Gentlemen, Pull Out Your Wallets!

This retaining wall will be a saga of its own. It started to look like "more of a project" when we tried to plan some steps from the lower parking area to the upper main entry. This is the first run of retaining wall blocks as it sits right now:



As you can see, there is plenty of hillside to hold back, located just behind and above. There is a lot of labor & materials in this retaining wall, and Kincaid has asked us to share in the cost. At this point, we are considering two options: a) do something really big & really expensive. b) do something not as big & somewhat expensive.

I'll let you know what we decide...meanwhile the is the first extra expense we are facing. Let's hope the surprises don't keep coming...

Plumbing Complete!

All plumbing located under the slabs is now complete. They will have inspection tomorrow morning & with sign-off, we should be talking slabs very soon! Crossing our fingers for good weather...



Last week's storm dumped so much water on the lot - it really provided an opportunity to see how water will want to flow on the property. Our new drain system did its job well. There were signs of quite a lot of water moving down hill, but it all went were it was supposed to. With all the new topsoil freshly graded out, there was a lot of water holding in that hillside. Thankfully, it didn't go anywhere!

Retaining the Hillside

Now that the foundation is backfilled and the driveway is graded, the hillside needs to be supported. We're dug in pretty close to the lane up there, which is driveway access for us and the neighbors.
Ground Contact and Kincaid got three truckloads of these massive blocks to build the retaining wall out of. These look a lot better than a concrete wall, and go together like Legos. The interlocking system is from Redi-Rock International, and forms a sturdy but good looking wall.
Here, they are placing the first run of blocks. They'll build a wall about 4 or 5 feet high, step it back and then run up the rest of the way. That will provide some planting spaces, along with a set of steps leading up to the upper level.



Robert guides a block into place, with Heath at the controls.



The back side of the retaining wall. This too will all be backfilled when complete.



The first run is placed. Heath (Ground Contact) is racking his brain to work in some stairs. It's a tough puzzle to figure out how to get them in, but we have faith!

Backfill Complete

The foundation is backfilled & most of the grading is also finished. Check out this before & after pic - its a shame to bury all that hard work!




Upper garage - foundation walls complete, along with the massive footing, before backfilling.



Upper garage, after backfilling.

Nice Touches

Robert worked out this detail at the front wall of the lower office. Since the concrete foundation wall is thicker than the stud wall, it would have left a ledge that probably wouldn't have looked so good. Instead, Robert had Chris (CMP Foundations) run this detail along the edge. A nice touch, and I wouldn't have known to ask for it. Thanks guys!

Foundation Walls Complete!

The crew at CMP Foundations are finished with the walls - and this is some really quality work. Chris Parish decided to go with a real smooth concrete (6 sack mix w/pea gravel instead of screened aggregate) - there is so much steel inside the walls that Chris wanted to make sure the concrete flowed readily. This produced a very smooth finish to the walls, with minimal rock pockets. For any of the concrete that remains exposed after completion, the finished surface will look great.

This is the "big wall" - 13 feet tall. This whole vault will be backfilled tomorrow, creating a compact surface for the upper garage slab.

This vault will be filled in to form the front yard and entry area. That black stuff is the sealer that is applied to the dirt-facing side of the foundation walls. Spray foam will be applied to the inside to form a moisture proof barrier.

Here's the other side of the big wall - note the bottom section is 1 foot thick!

In this pic you can see where the middle floor will be. They will backfill it for lower garage slab also. To the right, you can see the lowest level office space forming.



Here's a wide shot of the whole thing as it climbs up the hillside.

Foundation Walls Poured on Monday

Wall forms were finished last week, but I didn't have time to write a post before heading off to the peninsula for a few days. Here's a few pics from yesterday's pour. The pour required 5 concrete trucks, which is about 60 yards of concrete. So far we are well over 100 yards of concrete in the footings and walls, with four slabs to go...

Foundation Walls forming

This is the main retaining wall that holds up the garage slab, and forms the back wall of the 2nd floor. It's 12 feet high by 8-inches thick. A *lot* of concrete will go into this pour.

They'll take a couple more days next week to finish building forms for all the walls. They'll probably shoot for pouring concrete on Tuesday afternoon. After that, they'll backfill dirt up against this big wall, to form the surface for the upper garage slab.

I'll be in New York next week, so hopefully Dorrinda can post up some progress pics...

Concrete Pour Begins

Right on time, the concrete footings were poured today. Four truckloads were pumped up and over into the forms for the foundation footings. Walls & slab are going to be a big pour indeed!

Inspection went fine & Robert actually wanted to move the pour up by an hour. Alas, the pump truck couldn't find the address right away - the first casualty of many I'm afraid.

