Many of you have helped with my threads on the excavator I purchased to clear a house lot and do the site work. My background is in carpentry so the heavy equipment and dirt work side is new to me. I’d like to use this thread to document the progress on the dirt work part of this project and pick up more advice or tips from the pros. I like to avoid doing things the hard way if possible!! (I wasn’t sure where to put this thread but this seemed like the best fit). My wife and I started this project (slowly) 2 years ago by clearing a driveway access towards the lot which is a mix of wooded and open. The driveway and house site area is moderately sloping and like many lots in the area it can get pretty wet. Last year the project continued with the driveway extended to the building site, power poles were installed by the electric company and underground electric service was run to the meter location. The house design doesn’t permit a meter mounted on the house and the remote meter will serve for temporary construction power too. Fortunately the house will go in an existing field so the only clearing I had to do was for the driveway.
Continued from above- Starting this year, now the mud and water has reduced to a manageable level- I topped the driveway with 3” minus to help keep the mud down. This is the house site location: Plans are complete and all permits are in:
First up this year is stripping the top soil off the construction area and stockpiling it nearby. The site plan calls for the uphill slope to be dropped by 4ft for the back yard area. I plan on moving the subsoil to the low side of the foundation for fill. More to come!
Nice work! Curious about the tires under the 311's tracks. What's the reason? The rock wall looks great. Those are not the best shaped rocks for building a wall and I know the aggravation of building wall using similar shaped rocks. Don't just document the dirt side but the entire build. I'd like to see how it all comes together. Cheers!
@CM1995 Thanks! I’ll feel much more comfortable once the lumber shows up lol! I stored the excavator on the tires over the winter, it has several stiff or frozen links due to lack of use by the previous owner. I figured keeping the tracks out of the mud and water couldn’t hurt. No idea if it helped but no additional stiff links this spring.
LOL. I would have been a 3rd generation framer (both sides of the family) but my wood working skills are horrible, however my father is a craftsman. Early in life figured out I was better at making money digging holes and filling them back in.
Haha!! It’s always good to find one’s niche! This part of the project has progressed somewhat slowly as I’m learning as I go somewhat. Well, I don’t think the rest of the build is going to go much faster….
That's nothing I would do with the tires under the tracks, but it is a good idea. I have been frozen down and clearing tracks that I could not shovel before a really hard freeze. It is a bad day!!
Nice looking plan. I like the walk out basement. What kind of view do you have? Cam
Control of the groundwater coming down from further up the hill from the house is important. Any fill must be "keyed in" to the underlying natural terrain to prevent it moving off down the slope after heavy rains. We've had a slew of people building houses in hilly terrain here, on a cut-and-fill. But problems arose when the earthmovers simply pushed the cut material onto the lower part of the slope, without ensuring it was keyed in to the lower ground level. People then build their houses, half on the cut, and half on the fill - then when groundwater penetrated under the cut and fill, the fill slid off down the slope - and took one half of the house with it! This happened so many times and resulted in such a number of lawsuits, that building regulations here now stipulate that you can only position the building either on the cut area, or on the fill area.
I’ll take a better photo of the view next time I’m there working. The lot continues to raise gently to the very back, the view there is the best. However, that’s the area my wife has picked for a future barn. The driveway and underground utilities cost would have been too much, even doing the work myself, had we located the house there.
Thanks for the pointers, that’s important! I’m looking at a 4’ high natural granite boulder retaining wall on the high side, behind the house. My plan is to have 8” of crushed stone and fabric behind this wall with perforated pipe draining to daylight in hopes of controlled some of the ground water before it gets to the lawn/house.
I started stripping topsoil this afternoon. Slow going but at least I shouldn’t have to buy any loam for the lawn. I’m going to windrow it up on the high side of the site to hopefully stop some of the water running through when it rains. Eventually I will run it all through a screener and stockpile it for the lawn.
Well, time for another update. I have the site stripped and the house area leveled out. Tomorrow I’ll be setting the stakes for the corners and laying out the foundation excavation. Today’s fun was cut short by a cracked tooth adapter…
Nice progress. Question - Do you not have to put any silt fencing or other erosion control devices? Just curious because here we have to put up silt fencing around the site and a construction entrance at a minimum prior to the gov't granting us the permission to build something on our property.
Fortunately the town isn’t too picky about that, partly because there is no “building department”. However, I will be putting up some erosion control just to keep things tidy. It’s just been on the back burner so far…
Not picking at you as the rules often times waste money and effort for erosion control devices that are required but not needed nor do anything. For instance we've had to run silt fence on the high side of a property more than once simply because the plans showed it and the inspector demanded it. FWIW brush is a great erosion control device. It's usually available on a site, easy to install with a machine and withstands heavy flows. Crunch it up with the excavator and make dams where the flow will concentrate. When the brush check fills up with silt just pick the brush up, clean the silt out and reinstall all from the comfort of cab using joysticks instead of shovels. I hate shovels.
I can't tell from the pictures if there are any at Colombo's site, but New England has a lot of erosion control fences that were installed by our ancestors - stone walls. @Columbo , Did you guys get a lot of rain Saturday? We had over two inches. Didn't cause a lot of damage though because the ground was so dry most of it soaked in as it was coming down. Also, how do you like the Bobcat? Is it yours or rented? I can't quite make out the model number in the picture. Looks like you have a good sized potato in the first picture, is that what cracked the tooth shank?
@materthegreater yes, there are some old time erosion devices on this property. One of the walls borders the driveway and I’ve been adding the rocks I pull out of the excavation to it. It’s a rental CTL from a new outfit locally. Bobcat T64 with 250 hrs on it. I’m not super familiar with other options, I only rent one occasionally and so far they are all Bobcats. It is comfortable though! And it has AC which my excavator does not. I got all the layout stakes in at the end of the day today. The foundation contractor stopped by and we double checked them with his Total Station, only a few were a couple of inches off. I’m glad to have double checked it but pretty happy with my results using 2 tapes.
What are you planning on using for a screener?
@MrEvilPirate my brother and I went halves on a small vibratory screener when a local excavation contractor retired and sold off his equipment. Looks similar to a Read RD40 but a little smaller.
This isn’t a good pic but I have a hole in the right spot and to the right depth lol. I’m going to get two loads of crushed stone dumped inside for the footers then dig the frost wall trenches. The schedule has the foundation contractor starting on 6/5.
I got the stone in and compacted just before it rained on Friday. Today I worked with the foundation contractor and we got all the footings laid out. His crew will be here in the morning to get the footings formed up, concrete shows up on Tuesday. I’ll be working on the footing drain to daylight to stay out of their way.
Looking good! So your footings will be formed and poured on top of what looks like #57 stone? I have always liked that method as it is common practice here to dig footings and earth cast but we don't have to worry about frost either. The way you are doing it would allow a bigger capillary break between earth and the basement slab allowing any water in and under the basement a way out.
Correct, i shimmed a few low areas with 1.5” crushed stone, compacted, and then put a layer of 3/4” crushed stone over top. This layer was 4-6” and compacted. The area I’m building is pretty wet so I’m trying to do everything I can to keep the water where it belongs. Internal and external footing drains too.
What type footing drain - 4" perf pipe or the flat vertical drain for lack of a better description?
4” perforated pipe for the footings and then a separate drain for the gutter down spouts. I’ll tie both drains into a single 6” solid pipe leading to daylight. I was planning to use SDR35 pipe but the foundation contractor said he has recently started using SDR20 due to cost and ease of installation. I’ll have to look into that.
