Tuesday, October 22

Termite protection

Here is the view out of the same window which I have been posting:

This view is of Halsey placing copper strips on the foundation as a termite shield prior to the framers commencing their work on Wednesday.

Sunday afternoon activities

Sunday, October 20

The steel beam is installed...

Here is the view from the future garage looking out toward the back yard on Sunday afternoon. Note the gravel that has been laid in preparation for the concrete floor to be poured.  It cleaned up the site very nicely.

Here is another angle looking down from the front yard into the garage area.
Yes, the house is still being held up by a house jack.

I don't know what you typically do on a Sunday afternoon, but we are usually involved in some sort of project.  

And here is an incredible one to be sure:

In order to support the new addition, a steel beam was placed by Halsey in the center of the new garage.  Nothing will stop him and his tractor!  

Halsey lined up the beam with the posts very close to where the beam is to be bolted into the concrete.  

He operated the tractor to lift the beam into place.  

Then he bolted one end of the steel beam to one of the steel supports, and the other end was also bolted to a steel support.

Here is the tractor moving the beam attached to the supports....however, he realized that it was a very tight area to maneuver....

So the beam is lifted very slowly and carefully off the concrete footing...

It was a very precarious situation however safety was always the utmost concern.  Once the beam was off the of the concrete footing, the beam was clamped onto the house via a wood beam attached to the house.

Then Halsey was successfully able to approach the beam from an angle where the tractor had more space to maneuver the beam exactly where he wanted to place it.

The boys each had a quick job to do- sweep the concrete of all the gravel...

And guide the beam onto the correct spot!

After a few small adjustments....the beam was bolted to the concrete on both ends.

The process took approximately 2 hours of patience, a little bit of maneuvering and attention to detail!

After one more morning of backfill and cleanup, here is the view that awaits the framers when they arrive on Wednesday!!

Friday, October 18

Backfill time.

Dennis from Lincoln Tree and Landscape was back to place drain pipes around the foundation for the gutters and also back fill the foundation.  Generally this is not an exciting endeavor, however the overall prospect of a clean worksite is something to be happy about.

 Another view from the street...things will different very soon.

We have a foundation!

Tuesday, October 15

The foundation is complete.

The foundation forms were taken off the foundation walls on Tuesday, and here is what the site looks like now.  These two views are from the back of the house.

And it still looks like just a small mess from the front of the house on the sidewalk.

The waterproofing and insulation were completed and the site looks relatively the same.

 Then the excavator came back to begin the backfill the foundation and clean up the yard...

Monday, October 14

More concrete!

Bright and early this morning a concrete truck stopped in front of our house.... and then turned onto the lawn and began moving toward the house.....

The truck drove straight up onto the big dirt pile next to the foundation forms - this is the view from inside the house at the kitchen sink.

What a sight to see the concrete truck on the lawn - next to the house!

Same window, Different view

....

This is the same window where I was standing to take the excavator picture 

just a mere 13 days ago. 

Here is a great view of the truck and Tom Voner and crew filling up 

the forms for the foundation walls, and note how close the truck is to the edge!

The view from the second floor......now ground level..........in the basement looking up 

Halsey joined in with the crew to help with 3 extra forms he made for the concrete:

This one to so he can build a wall and keep the heat in the basement during renovations.

Here is the concrete after he leveled it and smoothed it out,  ^ the above view is from the future garage looking into the basement.

Here is a quick picture of the second form Halsey built for a footing 

for a steel post that will support the new addition.

And last but not least a footing for the basketball hoop as it had to be relocated due to the addition!  Now the hoop will be located next to the driveway when you first drive in.

Thursday, October 10

A funny story....

Here is the Platt Builders sign in front of our house.  A friend thinks it is very fun to see the "Platt Builders sign in front of the Platt house".  I agree- it is fun!

However you will note this sign is a little bit different- the top half gives credit to the architect with whom we have been working.  Nice.  However.....

If you take a quick look- it might resemble a Real Estate sign-

Maybe YOU do or do not agree.  

But someone drove by today and was very excited to see this sign and called the architects office and stated:

"I saw your sign at a house for sale in Groton down the street from Lawrence Academy.  

I would like to buy it!"

Hmmmm.  Thoughtful look into the distance.  Well, we are not selling!

Back to the work site:

The forms  are being built for the foundation wall along the front of the house.  
The plan is for the remainder of the forms to get built tomorrow-Friday- and the concrete truck will arrive in the afternoon.  Will they get in done in time?  

Wednesday, October 9

The concrete is flowing!

The truth about living here at the top of Old Ayer Road is that we can hear a fair amount of traffic from the Main Street.  But the noise is very distinctive when a 

CONCRETE TRUCK is driving down the driveway!!!

At approximately 8:45am the concrete truck appeared and began pouring cement into the footings.  Tom and his son were very efficient and the footings were poured by 11:00am.

A view from underneath the house looking toward the backyard.

I cannot resist a gratuitous pic of the huge concrete truck.  What an immense vehicle.

I truly hope to capture the image when the truck comes back for the concrete walls as the truck will have to drive up onto the front lawn.....

Here is where we ended on Wednesday, footings poured and standing free of the molds.

Forms will be built tomorrow for the walls!