Basement, Garage, and Hangar floors

Once the plumbing under the basement floor was in place, the concrete could be poured.

In preparation for pouring the concrete basement floor, a layer of  plastic vapor barrier is placed followed by a 2" layer of high density EPS foam.

This shows the basement floor shortly after the concrete is poured.  The high density EPS extends a few inches up the sides to slow heat conduction from the floor to the concrete walls.

The garage and hangar floors did not need to wait on plumbing, but did need to wait for conditions to dry up a bit.  The garage floor slopes slightly toward the garage door while the hangar floor slopes slightly toward the hangar door.

A vapor barrier is placed under the garage and hangar concrete floor,  A chalk line on the wall indicates the level of the top surface of the concrete.  Rebar ties the floor into the basement wall. 

This shows the garage floor in the middle of the pouring process, while waiting for another truck to bring enough concrete to finish this section.

The hangar floor was poured in two sections on different days.  The two sections will be the same color after a few more days.

Rough Plumbing

The main thing happening lately has been the rough plumbing work.  Since some of the drain system will be under the basement floor, that needs to be in place before the basement floor is poured, which, in turn, needs to be completed before the basement walls are framed.  As the homeowner and house designer, I seem to find each stage of construction more interesting than anyone else does.  However, even I don't find the plumbing system to be as exciting as other aspects.  Maybe that is because I didn't specify very much about the plumbing system beyond the locations of the fixtures.

Stubs for the master bathroom vanity

Drain vents provide a path for sewer gasses to escape.  This shows the drain vent from the master bathroom before the last section that extends through the roof was installed.  The vent from the laundry room now joins into this.

With a shower, tub, toilet, and two sinks in the master bathroom, a network of plumbing is needed below to route hot and cold water to the fixtures and drain the water away.  Most of that network ends up in the pantry ceiling.

We are using a single piece shower unit in the guest bathroom.  I was concerned about getting it through the bathroom door but it turned out not to be a problem.

The plumbing for the guest bathroom is in one of the basement bedrooms.  The supply lines are just dangling at this point.  They will be connected after the basement framing is completed.

Boards mark the locations where the walls will be to help get the drains for the basement bathroom in the correct locations.

Many trenches are necessary for the various drains that run under the basement floor.

One change we did insist on was moving the sump pump out of the bedroom.  

Shingles

In early March, out builder let us know that we needed to be selecting our shingle color.  So, we set off to the designated supplier.  We decided to go first to the designated brick supplier to select the type of brick.  I had no idea there were so many choices.  After picking out our bricks, we took a brick sample and a window color sample to the shingle supplier.  The supplier set out samples of the various colors available in the brand specified in our contract with our builder.  Some of them looked great by themselves but none of them looked quite right with the brick.  Looking at some other brands, we found a sample with a mixture of colors that seemed to pull everything together.  Not surprisingly, it was a bit more expensive than the brand in our contract.  A few days later, the crew was busy installing them.

This is taken from the master bedroom as the shingles are being installed.  The variation in color is much more apparent up close than from a distance.

The hangar in the midst of the shingling process.

Th hangar after the shingles have been installed.

The front of the house after the shingles have been installed.

The back of the house after the shingles have been installed.