Moving right along. I hope to join you soon in the process. One thing I will do that I don't see on foundation jobs is a cleanout on each corner of the footing drain. Just a couple of fittings and two sticks of pipe, but being able to see what is going on is priceless. If I had water issues it would be easy to figure out where it is.
Good idea skyking! Thanks!
Footers were poured this morning, crew starts forming the walls tomorrow. I stayed out of their way and put in the footing drain to daylight so I could move some of the fill pile out of the way.
This might be better in a new thread but I don’t know where else to put it- Does anyone have any experience or opinions on using the so-called “triple wall” or SDR20 drainage pipe versus typical SDR35 for the footing drains? I can get the triple wall stuff locally for about $10 a piece less than SDR35. Given that I need about 100 pieces that adds up. Photo below is for reference on the triple wall/SDR20 pipe as it seems to go by different names in different regions. ADS 3000 HDPE Triple Wall Pipe | Smoothwall Pipe from ADS ADS 3000 HDPE Triple Wall and Smoothwall pipes are available in a variety of sizes. Triple Wall & Smoothwall pipes are ASTM F810 certified. Learn more! www.adspipe.com
I have not had a problem with any pipe that is bedded with care. Proper installation is the key.
I agree with Skyking. That ADS3000 will be fine, I use it a lot. Much better than the single wall S&D pipe.
Good point! I’m planning to surround the pipe with crushed stone, filter fabric, and then backfilled with clean sand. That’s the typical installation around here anyway (although some people backfill entirely with crushed stone).
Looks like an ADS HDPE alternative to Contech A2000 ribbed PVC pipe. Haven't used the ADS triple wall but have put miles of ADS single wall, N12 dual wall and HP pipe in the ground. Like Sky said it's all in the bedding and backfill. A majority of HDPE pipe's structural integrity is the backfill material. Early on when ADs HDPE pipe hit the market guys installed it like concrete using dirt backfill which resulted in failures. Use a good washed stone like you used in the basement as bedding and bring it at least 6" above the pipe and it will perform as designed.
Your plan sounds good and you probably already know this - make sure the bottom of the pipe is as low as the bottom of the footing and pitched to daylight. Backfilling with sand above the stone layer is fine, but you want to make sure you have a full wrap of fabric around the stone/pipe to prevent any sand or silt from entering the pipe. Most situations don't need to be backfilled entirely with stone, unless it is an unheated building. An unheated building will allow the frost to get into the ground around the foundation much more than a heated building will. If backfilled completely with stone this won't matter because the stone layer won't hold water and therefore won't expand when it freezes. Otherwise the expansion of the frozen ground will push against the concrete walls and can cause cracking or breakage of the walls.
Foundation is done, now I’m doing the perimeter drains and starting to backfill. I was advised to only go halfway up the walls for now until the first floor is framed to prevent displacing the walls. The native soil here is a hard clay, I have been told that it is acceptable to fill inside the garage with this material, compacting every foot, and then using crushed gravel for the final 8”-12” under the slab. I will not be pouring the garage slab until at least next year. I have a significant amount of material to put back into the garage, at least 4’ in places. Final photo below shows this. Any thoughts on this plan?
How long have the walls been poured? I like for the walls to be at least 14 days on cure before backfilling. It's a good idea to only go 1/2 until the floor system on but I've backfilled poured walls full height at 14 days with no issues but those walls had alot of corners. You shouldn't have any issues using onsite dirt that is clean, free of organics and not fat clay in the garage fill. Back in the mid 2000's we built 30 townhomes with single car garages with 10' lower basement walls. Filled the entire 10' with chert and topped with 6-8" of #57 crushed stone. Keep your loose lifts around 8-12" thick and compact each layer paying attention to the fill at the walls in order to not have any voids next to the foundation wall. Not being the safety nazi but bend those rebar dowels over on the garage door openings. You'll have to eventually to fill the garage and tie into the slab so it's good practice to do it once the forms come off. Looking good!
not being a nazi, rebar caps are cheap and I cover the bolts too. That is a heck of an accident waiting to happen. I won't backfill my place until i can do it 100%, so it will wait on the first floor framing and subfloor. Part of that has to do with the waterproofing system, which is better to cover within 7 days so It sorta drives that bus.
Thanks for the replies, the walls were poured a week ago today. I was working on the garage drains and backfill since I figured it would be safest since the walls are backfilled from both sides. I also had to wait for the house foundation to be waterproofed, which they are doing today. I’ll wait another week before I backfill the house based on this advice. Good point of the rebar, the foundation contractor told me to wait a week then bend them over until they can be positioned for the floor. I’ll do that asap!
No big updates, I had several interruptions this weekend with sudden downpours and then having to pick my wife up at the airport. Still, I have 3/4 of the footing drains done. Today, I installed the electrical service conduit from the meter pedestal towards the utility room in the basement. When I installed the service conduit from the pole to the pedestal I also buried a conduit for fiber optic internet. This conduit didn’t terminate at the pedestal, I was able to locate it without issue and continue into the new utilities trench towards the house. Looks like a wet week out here but hopefully next weekend I will get the footing drains done and start on the sub-slab plumbing in the basement.
Over the past two days I got the crushed stone spread in the basement-by hand. Certainly not a fun job but there wasn’t any other way. Along with the stone I put in the inside perimeter drain and the wastewater plumbing below the slab. I’ll wait until right before the slab pour to put down the subslab insulation and poly so I don’t create a lake inadvertently. I was one fitting short to finish the plumbing today, so I asked the wife to get one on her way home. Makes up for times she’s sent me to the store for feminine products…
Question on the meter base/pedestal - Is that temporary or the permanent service?
The meter pedestal is permanent, I chose to do it that way initially so that I would have power at the site immediately on starting construction. The plan is to put a barn a couple hundred feet up the lot eventually and this meter has two sockets so one will someday power the barn. As it turns out this was a good plan because, since the house has a wrap around porch, there is no utility approved location to mount the meter to the house.
Nice work, that's definitely not easy to do, especially by hand. Did you get affected by the heavy rain the last few days?
Although we got 5-6” of rain over the past few days the site held up remarkably well. I put in some temporary swales and a bunch of crushed stone on Saturday, I think that helped a lot. No standing water in the basement and all the exterior drainage seems to be working. It’s really muddy though, not sure when I’ll be able to get trucks in there again. How did you make out with the rain? I think your area was hit worse than us.
That's good. Hopefully things dry out soon! We didn't get hit too badly. Roads washed out here and there but not nearly as bad as surrounding towns.
Good to hear! And yes, I’d like a month of dry weather at this point. The news was saying that my area has had 12”+ of rain over the last month or so.
Your site and progress looks good. I do this all day, every day, and it is good to see a site with dirt (I am working mostly in solid rock these days). I hope it wasn't too hot when you spread that screened rock in the basement. Here in the southwest high temps and sunny days are a lot worse when down in a basement with no shade. 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. I am aware that you are working on this one, singular, house (albeit your house), but I am currently working 18 houses (with 9 or 10 new start ups each year) that would potentialy cause the new residents some serious inconvenience, and cost me a fair amount of money, embarrassment, and a healthy helping of crow, should anything go wrong. For me, the small amount of extra effort is worth every minute of extra sleep I get to enjoy. I built my own house about 23 years ago. It was my first, and so far only, home build. I recently subdivided my property, and sold that house with some of the land. My memory is still clear about one thing. That is that, even though I had been in the building trades for about 20 years when I started the build, I was ignorant as to everything that goes into a home build. I didn't even know what I didn't know. I found it hard to stay motivated as, even though I did have some subs (concrete, drywall, roofing, HVAC, and I had some help with framing), I did most of the work myself. It's a LOT of work! Please keep posting. I will enjoy following your progress.
