Footing/Foundation PICs of New Home

[JR]

Crocket, there are a lot of homes built on stilts in California. It's complicated, though, due to two main reasons.

1. Our rock generally is less solid than under Rags' place. We see a lot of shale and conglomerate, which makes the placiing of piers more difficult. You usually have drive down a ways to find a solid layer.

2. Earthquakes make it difficult to build a sufficiently solid structure. Buildings tend to sway in a shaker, meaning the stilts have to be tied together in some clever fashion. Also, buildings will jump up and down, causing the stilts to collapse.

As I said, it's done all the time, partiularly in the higher-density areas, but it is complicated.

JR

[Hellrazor]

Rags, call your excavator and tell him you are having second thoughts and want him to dig a full basement


That looks like an awesome location. Are they killing you to get electric service or do you have neighbors close by?

[Rslaugh]

......

We are building in the San Bernadino Mountains in Idyllwild, Ca. 6000 ft level and just in case you were wondering, there has not been a forest fire there in 80 years. We also have three fire stations with a mile of our building site and our property is one of several designated as fire defense areas.

That looks awesome! The only concern that I would have is that if there hasn't been a fire for 80 years you might be primed for one.

[ragswl4]

Rags, call your excavator and tell him you are having second thoughts and want him to dig a full basement


That looks like an awesome location. Are they killing you to get electric service or do you have neighbors close by?

Lucky with the electricity, its only 40 ft from the garage and transformer is in place serving another house. Not so lucky with the water. New requirement since the wildfires of 2003. Every house has to have a fire hydrant within 500 ft. So we had to pay for an 8" waterline, 750 ft long to satisfy the new requirement. NOT CHEAP! The county graciously paid for the fire hydrant.

[ragswl4]

That looks awesome! The only concern that I would have is that if there hasn't been a fire for 80 years you might be primed for one.

I have to agree, however the Forest Service in that area is working very hard to clear all the bark beetle infested trees to reduce the fuel source for a fire. We had 50+ trees removed from our 4 acres. It was quite a sight, most trees were lifted out by helo. The Forest service was on the property for 3 weeks clearing trees, slash and brush. Except for the pine cones and needles, its clean as a whistle.

[ragswl4]

Here is a few pics of the latest on the house. I have a lot more but don't want to load up the forum. One pic is of the garage, the other two are the left and right side of the main house. The other is the big boulder in the foundation.

I am building a website to display all the pics from start to finish. Not done yet but will post its name when its ready for anyone who wants to see the progress from time to time.

I am pressed for time now as we (the wife and I) have started framing on the garage and putting in 12 and 14 hour days.

[crokett]

Wow. Looks like you are making a lot of progress. I would not have wanted to be the guy cutting those blocks to fit over that boulder.

[ragswl4]

Latest Pics of Garage

We have been focused on building the garage so we can have a place to store materials, tools and a nicer place to work. Here are the latest pics. The subwalls for the floor are finished. We have added the rim boards, floor joists and the plywood for the floor is now completed (no pic). Also included a photo of the delivery of the floor joists and other materials, it was raining cats and dogs when they arrived. Each floor joist was 32 ft long yet weighed only 120 lbs. That's me on top of the garage after moving the floor joints to the garage foundation.

The first pic also shows the rotary laser level that has become vital to building this garage and house. Saves tons of time. The garage ended up level to within 1/4" so we are fairly happy with that. We will correct that with the upper walls.

There has never been a truer statement than, measure twice cut once. We have been pretty lucky with only wasting a few boards and one piece of plywood.

Included in the materials are two parallams that measure 5 1/2" x 16" x 22 feet. These are the main supports for the hip roof. Gonna need a crane to move those puppies.

Also a pic of the LOML dressed for winter work. When we arrived on site Dec 1 it was 19 degrees, wind at 15 mph. Not a nice day to work. Also a pic of ice on the plywood for the garage floor.

This coming weekend (weather permitting) we will build the walls for the garage. I have ommitted a lot of pictures as we have been working 12-14 hour days for the last two weeks so haven't had a lot of time for posting.

I will post more pics after we finish the walls.

[lrogers]

I got cold just looking at those pictures.

[crokett]

Eeep! 19 degrees with 15 MPH winds and she is out there building a garage? Never doubt she loves you after that.

Looks like you are making some good progress

[footprintsinconc]

looking good! you are going to have many months of non-stop excitement!

happy building,

[KenfromCali]

Hey Rags,

I moved from Riverside in June of 06 to South Carolina (Charleston). I know Idyllwild fairly well. I've been camping at Silent Valley for many years (in fact, I am still trying to sell my membership...so if you know anyone who would want that...let me know).

Anyway, beautiful view and a beautiful area.

Look forward to seeing more.

Ken

[gsmittle]

Never mind all that!

More importantly, where does the shop go

Looks great--man, what a great place to live!

g.

[ragswl4]

More importantly, where does the shop go

Looks great--man, what a great place to live!

g.

The shop is in the back 1/3 of the garage, two stories. I haven't set the layout yet but the bottom floor will probably house the dust collector, air compressor and a finishing room. Top floor for all the major power tools. The area is 12x22 on each level. I will also have a deck and stairway at the back for access to the lower level. It will be a small PITA but its all I can get given the terrain.

Of course there is always the possibility of building a separate shop elsewhere on the property.

[ragswl4]

NO Work this Weekend

Well looks like I have more time for making pens. The pic is in color.