My Office Addition - Foundation

January 7, 2003

I have always been a closet pack rat. Well, perhaps not too "closet", since I'm admittedly building this addition to store ten years of old papers. Not only do I keep files on all past jobs, I probably still have copies of the first green building articles in magazines ten years ago. The same holds true for the building materials. I use framing lumber I have been stacking in the back of the garage for years to reframe the new east wall that will serve as part of the foundation for the second floor. We have some of the plywood from the roof to sheath the new garage walls. In some cases we go to the ReSource Yard, the local reused building materials lumberyard, to get framing material. This saves money and reuse materials that might have gone to waste otherwise.

January 13, 2003

We put a lot of faith in our concrete subcontractor for the foundation. I find a company that has been in Boulder for years; everyone in the building trades knew their company and loved working with them. Their reputation, combined with the relationship I am able to establish with the owner, sell me on doing business with them. To make a very long story short, Marvin Clyncke's company pours the foundation within a sixteenth of an inch of the required dimension, making it perfectly level for the structural insulation panel (SIP) floor. It is close to a miracle to see so many laborers working with big concrete forms and a massive concrete pumping truck 50 feet away, with concrete pipes 40 feet in the air pumping high volumes of concrete. Neighbors are flocking to the end of the driveway to check it out. I know if something goes wrong I won't hear the end of it...