@DGODGR Thank you very much for the detailed reply and encouragement! With the weather delays and such it’s hard to not look at the amount of work remaining and not feel a little discouraged at times. You brought up good points about the combined gutter and perimeter drain pipe. I already had some concerns about the pipe and the possibility of a clog backing up the water into the perimeter drains; I was more concerned about ice or snow plugging the pipe. It isn’t too late for me to run a separate drain line for the gutters alone, since those drain pipes are at a higher elevation I have more options for the discharge pipe location. I’d like to hear feedback or opinions from anyone else on this please. Thanks again, DGODGR!
So the wet weather has continued, today was sunny but the ground is completely saturated. Tomorrow is forecast for another 1-2” of rain… My brother owns a landscape company and currently is working on a stonework job down the street from where I’m building. He was able to bring his mini excavator up today and together we got the garage filled in. It was much easier to have him move the material around inside the garage as I loaded it in from the outside. House walls are half backfilled and so I’ll stop there until the floor framing is in. The basement floor is scheduled for 7/28, in the meantime I am going to set the 10 precast porch piers. Im also thinking about starting the granite retaining wall behind the house and garage.
Always enjoy seeing how things are done differently across the country. This is a great example. Until I joined HEF I had never seen roof drains tied into the foundation drains. Here the foundation drains are their own system installed the same way and drained to daylight. Roof drains are ran at the surface 6-18" below finished grade to daylight. I guess the difference is we don't have a real frost depth to deal with?
@CM1995 yeah we definitely have frost to worry about here. My plan was to run the gutter drains at about 3 feet below grade (about where I stopped backfilling the walls). The frost line here is considered 42”, the post piers I am installing are 5’.
Here’s another “regional difference” I’d be curious to hear people’s experience with. The concrete contractor poured the walls to a mark inside the forms rather than to the top of the forms. I’m told this is something many concrete companies started doing recently; I’ve never seen this done on any of the houses I’ve built or worked on previously. How are the tops of the walls finished in your area? The benefit of this practice, as far as I can see, is that you can adjust the wall heights for level. The downside is that the resulting top surface is very irregular. There’s no way I would have built on it as-is and had anything close to air sealed or flat. Today I spent an hour or two with a diamond cup wheel and an angle grinder, now the surface is uniform and all the high spots are gone.
This is a common practice where I'm at. Each form system has different size pannels and they don't oftem match the required height called out in the plans. The caviete to this is that what I usually see is the concrete contractor will install a furring strip in the form at the desired top of wall. This creates a bevel (much better for concrete as opposed to a sharp 90 like what you have pictured -they are prone to breakage), and also clearly defines the target grade for TOW that can easily be followed during the chaos that is the pour. The CC will also do a much better job of finishing the top though many often suck at this (which is one of the things that make one CC better than another CC). Here the CC usually comes back to grind it level if they didn't finish it that way. Based on wht I see in your photo, your CC didn't have any thing inside the form to use as an indicator of top of wall. That makes me think that the least of your worries was the little bits of slag that I see. I'm imagining a lot of work to make it level enough for framing, and this has me also wondering if your walls are square and plumb as well. I know that you said you helped the CC lay out the footings, but that doesn't mean that the CC laid out again when setting up walls vs. just measuring off of footing edges to locate the stemwalls. Have you checked to see if they put the walls where they need to be yet? Did they have any blow outs? I'm crossing my fingers for you.
No blowouts, fortunately. Dimensionally it also looks correct, tomorrow I’ll know for sure because I’ll be doing the plate layout. 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. So…. We will see….
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. Not picking but the top of that wall is a little rough, nothing you haven't already taken care of. Have you checked level?
I checked level today with the laser as I went over the walls with the grinder. Most was fine, +\- an 1/8” after I hit it with the grinder. I have one low spot of a 1/4 to 3/8” which I’ll have to shim. I’m planning to mix up a batch of non shrink grout to pack under the mud sill in that area before tightening the anchor bolts to level it.
That's pretty level. One trick I've seen used for low spots is place some large washers around the anchor bolt in the low area to bring the sill up level then non-shrink grout to fill the gaps and support the plate.
I like that idea too, thanks!
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.
1' or 1" out of square? 1" is nothing to fix on the floor system but 1' - that's a whole nuther ballgame.
OOops
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.
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!
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.
I haven't seen a rear loader in 20-25 years
@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.
no kidding. they are all rear discharge in WA state.
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….
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.
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!
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.
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.
Ok, separate line it is! Thank you @DGODGR @materthegreater and @CM1995
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.
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.
Nice work Columbo!
Yeah those precast piers are 5’, the make a 4’ option too. My brother installed the 4’ ones at his house nearby and they lifted one winter; so I went with the 5’ ones and crushed stone to be safe. A lot of the cost and aggravation of the site work around here seems to be directly connected to the cold winters and wet summers. I like the idea of the concrete deck- maintenance free! I had thought of something similar for the wrap around porch but decided against it due to cost and the site limitations. Looking forward to seeing yours when you do it.
I'm going to limit the decks/flatwork on our new house until I get a certificate of occupancy, and think about it. We may have some paver areas. We have the frost depth of @CM1995 and only 16" of annual rainfall, so whatever we do won't get beat up too much.
Wow only 16"? We receive around 55" per year on average.
I’d be pretty happy with 16” of rainfall annually right now… we had over 12” in July alone!
I’ve been burning the candle at both ends, so I haven’t posted an update in awhile. I’ve finally moved on to the framing, first floor deck is done and I’ll start the walls tomorrow! Floors were all framed with wooden I joists. As the framing progresses I still need to stack the rock retaining wall behind the house and also put in the septic tank. So, more dirt work is coming!
Awesome! I-joists and parallam beams and girders are the way to go for a wood floor system. Wife and I are planning a meeting with local building dept and sending our HOA info this week. It's getting real and your project progression has me ready to go.
I took the past week off and finished the first floor framing (except for a few partition walls I’ll add later). I was working mostly alone, fortunately my brother was on a job done the road from me so he could come by to help me lift the walls once I had them framed. Two wall jacks made quick work of it. Hopefully I will have the second floor deck done this upcoming weekend and can the jump on the second floor walls. I have a tentative truss date of 9/15 and winter is coming…
Nice work. Advantech subfloor is a fantastic product. Put down around 120K SF of it on a townhome project back in the mid 2000's. Also planning on using the Zip-System for sheathing and maybe for roof sheathing. The red/brown sheets are 5/8" and the green is 7/16"? Interesting side note - here we use random length 2x4's for bracing with a 2x4 block nailed to the floor. I like your metal bracing. That looks similar to the screw jacks for forming concrete just longer. Fond childhood memories of being part of the crew raising fully built walls complete with windows, siding, facia and cornice. My father was a framing contractor in his early career.
The brown Zip is either 5/8” or 1/2”, it was explained to me that the brown coating shows that the panel is rated for roof sheathing while the green coating is 7/16” and for wall sheathing only. As this house is framed at 24” centers I used 1/2” Zip on the walls and will step up to 5/8” with H clips for the roof. The wall bracing came with the wall jacks I bought off of Facebook, they work just as you described. Super easy to use and I could plumb and straighten the walls single-handedly.