Props to Kincaid for some last minute wee hours coordination work to insure everything goes in the right places. The coordination work on a lot like this with a house as big as this one results in a set of extremely complicated calculations. There have been a few surprises - my Billiards room (the living room on the plan) has lost a corner. This was to comply with setback requirements. I hope I can still play some pool in there! On the good side, Robert is providing 10-foot ceilings on the upper floor - this will be really nice. The second floor will feel spacious with 9-foot ceilings - definitely better than 8-foot ceilings for the that theater space (Family room on plans).

Here's some pics of the finished footings from today. Tomorrow, they'll form up the concrete walls, including the 12' tall monster that sits on top of that big footing in this first pic:

Foundation Work Begins

The concrete guys started building forms on Friday and they made a lot of progress!


They'll finish building forms on Monday - inspection is set for later in the day.


Check out this footing - its six feet wide and will tie into the upper garages' slab via a retaining wall.

So far the construction guys all agree - this house is engineered to be overbuilt. It should be very stout & resist problems from settling, etc. The soil is very sandy, so water drains off very quickly. The excavators said there are plenty of lots that they simply couldn't run their equipment on with the rain we had last week.

I started a new photo gallery for the foundation work too - those are on the left side of the page.

Foundation pour set for next week

Robert (Kincaid Homes) sent an update, so I thought I'd make another post before we have some pics of the foundation work:

The foundation hole was finished today.
Several loads of sand were taken out (I spoke to the Chad & Heath at Ground Contact excavation this morning & they said around 6 dumptrucks of dirt were hauled out.)

Foundation guy will be on site tomorrow about 7:30 in the morning. He is usually pretty quick, with cooperating weather we intend to pour next week for the footings and then start the walls.

The schedule of events:
1. Dig [a big] hole.
2. Pour foundation [footings & walls].
3. Backfill and compact soil.
4. Do underground plumbing.
5. Prepare for the basement slabs
6. Slab pour: This will be a pretty big pour because we would be doing the upper garage slab, the lower garage slab, lower living slab and the office/apartment slab.
7. After all of this we will start framing.

A couple pics from the dig this morning

Ready for foundation

Here the lot is prepped for the foundation. The concrete guy should be out this week to place forms - we should have the forms out of here and the finished foundation in a week or so, weather permitting.

Its hard to tell, but there are three levels to the lot. I'm standing at the 1st floor level, looking at the main level. Its easiest to see the dug out shape of the lowest level.

A big thanks to Chad & Heath at Ground Contact excavation for working through torrential downpours this week, in order to keep the project on schedule! They also did some great coordination work with Kincaid to insure the upper floor garage slab will line up properly with the level of the street - hugely important that this phase of the project.

More pics from Day 1...

This pic is from the upper floor level. I'm standing in front of the upper floor garages, looking down at the second floor level. The building lot is essentially a terraced hillside.

You can see power lines in this picture - those are actually on power poles along the Interurban Trail down below. We'll be able to watch walkers and bikers go by from our deck.

They have to dig down for the lowest level (third floor). They'll be taking out tons of dirt on Monday and setting the forms for the foundation. The concrete pour is set for Wednesday!

Edit: the concrete pour is not Wednesday - the concrete prep begins. They'll place the forms first, then pour concrete next week-ish.

We are finally underway!

It's been over a year since we first contacted Kincaid Construction. I noticed a home being built along the Interurban Bike Trail I rode each day to and from work. The style of construction was really unique and I liked the look. I made a mental note to bring Dorrinda by the site. We really weren't thinking about building our next home. We weren't even that serious about a "next" home! That was then...

Posted full house plans

If you are interested in checking out the floorplans, elevations or sketches - go to the photo albums. I also posted a link to them on the left sidebar.

Why the name?

I named this blog "Our House (in the middle of the street)", because when City of Everett came out to survey our lot, one edge of it extends right about to the middle of the little lane that provides access to the houses along Interurban Trail. Imagine their surprise when I build my fence!

If you look close at the lot layout image (lots 19, 20 & 21), you can actually see the little bump out from the adjacent property.

For additional wierdness, the lot plan shows 48th Street angling past our property. This isn't the case at all. 48th Street dead-ends at our lower level driveway entrance, leaving only trees & other natural surroundings next to our lot. This is because Commercial Ave was never extended through here (where you see "4-035" on the plan). The right of way was sold to the PUD and turned into Interurban Trail.

We are addressed off a street that technically doesn't exist, next to a street that also doesn't exist. Our apologies in advance to the UPS guy!

8-24-07

I added the pic below to show where the property line is. If you look closely, you can see the pink spray paint marking the edges that form the corner of the lot.

(click the pic for the bigger version)