foundation – Farm and Finery

December 10, 2019December 13, 2019

Barn Has Begun!

In addition to building our home, we are building a detached 3 car garage/barn. As a Midwesterner, it took me a while to get used to not having an attached garage, but then I realized that almost everyone we know in Texas has a detached garage. Oh right, they don’t get snowed in down here…

Trenching for beams (footers) has begun for the barn.

Knowing that most often our cars will be parked outside (as they have been for the year we have lived here), we were able to make different decisions about the garage. The main choice was to make it a woodworking space for John, something he has never really had. Considering how many things he has built over the almost 24 years we’ve been together (decks, docks, shelving units, tables, benches, beds, and most recently owl nest boxes), it’s time. The barn will, of course, have electricity, but will also have running water for a utility sink and more.

The other feature of the barn is a small apartment for those guests who prefer more privacy or who want to stay for an extended period of time. We love having company, and we’ve already had guests stay for a week in our little rental house. That’s great, but I couldn’t take the week off because I had just used vacation days for our recent move, and we realized it would have been desirable to have a more separate space for those using our home as a home base while exploring central Texas.

The apartment will be very efficient- 2 bedrooms and a full bathroom (with a tub for families with little ones), a kitchenette, and living room – all in 600 square feet. From inside the garage, the apartment will also afford attic storage so we can put seasonal and other long term storage above the apartment.

Front porch for the apartment with a freshly poured foundation

We also added a 10 foot deep porch off the apartment to extend the apartment and give folks a private space to hang out while outside (it faces away from the house).

The foundation was poured on an unusually warm day, just ahead of a cold front. It was great having a sunny day to visit the foundation and see where the garage doors will be located. And yes, we are wearing shorts on December 9th…

3 Garage doors are carved out for John’s work space

One aspect that was challenging was where to place the barn in relation to the house. First, I wanted to pull up and see the house before seeing the barn. Second, I didn’t want it to dominate the view from the back, poolside porch. But I also wanted it close enough to the house so it wouldn’t be inconvenient to walk to it on a daily basis. We also didn’t want to wipe out any oak trees for the barn. Finally, the topography had to be considered – we are building our home on top of a dome or mound – meaning that the ground slopes down from the home site on almost every side. This meant that we couldn’t put the barn too far away from the house (unless we wanted a barn on stilts) and as it is the barn contractor had to bring in dirt to make the location we chose level for the barn foundation.

As soon as the barn foundation has cured, the metal beams, called red iron steel, will be installed. The barn construction will be very different from the house as it is a metal building, and therefore will be completed much faster. I believe they pre-fabricate all the walls and basically wrap the beams like a present.

I like how the barn almost has an infinity look because of how the land slopes away from it.

What would be your “must haves” in a barn or garage? If you come visit, will you stay in the barn apartment or in one of the guest rooms in the house? Let me know in the comments below (if you don’t see the comments below, click on the post title to go to the full post). And don’t forget to subscribe if you’d like to see more of our progress – you will only receive notifications when we upload to the blog.

Thanks for stopping by and see you soon!

Hugs, Libby

October 25, 2019October 29, 2019

Concrete Evidence of Progress

First, did you know there is a whole world of concrete memes? I did not and am resisting all of my instincts to post some of the funnier ones here now. Instead, let’s focus on the fact that the most concrete thing we could do was lay a foundation that will cement our steps before we hit the asphalt.

Sorry, I had to…

John and I were really impressed with the foundation crew – they had lighted barrels to mark the drive entrance for the concrete trucks, huge lights for the workers, and put up red tape across our neighbors driveway to be sure that no construction vehicles used their road.

It was a beautiful October morning in Texas – 65º F pre-dawn with a high around 78º F by noon.

By the time we arrived at 6:30 AM they were on Cement Truck number 22 and pouring for our great room. The local company used is called Lauren concrete – which we thought was fun since that is our daughter’s name!

It’s as though the universe wanted Lauren to be a part of our day!

I tried to stay out of everyone’s way as they poured and leveled the concrete. While we watched and chatted, the sun rose and they were able to turn off the big spotlights.

Selfie pre-dawn at the foundation pour!
Here comes truck #24!
These guys jobs get harder and harder
Incredible attention to detail as they smooth!

We were so grateful that we could be there that morning to see our home’s foundation being poured and to say thank you to everyone! I set out a tray with the cinnamon strudel muffins and whole carton of orange juice when the crew had a chance to take a break.

