Day 36: Cleanup and stacking blocks

Today we removed all of the supports and cleaned up from the lift yesterday. We began to stack more APEX wall blocks. We completed placing blocks on the north, south and west walls. Here is a pic from the south at the end of day 36.

Green comment for the day:
Look for creative ways to use building materials that may be considered “waste”. I had a problem on the north, east and west walls. If blocks were to be stacked with their long dimension horizontal all the way to the top of the wall, I would need blocks cut to only a few inches tall on the top course. This would be wasteful and time consuming. We had many cut blocks leftover from prior courses that measured about 20 inches long in their horizontal dimension. For the last full height course and partial height course of block, we were able to use these leftover blocks by orienting them vertically. This had the following benefits:

• reduced waste
• reduced effort
• made the top course of block sturdier by combining it with the course below

In the following pick you can see all the blocks on the north wall turned vertically. Note that these blocks are just a few inches taller than the horizontally placed blocks below.

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Day 35: Wall lift #2

We did some final preparations for wall lift #2 in the morning.

• Positioned a seat for a porch roof beam.
• Hung a pressure treated ledger for the loft from the east wall.
• Finished placing all vertical rebar.
• Placed J-bolt supports for the utility room north wall top plate.
• Filled any gaps larger than 3/8 inch in the walls and around window bucks with closed cell spray foam to prevent grout from leaking out during the pour.
• Added a few more metal bands around ledgers to keep them snug against the wall during the pour.

Pacific Coast Concrete Pumping and Las Anamas Concrete showed up after lunch.

The calm before the pour.

Justin and Marty getting ready for the hose.

Joshua, Justin, Marty and Trevor filled, consolidated, managed the hose and cleaned up - repeated for about 100 cores.

Raphael, doubling as Integral Construction staff photographer, was busy shooting photos.

I got to fill a few cells in the utility room.

We had another successful pour with no blowouts. Thanks for reading. I enjoy your comments.

Day 34: Still getting ready for wall lift #2

Cindy showed up around lunch time today and took pics. Hanging a ledger in the family room.

Justin, Trevor, Mike, Marty and Raphael are all doing something...

...and Stella is taking a nap - she better not report those hours on her timesheet.

Justin spent a few hours preparing and hanging a ledger for the porch and utility room roof. He also prepared a beam seat for an exposed redwood beam over the porch.

The crew spent a few hours building braces and shoring up walls to make them vertical. Here is a pic of Cindy in front of the South wall. The APEX block walls are like a patient in intensive care - braced and supported to hold shape until the grout is poured.

Mike spent a few hours cutting the last vertical rebars that will go up to the wall top plate.

Joshua installed malleable iron washers on the ledgers and set the depth that the J-bolts will be cast into the concrete cores.

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Day 33: Getting ready for wall lift #2

First off, my apologies to Raphael whose name I incorrectly spelled "Rafael" on several previous posts. I owe him a few beers for that error.

Today we stacked the 10th course of APEX block – the final course before the next wall lift. The curved east and west walls of the utility room were cut.

Two corners of the home were supported and banded with steel straps.

A ledger was mounted on the north wall of the family room. Studs were placed below the ledgers to hold them at the correct height during the lift. Large cable ties hold the ledgers against the wall to prevent grout from leaking out of the J-bolt holes during the lift.

Here is a pic from the southwest at the end of day 33.

“Don’t cut this hole in the wall” man.

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Day 32: Beams, bucks and blocks, oh my!

I sanded beams after the work day ended again today, so this will be another short post.

• Completed the 9th course of APEX block.
• Assembled the last window buck.
  
• Installed all 2nd story window bucks.
• Sanded 2 more 4X10 ledgers.
• Installed all ledgers in the kitchen.
  

Here is a pic at the end of day 32. It is really exciting to see all of the window openings in place.

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Day 31: Lots of tasks

A short post today just listing the tasks that were started or completed.

• Filled in APEX block around the big beam up to 8 courses.
• Cut all the remaining window bucks for the 2nd story.
• Assembled all but one window buck.
• Cut and installed vertical rebar in APEX cores under 2nd story window locations.
• Planed and sanded two 4X10 ledgers.
• Shored up the south wall in preparation for installing 2nd story window bucks.
  
• Installed one window buck.
• Drilled holes in one of the ledgers for J-bolt attachments to the wall.
• Drilled 5 inch diameter holes in the West kitchen wall to form concentric concrete cylinders around each J-bolt during the next grout lift.

Here is a pic at the end of day 31. The 2nd story is starting to take shape.

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Day 30: Seating the BIG beam

I drove the U-haul full of wood over the hill this morning. Joshua spent most of the day planing, sanding and notching the 6X16 inch beam.

Towards the end of the day, we lifted the 450 pound beam into place. Here is a pic of Justin, Rafael, Georg, Trevor and Joshua at the half way rest point.

