In-between Pours

After we poured the walls of our basement on May 12th, we were pooped, but work goes on. We disassembled the scaffolding and removed all the bracing sheets of OSB. Thomas and I did our best not to wrap ourselves up in the bituthene - a black tar like sheet that protects the outside wall that will be buried underground. 

The bituthene, a name Thomas adds "ch" to because it can be a mess to work with, went up fairly easily on the south wall, where it was only about five feet tall. There was lots of room, and it wasn't over my head. The west wall, which we tackled next, aroused some new vocabulary in Tom because it was a narrower space hit full on by the wind, and out pieces were 8 feet - well over my head to be very helpful. We improvised and cut the pieces in half; hanging four foot pieces was much more manageable. The north wall was tricky because it was too narrow, and then finally last week Thomas and I finished the east wall. Pop began filling in the gaps with dirt, but until the floor is in place, we really cannot do much with that.

Sadly, a hail storm hit the north wall before we got the bituthene up all eight feet. The hail really pelted that styrofoam hard, save for the bottom four feet already protected.

With the walls protected, we shifted our attention to the next pour, which was this past Saturday. We dug a footer for under the center wall (runs east to west) and compacted that soil. Thomas rented a compactor that looked like a giant blocky foot that jumped and stomped all over the place. I had the pleasure of using the tamping rod in the footer - what a workout. Thomas built forms for the slab (only poured the northern half of the floor) and for the little slab for our cellar stairs. We also dug a couple holes for drainage pipes. Finally, Saturday morning before the truck arrived, we laid plastic and metal mesh, curling over the last piece to make a box that fit in the footer.

 Ready set go! We had everything set to pour.

Thank you, Pop, for bringing our entrance/exit ladder. This was how we got in and out once the cement started flowing. (And thanks, Daniel, for letting us use it?!? Is this your ladder?)