March 2, 2004

The digging of the basement area was started. At the right of the picture is where the master bedroom will be located.

March 3, 2004
Continued digging basement and carrying dirt to area around gate

March 4, 2004
Continued as above. Filled in low area between drive and log road going to north side of property.

March 5, 2004
They finished digging out basement area. Cleared trees on both sides of drive to widen it. Leveled out dirt the dumped around gate. Pipe was put under the road, and stone on road to the northwest side of property.

March 9, 2004
Becky and I transferred reference lines from upper level of yard to the basement area.

March 11, 2004
Becky and I worked on laying out foundation for basement

March 12, 2004
I worked on layout of basement. Finished layout.

March 13, 2004
I drove stakes for batter boards and marked level of batter boards and put batter boards up.

March 15, 2004
I marked the offset for all of the foundation, for footings to be dug.

March 18, 2004
[This is] what the basement area looks like, now that it has been dug out and the footings dug. The dirt contractor cut the basement area too low, and it will have to have some back filling before it can have the gravel installed.

March 19, 2004
I located the bracing for the ARXX [ Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF)], and ordered rebar and the lumber for the footings.

March 20, 2004
I went to pick-up the ARXX bracing. And, I cut 102 stakes for the footing forms.

March 23, 2004
Murray Hughes(HDC Contractors) came in with his crew and started building footing forms. This picture is taken from the covered porch area, and looking north.

March 24, 2004
They finished setting forms, rebar, and poured 36 cubic yards of concrete [for the footers]. This included the footers for the house and retaining walls. M&M Pest Control came and sprayed under the footing before they were poured.

March 25, 2004
The [footer forms] were stripped and they started setting the ARXX for the house and retaining walls.

March 26, 2004
They finished the ARXX on the house. They still have to finish the retaining wall. The window to the bath, in the basement, is shown to the left in the picture. It is framed with 2x12 lumber, that will stay in place, for window attachment. The back [wall of the house] is to be steel, hence the large opening between the wall in the bottom of the picture, and the wall at the top of the picture. The retaining walls are running out to the right of the picture, from the walls of the house.

March 27, 2004
The crew is working on putting up the ARXX bracing. The bracing is the blue columns attached to the wall [and the angled bars that attach those columns to the slab or ground] . The [angled bar] can be turned [which will push or pull the wall] in or out to plumb it.

March 28, 2004
They finished with the braces, and cut beam-pockets and supports [in the walls], for the steel. A formed beam-pocket is shown at the top right of the picture. A formed column support is shown at the top center of the picture(corner of wall at the top). The ARXX is cut out to the edge of the wall so the red iron column can be attached to the concrete, and be even with the outside of the wall. The wall is [reinforced temporarily] with pieces of 1x4, below the brick ledge. This is a safety precaution, to prevent a “blowout” of the ARXX when pouring the concrete, at the lower level.