Joshua stretching out his back after we seated the fabulous looking beam.

It was level - nice work on those beam seats Justin! It was such a great feeling of accomplishment seeing the beam in place. At the same time it was humbling to place something that will be there long after I am gone.

Some other tasks today:

• Completed the 8th course of APEX block as far as possible before seating of the beam.
• Started digging a trench for the utility room electrical connection.
• Began sanding a 4X10 inch beam.
• Finished stacking APEX blocks and trimming rebar in the utility room.

Here is a pic from the end of day 30.

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Salvaging wood

On Saturday, Cindy and I went to Heritage Salvage in Petaluma, CA. We were searching for wood that will be exposed in various places in the home. The visit turned out to be one stop shopping. Bug, the owner, was very helpful in locating all of the various types and sizes we needed. He was also very generous in putting together a deal that met our budget and time constraints. Bug knows every piece of wood on the lot, and he tells you the story behind it. I would highly recommend a visit to Heritage Salvage.

The drivers performed amazing acrobatics moving tons of beams over 20 feet long balanced only on the forks of the lift truck. In the end we loaded over 1,100 board feet of douglas fir beams and 1,000 square feet of fir and redwood flooring into a rental U-haul. Here is a pic of Bug during loading of the beams followed by a pic of the U-haul with our load. I really look forward to installing this wood in the home.


Green comment for today:
Consider using salvaged rather than new wood in your home - especially in locations where it will be exposed. You will be rewarded with beautiful material that has character unmatched by new wood. You will also be keeping a piece of history alive.

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Day 29: Cleanup and stacking more courses

On Friday, we removed all of the forms and window buck supports. We spent the remainder of the day stacking up to 3 more APEX block courses around most of the perimeter. Here is a pic at the end of day 29.

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Day 28: Pouring the first wall lift

Las Animas Concrete and Pacific Coast Concrete Pumping were back again today. This time concrete grout was pumped to fill the network of horizontal and vertical cells in the APEX blocks. The grout is inspected for slump to be sure it is not too thin or too thick. Here is a vid of Mark, the inspector from PSI, performing the slump test.

We passed with a slump of 8 inches, the thinnest mix allowed per structural engineering. A thin mix is desirable because it penetrates hard to reach areas more easily than a thick mix. Mark verified proper rebar placement before pumping. He also verified that grout filled the cells by poking a ¼” diameter rod through the APEX block skin at the bottom course. The rod came out wet with concrete indicating proper fill. Finally, Mark took samples of the grout which will be tested for compressive strength over the next several weeks.

Here is a pic of the pumping crew in action: from left to right, Trevor, Mark, Georg, Todd, Joshua & Justin.

The tasks were:

• Hold the hose over a cell with minimum grout spillage while concrete is shooting out at about 3 feet per second.
• Move the vertical rebars up and down in the cells to help consolidate the grout.
• Clean any excess grout off the top of the blocks.
• Center the vertical rebar in the cell after consolidation.
• Repeat for 100 cells.

Stapling plugs after filling cells under the window openings.


Marty strikes a pose in front of some extra grout used as fill against the east wall. This grout will help facilitate water drainage at this underground wall.

A beam support bracket set in place.

Rafael has a little fun while monitoring the hose.

We finished in just a few hours with no blowouts. We have the rest of the afternoon off, wohoo!

Pastel Green comment for today:
The Portland cement ingredient in concrete has high embodied energy which typically classifies a product as non-green. However, the APEX block cells minimize the amount of concrete needed to make an acceptable structure compared to a typical Insulated Concrete Form (ICF). Additionally, the house is expected to last hundreds of years making the use of concrete more tolerable from a life cycle analysis standpoint.

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Day 27: Preparing for a lift

Today we prepared the walls for the first grout lift. Grout fills the interconnected horizontal and vertical network of cells inside the APEX blocks creating the building structure once the concrete is cured. A lift is the height the grout will be poured at one time. In this case, the lift is 5 courses (approximately 80 ionches). The grout is a thin concrete mix and can leak out through holes and gaps in the walls and bucks. The grout applies hydrostatic pressure on the walls and bucks. This pressure increases towards the bottom of the wall just as water pressure against your body increases the deeper you dive. Corners and thin areas of APEX block are most vulnerable to a phenomenon called blowout – when the grout fractures a portion of the wall material and begins gushing from the opening. We want to do everything we can to avoid blowouts. Some of the things that were completed today:

• Plumbing vents and drains that penetrated partially into APEX grout cells were surrounded with foam, sealed and supported so that grout would not leak and the plumbing would be accessible in the future.
• Small wooden forms were installed to properly locate 2 beam support brackets that must be cast into the grout during this lift.
• Threaded rods were cut and placed into the window and door buck holes drilled yesterday.
• Walls were shored up after ensuring they were vertical.
• Made a final check to ensure window and door bucks were level and located properly in the openings.
• All 6 exterior corners were shored up with a frame after ensuring that the walls were vertical.
  
