Category Archives: Site Work

Week 8: Basement Slab & Passed our Well Report

Posted in Construction Loan, Private Well, Site Work, Slabs by

This week flew by fast, and it was awesome to see the progress on the house.  At the beginning of the week they were busy working on backfilling and grading around the house, and installing the plumbing lines that needed to be in the basement slab.  I was there on Tuesday morning to talk with Matt about some of the site grading and already they were testing the plumbing to ensure there wasn’t any leaks in the pipe network.  To do this they ran a garden hose from our well up to the house – how crazy is it that we’re already using the water!?!

Here's what the house looked like at the start of the week.

Here’s a panoramic of what the house looked like at the start of the week.

Most of the backfilling around the basement had been done by now, and it's pretty awesome to see the backyard grading start to take shape.

Most of the backfilling around the basement had been done by now, and it’s pretty awesome to see the backyard grading start to take shape.

Here's Cameron, standing in the garage with it backfilled part of the way - he'll never get to do that again!

Here’s Cameron, standing in the garage with it backfilled part of the way – he’ll never get to do that again!

A good amount of site grading occurred this week. A bit more heavy equipment was on site.

A good amount of site grading occurred this week. A bit more heavy equipment was on site.

All of the plumbing that had to be run in the basement slab was installed.

All of the plumbing that had to be run in the basement slab was installed.

Speaking of that, Matt brought a sample of the well water to AMTest Laboratories for bacterial testing.  With a $10 upgrade for overnight results, on Tuesday we received the word that our water passed – no amounts of bacteria were present!  Such a relief, because that test result coupled with our well log meant that we had our source of water and the bank would be able to now allow us to draw on our construction loan.  Phew!  I also dropped off some more water to test for a complete scan which will include testing for nitrates, arsenic, ph levels, etc.  Those results will be back in two weeks.

Check out Cameron with the water coming out of the well...like a fire hose!

Check out Cameron with the water coming out of the well like a fire hose!

Our well log - finally! This well log + bacterial test results on the water = construction funding!

Our well log – finally! This well log + bacterial test results on the water = construction funding!

Every day there seemed to be a bit of progress, but it felt like it really moved along towards the end of the week.  On Wednesday and Thursday they were leveling out the gravel in the slab, installing the vapor barrier and the rigid foam insulation over the entire slab.

Here you can see the vapor barrier (black plastic) and a bit of the rigid foam insulation which is installed underneath the concrete slab. To meet King County's energy codes, we opted to install R-10 insulation underneath our entire slab. That'll also help keep the boys' toes toasty in the winter.

Here you can see some of the vapor barrier (black plastic) and a bit of the rigid foam insulation which is installed underneath the concrete slab. To meet King County’s energy codes, we opted to install R-10 insulation underneath our entire slab. That’ll also help keep the boys’ toes toasty in the winter.

R-10 rigid foam insulation all stacked up before it was installed

R-10 rigid foam insulation all stacked up before it was installed

Friday was when all of the fun happened though.  Our oldest, Cameron, had a soccer tournament all day, so I took the day off of work to be the ‘soccer mom’ and drive him up to Burlington.  But we didn’t have to leave for the first game until 10:30am, so we went out to check out the construction going on – and it was so much fun.  They were pouring basement slab on Friday so we really got to see a lot of great construction going on.  My dad even met us out there (actually got there before we did) and we all hung out for a couple hours.  Cameron had a blast and a ton of questions too!

We talked to the slab guy (Jeremy) a bit and he said that because it’s been so hot (95 degrees) out, he added in a retarder to slow down the concrete curing.  If concrete cures too fast, it will crack, and even though they started pouring at 8am, it takes at least a full 24 hours for the main curing to occur, so the afternoon heat could have really done some damage.  To help it stay cool even longer, in the early afternoon they sprayed water all over the slab to saturate and cool it down.  Without slowing down the curing, the concrete will dry (and crack) before gaining it’s full tensile strength.

The concrete and pump trucks were situated up by the road with the arm of the pump truck reaching over the basement wall.

The concrete and pump trucks were situated up by the road with the arm of the pump truck reaching over the basement wall.