Not sure if that protection board over asphalt is something new, well that might be a relative term as my house was built in 1978. As for the front or rear discharge trucks I would say most around here in Central NY are front with a few rear discharge.
Standard practice here for the poured wall contractors to also have perform the water proofing. Liquid asphalt, fiber/foam protection board, 4" perf pipe and stone. Poured walls came into the scene in the mid '80's here. Before that was CMU with a mortar parge, hydroside and 6 MIl poly for water proofing. One of my first real jobs was waterproofing an 8' tall CMU foundation wall...never forget that first glimpse at hades...
I finished framing the second floor exterior walls today, now I’m moving on to the garage. Trusses get delivered on the 25th and the crane is scheduled for the 28th. Tomorrow the remnants of hurricane Lee is going to come through so I expect it will be windy enough I won’t be putting up garage walls. Hopefully I can make some progress getting a wall framed and ready to lift.
you are going great guns man. Thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks! Sometimes the progress feels slow so I appreciate the encouragement! I’m mostly working alone with an occasional helper to assist in lifting the walls when they are complete.
Seeing how things are done in other areas and in the last few years I often wish I knew about some of this stuff back in the 1970's. When we built this place we did have all kinds of help from one uncle who had been building houses from the early 1950's and a friend who also worked in the housing trades for that long. About the only thing we did somewhat advanced for the time was to use 2X6's on 24 inch centers to get a bit better "R" factor in the insulation on exterior walls.
Who says you can’t use an excavator to frame the garage…. I assembled each section of wall on the ground and then lifted them into place. The panels were 12-16’ long each. Today I put up the headers over the garage doors, I’ll finish up the garage framing this weekend.
Looking good! Work smarter not harder. Your 311 is paying off in spades. Nice clean and tight job site with the tools to build the job. Have you considered becoming a custom home builder?
Thank you for the compliment! That means a lot! When I was younger I was planning on going into home building full time but then I saw how every one of my bosses had numerous joint and back problems by 45-50. So I opted not to make a career out of construction. I do miss it though and I have to find projects to keep me busy. My first house I bought as a foreclosure and flipped, the second one was a complete top to bottom remodel and now this one should keep me busy for a few more years lol!
Today was a good day, we got all the trusses up and installed for both the house and garage. Rake overhangs too. Tomorrow I am planning to wrap up a few loose ends and then start on the roof sheathing.
Well, time for an update! I have all the roof sheathing on and the house is fully seam taped. I ran out of time to tape the garage before it got dark today. I still need to spread out the trusses in the single story mudroom connector between the house and garage. I’ve been holding off until on doing this since it will block my access to the garage gable for trim, etc. Next up is the roofing. The best way we have found for a single person to put up asphalt shingles is with a boom man lift. It’s safe and relatively efficient, no carrying shingles up onto the roof either. Problem is, I’m told there is a boom lift shortage… One United Rentals office refused to even quote me a rental once they heard that I don’t have an existing commercial account. I’ve been on a waiting list through another United office for 3 weeks. Fortunately a local independent rental yard has a lift available at the end of the month, so that’s when I’ll start the roof. Until then it will be exterior roof trim and finishing up some of the drainage that I haven’t gotten to.
Looking really fine. That order of operation is so important, regarding that back gable. It is too easy to box yourself into some difficult work. I'd shoot a half pallet of roofing up with a telehandler and go unload it, but that is me.
I do love that zip system and the tape. I'm really looking forward to using it on our place.
Looking good! X2 on the Zip System. I am a big believer in their Advantech subfloor sheets. Installed over 120K SF of it on a townhome project back in the 2000's. Haven't heard of a boom lift shortage but we don't rent them very often. Might be a New England issue?
Yeah this is my first time using it. So far I’m a fan! It’s being detailed to be my air control barrier as well as the moisture barrier. It’s this reason, and the fact it will be at least 6 months before I start siding, that I “speckled” all the nail holes with Zip’s liquid flashing compound.
Must be, because all of the rental yards had nothing available and most had no estimate when one would be available. I just got lucky that the one place has one coming off a long term rental and it was available for a week.
Well, time for another update! I’ve got all the windows in the house and the roof is on. I used Boral for the gable trim and fascia. This was my first experience with this material and so far I’m impressed. It supposedly offers excellent paint adhesion, no water absorption and no thermal expansion/contraction. It’s similar in price to PVC. I hope to have the exterior doors finished this long weekend. There are 3 standard doors and one large double opening french door. Garage windows need to be done too but that can wait a bit.
Well, I’m going to try to sneak in one more outdoor project before winter really hits, and get the rock retaining wall done. My brother does landscaping/hardscapes professionally and has kindly offered to help me out. He’s between the fall cleanup rush and the plow season so now is a good time. I had three loads of granite boulders delivered and weather permitting he’ll start the wall next week. Meanwhile I’m working on interior partitions and the stairs. Oh, and the garage windows and all exterior doors are done!
do you have a clam for the hoe? I have thumbed a few walls up but I really want to have a go with a clam.
No clam bucket unfortunately. My excavator has a mechanical thumb and my bother’s mini has a hydraulic thumb. Seems like the guys who build rock walls professionally use a grapple on a rotator, sure makes it look easy!
the ones I watch were using a clam, which swivels the same as the grapple and also picks up the bedding rock. They would toss it out and lay it on the side when the bedding pile got slim, and could pick it up pretty clean that way. They got paid by the square foot. One guy was sighting the wall and guiding the operator. That seemed pretty efficient.
How did the wall turn out? Did you get a lot of rain last Monday?
We were fortunate to escape the brunt of that last storm. It was wet but none of the flooding that other areas got. It was a good time for me to check my drainage and also to make sure none of the windows or doors leaked. My curtain drain was flowing nicely and none of the windows or doors had leaks. The wall is almost done, my brother hopes to finish it this weekend. We had about a week of downtime waiting for the well drillers to move in and drill the well. Well ended up being 400’ deep with 4 gal/min replenish rate. It also is constantly overflowing so that’s a good sign. They set the pump and pressure tank in the house yesterday and I backfilled the trench just in time for more rain today. Now that the well is in the wall will pass in front of the well (the casing was set extra high to accommodate this change in grade). Meanwhile, I’ve framed out all the necessary basement walls, basement stairs and I’m starting the first floor partition walls.
Well, just like that the weather has finally caught up to us! I can’t complain, it’s been very mild thus far. We just finished the retaining wall in time! Yesterday I cleaned up in front of the wall as best I could given the frozen ground and then parked the excavator for the winter. I’ll pick up the site work again in the spring with more grading, extending the access road past the house towards to top of the lot, and the septic. Until then, I’ll keep this thread alive with updates on the interior construction where I can work with the woodstove going!
I did not know Carhartt had dog clothes! Lucy's jealous. Looking good. Is that where the wood stove is going permanently or just for winter construction?
Haha, Tess loves her winter jacket! That is where the woodstove will be permanently. Probably a different stove eventually and some sort of built in mantle around it.
Well, over the past couple weekends I have gotten the second floor stairs installed and the zip sheathing on the second floor ceiling. The purpose of this zip sheathing ceiling is twofold- it acts as the air barrier and also will support the weight of the blown in cellulose to keep the drywall from sagging. There will be minimal penetrations through this zip into the attic and all will be air sealed. Next up will be the second floor partitions and then we’ll get the electrical and plumbing subs in.
