Our cellar is finished!

Obviously, the cellar is not completely finished, but the Rohbau (the skeleton) of the cellar is now complete!
Over the past few days, the builders were working hard on covering the pre-fab concrete panels for the ceiling of the cellar with steel mesh.

On Monday, the house looked like this:

 On Monday, Joern and his father also spoke with the driver of the excavator, who had returned to our building site last week in order to completely fill in the trench around the cellar.  They asked the excavator driver to remove some of the hill next to Joern's parents' house.  It was a good idea to take advantage of the presence of the excavator, and by removing some of the hill, it allows us to actually have a back yard. 

This is a good picture of the hill to be removed.

The excavator was also used to place large amounts of drainage stone around the house.

The builders worked on the add-on, drainage stones were placed on the ground and the add-on was insulated.

On Tuesday morning, the builders continued to work on the ceiling slab.  And this morning, final preparations were made for the concrete to be poured.  Mr. Builder's son (who is also a Mr. Builder,) came to work on the house too.

Steel mesh was applied on top of the add-on and on top of the pipes for the air-filtration system.

More steel mesh arriving.

All preparations complete.  Waiting for the cement truck.

 

 

The cement truck arrived around 1:00 pm today.  The builders worked pouring the concrete for the ceiling slab for about 4 hours. 

The builders left at 4:45 this evening, by climbing down from our now completed cellar ceiling slab.  The exciting thing is that with the completion of the cellar, the sub-floor for the first living floor of the house is also completed.  Tomorrow, we enter the next phase of building!

We also met with the plumber tonight.  He received the price list from the fixtures Joern picked out at the bathroom showroom.  Although their final price was quite expensive, it also included the price of the alternatives that they offered.  Our big homework this weekend is to work through the price list, and probably visit the supplier again to figure out what fixtures are a must, and which fixtures can be replaced with less expensive alternatives.

We're really rolling along all of a sudden.  It is so exciting lately to see what each new day brings with it!

Some pictures, as I promised

September 22, the forms have been removed.  We have our first free-standing wall!

Preparing for the concrete slab for the house.



September 23, laying insulation underneath the slab.



September 23, end of the day.  All ready for the slab.

September 24, pouring the slab!

September 27, pouring the concrete for the garage walls

For the first time, I can stand on the floor of my house!  Slab is finished!

Thank you for listening, Mr. Weather!

Dear Weather,
Thank you so very much for cooperating today!  It was so kind of you to make the decision to keep the rain today, even though you did send by a few threating clouds.  The slab was poured this morning in our garages, and it looks beautiful! 
Thank you so much for your help.
Your friend,
Allison

As I drove to work this morning, I saw the concrete truck in the driveway.  Concrete truck in driveway could only mean one thing- concrete slab!  Joern called me a few seconds later to confirm my suspicion, that indeed the slab for the garages and foyer were being poured!  I have to admit, I am a little sad that I missed it, although seemingly boring, I would have loved to have witnessed the event.  But, it was exciting to come home and see my garage all finished.  By the time I got home, Joern's garage was not only completed, but also covered already. 

The finished garages.

A few pictures from earlier in the day.

Because the garages do not have any more covering over the floor, they were finished with a very smooth finish. 

Once the slabs were finished, they were covered with a plastic cover, and then sprayed with some water.  The cover not only protects the slab while it is curing, but it also keeps moisture in the concrete throughout the drying process.  If the slab dries too quickly, cracks can form really easily.

An open letter to the weather

Dear Weather,
The builders have been working so very hard to prepare the foundation for the slab.  Because you were so indecisive today, raining a little, and then not, the builders didn't want to play games, so they did not pour the slab today.  PLEASE, PLEASE show your good side and let the builders pour our concrete slab tomorrow.  I'm getting a little antsy!

Despite the setbacks with the weather, there was quite a bit of preparation for the slab under the house  that was completed today.  See for yourself!



The end of the day on Tuesday

The middle of the day today.

 Sadly, we didn't take a picture from above of the scene at the end of the day today.  We have rebar covering the entire "H" shaped footing.  Also, on the  left side of the house, quite a bit of insulation was laid on top of the ballast stones and then covered with the plastic covering and stones. 

Hopefully, weather-wise, we'll be good to go tomorrow for the garages' concrete slab!