Here's the pump truck - you can really see how uneven and sloped our future driveway is right now!

Here’s the pump truck – you can really see how uneven and sloped our future driveway is right now!

The arm on the pump truck was so big!

The arm on the pump truck was so big!

The crew worked so quickly and so well together - each of them had different jobs and it was really neat to watch how orchestrated the pour was. You can tell they had all been working together for a while and really knew what they were doing. They were making it look easy - but it was definitely hard work.

The crew worked so quickly and so well together – each of them had different jobs and it was really neat to watch how orchestrated the pour was. You can tell they had all been working together for a while and really knew what they were doing. They were making it look easy – but it was definitely hard work.

My dad came out and watched the slab pour too - it was fun having him there.

My dad came out and watched the slab pour too – it was fun having him there.

The final product! Very exciting to have it done!!!

The final product! Very exciting to have it done!!!

Quick Design Changes

At the last minute, just before the plumbing went in, I shifted the wall between the guest shower and the tech closet to increase the size of the guest shower.  Hopefully it feels roomier in there (and there’s less splashing outside of the shower since I don’t want a shower door.  Other than that, Matt shifted a wall in the boys’ bathroom because the exterior foundation wall was longer than our architect had planned, and that created a thicker exterior wall.  Instead of shrinking the boys’ shower size (which wasn’t very big to begin with), he reduced the walking space by the sinks from 3’6” to 3’0”.

Week 7: Waterproofing, Plumbing, Well Pumping & Cabinetry Shopping

Posted in Cabinetry, Concrete Work, Footings & Walls, Private Well, Site Work by

It seemed like a busy week this week – we started off the week with waterproofing the exterior of the basement walls; Matt is having them use a two-part system.  The first part is a spray-on bituminous surface sealant which is sprayed directly onto the concrete walls at a thickness of 40 mil.  The second part is a dimpled drainage sheet which get secured on the outside of the spray-on sealant.  This drainage sheet acts reduces the hydrostatic pressure against the wall – therefore keeping any water in the soil away from the basement wall by giving it a direct path to flow from the finished grade to the footing drains.  In addition, geotextile fabric is secured to the drainage sheet so that water can pass through, but it keeps soils out.  The type of drainage mat they’re installing is American Wick Drain’s Site Drain Sheet 180.  This was created for commercial usage and has higher standards and compression strength as compared to it’s counterpart product for the residential use.  I guess they actually started the waterproofing on Saturday, because they were wrapped up by Tuesday this week.

Here they are adding more gravel for the base material (and for drainage underneath the basement slab).

Here they are adding more gravel for the base material (and for drainage underneath the basement slab).

The first layer of the waterproofing, a bituminous spray-on, has been applied.

The first layer of the waterproofing, a bituminous spray-on, has been applied.

This is the 2nd layer of the waterproofing, a dimpled membrane with geotextile - American Wick Sheetdrain 180

This is the 2nd layer of the waterproofing, a dimpled membrane with geotextile – American Wick Drain Sheet 180

Both our boys came with us on Wednesday to see the progress. Here they said

Both our boys came with us on Wednesday to see the progress. Here they said, “hey mom, look at us – on top of ROCK MOUNTAIN”!!

Here's Spencer standing next to the house - he was all about getting filthy dirty today. At one point he even kicked his sandals off. Ick - those went back on - immediately!

Here’s Spencer standing next to the house – he was all about getting filthy dirty today. At one point he even kicked his sandals off. Ick – those went back on – immediately!

Spencer found his special 'gem' rock. He said he put it in a safe place to find it later (in the dirt). Good luck Spencer! ;)

Spencer found his special ‘gem’ rock. He said he put it in a safe place to find it later (in the dirt). Good luck Spencer! 😉

On Wednesday the well pump guy came to install the pump in our well.  He installed an 8 gallon per minute pump, as not to over pump the well, and almost instantly had crystal clear water!  I haven’t seen it running yet, but Matt said it was pretty fantastic.  Typically it takes a few hours to get as clean of water as what they were getting right off the bat.  They let the pump run for nearly an hour and the recovery rate was good on the well too – it only took a couple of minutes (maybe 3?) to get the water level back up to where it was originally.  All in all, it’s super cool that the pump is doing fantastic!  The pump guy also chlorinated the water, so after a few days (probably on Monday) we’ll be able to take a sample and send it to the lab for testing of any natural-born contaminates in the water.