Looking good! Did you use pre-fab TJ stringers or cut them out of rim board?
Moving right along. Thank you for your continued inspiration.
I site-cut all of the stringers for the stairs (three different sets of stairs in total). This was my first time using the rim board material for stringers and I am completely sold. I would never go back to using regular dimensional lumber. The lumberyard stocks 1.25” rim board as a standard item but they ordered me 1.5” as they have found it to work better for stair stringers.
Thank you for the compliment! I’m following your project with interest too.
Are those Marvin Essential windows? Those are one of the options I've been looking at for my remodel
Yes, they are. I wanted a fiberglass window for longevity and due to the fact my wife insisted on black windows. All the color options on vinyl windows are “painted on” after the vinyl extrusions are formed and I’m of the opinion that any dark colored vinyl window is a problem waiting to happen. The other option was the tried and true Andersen 400 series but surprisingly those were several thousand more in total cost over the Marvins. All in all I have no complaints on the Marvins, at least not yet.
I'll look into that. I was pricing out the milgard options.
Framing is finally done (for now)! I put up the laundry utility wall in the basement today. The mechanical room has been mostly sheet rocked, I left a few pieces off the walls and the entire ceiling to allow utilities access. Next up the plumber and electrician will continue their thing, the HVAC contractor is going to rough in the mini-split linesets in the wall and I’ll be running the radiant heating loops under the first floor.
You've been busy!
Oooh Radiant!
Ok, where were we again…. The electrician is almost finished with rough-in, as is the plumber. Mini-split linesets are in the walls and the ventilation contractor is installing the ventilation system now. I installed all the radiant floor tubing under the first floor and the hot water baseboard zones to the second floor. I also set the master bath shower pan on the second floor and the fiberglass shower in the first floor full bath. Not to be outdone, the dog had her own dog wash station roughed in right inside the rear mudroom door. I also got the basement laundry roughed in over the weekend. The plumber has been doing all the drains while I follow behind and do the pex tubing and connections.
Awesome progress! Wife and I have been debating a dog wash in the laundry room and was leaning towards deleting it until this weekend talking with family that said we should include it since it will handy for all sorts of things like washing muddy boots, hanging wet clothes, etc in addition to washing the dog. Then I see you're putting one in so I think it's a done deal. Is that going to be a zero entry shower?
I had built a small shed at my last house and when I sold the property the buyers did not want to pay for the shed. Rather than leave it behind I disassembled it and moved it in pieces to my family’s property near where I am building. Last year I reassembled it there and used it for storage during this project. Our early spring was short-lived and yesterday we got 12” of snow. I took the opportunity to relocate the shed to the house site, about 1/2 mile on an access road through the woods. A few small adventures along the way but now the shed is at its new home. The side by side was chained to the back to provide braking on the downhill sections.
Home sweet home!
That was our thought too, it will be great for letting boots dry/melt off as well as washing our often muddy dog. Both the dog wash and the master (tiled) shower will have low curbs (about 4”).
The insulation crew was working away steadily all week, they have about 1 more day to go and then they will be done. All walls/attics are blown in cellulose, R30 walls and R60 attics. Before the insulation was started I had a blower door test completed to check the air tightness of the building envelope since my air barrier is the taped Zip sheathing. Code maximum is 3ACH50 (3 air changes per hour at 50 pascals of depressurization, the larger the number the leakier the house is). My goal was 1.5ACH50 for the finished building. Much to my surprise the initial envelope-only test was .56ACH50! The energy auditor said it is the tightest home he’s ever tested. Given that score I don’t think that insulation/sheetrock will improve it much but I’d like to have the finished house at .5ACH50 or better. I guess all that air sealing paid off!
Well done! Is this a city/muni inspection requirement or just one you wanted to do yourself? As far as I know this type of testing is not required in my area.
It’s been part of the IRC energy code since 2015 (I think). However, not all municipalities have adopted these provisions and there are ways around the blower door test provision in the code (such as manual inspection of certain areas). There’s no code enforcement or building inspector where I am building so I did this for my own peace of mind and interest. The test cost $350 so it’s not terribly expensive.
Haven't built a house in a while but here the framing inspector will inspect the insulation and envelope. In one large city the framing inspector has to inspect the orientation and nailing pattern of the sheathing. The framing inspector comes out twice - one for sheathing and one for framing. I learned of the sheathing and nail pattern inspection the hard way. Tyvek is expensive the first go around and very expensive the second.
twin autowashes, two washing machines? Good on ya for the ADA handrail blocking in the shower. It is the right way to do that. We have kicked around the dog wash thing and ours will be outside. The plan is to install a total of 3 of these. Either the Prior brand: Or the Woodford brand: The dog station is a galvainzed tub on legs, with a catch bucket for the mud then it dumps into the downspout drain pipe. Our dogs are all small and we want them about waist height. That tub will be under the carport roof, and really handy for dirty boots and tools so you can keep it outside. I'm designing it as I type. The bucket will sit under the drain of the tub and have an overflow spout on it the dumps into the drain pipe. That way it catches the bulk of all turbidity, and when it gets a load you take it out in the garden and clean it out. Winterizing is dumping the water out of that bucket. I may be done working for the man but I will still bring muddy boots home, working for fun.
I like those faucets, very nice! Having hot water outside is great, I have a hot water spigot to the side yard and one to the garage for hosing the cars off in the winter. Two washing machine hookups in the basement- one will be the primary laundry with the “good” washer and the second will be for a cheap top loader for work clothes, etc.
Indeed! I'll use that galvinized wash tub outside to rinse the gross dirt off. When my faucets are not winterized, I do that with the really bad day work pants that could grow a garden. I'll put the one hot and cold under the carport roof somewhere for the dog wash and car washing, the other will go up on the big sundeck, and the 3rd one is that cantelivered deck. Solar panels need cleaning. I will be able to go up a 3 step ladder and rinse the panels off on the south facing roof that starts at the bathroom wall.
Good thinking on the solar panel maintenance! The area labeled Shaft 2 in your drawing is open space around the stairs? Very nice!
Well, we are rapidly closing in on the one year mark since I started construction on this project. Most of it feels like a blur… at this point the insulation is done and I put up the walls for the dog wash and master bathroom shower. The drywall contractor should be starting in the next week or two, until then there’s not much for me to do inside. I did a basement radon test two weeks ago that came back with an elevated amount of radon. I find that odd as I’m not in a particularly high radon area (although all of New Hampshire has higher than normal radon amounts). Also strange is my well water radon is very low. However, a second radon test confirmed the higher air radon in the basement. Since the drywall isn’t done I added an extra vent stack to the attic for another roof vent for the radon. I have a stub up from the interior perimeter drain into the basement mechanical room in case this was an issue, I will connect that to the new vent stack and then retest.
Meanwhile, I’ve moved back outside. Today I rough graded in front of the retaining wall and finished backfilling with crushed stone. I got frozen out before this was finished at the end of last year. When I finally finish grade above the wall I’ll put filter fabric over the stone. Next weekend is preparing for the below grade propane tank and service connections, then I’ll move to the front of the house for grading and the septic…
sorry I missed this, that is an elevator shaft from the basement up. it is open on the left and right all the way up with safety rails. Everything is looking good there Is that a schluter kerdi shower pan?
