The foundation of our new home is finally complete. It took a long time to get to this point, but seeing the shape of the house rise out of the ground has been really exciting. Toma Construction had their work cut out for them as they installed all the wall forms and reinforcing rebar without the aid of any machinery to move the materials. They must of traversed the steep grade hundreds of times creating well worn paths all around the foundation.

Dana from DLK Engineering asked for one change during his inspection that required an extra counterfort to be built and tied into one of the large boulders beneath the foundation. Derek also recommended that we reduce the height of some of the concrete deck piers to make them more stable during backfill. Most walls ended up being 8 inches thick and 10+ feet tall, while the back wall was poured 10 inches thick, and the tallest wall reached about 16 feet tall.

Once all the forms were up, they brought in 10 loads of concrete to fill them. The forms were removed about a week later. Then Grapes came back to the site to install the foundation drain and insulation after the water proofing material was sprayed on the walls.

Now that the foundation is in, we can’t wait to see the land take shape around it as Grapes and his crew backfill inside and outside the foundation walls over the next couple of weeks.