• Holes were drilled through the exterior 2 inch thick skin of APEX block under window openings to provide access for the concrete pump hose. All wall cells will be filled from the top of the 5th course of block, but these additional holes will ensure that grout is placed under the window openings.
  
• Gaps around door and window openings and any gaps in the APEX block wall larger than about ¼ inch were filled with closed cell spray foam insulation. This material expands several times its size after being sprayed from the canister and fills the gap to prevent grout leaks.

Following are a couple pics from the end of day 27.


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Day 26: Even more people, more window bucks, and more courses, oh my!

Justin and Rafael joined the others on the job site today. Here’s what happened:

• The last window buck in the 1st floor was installed.
• The 4th and 5th courses of APEX block were completely installed all the way around the home, including the utility room.
• All vertical rebars were installed.
• Holes were cut in the window and door bucks through which threaded fasteners will attach the bucks to the APEX block walls.

Here is a pic from the east at the end of day 26.


Stella Status:
Whenever Justin is on the job site, Stella is too. I caught Stella taking a nap in the afternoon. She is about 3 inches longer than the last time I saw her.

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Day 25: More people, more window bucks, more courses, oh my!

Two new folks started working on the project today: Marty and Joshua - my good friend and neighbor. Here’s what happened:

• All window and door bucks on the 1st floor were built, and all but one were installed. It is exciting to see the window views appear.
• The 3rd course of APEX block was installed all the way around the home, and part way around the utility room.
  
• The concrete slab was rinsed one last time. Protective material was placed over the slab. Vapor barrier film was placed over the great room floor, and a lightweight cardboard material was placed over the bedroom, bathroom and closet floors. It is expected that these 2 different materials will create different finish stain patterns in the concrete. It will be interesting to see the results later. Here is a pic from the east at the end of day 25.

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Day 24: Window Bucks

Today we built wooden bucks for the 3 sliding glass doors on the south wall. Bucks provide a mounting surface for the doors and help strengthen the large openings in the APEX block wall. The APEX material has very little strength and will not hold a fastener without additional support. We also stacked up 4 more courses of block to the east and west of the center door. Here is a pic from the southeast at the end of day 24. Thanks for reading. I appreciate your comments.

Day 23: Cleanup, control joints and more

Today was a welcome low key day after the pour. We removed all of the wooden forms around the home. We began to lay a 3rd course of APEX block. We also began building a door buck with the 3X8 pressure treated wood delivered last week.

Cesar from Diamond D Concrete arrived to cut control joints in the slab. These joints are about 1/8 inch wide and 1 inch deep and should be the first locations where shrinkage and settling cracks occur. The idea is that the crack is hidden at the bottom of the joint and runs straight instead of randomly across the slab. I chose where I wanted the joints located. Cesar snapped chalk lines to identify where to cut. Some joints will be hidden under interior walls and cabinets, and some will be exposed. The joints are usually filled with grout and can become a decorative and defining feature of the floor pattern. Cesar used a SOFF CUT saw to cut the long joints as shown in the pic below.

Then he used a hand held saw to cut joints in areas that were difficult to access – see vid below.

Finally, Cesar rinsed the slab to wash off the concrete dust produced during the cutting process. Here is a pic of the joints near the center of the family room.

For the next several days I will sprinkle water on the slab. This helps slow down the concrete drying process resulting in a stronger slab. Here is a pic of the wet slab from the East at the end of Day 23.

Green comment for today:
When cleaning up on the job site, sort out all recyclable and compostable materials. Try to think of another purpose for materials that would be sent to a landfill. We say we are throwing things away, but there really is no such thing as “away”.

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Day 22: Pouring the concrete slab

I worked late yesterday (Tuesday) preparing for the slab pour, so I did not post. Some of the tasks completed Tuesday were:

• Completed routing of the remaining 4 PEX heating circuits.
• Pressurized the PEX heating tubing to 70 psi to identify a failure if one occurs before or during the pour
• Built wooden supports for the corners and window openings to prevent them from distorting outward when the concrete is poured
• Built a variety of wooden forms to create 1) a concrete curb detail around the shower, 2) notches in the door openings for the doors to seat into and 3) a depression for a tile mosaic art piece in front of the sliding glass door
• Photographed, measured and sketched all conduits and tubes that are under locations where fasteners may be anchored into the slab, i.e. interior walls and kitchen cabinets.

Here is a picture from the end of Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the slab was poured. The folks from Diamond D Concrete, Las Animas Concrete and Pacific Coast Concrete Pumping showed up early. Diamond D used a laser level to create a line around the inside of the home that represented the finish height of the slab. I am going to let pics and vids do most of the talking. In the following vid you can see concrete being pumped in the foreground and application of a rough screed in the background.