Nice work! How high is your elevated radon? You probably know that it fluctuates significantly during the year. Ours goes from less than 1 to over 30 at times, but the long term average stays below 4 (which is apparently the threshold for taking remedial action). We bought a radon meter and it's very interesting watching the trends.
Yes, it is. My first time using the Schluter shower system, way better than cement board and a dry pack mortar pan!
That’s interesting, I did not know that it fluctuates. My first test was 7.0 and my second test a week later was 8.3. They also stated that 4.0 was the threshold. Do you know what causes the fluctuations?
Was the outside temperature cooler on the second test day? I believe it mainly fluctuates based on the temperature differential between the outdoor and indoor temps. So when it's similar temperature inside and outside you won't see a rise in the reading. But when it's much warmer inside, the warm house creates a chimney effect and the subterranean gases flow up into the house. That's my simple understanding of what is probably much a more complicated process.
Interesting. I don’t recall the temperature on both days as I wasn’t really paying attention. I looked at the radon meters online and they are not that expensive, especially when each of these tests costs me $40. I think I’ll connect the vent stack and buy one of the meters to watch the levels long term. Thanks for that info!
Since I last updated this I’ve gotten the 500g below grade propane tank installed and the gas company connected it to the house supply. Tight spot, I’ve got the retaining wall to the right and the well line is directly to my left. Once the tank was in I could finish all the gutter drains on the back of the house as they pass over the gas service line to the house. Today was rainy so I was able to burn brush from the driveway extension. Next weekend I’ll prep for the septic tank delivery. I had planned to avoid filling in the leach field area as I filled in the front lawn area. However, as I examined the site I think the easier approach is to grade the entire front to the appropriate subgrade level and then excavate out the leach field. I think it will easier to work on a level spot with the excavator to cut in the leach field and I’ll be able to get the front elevation where I want it without worrying if I have too much or not enough fill. (All the extra fill will be trucked away to another place on this site)
This is the front yard area now, not the best photos for perspective. The low area to the left is the approximate leach field area. There’s about 6.5’ of elevation change there. I’m open to any suggestions on the best way to get the yard graded and leach field cut to the specified depth for the sand fill.
Not familiar with the leach fields in your area. For a conventional system here the soil has to be undisturbed natural ground. Of course there are all sorts of alternative systems that require special fill for the leach area and such. What type of septic system are you installing? I plan on using the Infiltrator chambers.
This system is a Presby septic with their envirotubes (these might be the same or similar to the infiltrator chambers?). Basically 8” thin walled culvert pipe with slits in it and a bacteria enhancing mesh wrapped around the outside. If I filled in the front to grade I would then have to excavate the bed section back to the undisturbed soil and fill it with a specific grade of sand. I’m thinking this might still be easier than trying to work the grade around the leach field unfilled? Enviro-Septic® | Presby Environment Products The Enviro-Septic® system can remove up to 98% of wastewater contaminants, recycling clean water into the environment & recharging natural water supplies. www.infiltratorwater.com
Cool same company. The Infiltrator chambers are like small Storm Tech chambers we install for stormwater detention. So if I have this right you are going to fill in approx. 6.5' in that area for the final grade but the chambers have to be on original soil? Then you have to dig back to original grade and fill the trenches with sand for the leach pipes up to finish grade?
So it’s about 6.5’ from the bottom of the leach field area to the top of the surrounding grade now. That grade will need to come down to match the contour of the septic field, so probably about 4.5’ from the bottom of the leach field to the top of the final sub grade. I attached a few pics of the site plan for reference.
I'd probably build it at the same time if possible. Place the fill sand and general fill as you go. We do this sometimes building slopes where there is an abundance of topsoil or other unsuitable material that is to be wasted on site. As the structural slope comes up the topsoil/waste slope is built along with it if that makes sense.
Thank you very much for the insight! I’ll keep that in mind as I determine how to go about this part of the project. Moving dirt twice certainly doesn’t help the efficiency!
Did the propane installer not use any NFPA 58 cathodic protection? I don’t see any provisions in the photo. Maybe it’s not a thing in your region.
that's a good method, put the less suitable in the slope as you come up. That is how I will build our driveway, I'll strip it and blend the strippings onto the downside slope beyond the structural portion.
They included an anode bag during the installation with specific directions to be careful backfilling around it. I assume this is what is typically done for below grade tanks?
Yes, that's normal around here.
Nice!
I would build the Mound septic first and then install the fill. It will be easier to keep the sand/sandy bankrun clean. In your jurisdiction it may not need to be inspected by anyone. Different rules for different parts of the country. Just my opinion.
Thanks for the feedback, there is an inspection requirement for the septic (and it is actually pretty stringent from what I’m told).
And around here rules can change between two adjacent counties! Had a little problem when we built our house. Hired a contractor from next county and on inspection before back fill it failed because the guy did not plug ends of, I think they are called laterals, for the leach field lines. An easy fix just mixed up some cement and poked it in the ends. I know the neighbor next door system would in no way pass if it had to be inspected like a new system. I recall them doing some work years ago and there was only one leach line in the front yard that could not be more than forty feet long, if that much! Ours when we built in 1979 required five lines 58ft. long!
Another reason to install septic and get it signed off by the powers to be. In my County we would have a the designer sign off and the local sanitarian sign off also. Installer of system has to have a Master Installer's license. Check to make sure you can install your own system.
That’s an incredible home and project. My project is much more humble. But, the only permit I need was for the septic. And nobody will ever inspect it. Or, flex on me. Or, even care. As long as I pay my $200 annual property tax.
Looks awesome to me! What part of Alaska is that located?
Thanks. Upper Susitna Valley between the Kashwitna & Big Susitna Rivers. Talkeetna area.
I’ve never been outside the lower 48 (and southern Canada) but Alaska is definitely on the bucket list someday! If only these projects didn’t take all my time and money….
Wife and I went on an Alaskan cruise in August of 2023. Absolutely fantastic and I highly recommend. The killer whales freaked me out a little though.
I trenched a 50 amp circuit for a rv pedestal last weekend and still had frozen soil in a few spots under the moss. Celebratory cup of mediocre coffee with my newly minted electricity.
The drywall crew started this week and have almost all the drywall hung. I am NOT missing that experience! I started on the septic field today, working the side slopes of fill dirt from the site around where the sand bed will go. I plan to leave one end of the bed open where it meets the driveway, hopefully they can back the dump trucks in so I can easily move the sand around. A few weeks ago I got an official looking letter from the lumberyard (there’s no way that check bounced, right?!). Apparently, paying for this project put me into a “top tier spender” status and my wife and I were invited to a dinner cruise on a local lake boat, all expenses paid. What a surprise! We had beautiful weather and the food was quite good too. This lake (Lake Sunapee) has many multi-million dollar houses around it. One was getting a new dock/boat house and the contractor had a nice Cat 307/308 on a barge for the project.
Looks good! Sunapee is a nice lake. Been a while since I've been on it
Thanks! Last time I was on Sunapee it was about 75 degrees colder and I was on a snowmobile lol.
Looking great @Columbo . I will hire the drywall out too. No thank you to that action.
Nice! The cruise looks like a nice evening out. With the cost of lumber I hope you had the filet! Got a quote for my house back at around $22 psf for framing material, engineered joists, Hardi, soffit, decks and cedar posts. Thought that wasn't too bad. I am going to sub pretty much all the trades except grading/site work of course. Might do some landscaping, the irrigation system, the stone facade, some tile and some hardscaping. No way Jose on self performing framing, roofing or drywall. I do not possess the finish trade skills but decent on masonry and tile.
