The week in pictures

Waterproofing done, fiberglass lath installed

Radiant floor heating loops just before pouring concrete

Placing the concrete slab

Getting cemented into a corner

Garage wall installed to accommodate electric meter and phone

Building Plans

Basement slab poured

A slow week this week.  Rainy weather put a damper on progress.  We finished the waterproofing with a rubberized membrane called Bituthene by Grace.  It has a paper backing that is peeled off to exposed and extremely sticky adhesive.  We finally got the hang of it as we were about half way through, but are very pleased with the product and the results.

We did get the basement floor poured over the 8” insulation and radiant floor heating system.  The pour went off without a hitch.   We had installed drain tile on the inside and the outside of the footings tied into a sump pit in the basement.  In the event that the radon barrier fails, the interior foundation drain and gravel base will act as a backup system that can be hooked up to evacuate radon.  We don’t expect any problems with radon, as our risk exposure is pretty low. 

We framed one wall of the garage to prepare for the installation of the electric meter and phone.  Both services are to be installed in the next week, and we wanted to have the permanent location ready.  We will install the insulation and base coat of stucco this weekend in preparation. 

The precast concrete plank was delayed by one day, and we expect to set it in place tomorrow.  Once that is done we can finish up with the below grade stucco experiment and get ready to backfill. 

Included with this post are copies of the building plans.  We had the drawings rendered in Revit which is a 3 dimensional computer drafting program that provides a number of options for study. Among the bells and whistles is a study of the impact of the shadows created by the sun as it tracks across the sky.  This program allows you to record a time lapse video from both the exterior and interior to see what impact the sunlight has on the building and in the rooms.  

This solar study needs a few more tweaks before the final version is complete, but you get the gist of it.   The study shows the sun tracking across the sky for both the summer and winter solstice from both the interior and exterior at our latitude.  We wanted to maximize the solar gain in the winter, and minimize it in the summer.  The overhangs are designed to provide shading in the summer. 

We plotted the location and height of every tree on the site, and added about ten years of growth for the solar simulation.  The mid-day shading that occurs during the winter solstice is from some trees along the southern horizon.  These trees are deciduous, and the impact will be about 20% of what you see.  The Revit software has not yet been programmed to drop leaves in the fall.  Maybe next year.  

See the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM2i5nqx7Os&feature=youtube_gdata.