Groundbreaking

[FfNJGTFO]

Originally Posted by Semper Paratus

Some what of a craftsman. We elected to design from the ground up due to some special needs. First floor master with a second first floor bedroom with attached bath. Ground floor will be set up as fully handicap/wheel chair accessible. My wife and I don't currently need it but we have friends that will appreciate the accessibility features. Plus our plan is to leave in a bag when our times come. Upstairs will be an apartment for my 35YO Autism Spectrum son and another guest room with attached bath. Set up as an "L" shape with my son's apartment over the garage. Built on a crawl space with a wheelchair lift in the garage.

Full basement or Slab on grade?

[Semper Paratus]

Crawl Space. Full basement was out our spending range. Lots of excavation since the house sight is essentially flat.

[DaFadda]

PICTURES? I (we) would love to see pictures of the home you're building as it comes along. Ohhh... the pain of building a new home! But... you will be happy when you cross the threshold and spend the first night there. Congratulations and good luck!

[Semper Paratus]

Padre-
My Pastor was there for the ground breaking. The builder and project manager are both strong Christians. We are planning a versing party once it gets weathered in. A versing party is where folks are invited to come bringing their or using our Bible to inscribe appropriate verses on the studs and framing prior to the sheet rock. Of course I will be burning hot dogs hamburgers and chicken. I'll have to refigure how to post photos on this site.
Well Clearing is complete, chipping is done...the clearing contractor elected to haul some of the logs since his 700 HP diesel chipper gave him problems. An initial 4-6" of VDOT 57 rock is down on the drive way but not adequately graded to traverse in the sedan we were in today. My wife had thyroid surgery on Tuesday so she was not up to much walking or sight seeing today.

[Semper Paratus]

Well they have finished clearing the building site, spread the chipped trees and by lunch time were 1/2 to 2/3 the way done digging the footings. Where the digging was complete they have started with the three courses of #4 rebar with Chairs and driven anchors of rod holding it positioned roughly in the middle of the pour. According to the PM they will finish digging and setting rebar this afternoon. Current plans are for the county inspector and the project manager to inspect in the AM with a concrete pour late morning or early afternoon.
The footing crew are Latinos (Mexican I think) and they spoke politely to Mrs. Paratus and I and then were back to work...only paying enough attention to us to make sure we were out of the swing arc of the excavator. Hard working dudes. The 10-12000# Kubota excavator had a 24" wide 6-8 cubic foot bucket on it and every 20 seconds or so here came another scoop of dirt. I had helped hand digging some footers in the past...Shovels, pick maddoxs, wheel barrows, optical transits and witness sticks...heck of a lot better with this crew. Especially since I was not on the dumb end of a shovel.

[Semper Paratus]

Footings poured. Pinning on Monday with block and brick delivery.

[FfNJGTFO]

Originally Posted by Semper Paratus

Footings poured. Pinning on Monday with block and brick delivery.

So, the main framing will be Block & Stucco, as opposed to all Wood with that special sheeting (I forget what it's called)?

[DaFadda]

tyvek??