$22 sq/ft isn’t bad at all in my opinion. I’ve kept very detailed records and spreadsheets for this project but I haven’t looked at any totals yet….
I'll have to get a new quote when it gets closer but I was pleasantly surprised. I was thinking more in the upper $20's psf.
I'm just catching up to this thread and I'm amazed at the amount of work, tidiness, notes, and pictures! This looks like a beautiful spot and indeed inspiring. I don't imagine I'll ever build a house but it's really neat to see your progress! Dumb question but I assume you can not drive over the propane tank?
Thank you! Correct, I wouldn’t drive over the tank but I do drive across where the line is buried from the tank to the house. It’s down 3’ and bedded in sand so I think that’s safe.
Wow, just found your thread and read through it. Really nice work, such a big project. Am I understanding correctly that you are working and doing this on the side? Damn, I can hardly get my small projects done around the house as it is.....Nice work. I don't recognize your exact area but I think we live very close to each other. I know Sunapee well.
Thank you! Yes, I have a full time job that isn’t this project although sometimes it feels the other way around. I’m south of Newport and north of Hillsboro if that narrows it down!
I can see how, that is a massive amount of work you are doing. I can guess the rough area, I pass through there pretty often. We are in a small town with a college not far away.
So, on the advice of many I used the bulk fill dirt from the site to build up the side slopes around the septic field and the grade on the low side of the house. I was amazed how fast that used up the piles of dirt I’ve been staring at for a year! 10 triaxles later and I had the bulk sand in the septic field brought up to the correct elevation. Septic installation went smoothly for the most part and the inspection was uneventful.
Continued from above:
In the midst of the septic installation, I had an unpleasant experience straight from @skyking1 thread. The septic tank was set early in the process to the elevation called out on the septic plan. However, when I dug down to the stub out through the house footer I found that the sleeve through the footer had been set too low. Blame the overworked general contractor for not catching this at the time the footer was poured…. This resulted in insufficient pitch from the house to the tank. The septic designer was able to redesign the layout and move the tank to achieve the necessary elevation changes. It also put the tank directly on the setback line off of the seasonal drainage ditch and precisely at the minimum elevation from the tank to the field. No room for error on this one, .01’ of available tolerance. A little finicky but we got the tank moved and all the elevations worked out. Thankfully a tank move does not require resubmission of the plans to the state for re-approval.
Looks like a pretty serious project! I like the spacers you made to keep the presby pipes spaced correctly. I am starting my septic (for the second time) this fall. Had so much ledge I couldnt get the tank replaced and had to have it moved. It also only has about .05 inches of wiggle room up and down as well as to the set back on the property....going to be interesting.
Thanks, I saw the idea for the spacers from a guy online. I’m giving the osb blocks to my brother for him to use on subsequent septics and I’m recycling the 2x6’s to finish my chimney chase.
While waiting for the septic inspection I moved into the basement to hang the Sheetrock ahead of the tapers. This was perfect timing since it now feels like Alabama up here in New England… 90+ and incredibly humid. I don’t know how @CM1995 and others work in this! The basement was nice and cool though. This area will be finished to be the laundry room and will also be the temporary kitchen when we first move in.
First of all kudos on the septic install - looks top notch. Well done! Second it's been a normal summer for us. Not too bad during June due to the humidity being lower than normal and temps being higher than normal. Not the actual temp outside but it's what the truck registered. Now the temps are in the high 90's with humidity to match which is miserable some days. July and August are usually plagued with afternoon showers that cool everything down for a minute until the sun comes back out and makes it a sauna. About 4 months - June, July, August and September are miserable here but the other 8 are quite nice. At least we don't have to deal with snow right? OK my 15 year old humor can't resist - Your septic tank says WEED on it.
Yeah, you can keep all that and I’ll take the snow thank you! One of the oldest local precast manufacturers is the L.E. Weed company. I don’t know why they don’t use the advertising slogan “He got Weed!” on their trucks….
1" out of square is no issue. I have seen building pads out to 7 inches.
Metal termite barriers work well. I have been in houses 80 years old and where the metal did not rust termites did not enter. In places it rusted they came in and over the pressure treated sill or base plates.
On 8" foundation walls 7" out would be a huge issue On 24" pads in the middle of a foundation 7" isn't a huge issue The OP has the former
7” out of square and somebody would be bringing in an excavator with a hammer. Hint, it wouldn’t be me…
It’s been a pretty dry (and humid) summer in New England (I’ve complained about that already. However, it looks like we might get caught up on a little rain for the rest of this week. Fortunately, I was able to get the septic field, slopes, and the rest of the front yard loamed and seeded before the rain. That finishes most of the site work I had planned for this summer, now I’ll move towards the porches/siding and the “to do” list to obtain our C/O to move in.
Looking good!
Well, welcome to the insane asylum! Sheetrock is finished on the first and second floor, I sprayed a PVA primer on all the fresh drywall and then sanded it out. Then a vapor barrier primer on all exterior walls and ceilings. Sanded that coat out too… Then sprayed two coats of flat white ceiling paint. I’ll roll the walls in each room with the colors my wife picks… Did I mention I hate painting? Fortunately I have a friend who is a professional painter who has been helping with advice and loaning me all the tools.
The amount of work you've been doing is impressive!
Holiday weekend?! More painting! After I had sprayed two coats of ceiling paint in the main room/kitchen area you could see “shadowing” on the ceiling. This seemed to be caused by the Sheetrock taped areas reflecting light differently (despite the primer supposedly preventing that). With the help of my painter friend, we power sanded the ceiling lightly then sprayed another coat and backrolled it for a light texture. The result was a significant improvement. Before: After: So much about painting that I never knew! This afternoon I installed the laundry room cabinets.
I've learned that the honey do list doesn't get any holidays...
Too true!!
What is the leach field pipe ? Never seen anything like that here. How does it tie into the tank?
It’s a Presby Environmental Enviro-Tube system. There are two ways that these systems are designed, serial distribution or parallel distribution. Parallel distribution is connected similar to a traditional pipe-and-stone system and uses a distribution box from the tank to feed each run of tubes. Serial distribution feeds all outflow from the tank into the first tube, which outflows into the second, etc. with Presby systems one noteworthy factor is that most systems are air vented through a low vent at the end of the field which flows air through the entire system and out through the house vent stack. It’s a little hard to see but the connections throughout the field are visible in the pics below. This is a serial system.
Interesting, their hype makes it sound like it will last forever. Infiltrator sells it I guess, I didn't find a web site that is direct to the manufacturer. Something to remember when I build my next house. Joe H
That’s the claim, although I know of several that have had to be replaced. Whether that’s due to user abuse or other factors I am not sure. Presby systems are very common where I live due to the high seasonal water table.
Have no water table here, mountain desert. Looks like not pumping the septic could plug it up maybe. Joe H
@Columbo , it's been a while. Any updates on the house?
Yeah, I kinda fell off the map this summer! Sorry about that! Thanks for reminder that this thread needs an update. See below:
So the biggest goal for summer and fall 2025 was to complete the exterior. This was needed to cover the zip system before any degradation, to meet the close-out timeline for my building permit, and for my sanity. First up, frame the deck structure for the wrap around porch and screened-in deck:
Next up was posts, double LVL beams, and roof framing:
Once the roof was framed, I contracted a local roofer for standing seam metal color matched to the asphalt shingles on the house and garage:
It was a rainy start this spring so on rain days I prepped the garage for a slab.
