The day finally arrived that our house build started! If you’re not
interested in the details, you can skip right to the time-lapse video that
Stano made below. Note: if the video seems to be playing at a really low
quality, you can adjust the resolution for a better view. For me, the video
is defaulting to 360p which is really low quality.
Highlights of the Day with YouTube Time Stamps:
Time
YouTube
Event
7:30am
0:00
The crane rolls in.
7:35am
0:03
The first truck rolls in with all the walls for the first floor.
8:15am
0:15
The first wall is in place.
10:45am
1:05
First floor exterior walls are in place.
12:30pm
1:26
First floor exterior and interior walls are in place. The first truck leaves and the second truck rolls in with the pieces for the ceiling/floor between the main floor and the second floor.
1:00pm
1:47
First floor ceiling install begins.
3:30pm
2:36
First floor ceiling is done.
3:45pm
2:40
Second truck rolls out.
4:00pm
2:48
The third truck rolls in with all of the walls for the second floor.
4:30pm
2:50
The first wall on the second floor is in.
6:00pm
3:23
Our camera battery dies at the end of the day, shortly before most of the second floor walls are up.
For more details, read below the video…
Our day started at 5:45am and we were out the door before 6:45am. We
knew we would be there all day so packed breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks,
etc. We arrived at 7:15am and the place was packed! Our basement builders
were onsite, the Atrium house team was onsite, the scaffolding was up, the
first truck was there and the build team had already done prep work to
mark the location of the walls.
Stano set up the time-lapse camera and started that around 7:30 and a few
minutes later, the crane showed up. As the day progressed, we had 3 trucks
arrive. The first with all of the walls for the first floor, the second with
the first floor ceiling components and the third with the walls for the
second floor.
By the end of the day, almost all exterior walls were up (except the top most
parts of the second floor) and almost all interior walls.
And onto the details of the day!
When we arrived at 7:15, everything was ready. The scaffolding was already up
and the first truck had arrived. The team was just waiting for
the crane to show up.
After the crane got into place, the first truck rolled up the street, took off
the wrapping and the walls were visible. The exteriors that you see are not
the final layer. The coating that you see is actually a sort of glue and
at least a layer of stucco needs to be added, but maybe some additional
insulation. I’ll find out more later.
The first wall is in and it has our name written all over it. We really found
it amusing to see our name written on every piece. As well, every piece was
numbered so throughout the day, you could hear the team shouting to each other
about which numbers are coming next and the order.
You can see here the wall is connected to the floor with a wooden frame and
some of the layers of exterior insulation are visible.
A view of that same first wall. Behind that wall is the entryway (far right),
downstairs bathroom (window), and kitchen (far left).
The back walls of the first floor, still on the truck. The rightmost is the
kitchen window, the
center is the dining area window and leftmost is the slider to the back yard.
The slider and large window are each about 4 meters (12 feet) wide.
The large window being lowered.
While the house walls were being installed by the Atrium team, our basement
team was working on the stairs to go from the basement up to the main floor.
The rebar is in place, along with the wooden frames that will hold the
concrete in place while it dries.
They are all working together. They put the concrete “sand” into the little
concrete mixer, add the right amount of water, let it spin and then when it’s
ready, they dump it into the wheelbarrow and bring it into the basement.
Once in the basement, they shovel the mixture into the forms.
Here is a closeup view of the structure that they built to hold the concrete
in place while drying. Once the stairs are dry, they will remove the frame
and all that will be left are concrete stairs.
While the guys continued working downstairs on the basement stairs, upstairs,
two sides of the house are up. The view you can see here is from where the
front door will be, toward the back of the house. The small window will be
above the kitchen sink, the middle large window will be a sort-of plant
conservatory with the dining table in the middle of the room and to the far
right by the sliding door will be the living room. In the bottom, center
you can see the basement stairs.
Here, you can see our basement stairs on the left, with one of our basement
guys admiring the work. Currently, I’m standing in the future corner of
Stano’s office, facing the kitchen. The wall that you see with a door
opening near the basement stairs is the door from the entryway into the
main part of the house. It has a pocket door.
The last wall downstairs is going in. On the right is the front door. On
the left is the window in Stano’s office.
And all the exterior walls are in on the first floor. It isn’t quite 11:00am.
Peeking in the downstairs windows, you can see the front wall. There are
grooves in the gypsum board where interior walls will slide in. They are held
in place with 12 inch long metal screws which connect the interior and exterior
walls and concrete holds them in place to the floor.
From this view, you can see the narrow space in the wall to the left - that is
the space where the chimney will be dropped in tomorrow. Behind that wall is
Stano’s office. In front, where the ladder is, will be the living room. The
rightmost door that you can see goes into the bathroom. The door next to that
is to the entryway. Next to that are the stairwells.
Pepper has been helping us to excavate throughout the day. It has been a
definite change to the normal schedule and she’s not sure what to make of it.
She has handled it really well though. Fortunately it hasn’t been too cold
and so we packed her crate into the car, all her food and toys for the day and
we have her out for an hour or so of digging to her hearts content,
supervising the work and just watching before going back into her crate, where
she sleeps for a few hours.
The first truck left before lunch and was replaced by the second. Once lunch
was done, everyone was back to work and the ceiling/floors started to go in.
This is the first piece. The crane drops it into place, the guys bolt it
down and on to the next piece. You can see the structure of the pieces. Wood
on top, sound and heat insulation inside and then slats across the bottom that
drywall will be mounted to later.
An I-beam spans the largest open space downstairs. Later, ceiling pieces will
be attached to it.
Back in the basement, work has continued and the basement stairs are done and
drying.
Now that the basement stairs are done, work continues on one of the outside
retaining walls. The wall itself is done, it just needs some waterproofing
around it and for the dirt to be added back and compacted.
They use a little bobcat to move the dirt around the walls.
And suddenly, the first floor has a complete ceiling.
Digging and supervision continues…
The third truck is here with all of the walls for the second floor and attic.
It’s 6pm and the last wall is being installed. More tomorrow…
