The footings are poured as of the end of last week. Tomorrow (4/6) they're supposed to start with the actual foundation. It's just now starting to feel like this house will become a reality. Wish I could've got pics of my Camaro like this coming down the assembly line!
The picture below is looking down where the back wall would be, the corner here will house one of the walk-in closets in the master bath. Neither will be mine, I'm betting. I guess I'll have a couple of dresser drawers.
And here's a shot from the attached 2-car garage looking out the "door". I will be parking the SS here in this very spot soon (around Sept.), hopefully.
Coming up the driveway, the house will be on the right. Notice the nearest neighbor is pretty far away, just the way I like it. Nice folks, too.
Posted by Cavy Dan (Member # 1352) on :
Lookin good! I bet its DEFINITELY exciting watching it being built and seeing teh progress...before you know it, It will be done, SS tucked nicely in the garage and green grass!!!
btw..how close are you to the shore?? Thats a whole lot of sand base!!
[ 06. April 2004, 12:18 AM: Message edited by: Cavy Dan ]
Posted by 2002Z4CSS (Member # 1393) on :
Is that house getting a crawl space? You are going to love that piece of property. I can't wait until I move and the neighbors will be several hundred yards away.Keep posting the progress. Posted by 35TH ED/ed (Member # 1709) on :
If you are anything like me you will have a 2 inch photo book on the progress of the house being built . Keep the pics comming.
Posted by SS_CarGuy (Member # 2065) on :
Good luck with the construction process. Speaking from experience, be prepared to go thru a lot of ups and downs along the way. In the end though it's worth it to get exactly what you want. Posted by Opie (Member # 2007) on :
Brings back memories. Wife & I built a home back in 1989. What a learning experience, we acted as general contractor, plus we did our own landscaping. We also finished the upstairs ourselves (took 3 years). We had our ups and downs, but we plan on building again, this time in the south. Right now studying ICF construction. Keep us posted and enjoy the fun parts and hopefully the problem parts will be small and easily remedied.
Posted by Hawkeye (Member # 88) on :
Looks like a very nice location. Glad you're sharing the "build" with us.
Posted by sscamaro (Member # 1330) on :
I had my house and 4 car garage built 12 years ago. I wasn't working at the time,so I got to see the whole thing built. I was there every day to supervise.See pictures.
quote:Originally posted by sscamaro: I had my house and 4 car garage built 12 years ago. I wasn't working at the time,so I got to see the whole thing built. I was there every day to supervise.See pictures.
Nice ranch house you have and one sweet garage! Posted by OBSSD (Member # 1258) on :
Very cool...it's fun watching the progress, so keep 'em coming.
Posted by Xsta Z 28 (Member # 740) on :
Interesting . . . . No forms on the footings, and VERY shallow. I guess in SC, they don't worry about frost lines?
Construction is fun. There will be times the house appears huge, others, small. There will aslo be times where things fly and other at a snails pace.
Good luck. BTW I am an Architect, and heavily involved with construction observation.
Posted by SS_CarGuy (Member # 2065) on :
quote:Originally posted by Xsta Z 28: Interesting . . . . No forms on the footings, and VERY shallow. I guess in SC, they don't worry about frost lines?
Construction is fun. There will be times the house appears huge, others, small. There will aslo be times where things fly and other at a snails pace.
Good luck. BTW I am an Architect, and heavily involved with construction observation.
There are a lot more construction "surprises" down south here too. Since I am from Ohio, I was somewhat taken back by what I saw when I first moved here. The frost line is only about six inches so that is no big deal. But no forms on footers is pretty much standard. They generally use piers for the house rather than a solid foundation. Since the footers are two feet wide and they will construct 2' x 2'piers about every nine feet or so around the perimeter of the foundation as well as those areas under the house that are the load bearing spots. There is usually brick veneer around the entire foundation. If the whole house is brick they call it "pier/curtain" construction since the brick veneer is resting on the footers by itself creating the "curtain". There are many many other things I could tell you that would make you cringe just like I did. It does keep some of the costs down, but in a lot of cases there is just no good reason for doing certain things they way they are done. IMHO, most southern homes do not compare in quality to a similar (albeit more expensive) northern home.