That metal roof looks awesome! Concrete flatwork as well. What type of decking are you using on the porch? Trex or a variant?
With the porch and slab done, next up was the siding. First, trim for the doors and windows and then decking for the porch:
Finally, siding and garage doors!
Doing the gables and chimney chase was going to be interesting, especially with the porch in front. I have about 20 feet of the front of the porch to my septic tank and leach field. So, a spider lift to the rescue.
I finished the siding November 1st, probably the only thing on this project that was done on schedule!
Since then, I’ve been catching up on things like firewood, maintenance on the equipment, and taking a break. Tess the collie was joined by a little brother this summer too! Going into the new year, I’m going to be working on indoor finishes, mainly tiling the bathrooms. Now that the essentials are complete, I’m going to try to make steady, but reasonable, progress. I’ll continue to post updates to this thread, we’ll see if I can get the rest of the house done over the next 5 years lol! Thanks for following along!
Wow.... not sure how I missed your thread/build.... but Great Job !! and thanks for the pics of your 'labor of love'
Thank you! Both contractors for the roof and the concrete floor did a great job. Decking is just standard Trex in saddle brown with the Trex hidden fastener system. The cost to move to one of the “designer” Trex colors was astonishing!
Thank you!
Looks great. I envy that garage floor!
Looks great Columbo!
Thanks for the updates! Everything is looking great.
we are running right along on about the same progress more or less. Not the Lone Rangers
Thank you! And thanks for the reminder to keep this thread updated.
How’s your wife’s recovery?
steady, too slow for her for sure! thanks for asking.
So, I saw we have a tile expert with us, @smifwal As my project continues, I’ve been doing indoor things over the winter. One of these is finishing the alcove “dog wash” in the mudroom. I’ve got a fair amount of tile experience, but this is my first time using the Schluter shower pan and Kerdi board system. Normally, I would flood test the pan. However, since this project is coming after I finished other things, this area is surrounded by finished drywall, insulation, etc. Under the floor is insulation but no finished space. I’m 99% sure it will be fine, but not really looking forward to any damage or mess in the chance it’s not. Thoughts? (And yes, I know I need to skim all the screw washers with thinset and kerdi band, I ran out of thinset and figured I’d get them when setting the floor tiles.)
How mad would you be if it leaked? When it comes to showers (with any system) I have to be sure, and I am pretty confident in my procedure and following the rules but with out flooding it and putting pressure on those seams I can't say for sure that it is not leaking, even that 1% makes me lose sleep. Just seeing that client's name on my phone would make my heart race. That said I know guys that don't flood them because it is a fairly straightforward system and what you have looks solid. I would like to see your waterproofing and tile extend to the corner outside the dog wash on both sides and a outside corner on both sides where I circled. And I don't love the what I assume to be drywall mud on the valve wall corner, the mud guys do that all the time in new construction. Water will go through the tile and soften that mud up and be a place for mold to grow disregard if that is not what I am seeing. I will close with I know how much time, effort and money goes in to this stuff and I won't take even a 1% chance that I have to do it again and it really on takes a day. If it doesn't leak then it will give you peace of mind and if it does that you just prevented tearing it out and doing it again
What does a flood test entail? It happens at this point, assuming all stuff is properly sealed, before tiles?
I use one of these with a extension hose on it so I can test the connection from the trap to the riser at the same time. But basically you plug the drain fill with water to the top of the curb and let it sit for a day, in a busy work schedule I would fill it before I went home and drain it next morning. If it is real humid in the work space you set a bowl of water next to the shower as a control to see if water loss is from evaporation or leak
Thanks for the insights, I’ll let you know how it goes. And yes, you’re right that the outside of the curb would probably be best with a kerdi outside corner installed there. I did not because I am not carrying the wall tile past the outer edge of the curb. In my mind, because this will be used with a hand spray wand and not a wall mounted head, the water should be towards the inside wall. I sealed this part of the curb/wall joint with kerdi-fix. Hopefully I don’t regret that! Also, the only test plugs I could find locally were the expanding screw type. I’ve heard guys complain that they can leak, any thoughts on that?
I used Schluter for the 4'x4' shower enclosure in our loft, a good quality product and pretty nice to work with I thought. Problem was I would rather be out in the yard welding or tinkering on trucks etc...so much to my wife's frustration took me ages to complete the project lol! You are to be commended as you are doing better for your dog than I did for my wife!
I haven't used one of those, but have used a similar one before I got the balloon style and yes sometimes you don't get a good seal. I would insert that one and just fill around the drain and wait a bit. If that holds then fill her up
Well, truth be told, this is a trial run for our master bath shower that I’ll get to in… 2027…
Ok, I got the tile dry fit this morning. I’m testing the drain plug now and then I’ll start the clock for the flood test this afternoon.
Good choice, It will give you peace of mind. When you get to the master shower(and for anyone else reading this) you don't want your shower door installers to drill in to your curb, there are alternatives no matter what they tell you or how many they install that way. I talked to 7 before I found one that was willing to do it they way I asked. I also make it clear to the client if they installed their own doors or didn't use a non drill method that it voided my warranty
Thanks for that! Just so I can look back it later, what would be the preferred method?
We did a dog wash. Put it at waist height so there is not so much kneeling or leaning over. But you have to be able to get a dog up there !
I will still be around when you get to it and you are welcome to ask again but U channel siliconed down. Back in the days of smaller tiles they used to put a grout joint in the middle of the curb and it was siliconed in that.
No change in the water level for the pan flood test. Guess I have to tile it next….
what size tile you planned on, and grout joint size you were hoping to use?
Tiles are 1.75”x1.75” (approximately, they are metric) on mesh with a pre-set 1/8” grout joint. The curb will be 12” pieces of the 12x24 tile I used for the mudroom floor with matching bullnose.
those cut tiles make for a grippy slip-free floor. That is what I did on our first walk in shower. Same Kerdi pan and membrane.
As a rule of thumb 4" in is the maximum tile size for a shower floor, the grout lines help with the non slip and the smaller tiles contour with the pan better, you can use bigger tiles but you have make relief cuts and add joints to prevent lippage
I'll be using large format 12x24 in the roll in showers, with a surface friction rating of R10 or better.
What I said above pertains to a center drain because you have a bowl in the middle. You got the liner drains and may have just a single slope, I haven't installed a foam tray with a linear drain and I have talked many of people out of the linear drains. Nobody thinks about when the house settles, I have never in a remodel had a level floor. That is the only problem with those foam trays they only work if your flooring is flat and level. Most of the time I can spend more time preparing a floor for a tray than I could doing a mud pan. And doing a mud bed is a little more labor intensive but I can fix a floor with it , I can raise the pan a little bit if it helps with my tile lay out and the materials are near dirt cheap. When I build a shower the shower pan is the almost the last thing in. I use a ledger board, for the walls minus the first course. Most times I grout the walls also. Then I build the shower pan and curb, tile the top of the curb and flood, this way I can get the glass guys in to measure. Drain the pan. I have already done my layout and cut tiles for the pan outside of the shower and cut my first row of tiles. I set all of that and grout everything remaining. And give everything a final clean, shortly after that the glass guys come in. This minimizes the amount of time the customer is without a shower and I don't have to worry about protecting the pan or tile on the floor. I put plastic down so anything that falls on the subfloor comes out with the plastic and in to the trah