Unfortunately, I had to head back for an 8 AM staff meeting, but John was able to stay and capture a few more shots. The crew was also really nice to him and shared their breakfast tacos wrapped in foil with him.

The sun coming up as we walked back down the hill so I could get to work.

While I worked, John captured the porches being poured. It was really fun to see a particular area “take shape”. Also, they did all of the house interior before doing the exterior porches. Below is a 10 foot deep porch off our master bedroom being poured.

This is the small covered patio off our master bedroom
Here comes the pour!
Getting everything smooth
Done and ready for my lounger for morning coffee!

At lunch I was able to come back and see everyone smoothing out the cement with concrete polishing machines. In all, it took 27 trucks full of concrete to complete our foundation slab. It is supposed to rain tonight, which everyone says is perfect timing. Apparently, the concrete is quite hot as it is poured, so the rain will help to cool and cure the foundation faster.

Pins on along the exterior walls
Winding up…
And the pitch!
Muffins and orange juice were all gone!
Polishing the concrete

Finally, before leaving, John and I inserted a 2019 penny into the foundation on the front porch near the front entry door. We’ve heard lots of stories of people marking their foundations – adding animal prints (one gentleman told us he had shot a deer and used the hooves to make a track across his front porch), adding hand prints or initials, throwing coins across the foundation, etc. We opted for a penny to represent the year when the foundation was poured, to provide good luck (it is heads up) and to represent our years in Illinois, since honest Abe is the face on pennies and Illinois is the Land of Lincoln…

Placing the penny on the entryway porch
Our lucky penny on the front porch!
Close up of our lucky penny

The foundation will now cure for a week or so before the framing begins and the framing lumber is being delivered on Monday, so the plot (and foundation) thickens!

This gentleman was removing the uprights between the porch and the great room. You can see the shape of the great room fireplace!

Had you ever heard of any of these foundation marking rituals? Which would you or have you done? As always, thanks for stopping by!

Thanks so much to Wesley for being there all morning to make sure everything went great!!

Hugs, Libby

October 24, 2019October 24, 2019

The Importance of Being There

John and I returned from a lovely weekend reconnecting with friends in the Midwest and…. wow… things kept moving and grooving while we were gone!

Vapor barrier is in place and will keep the floors from sweating on humid Texas days.

When visiting the home site on Wednesday, we saw that the rebar and vapor barrier were all in place and they were also adding framing to show the porches from the interior of the house. Plumbing was also stubbed out as well!

Laundry room in the foreground with 2 guest baths off to the left.

It was great to see the plumbing stubbed out, because that helped us (me) to see where the rooms are really located in the house.

And as I was reviewing all of the work done, I realized that something was MISSING! There was no plumbing stubbed out for the outdoor kitchen. Thankfully, I could get in touch with Wesley, our site supervisor.

As we reviewed the house plan, we realized that the architect’s drawing says, “Final Layout by Others” and doesn’t actually show a sink. Oops.

We caught this in plenty of time so the plumber came back and the electrician also was notified to run conduit to the outdoor island as well. Whew!

Adding the plumbing for the outdoor kitchen sink by the future swimming pool.

This definitely reinforced the importance of being on site as work is being done. If I had not caught that, we would have had to jackhammer the porch floor up to install the sink, which would have been a pain as well as difficult to hide in the newly poured porch floor.

View of Prairie Valley – it isn’t as good from the house site yet as we haven’t trimmed up any trees. But this is why we have a long porch along the living and dining room side of the house.

John and I spoke with Arturo, who has been in charge of the foundation crew, and Donovan, who will be in charge of the concrete pump. The concrete work begins at 3 AM and will be done pumping by 8 or 9 am. Then removing some of the interior framing and final smoothing will take until 12 noon or so.

Looking from the living room towards the dining room and butler’s pantry. Two guest rooms (one will be my office) are beyond the plumbing stub for the butler’s pantry.

At 5 pm, after the foundation crew had left, we met our barn builder on site to discuss that work, which will begin next week. He commented that whoever did our foundation “knew what they were doing”, which is reassuring since I’m not sure I could identify quality work from shoddy work.

I finally had to admit to John that, yes, the front porch is rather “roomy”. And long.

Knowing that everyone has an early morning tomorrow, I decided to make cinnamon muffins for the crew (that was Wesley’s request) the night before. We just want them to know how much we appreciate them working such long hours on our house!

Better Crocker mix for Cinnamon Strudel muffins

So that’s it until tomorrow and the cement trucks begin showing up! Anyone want to guess how many trucks they estimate it will take? 🙂

Hugs, Libby