The house next door...or how to NOT build a house

[jdurand]

Today they left the gate standing open when they all went home, so a few different views.

[jdurand]

If the pour to the floor is going to be as thick as it looks in the pictures then they shouldn't have to worry about being attacked from below.
Given the amount of steel and guessed thickness I'd say what they are doing is attempting to construct an earthquake floater the ground would be able to heave and roll under the house and about all would happen would be some pictures get knocked off the walls and dishes broken plus probably the underground plumbing would need repairing Black sch 80 PVC drain & waste and polyurethane water might even survive some of that.

In 1989 we had our little 7.1 shaker here, a crack formed across streets, curbs and sidewalks that made it easy to follow. The path would have taken that crack through what is now the front part of their basement, then across our yard and into the street, breaking the sewer line, then on out of our area to continue across our main street two blocks away. I didn't follow it further since at the time we were busy comforting neighbors and keeping the business running.

Only evidence now is the newer sections of curb and sidewalk where they recast it.

[jdurand]

Today's Pit

[Toolmaker51]

Today they left the gate standing open when they all went home, so a few different views.

I understand now what is going on. Homeowners feel re-bar is cheaper than concrete, structural engineers and good sense.
or
They own a re-bar, dobie and tie-wire sales office. This project demonstrates volume, convincing the supplier to raise their distributorship.

[jdurand]

Today's images of the Masters of Advance Planning.

Today they ran PVC drain pipes under the rebar to connect the rain sumps to the main sewer sump. I didn't know you could pump rainwater into the sewer, but in any case I wish I'd watched how they got that pipe under the rebar.

[jdurand]

Well, the guys showed up before the I & chickens were awake today to start pumping concrete. I notice there's a cement truck blocking our driveway and our garbage cans (it's garbage pickup day).

[jdurand]

7 hours of pouring later

[Toolmaker51]

Ohh good. The goofy wall with sonotube posts still visible.
But 7 hours pumping mud thrown Earths rotational axis for a tizzy?

[jdurand]

We had to go out so didn't count cement trucks, but when we had to get out of the driveway the head contractor said each truck is about 10 minutes.

So, 7 hours * 6 trucks per hour = 42 trucks (of course, the answer to everything!). Figure 10 yards per truck that's 420 yards. And they haven't even started the basement walls yet!

[jdurand]

Today's pit. That's a mighty tall wall!