel pins we were using, it was difficult to drive them into the compacted gravel. A string line was stretched between the pins to outline the house's footprint.

Planning for the foundation.

Once the gravel pad was complete, I had some time to get ready for the foundation job. I had made arrangements and agreed upon a start time with a local concrete contractor months before - yet for a variety of reasons nothing really happened until almost a full month after the proposed start date. Once the concrete guys got going things moved along pretty well... they started work after the first week of July and were finished during the first week of August. I have always been pleased with the quality of the work they did but my blood pressure goes up still when I think back on the time that was wasted waiting around.

The design phase.

The design phase... My favorite phase. So many possibilities. At times I wish I were a design professional so that every day could be a day for the design phase. I started my planning and research for this project in 2007 and started construction in the late spring of 2011 so at least I got to spend a lot of time in the design phase for this house. I think it's important to not be in rush to complete the design phase - for anyone contemplating the design of a new house: start early and don't set deadlines too early.

The cistern.

Interestingly, one of the features of our house that many people find most puzzling is the cistern. Most people who either saw it sitting on my gravel pad or in a photo would say something along the lines of "Is that your... septic tank?"
"No, that's our cistern." I would respond.
"Cis...stern?"

Excavation and compaction.

Excavation started in early June. For the walk-out basement the building site basically just needed a notch cut into the sloping terrain. When staking the site beforehand I was sure to include extra space for the horizontal insulation that surrounds the footing as part of the FPSF design. The horizontal insulation required an extra 4' all the way around and 6' at the corners (minimum). I added an extra 1' to those numbers so I'd have some "wiggle room". I had the machine operator slope the bottom of the excavation slightly downhill as well for better drainage. This proved well for me as it began raining as soon as we finished...

Pressure testing.

The pressure-testing rig is complete... There's a pressure tank, a 1" inlet port for filling with a utility pump, a shut-off valve, a vent valve and a 3/4" auxillary port that connects to whatever you want to test.

To test the mabifolds, I soldered them together with pieces of 1/2" copper pipe and connected them to the test rig with 3/4 poly pipe. After testing I'll cut the manifolds apart again. To test the manifolds, I pumped water into the 1" port with the vent valve open. Once everything filled up, I closed the vent valve and the shut-off to the pump. The pump was only strong enough to pressurize the system to about 10 psi, so I used my compressor to put air into the back of the pressure tank until I reached 60 psi (well beyond the service pressure of the manifolds).

First bit of plumbing...

This project is part plumbing and part tool making. The plumbing has to do with part of the in-floor heating system I'll be installing. The tool making has to do with crafting a sort of "test rig" so as to leak check the in-floor tubing before we pour concrete all over it.

A mountain of foam.

I hate rigid foam insulation for many reasons... but it's so damn practical in certain applications it's almost impossible to ignore. In my case, I cannot think of any other workable solution to insulating my foundation in the same way that I can using rigid foam.

A fully wrapped residential foundation requires a lot of insulation. Even more so in our case since I also need to insulate the ground around the footings as part of the Frost Protected Shallow Footing (FPSF) system we are using. Fortunately, I was able to find a local source for reclaimed XPS rigid insulation boards. The boards were in good shape (though dirty and a little dented here and there) and they were a little more than half the best price I was quoted for new material.

On the left are 2'x4'x3" boards. On the right are 2'x8'x4"
boards. Together that pile is 8' high, 12' wide and 16' long.

Driveway before and after.

Access to the building site had to be created. The new driveway got fleshed out a bit last year. There wasn't too much that had to be done. Just a bit of tree removal and a little grading with an excavator. The following photos provide a before and after from the same perspective:

June 2010.

Aug 2010.

Bienvenue!

Welcome to my house building blog.

Rewind to the fall of '09. Clearing of the building site was started. Our property was logged about 10 years ago so most of the trees that needed clearing were small enough to be cut with a machete. Good exercise! There were still a few larger red maple and balsam fir that needed cutting and skidding but over-all it wasn't a huge job.

Oct 2009. Skidding trees with Big Red.

Oct 2009. Looking east after bush clearing.

Oct 2009. Looking south after bush clearing.

Oct 2009. Looking west after bush clearing.