Meet Hudson

While we are waiting for the concrete to harden, we welcomed another member to our family: Hudson, a lab.  And, since a puppy is considerably more interesting than anything I can say, I will just skip to the photos.

Harley is doing well with the new addition, although she is not sharing her stellar frisbee catching skills.   Our "great" plan was to get the puppy now, so that the new house will not have to endure the brunt of puppy madness.  Only time will tell how smart/dumb we are.

Foundation: Phase 2 Complete

A week ago we got an email from our sales lady informing us that they were ready to pour phase 2 of our foundation (the garage walls) by the end of the week.  While that did not happen, the walls were poured on Monday.

While it may look like they ran out of concrete, everything is right on track.  First, we must wait seven days (a story we hear a lot in construction) for the concrete to dry.  Then, they will fill in the holes, so there is not a gap between the ground and the concrete.  Once that is done, they will repeat the process for phase 1 of the foundation and pour the foundation for the rest of the house.  When they pour the final phase of the foundation, the remaining part of the wall will be poured, creating a uniform foundation.

Renegotiating Contract Two Days Before Closing

As a somewhat new Austinite, I am always looking for a way to meet new people and grow some roots in Austin.  To that end, I recently joined the Junior League of Austin.  Earlier this week we had an orientation for the provisional class's project FIT (Food In Tummies).  While at that meeting I met a few of the women I will be working with in the future.  They asked everyone to sit based on what part of town they live in.  So, I actually got to meet people who live in South Central Austin.  Which was great, because I was beginning to think that EVERYONE lived in North Austin.  During that meeting I met a woman who lives one street over from our future home.  She told me her building story, which is the focus of the post today.

Gabi, our future neighbor, and her husband moved into their house a little over one year ago.  Like us, they contracted to have their house built, but they used Newmark Homes.  After enduring the frustrating yet exciting building process they received a letter on the Saturday before their Tuesday closing stating that the parent company of Newmark Homes had filed for bankruptcy and that they could renegotiate the terms of their contract or walk away from the house. When a company files for bankruptcy a trustee is appointed to handle all of the contracts of the bankrupt.  The trustee has the right to proceed under the contacts  of the bankrupt or cancel the contracts, leaving Gabi and her husband without an enforceable contract on a house that they selected the layout and design elements for and had painstakingly endured the building process of in addition to having the expectations of moving into a brand new home within the week.

Well, they decided to renegotiate the terms of the contract.  But I wonder, who is in the better negotiating position at this point?  One the one hand, the future homeowners have had undoubtedly begun to this of this house and their home and can envision themselves living in it.  On the other hand, the last thing a bankruptcy trustee would want is another piece of property to dispose of, when he already has a willing buyer whose mortgage has been finally approved.

Gabi also said that she loves the neighborhood, that the neighbors are friendly and she enjoys how many of the neighbors take walks around the community.

Garage Floor

It has been a long road and a month since we broke ground and a month  of digging a hole and filling it back up with sand.  On Friday, we finally reached the first of three concrete pours!  They first poured the floor for the garage.  Now they are building the forms for the garage walls, which will be the second pour.  The third pour will be the floor of the remainder of the house.  Then, we will finally be able to move on to more exciting things -- framing!

May 16, 2010

May 18, 2010

Last week I spoke with Linda, our sales rep.  She stated that our target closing date is the "end of August".  Pushing back the closing date a month from what we were initially told.  She also thought that it would take another month to finish up the foundation.

Re-Bar(b)

Apparently, we have experienced a first.  I was wrong misled. It turns out that "re-barb" is in fact "re-bar", which is short for reinforcement bar.  Huh.  I could have sworn there was a "b" in the name.  But, let's not  get distracted from what is important here. Instead, let's celebrate the fact that someone finally put some re-bar (with or without the b) on our property!

Over the past month we have watched workers dig a hole and then fill the hole back up with sand.  All working towards pouring concrete!  Well, the final step before concrete is complete.  The re-bar is installed! We are optimistic that we may see concrete this week.  We have been strung along before, so only time will tell.

A Good Foundation is Key

"One house was built on sand, the other on rock.  The house on the rock withstood the weather, the one built on sand did not fair so well."  As we are all familiar with this biblical story.  So, why is it that our house is built on rock and sand?  Of course, we want out house to be built on a strong foundation.  But, what makes a strong foundation?

The past few weeks workers have been digging up the limestome on our property and dumping sand on top of the stone.  I did a little research and it turns out that if the concrete foundation was poured directly onto the limestone, we would have irrigation problems.  Ground water seeps through the foundation and reeks havoc on the foundation, indoor air quality, heating costs and flooring systems.

In order to avoid these problems, engineers figured out that if you put sand on top of the stone, water is able to flow freely from the foundation.  A "vapor barrier" is placed on top of the sand, to prevent (or slow) water from seeping from the ground up into the foundation.

Like watching a pot of water boil, we have been watching our foundation being built.  Last week daily progress could be seen.  First, sand was dumped into the newly excavated hole.  Then, the sand was compacted down and troughs were cut into the sand.  Finally, water pipes were laid.  

April 28, 2010

April 29, 2010

April 30, 2010

 

 Then everything stopped.  In the past six day absolutely nothing has happened.  Nothing.  Our daily visits  (don't judge) to the property became more and more frustrating (as the temperature outside got hotter and hotter).  But, thankfully, today, some minor progress was made.  The pipes are all covered up and the vapor barrier has been draped over the sand cubes.

May 7, 2010

Based on what happened over at our neighbor's house, I believe that the next step is to put re-barb wire over the water vapor and then (finally) pour the concrete.