Preparation for South Patio

These photographs show the insulation and rebar set in place for the concrete pour soon to be done - after the rain stops.  

The horizontal insulation is 3 inches thick.  The vertical insulation along the footer is 2 inches thick.  They will help keep the heat sync (under the house) from escaping as it will have to travel another 9 feet (from the interior of the house) to uninsulated dirt.  

Every 2 feet along the front of the house slab, there is a drilled hole where the rebar has been inserted.  Since the rebar is 1 foot apart, every other piece of rebar is 'floating'.  

Tunnel nearer completion

The brick wall now has the rebar behind it and is ready for the shotcrete.

The tunnel second layer of rebar has been quality checked and the third layer of rebar is being applied.

Quality Control is still ongoing on the rest of the house structure.  
Bill and I visited the 'pool' area, and found tadpoles as well as mosquito larvae.  So we shall leave them be and watch that they get enough rainfall.
We also visited the dirt wall behind the garage.  It used to be 14 feet high but because the back-filling started awhile back, it is more like 10 feet high. In that wall, some bees have decided to build their tunnel nests.

Another Endwall Complete

Bill, Keith and Carol have been working on the end wall of the tunnel.  The dead-end wall.   

They have finished laying the bricks, so the interior is done.  The outside needs rebar fastened to it so it is ready for shotcrete.

The rains have stopped for awhile and we have started the quality control checks on the two layers of rebar.

We had an 'inspection' visit from the makers of the steel kit and plans for the house and garage.  We may be making some changes because of some of their comments.

We also had an overnight visitor who enjoyed what it thought was the safety of the house's  mesh roof.

 

Running (Into) A Brick Wall AND YET We Can Still See Light at the End of the Tunnel

We are running INTO  brick walls.

Our patio slab did not get poured as yet as that contractor had 'calamities' to deal with.
The carpenters are busy on another job, so we wait for our West and South exterior walls.  
The weather this coming week looks like rain which may put off both of the above parts of the project.
The garage has a damp roof. Possible investigation/intervention needed.
We forgot to incorporate insulation behind the garage retaining walls, so we have some digging to do to get that done. The concrete crew have offered to dig that out with their excavator which will be a big help. The insulation is used to insulate the soil for our PAHS (Passive Annual Heat Storage) which IS the soil.  It will remain within a narrow range of comfortable temperature to help keep the house within that range.
During the last rain, Bill was looking at the rainwater that accumulates in the 'pool' area. He was noticing the surface of the water moving as from drops of rain hitting it. Friday, it wasn't raining and the effect was still happening.  He realized that we had  a reservoir teeming with mosquito larvae.  He and I bailed it out, and got the toad/frogs out too.  I went back today and saved a toad/frog from death.  They are hard to catch with hands, but with our cut off plastic bottle used as a bailer, it was easy. I now have a daily chore of checking out the 'pool' area for toads/frogs and letting them free, and bailing as needed.
But looking on the bright side, today's progress is the constructing of the brick wall 'at the end of the tunnel'. 

There will probably be one more brick wall in the interior of the house as an accent in the living room.

It IS Progress - That Tedious Rebar Tying

Mario's crew is still working on the second layer of rebar.  It is a big chore.  Hector has joined them.  And Carol and Bill have helped a lot, too.  The Mayflies have been a hindrance.  

An hour and a half's collection of mayflies

Bill, with some help from Justin and Stephen, has been chipping away at the dirt next to the tunnel.  
The plumbers have been here to extend the drain pipe and install the two-way cleanout.  This is in preparation of tomorrow's concrete pour - the South patio.  It will be in place to support the South wall and South parapet forms when the framer's can make it back, hopefully the week of May 21st.  
We had some insulation delivered which will go under the South patio, to keep our PAHS dirt within a warmer range.  We are also having mortar mix delivered.  Carol has been preparing our used bricks from the old farm house which we demolished last summer.  Bill and Keith and Carol plan to work on Saturday to brick up the wall at the end of the tunnel.

From the SE corner looking NW

From the SW corner looking ENE or thereabouts

The West Annex

The North West Corner

Panels are On The House

That's not a new drink...the 'skin' has been put onto the arches.  Next are the FOUR layers of rebar; then the shotcrete.  Here are some pictures of the panels incorporated into our house-to-be.

 Actually, those in the above picture are two extra panels.  One is 19' x 7' and the other is 13' x 7'.  We are looking for a way to 'use' them.