The pump's been installed ...on a tree??

The pump’s been installed …on a tree??

Thursday the plumber came to install all of the piping in the basement.  Joel and I had to double-check all of the locations of the fixtures in the basement and send Matt any plan changes along with dimensions to the fixtures.  Once the plumber installs them, and the basement slab is poured – that’s where they’re staying!  Joel took the week off of work so on Thursday he was out there seeing how the build was going.  The plumber had just showed up and apparently the laborer was pretty cranky that he had to dig out the gravel base to install the plumbing pipe.  I actually would be too – still not sure I understand why the gravel was placed before the plumbing was finished…but whatever.  Joel also saw them starting to backfill the house and regrade the site.

Some of the plumbing in the basement has been started - this is a picture of the guest bath.

Some of the plumbing in the basement has been started – this is a picture of the guest bath.

New equipment showed up at the house to regrade and backfill around the house.

New equipment showed up at the house to regrade and backfill around the house.

In action - regrading the back patio area...and the plumber looking annoyed about the digging!

In action – regrading the back patio area…and the plumber looks in disbelief about all of the digging ahead of him.

The giant stockpiles of dirt were removed from our future front lawn - you can actually see the basement walls peeking out if you're looking from the road now!

The giant stockpiles of dirt were removed from our future front lawn – you can actually see the basement walls peeking out if you’re looking from the road now!

By the end of the week, here's what the progress looked like in panorama.

By the end of the week, here’s what the progress looked like in panorama.

Cabinets

Besides all of the construction going on, on Monday my mom and I went up to Canyon Creek Cabinetry in Monroe to look at the different cabinet styles and construction types.  It was quite a haul to go up there, but definitely worth it once you’re there.  They have an amazing show room there – with example kitchen styles ranging from craftsman, to tuscan, to modern.  Of course, I shied away from most of those, and went for the simple shaker cabinet.  The only thing different than most shaker cabinets is that I’m really liking the beaded inset cabinets.  If it’s within the budget, we’ll definitely get those.  The cabinet boxes and drawers seem like they’re made very well too – all dovetailed and you have the option for plywood boxes & drawers.  There’s a couple of standard options that I love too – the drawers are automatically soft close, and since I want painted cabinets, they can do any color paint I can come up with.  All I need to do is bring them a color swatch and they can match it.  No extra charge!  How fantastic is that?

Tons of door options to choose from at Canyon Creek Cabinetry.

Tons of door options to choose from at Canyon Creek Cabinetry.

Here's what I ultimately settled on - painted shaker style with a beaded inset. I had a feeling this is what I was going to choose before I even went in there. But seeing it in person just solidified it for me!

Here’s what I ultimately settled on – painted shaker style with a beaded inset. I had a feeling this is what I was going to choose before I even went in there. But seeing it in person just solidified it for me!

Here's a pretty kitchen in their show room with full overlay shaker cabinets.

Here’s a pretty kitchen in their show room with full overlay shaker cabinets.

Gray cabinets - gorgeous! And they can color match their cabinets to any color you choose! Awesome!! I just might end up doing a gray for the boys' bathroom...we'll see!

Gray cabinets – gorgeous! And they can color match their cabinets to any color you choose! Awesome!! I just might end up doing a gray for the boys’ bathroom…we’ll see!