A perforated roller screed is then used to push down the larger aggregate and leave smooth textured concrete on top (called cream).

The cream surface is then finish screed by hand.

The surface is then rough troweled by hand.

A power screed is then run over the surface.

The guys then worked the surface further twice more with hand trowels to get the finish I desired – not too rough and not too smooth…just right. The guys really did a great job! All of the hard work and preparation from the past several weeks paid off. The day went by with few troubles. I’ll close with a pic from the East at the end of the day.

Green comment for today:
Consider concrete as your finished floor. Less material is required to stain the concrete than to cover it with carpeting or wood. The results of stained finish floors are limited only by your imagination - check out Diamond D's gallery.

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Day 20: Water, water everywhere

It was an all-plumbing Monday. Coady, Adam and Erik showed up to run all the water supply plumbing that will be cast into the concrete slab. The main drinking water supply was run into the utility room, and all of the fixtures were supplied with hot and cold water lines (sinks, washer, showers). The pic below shows the larger white supply line entering the utility room from the bottom. The blue utility sink and washer hot and cold lines can be seen on the far wall. Once all of these lines were positioned, they were capped off and the entire system was pressurized with water at 90 psi. Pressurization ensures that any damage before or during pouring of the slab can be identified and repaired.

The other plumbing task started today was routing of tubing for the underfloor hydronic heating system. For this system, PEX tubes carry warm water pumped from a storage tank into the concrete slab to heat the home. The PEX tubing is supplied on 1000 foot rolls. A device called a decoiler (see pic below) makes unspooling the PEX simpler than I had imagined.

My floor has 6 PEX tubes - called circuits - each about 175 feet long. They all start and end at the utility room. In between they run back and forth and are spaced apart appropriately to deliver uniform heat into the slab. The runs are spaced closer together near exterior walls where heat loss from the slab is greatest. The coils are spaced further apart near the center of the home where heat loss from the slab is least. The tubes are also routed to avoid being under cabinets and the refrigerator where heating is not required. The following pic shows some of the white PEX runs in the kitchen.The PEX tubing is fastened to the top of the rebar so it does not move during the concrete slab pour. Two of the 6 circuits were completed today.

Green comment for today:
Consider some form of radiant heating for your home. The advantages over a forced air heating system are:

• Greater energy efficiency because the warmth is supplied closer to where we humans want it - near our bodies. Hot air from a forced air system quickly rises to the ceiling and forces the system to turn on more often to maintain the same comfort level as a radiant heating system.
  
• The system is quiet.
  
• It is the most comfortable form of heat. We humans would rather be kept warm with radiant heat than warm air.
  
• There are no fans blowing dust around the home.

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Day 19: Electrical preparations and more rebar

Today we completed routing all of the electrical and Cat5 conduits that will be cast into the concrete slab - see pic below. I like having the Cat5 cables in conduits. If technology for wired data in the home changes in the future, I just need to pull new wires through the conduits.

Victor and Fernando from Monterey Bay Rebar were back today to place the concrete slab rebar. Once again, they made the job look easy and finished quickly - see pic below. Three inch thick dobies were placed on the sand to support the rebar approximately at mid height of the 6" thick slab.

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Day 18: Ready for pro beach vollyball

Today we placed the remainder of the Insul-Tarp and spread approximately 2” of sand over the top. The inside of the house looked like a beach at the end of the day – see pic below. It spread much more easily than the gravel.

The use of sand is questioned given results of the "sand under concrete slab" search I did. Nonetheless, it is required per California Building Code.

Some other tasks completed today:

• The remainder of gravel was spread in the utility room.
• A vapor barrier was placed over the gravel in the utility room. Insulation is not required because the room is not heated.
• Sand was placed over the vapor barrier in the utility room.
• 5 inch diameter joles were drilled at the top of the 1st course of APEX block at every other vertical core where a rebar will connect to the concrete slab – see pic above.
• Big Creek Lumber dropped off the window buck material – see vid below. The window bucks for my home are pressure treated 3X8 douglas fir beams that will frame the window and door openings. They provide a stable surface to attach the windows and doors.

Green comment for today:
When designing a home in a winter heating season climate, place the majority of properly shaded window surface area on the south wall in the northern hemisphere, and on the north wall in the southern hemisphere. This will take advantage of free winter heat from the sun. This is one of the fundamental concepts of Passive Solar Design. Start with a value of 50% to 75% of your total window area. Then use a building energy analysis tool like HEED to compare designs with more and less window area with your starting point. You will find a percentage that provides the lowest heating energy need annually. This percentage is the most thermally efficient for your home. There may be reasons other than energy efficiency to increase or decrease the window surface area, but at least you will have a starting point to deviate from.

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