We finished up the foundation of our house on Saturday July 26th.  The week leading up to the pour of our foundation was fraught with 4 inches of rainfall, multiple nights working late to get things finished, inspections by the county so we could pour the floor, deciding to push back the pour due to weather multiple times, and of course a healthy dose of stress and anxiety!  After all, this is our life savings, our baby, and we have a lot invested already.  We worried about how much rain fell into our foundation, and every time it rained, we spent half a day pumping the water out of the slab and cleaning up the mud, only to have it rain another inch.  On Tuesday night Jonathan and I were finishing up the work for the slab prep and it poured over an inch in 30 minutes, we worked through the storm pumping water out of the foundation as fast as it was filling up.  After the storm a perfect rainbow appeared over the farm.  We were encouraged.  Finally, finally, we had two days of dry weather and Pedro Barcenas and his crew poured our foundation on Saturday July 26th.

Below is a photo of essay of the process of the work!  The floor looks amazing!  We are raising our first wall this Sunday.

More gravel work!

The slab insulated

We had to cut some rebar.

We installed a plastic vapor barrier and rebar to help strengthen the concrete

We tamped the gravel by hand

installing the radiant floor heat red tubing after the big storm Tuesday

We used a leaf blower to get the water to the low areas

The rainbow after the storm

Saturday July 26, 2014: Pouring the Foundation!

Mr Bingley wallowing in the concrete truck ruts!

It took 2 concrete trucks and 17 cubic yds of concrete

The first concrete going into the foundation

We dyed the concrete with a warm, cedar color

Pulling a level across the floor

A magnesium float pushes all the gravel down and makes a smooth finish on top

Pedro used a special blade to smooth out all the rough spots

Admiring our floor-Photo by Thomas Fisher

On Monday July 28th, Pedro came back and cut our floor in a tile pattern.  Some cuts are necessary to help control cracking in the floor.  Concrete wants to crack.

First few cuts in the floor

Making the tile pattern

Spraying the slab down to help it cure. The color when the slab is wet is what the final polished floor will look like.

With heartfelt thanks to our neighbors who brought us fresh food, leaf blowers, air compressors and lots of encouragement, we are happy to finish up this phase of our house construction!

First walls are going up Sunday!  We will be needing a lot of help in August.  Stay tuned for work parties on our house to help us raise walls!