Design Update

This week we also had to think about the HVAC area in the storage room off of the boys’ play room. The storage room was designed to have the basement laundry area when you first walk in, the HVAC storage closet to the left in the little ‘alcove’ and then behind the laundry we’d have room for the boys to store all of their toys (as shown in the pic below). I swear that toy storage was my worst enemy in our old house – toys were everywhere and I was constantly trying to come up with organization solutions for all of them. It doesn’t help that the boys are 3 ½ years apart, so their toys ranged from baby toys to legos. Now it’s a bit better since Spencer is getting older, but there’s definitely a ‘mine vs. his’ attitude with their favorites – growing up with a sibling, totally understandable. The other issue is that toys are HUGE! Both boys love playing with the Imaginext toys and they’re SO BIG. In the old house, they filled up a huge armoire and that was with stacking and cramming them in. I even had to give some away so that we could house them all. Needless to say, the toy storage is a MUST for this home. Here’s a look at our original design for the space:

Original Toy Storage & HVAC room layout.

Original Toy Storage & HVAC room layout.

The problem is that we’ve now come to realize that the HVAC ‘alcove’ is too small. The size was roughly 6’ x 4.5’ and to hold two different HVAC systems (one for upstairs and one for downstairs), as well as hot water tanks (haven’t decided…might have two of those as well), it simply just won’t fit in the space. Redesign!!! And it needs to be thought through before the plumber comes in a few days to install the water lines and drains (like for the washing machine) which will be poured under the slab. The solution we came up with is shown below. We decided to move the laundry to the ‘alcove’ area, toy storage where the laundry was, and now the entire back of the storage room (6’ x 14’) is now the HVAC area – plenty big enough. I kept this walled off and with a door to not only add wall to line shelves for the toys, but also to keep the toys out of that space. That’s all I’d need is Nerf darts ending up in my furnaces…or heat pumps (still haven’t decided on that either). That’ll be a decision for a different time. 🙂

Here's the new design of the toy storage & HVAC space. More space has been given to the HVAC equipment.

Here’s the new design of the toy storage & HVAC space. More space has been given to the HVAC equipment.

You know, it’s totally nice knowing CAD and being able to make all of these changes myself. I could see how working a lot with an architect through construction could really add up to some serious money for all the changes on the fly. I just make the change, get the dimensions and give it to Matt. Since we’re catching these things before it’s getting constructed, it’s been perfect!

Week 1: Surveying

Posted in Site Work by

On Saturday, Fred (a surveyor from my work) and I located 20 of the house corners so that they could get started on building the foundation footings next week.  After nearly 7 ½ hours outside in the sun we were done!  It was gorgeous outside and actually a lot of fun.  I haven’t worked with Fred all that much since he’s usually in the field and I’m in the office, but it was really great to get to know him more and he re-taught me a lot about surveying.  Things have really changed since my surveying class at UW 12 years ago…the instruments that we used today were robotic and would automatically follow and track wherever you moved the prism.  And of course we did things perfectly – to the nearest hundredth.  If Matt’s crew builds it that accurately it’d be amazing!

To save a bit of money, instead of using a surveyor to stake out the house for the excavation, Matt used known locations on the property and with a few measurements I gave him to each of the property corners he got a rough idea of where the house was going to sit.  But he had to tape them off and on a sloped site that can be a little tricky!  To give the crew some working room, over-excavate by about 5′ anyhow for the foundation so it didn’t need to be exact.  And although it would have been nice to have a surveyor prior to excavating (so you knew that you were absolutely sure you were digging in the right spot), not doing so saved us hundreds!  Fred was really impressed at how accurate Matt measured out the excavation dig though – he was pretty well on point with being 5′ wider than the actual house corners and extremely parallel too!  In addition to surveying the house corners, we also surveyed the proposed well location which is pretty important since the 100’ well radius covenant area encroaches onto our neighbor’s property.

A panoramic shot of the property at the beginning of the day.

A panoramic shot of the property at the beginning of the day.

Our survey truck

Our survey truck.

The total station and prism that we used to survey the house corners.

The total station and prism that we used to survey the house corners.

The total station we used which was so much more high-tech than then ones I learned surveying on at UW!

The total station we used which was so much more high-tech than then ones I learned surveying on at UW!

Quick shot of one of the property corners we set.

Quick shot of one of the property corners we set.

At the end of the day we had all 20 points surveyed for the house.

At the end of the day we had all 20 points surveyed for the house.

Here is our site plan which ahead of time I located all of the coordinates for the house corner points (and the well location) to guide us throughout the day.

