Today, the majority of the main floor framing was delivered - all but the PSL columns and column bases. The major wet utilities were also completed between the street and the basement - the copper water line and the sewer line.
The collection includes engineered wood (LSL rim joists, LVL beams, and I joists with OSB webs), plywood sheets (subfloor), and solid lumber (treated 2x6 sill plates, 2x10 headers and dropped framing, and 2x4's for miscellaneous wall framing).
Backfill was placed yesterday as the top of the shoring was removed, and then it rained. The site is now a mucky mess, but with good weather next week framing will begin in earnest.
Bracing and drain tile got a good start today, anticipating backfill tomorrow, weather permitting. The framed patch on the far wall is for a potential future egress window in a potential future 4th or 5th bedroom, depending on how a potential future buyer wants to develop the house. Maybe. In the future... Who knows what will happen?
Beautiful weather today as the waterproofing was applied and rigid insulation boards were secured to the below grade walls. Next week will see drain tile, slip sheets and backfill, along with the start of first floor framing.
Waterproofing: Watchdog H3
The 8" thick, poured concrete walls were poured mid-afternoon in perfect weather today. The forms come 8'-4" and 9'-0" high, I was told, and our walls are 8'-6" so the workers set the tops down from the form's upper edges and troweled the final elevation smooth. This will help ensure a gasketed, air-tight seal between the concrete and the wood plate.
I secured this mould to the upper inner wall of the utility room. We'll see how it turns out.
The reusable aluminum concrete forms were set today, and most of the internal reinforcement has been placed. The pour is scheduled for Monday. The 3 pads on the right are for the screened porch piers.
Last night's rain didn't amount to enough to delay the footings, and this morning Lorenz Concrete and Cemstone formed, reinforced, pumped, spread, leveled and smoothed the house's footings.
(click on image to advance; 4 images in gallery)
In one of the center footings, I mixed the last of my father's ashes. I'd saved them since Memorial Day 2013 when we spread them in locations that he'd requested. He didn't request what I did this morning, but I'd saved the last ashes for this purpose, not knowing when the time would come. I feel that as much as he is a part of me, I wanted him to be part of this - the first house that I designed for my own family. I think he'd approve.
Although this little memorial will be obscured by insulation, a vapor barrier, and the concrete floor slab, I inscribed his initials and the current year in the corner where his ashes form part of the concrete, and marked it with an agate from his collection.
This is an initial rendering of the proposed master bath vanity. The cloudy walls to the right are the glazed shower, and I'm not sure why they look all steamy. Not shown is the under-vanity light which would function as a night light and help give the "floating" vanity its floating illusion.
Excavation has been completed for the garage and porch pier footings. Next week should see the forming, reinforcing and pouring of the footings, including the dual drain tile - radon vent interconnects. I have a special ceremony planned for the center column footing as the concrete is poured. Stay tuned.
What are we building here? This:
For 24 years, we've lived in a house where neither the front door nor the back door has ANY shelter whatsoever from the rain or snow. And there is no porch or deck.
This new house will have deep cover at both doors. BUT the most coveted feature might be the street/west-facing screened porch. I look forward to quiet, bug-free evenings of reading and conversation there, hosting neighbors, and watching the cat engage with her own community of critters.
A requirement for excavation on tighter lots in Minneapolis is shoring. This is a reinforcing line to prevent unwanted settling that could negatively affect immediate neighbors. In this case, it's required on both sides. Steel tubes are pounded down @ 24" o.c., with plywood set behind them as full excavation progresses. Today was the set-and-pound down phase, with full excavation to follow.
After initial backfill, the excess pile height will be cut off a few feet below final grade.
On Tuesday, the 92-year-old house that formed part of the 52xx Drew Avenue South neighborhood was erased. The power tools used were a CAT backhoe and several dump trucks. According to our Bollig handler, very little of the debris will end up in a landfill. Most of it will be picked apart into various waste streams for any afterlife purposes the materials may serve.
From the point where the first damage was done, it took only 45 minutes for the framed portion of the house to be crumpled and shoved into the basement. By the time I returned to the site 4 hours later, there was nothing left but a smooth excavation pit.
92 years, including who knows how many remodeling and improvements over the decades, erased in less than half a day...
We are a few days away from demolition. While we can mourn the loss of a 92-year-old small house, we can feel good that we've salvaged just about all that we could out of it. Most material has been sold (via craigslist) or given away - and the list of salvaged material is long! - some has been retained for incorporation into the new house. What's left is a very empty shell with high radon levels and poor insulation. What will replace it will not compare in quality, but we hope it will become integral to the new fabric of the neighborhood as the current home helped define it originally.
One of the two bedrooms.
Decaying wood, overgrown shrubs. Dozens of other plants have been either moved to a temporary nursery on the site for reuse or given away to other locations.
Finally.
At some point, it's possible that there will be a blog post celebrating a building permit and a committed construction start date. But that seems to still be somewhere in the future. It's becoming unbelievable to us that the City of Minneapolis can take so long to review a project that surpasses building code requirements and conforms to all zoning code limits, but we seem to have no power to change this. Yesterday, however, I mailed a letter to City Council ward member Linea Palmisano registering our frustration with the process. We'll see if it does any good.
We have been slowly dismantling the existing house over the last few months as we anticipate the building permit. The windows and exterior doors will be the last things to be removed for reuse. This video tour was taken on June 16, 2016.
Music (used without permission): "Erinnerung (Remembrance)", by Klaus Doldinger.
