3/14/2013 As I predicted earlier, everything is happening at once

3/14/2013

As I predicted earlier, everything is happening at once now.  We were going to move ahead quickly to finish the basement floor, because so much revolved around that completion.  I ran a little short of Radon rock and had to send for some additional.  As this was being finished, we decided to push for the weekend with a finished floor, which required, in order: finishing the Radon rock leveling, putting down the two inch insulation, having the Geothermal folks come in and lay the in-floor heat, followed by the concrete pour.  In this part of the Northland, as Spring approaches and the frost begins to leave the ground, many of our county roads have their weight limits reduced because of the softening ground.  This thought occurred to me in the middle of laying insulation on the basement floor yesterday morning, so I called to ask about it.  Timing is everything because we found out that the limits went in to effect the next day.  Had we missed that little deadline, we could not have gotten our concrete trucks in for weeks.  Several hurried phone calls got the Geothermal folks in that same afternoon, and the concrete company the day after.  The cement trucks were given a grace period to finish on the same day as the restrictions went into effect.  The floor will be ready for foot traffic tomorrow, just in time for our first building inspection.  Starting Monday, the crew will frame the basement, install the stairs, and will be followed quickly by HVAC, plumbing, and electrical completion.  Yeeha!

Laying the floor insulation on top of the Radon rock

Putting down the in-floor heat system.

Four inches of concrete will be poured over this heating system.

Concrete going down.

Pour complete.  Final finishing work was being done about 3 hours after this was taken.