Posted by el ess1 (Member # 1544) on :
quote:Originally posted by SS_CarGuy: IMHO, most southern homes do not compare in quality to a similar (albeit more expensive) northern home.
You can say that again. As long as the Yankees aren't burning them down, they still tend to last a good while. The only thing you REALLY care about around here is how good the A/C system is. I was surprised to see the footers just "poured in a hole" too. Weird, but was assured it was up to code, and the inspectors signed off on it. Our foundation is going to be southern standard block with stucco coating to make it look not so stupid. (every time I see that it makes me think of "you might be a redneck if...) Yes, it will be a crawl space, which is better than a slab around this place, IMO. The dirt is a bit sandy and fine, but it's solid, and sure better than Georgia Red Clay! Won't have too much of a drainage field for the septic tank because of it. I'm all the way across the state from the beach.
Southern living has its advantages, but it has its disadvantages too. It's strange, because this is one of those "frost border" type states where the north section of the state can sort of see winter as most are used to seeing it, except not a lot of snow, while the lower section is a lot milder.
I'll post pics every now and again to show progress.
[ 06. April 2004, 04:32 PM: Message edited by: el ess1 ]
Posted by MaryandRalph (Member # 244) on :
Looks like a great place in the making!
Posted by Happy_Dan (Member # 118) on :
That is very interesting. Good luck and keep the pictures coming. I have never seen some of that stuff!
Posted by HotWheelSS aka HTWLSS (Member # 117) on :
Very different than our building codes in the West where we have earthquake standards. Keep the pictures coming....it's fascinating to see the progress of everyone's construction!
Posted by Brian's 01 SS (Member # 1499) on :
quote:Originally posted by Xsta Z 28: Interesting . . . . No forms on the footings, and VERY shallow. I guess in SC, they don't worry about frost lines?
Construction is fun. There will be times the house appears huge, others, small. There will aslo be times where things fly and other at a snails pace.
Good luck. BTW I am an Architect, and heavily involved with construction observation.
I didn't know you were an architect. I am a builder here in NC. Yes, we have only a few inch frost depth here. The standard footing size is usually twice the width of the foundation wall and the depth of the footing is usually the same as the width of the wall. This is only the minimum, as site and comstruction conditions will greatly effect the size of a footing. I have poured engineered footings that are 4ft deep a 5ft wide. And this was for a residental home. Also I have pour a 24ft tall, 12" wide (PIP) poured in place foundation wall. We build in Western NC where it is not unusual for the grade to drop very fast from front to back. Our standard footing size is usually 2ft wide and 1ft deep. We always did the footings in the ground. This way the ground acts as a key way.
Did they run any steel in the footings? Not code here, but nice to have. Will the block or pour the foundation?
Email me if you ever have any questions. Posted by Brian's 01 SS (Member # 1499) on :
Just read that they will use block. Thats fine for a crawl space. Will your builder be using TJI's for the floor system, or 2x's?
Posted by el ess1 (Member # 1544) on :
quote:Originally posted by Brian's 01 SS: Just read that they will use block. Thats fine for a crawl space. Will your builder be using TJI's for the floor system, or 2x's?
I believe it's 2 X's if I remember right. From what I hear, TJI's are supposedly quieter, but I'm not even CLOSE to being a builder or claim to have any knowledge when building a house. Did they run steel bars? I believe they did, because I found a few pieces of re-bar laying around and a couple of empty bar boxes. They did it while I was at work, so I cannot VERIFY for sure. I do know they use rebar in the garage slab for sure. Crawl spaces or slabs are big around here, as building a basement could possibly net you an underfloor swimming pool in many areas.
As far as earthquake codes, it's not a big concern in SC, evidently. Get into Florida, however, and you have to make them hurricane-resistant, such as heavy steel beams incorporated around the entrance door and other strenghtening items, etc.
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I was surprised to see the footers just "poured in a hole" too. Weird, but was assured it was up to code, and the inspectors signed off on it. Our foundation is going to be southern standard block with stucco coating to make it look not so stupid. (every time I see that it makes me think of "you might be a redneck if...) Yes, it will be a crawl space, which is better than a slab around this place, IMO. The dirt is a bit sandy and fine, but it's solid, and sure better than Georgia Red Clay! Won't have too much of a drainage field for the septic tank because of it. I'm all the way across the state from the beach.