karcuri13

Week 25 – Hurricane Harvey

Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast this weekend and while Austin is well out of the main path, we’ve received lots of rains with periods of high gusty winds. I drove to the lot to see if we had any downed trees and luckily everything looked good.

The dry creek bed was flowing with water but wasn’t as high and fast as I thought it might be.

The top of the lot looked great.

Some of our neighbors across the street were not so lucky.

We are forecasted to have rain through Wednesday but the storm continues to weaken so hopefully the worst of the rain and wind is over.

Week 24 – Steel Framing

It has been a few weeks since my last post since the concrete needed time to cure before any further work could be done.

In the mean time, the site has been cleaned to remove all the debris from the pour and form work, and the steel beams for the walls have been welded into place.

The remaining beams and trusses are being fabricated now and should be done later this week or early next week.

Week 22 – Foundation forms removed

All the wooden forms have been removed and it now looks like we have the start of a house. Here is the view as you come up the driveway.

Akash was very excited to run around the slab.

Here is a view from the top terrace looking down.

Here is a shot to show the cantilevered slab at the front of the house.

It’s now been seven days so the concrete should be sufficiently cured to start the steel and wooden framing.

Week 21 – Foundation Pour Follow-up

Since the weather is so hot, a sprinkler system was setup to help the concrete cure properly and evenly.

Week 21 – Pouring Foundation!

After lots of delay due to weather, the foundation finally got poured today. Due to space constrictions on the top of the site, the concrete had to be pumped up in two stages. Here is a video that shows the top pump truck and the line pipe that goes down the drive to another pump truck where the concrete was initially loaded.

The whole process took about 160 cubic yards of concrete and started at 6:00am. When we went back after lunch, the crew was wrapping up the garage and car port area. Here are a few shots of the finished product.

This was a major milestone and we are happy to have it finally done.

Week 20 – Final site prep

We are nearing the end of the site work before the foundation is poured early next week. The cardboard formwork is in and the steel is installed over it.

There are still a few more sections to wrap up. This is the guest suite that needs to be completed, but the beam work steel is in place and that’s the most time consuming. The horizontal slab steel goes in quickly.

By the end of next week, we should have the concrete poured and then the framing can start.

Week 19 – Installing Steel

Work continues on the foundation now that the plumbing is inspected. I took a few photos but it is hard to tell a lot of difference but I decided to at least write a post to document another week.

Steel work begun.

Large pile of cardboard forms for the foundation at the base of the site.

Week 18 – Plumbing complete

We are back from a week in Orlando over the 4th of July holiday, and we visited the site this morning with the builder.

The good news is the plumbing is complete and inspected. Now that inspection has passed they can start tying in the rebar. Here is a shot from the upper terrace.

Some random shot of the plumbing work.

All the cardboard void forms are also onsite in preparation for the foundation pour. There is a pile up in the storage area and another large one at the bottom of the property.

They are working this weekend and hopefully will get to a point of pouring the foundation at the end of next week.

Week 17 – Plumbing

Austin got lots of rain over the weekend and into Monday evening so I’m sure that impacted the work done early in the week. I went by at lunch, and it looks like the plumber has been hard at work.

Week 17 – Foundation Progress

We made it out to the site before the thunderstorms hit. Here is a panoramic shot from where the auto-court will be facing south. IMG_3171 copy

Here is a side by side comparison with the June 15th shot on the left and today’s on the right. You can see the plumbing work on what will be the downstairs master suite and a lot more trenches dug.