Here is our site plan.  Earlier in the week, I located all of the coordinates for the house corner points (and the well location) to guide us throughout the day.

Just as we were surveying the well location, Brad Johnson from Johnson Drilling (well driller) came by to check out the graded road.  As it turns out, Matt needs to increase the area of the drilling pad some more next week since the well wasn’t quite in the location we had thought it was.  Good thing we surveyed it!

After we were done surveying, Joel brought the boys by to check it out.  Of course now that it was staked it was fun for them to see where their bedrooms were exactly going to be!

Check out each of the boys standing in their future bedrooms!

Check out each of the boys standing in their future bedrooms!

Spencer on top of the world...errr, stockpile!

Spencer on top of the world…errr, stockpile!

Week 1: Groundbreaking & Excavating

Posted in Clearing, Site Work by

And so it begins!  Construction FINALLY started on the house!!!!  Monday June 8th was our official groundbreaking at the property and we’re beyond excited for Matt to get started.  The excavator was delivered last Friday and after a family BBQ at our house on Saturday we took the boys and my parents over to check it out!

The boys pose by the excavator - they were super excited to check it out on Saturday.

The boys pose by the excavator – they were super excited to check it out on Saturday.

And since then things have been changing daily at the property.  It is absolutely crazy the progress that happens in a week.  The beginning of the week started with clearing the brush that’s been growing since the last time the property was mowed, as well as taking down a few trees that needed to be removed.  I’m sure that chainsawing trees isn’t exactly the most enjoyable task to be doing in 80-degree heat, but the property looks so much better for it!

The week started with clearing brush and a few trees.

The week started with clearing brush and a few trees.

At the beginning of the week our property was green...everywhere!

At the beginning of the week our property was green…everywhere!

This is what it looked like after a bit of progress on Monday.

This is what it looked like Monday evening after a day of progress.

Excavating for the foundation has by far been the biggest event of the week though.  It’s wild how much has changed.  At the beginning of the week our property looked like an overgrown mess and now property has been excavated for the basement and foundation and there’s dirt stockpiles everywhere. There was already a huge pile of dirt by Tuesday evening and the boys LOVED climbing all over it!

The excavator!

The excavator!

The boys on top of the stockpile in our future backyard.

The boys on top of the stockpile in our future backyard.

Cameron & Spencer rocking on :)

Cameron & Spencer rocking on 🙂

We let the boys sit on the bulldozer – Cameron thought it was so cool!

Spencer thought the excavator was awesome. I think he emptied about 2 cups of dirt out of his shoes on it!

Spencer thought the excavator was awesome. I think he emptied about 2 cups of dirt out of his shoes on it!

By Wednesday there was already two stockpiles up by the street as well as another lower on the property.

By Wednesday there was already two stockpiles up by the street as well as another lower on the property.

Cameron standing on top of one stockpile, checking out the excavator and the amount of work already done!

Cameron standing on top of a stockpile, checking out the excavator and the amount of work already done!

A quick panoramic of the property on Tuesday evening.

A quick panoramic of the property on Tuesday evening.

On Friday, Cameron stayed home from school because he was sick and so I took him over to the property for a couple field trips today J  He had so much fun as we got to watch the excavator and bulldozer in action!

Cameron sat on top of the stockpile for at least 20 minutes watching the action.

Cameron sat on top of the stockpile for at least 20 minutes watching the action.  He had a blast!

Checking out the bulldozer.

Checking out the bulldozer.

The excavator at work. Way better to watch it in action!

The excavator at work. Way better to watch it in action!

In addition to all the grading, Tanner Electric arrived on site to install our underground power line and transformer.  I was hoping the power line install would only take a day, but it actually spilled over into Wednesday too.  The location of the transformer on the property looks great though – it’s on the far side of the house and we set it back about 15’ off the road so that we can ‘hid’ it in the future with some shrubs.

Tanner electric digging the trench for the underground power line.

Tanner electric digging the trench for the underground power line.

After the first day of their work, they were nearly complete with the powerline.

After the first day of their work, they were nearly complete with the powerline.

