Building a new house and shop (5 Viewers)
- Thread starter 1911
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1911
chupacabra
- Thread starter
- #282
The more compacted, the better, according to the builder. At the very bottom, there was not a ton of room between the vertical excavated hill face and the house. We tried to leave at least 5', just for room to work back there. So the dirt contractor had a 95hp track-steer (the same one in the photo on the hill) back there, running back and forth dumping dirt and compacting it as much as possible. Every few feet of fill, he would water it pretty thoroughly with a sprinkler. At the end of each day when he was done, I would drive my 40 or my FJC back and forth over it to try and compact it some more. Now that the back fill is about 6' high back there, the space at the top is a little wider since the excavated face is not perfectly vertical, it slopes a little bit.
Today it is raining heavily, which should help settle it even more. The good news is, the french drain at the bottom of the back wall is working great - you can see a stream of water coming out the discharge end in the creek. Also a final(?) test of the waterproofing on top of the domes, before we start to move dirt on the top after the holidays.
Yeah, that can be tricky with a bucket - you’re not as sure where the edge is. With a blade, when the “load” slides away you stop.
LS1FJ40
SILVER Star
Only in my dreams… 
The image is of a truck Peter Young of Alltrac 4WD in Australia had in the ‘90s. I always liked the looks of it.
The image is of a truck Peter Young of Alltrac 4WD in Australia had in the ‘90s. I always liked the looks of it.
1911
chupacabra
- Thread starter
- #286
Two days ago, we had an inch and a half of rain; it was a good test for the waterproofing, after the last leaks were fixed. All the repaired leaks were good, and none leaked any more. We did find one small new one, and a couple of suspect places that were damp but not obviously a leak. A lot of the damp is because the house is still open, and the concrete has not reached equilibrium with the soil temperature, so it is cool enough that water vapor from the air will condense on the inside. The builder came back yesterday, and treated the one leak and the other suspect spots. Waiting now for another rain to test again; rain is forecast for tomorrow. We don't have to finish paying the builder (for the waterproofing) until we are 100% satisfied that there are no leaks.
Work on the house has stopped for the holidays. A couple of photos of the current state:
A view of the back: back filling is 6'+ up the walls. The only reason it is not all the way to the top of the wall is, we want to drape the sheet plastic that will go over the whole top, over the back side before it is filled to the top.
Now that several dirt piles have been moved from the front and sides of the house to the back filling, it is finally almost possible to get a photo of the entire house in one shot, from the front. Because of trees and remaining dirt piles, I still can't quite get the whole house and the retaining walls on each end, but this is close:
Some of what you can see above the house in the photo is the actual hillside, but probably half of what you can see is excavated dirt that will be moved down to help cover the top of the house.
Work on the house has stopped for the holidays. A couple of photos of the current state:
A view of the back: back filling is 6'+ up the walls. The only reason it is not all the way to the top of the wall is, we want to drape the sheet plastic that will go over the whole top, over the back side before it is filled to the top.
Now that several dirt piles have been moved from the front and sides of the house to the back filling, it is finally almost possible to get a photo of the entire house in one shot, from the front. Because of trees and remaining dirt piles, I still can't quite get the whole house and the retaining walls on each end, but this is close:
Some of what you can see above the house in the photo is the actual hillside, but probably half of what you can see is excavated dirt that will be moved down to help cover the top of the house.
What type and thickness of sheet plastic are you having installed? Does the plastic lay directly on the domes or do you add a layer of dirt or sand first?
1911
chupacabra
- Thread starter
- #288
Builder says to use a minimum of 6 mil thickness sheet plastic; I may use 10 mil if it's not too expensive.
You want a layer of plastic sheeting directly on the domes, the main purpose of which is to make it possible to remove the dirt later, in case there would ever be a need. Without the plastic sheeting, the dirt would compact and pretty much weld itself to the concrete.
After the first layer of plastic and the first few feet of dirt, there will be another layer of expanded polystyrene sheeting and more plastic sheeting over that, for both insulation and as an umbrella to divert water off of the domes.
Oh that's right. I'm remembering the previous post on this now. All this sounds great, might as well build another!
Been following this build for a while now, really awesome! Thank you for sharing!
1911
chupacabra
- Thread starter
- #291
Thanks for reading and following the thread!
We used the garage for the first time this past week; we had an ice storm on Saturday night and Sunday, so I parked all of our current cars and trucks and my tractor in the unfinished garage:
It's meant to be a four-car garage, but these four only filled it a little more than half-way. Could fit six in there pretty easily I'm thinking. Good that there will be room for motorcycles and whatnot in addition to our cars.
Happy New Year!
Looking great , Your rigs are safer than most banks holdings hahaha.
Love it and God bless TEXAS!
Looking great , Your rigs are safer than most banks holdings hahaha.
Love it and God bless TEXAS!
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Excellent work!
Looking at the garage, have we discussed the lighting system in there?
1911
chupacabra
- Thread starter
- #298
There are outlet boxes set in the ceiling and switch boxes and outlets in the walls, but the lighting in the garages will not be anything very fancy, since I won't be doing any work to speak of in there - I have my shop for that (or will, when I can move all the furniture and boxes currently stored in it). Just need enough light to see to get in and out of the cars. And ceiling fans to keep air circulating.
1911
chupacabra
- Thread starter
- #300
Thanks for asking.
Still waiting on a really good hard rain, to test the latest batch of waterproofing. We had a small rain (fraction of an inch) about a week ago, and had no leaks at all, so that is promising, but we need an inch or two to really test it thoroughly before burial. It's been an unusually dry winter here; if we don't get some rain soon, I guess I will just put some sprinklers up there and run them all day.
Meanwhile, I have been cutting/trimming the red cedars in the creek and behind the apartment by hand, with a chain saw. I really need to get a track steer to do this in the long run, but I won't until after the house is finished.