Tanner Electric's truck!

Tanner Electric’s truck!

Our transformer tucked back off the street.

Our transformer tucked back off the street (along with the temp power pole for construction).

Get it Surveyed

Posted in Site Work by

I knew that I wanted to get our property surveyed from the second I saw it. Actually, I guess I would want to get any property we purchase surveyed!

There’s a few reasons that it’s important to get a survey of a property. The first and obvious reason is to define our property boundary. There’s an existing fence on the south end of our property, so we have a good idea where that property line is, but there’s an empty lot to the north of us. So we don’t have an exact idea where that boundary lies. Lucky for us, when the property was subdivided our southwest property corner was marked with rebar, capped, and recorded with the County. So it was relatively easy to find that Property corner and work from there.

The second reason that we wanted to get our property surveyed is to have an “existing basemap” to start our design from. I’ve mentioned before that our lot has a slope to it, therefore site placement and the home design needs to be integrated into the existing topography as much as possible so that the home doesn’t look out of place. There’s no way to define the topography of land better than contours. And to get contours a topographic survey must be done.

The third reason we wanted to get our property surveyed is to find out how much of our land has actually been cleared. Back in 2005 the was an approved clearing and grading permit issued and the old owner cleared off all of the existing vegetation/trees. Now we’re left with a cleared site and it’d be great to know the extents of the clearing limits so that we can convey to our designer the limits that they have to work with. This is especially key for a landscape designer (although we haven’t started that design yet).

The fourth reason that getting our property surveyed is to fully visualize the property with a Digital Terrain Model (DTM). Our surveyors take all of the existing elevation points and contours and create a 3-Dimensional model of our existing ground. I think it’s awesome to be able to view our property in a 3-D model, and I know our designer will love to look at it and use that to shape our home and it’s placement. I’m even hopeful that the person doing the exterior rendering of our home will be able to use it to accurately represent our property. More on that in the future I guess!

Finally, the fifth reason that getting our property surveyed is important is because I’m simply used to having a basemap to work from! I design roads and freeways all the time and there’s no way to do a good solid design without knowing what the existing conditions are!

On August 12th, I hired a couple of licensed surveyors from my firm to perform a property survey for us. Lucky for us they are coworkers and I was able to pay them a heck of a lot less than if I hired an outside firm (and I trust these guys so much more).

It took two guys about seven hours of field work to survey the property, a lot of this time I’m sure was because of the existing sticker-bushes they had to whack through. While out in the field, the crew staked the property lines as seen in the photos below. Now we know exactly where our property boundary lies!

Existing southwest property corner located on the west side of the road

Existing southwest property corner located on the west side of the road

Close-up of the property corner marked with rebar and a yellow cap

Close-up of the property corner marked with rebar and a yellow cap

Set the northwest property corner based on the marked southwest corner

Set the northwest property corner based on the marked southwest corner

Surveyed benchmark was set with its elevation

Surveyed benchmark was set with its elevation

The northern property line defined

The northern property line defined

Northern property line stake

Northern property line stake

Afterwards they came back to the office to process the file data and pass the information along to one of our survey CAD technicians. This person took the raw field data from the survey equipment and put it into a legible format that designers can use…In our case AutoCAD. And that’s what is shown in the image below. In the basemap we can read all of the existing contours to understand the topography as well as see existing features that are currently out there. This includes larger diameter trees, the neighbor’s fence on our south property line, a large boulder, existing utilities, and the existing tree drip line.

A plot of the existing topography

A plot of the existing topography “basemap” based on the survey.

One note on the existing utilities is that I really should have called One Call to “paint up” the existing utilities that are in the road on the west side of our property. This is a free service, because the last thing that any utility owner wants is for one of their utility lines to be accidentally damaged during construction. Avoiding utility conflicts is always ideal for any project! One Call would have come out and spray painted the existing utilities and our surveyors could have added those shots into our basemap. A couple of the utilities are shown in the basemap because they are clearly flagged or because there are utility boxes out there, but it would have been nice to get all of them in the survey. In the future I’ll have One Call paint them and I can add them into the basemap myself based off field measurements.