Tag: pour

Basement Floor Pour

March 25, 2016 / / 2 Comments
Concrete truck arrives
Pouring
Starting work

We have a basement floor! Mario and his crew came out early yesterday morning and by 8:30 the concrete truck had arrived. In no time they’d poured the entire pad and screeded (leveled it out).At that point the rest of Mario’s crew left, but he stayed for the rest of the day carefully hand troweling the surface to a burnished finish. The pressure gauge on the radiant PEX tubing never wavered, so we’re confident that nothing was damaged during the pour.

Initial screed

Initial screed

There was one minor issue, in that Mario didn’t want to leave the J bolts I’d carefully positioned during the pour because he couldn’t smooth the finish with them in the way. I explained that I didn’t want to drill or nail into the finished concrete for fear of hitting the PEX tubing. Ultimately we left some of the J bolts in position and pulled some of the others. I took a bunch of measurements and photos to help me position new anchor bolts in the finished slab, but I’m not thrilled about the nerve-wracking possibility of hitting a tube and losing a whole loop of the radiant heat.

Finished floor

Finished floor

This weekend I plan to install the last of the basement windows and the back door. I’ve installed the window buck this past weekend to ensure I wasn’t going to be making any more dust. The next project is to stain and seal the concrete once it’s cured. I’ve been doing research on the specific products and techniques we’ll be using for that. I think with the finish that Mario put on the floor, it’s going to look really nice with the stain and seal.

Troweled finish

Troweled finish

This feels like a really important milestone. We started breaking up the concrete of the old floor over a year ago and never imagined it would take so long to get one back. We’ve gained close to a foot of headroom in the basement, a critical difference that makes it a much more usable space. In addition we’ve got the rough drainage in place for our basement bathroom and utility sink, our new water main and sewer, and an interior weeping system that at this point really needs to be hooked up, since the sump basin has almost completely filled with water! With the new windows, the new back steps, the painted ceiling and beam, the tuckpointed brick walls and the all new electrical outlets and lights, it’s a night and day difference from where it was. While I really expected to be at this point in October, I’m happy that we’re finally here now and looking forward to the steps ahead.

Basement Floor Prep – Plastic, Mesh, and PEX

March 22, 2016 / / 0 Comments

As planned, Mario (our concrete mason) came out on Monday of last week and put in the plastic vapor barrier and the wire mesh on top of the foam insulation. Over the weekend I installed “J” bolts (they’re shaped like J’s) where our interior walls will go, so we don’t have to drill or nail the new concrete slab. I cut short pieces of steel rod and stuck them into the foam and then wire-tied the J bolts to them to keep them positioned and upright.

Basement PEX tubing

Basement PEX tubing

Today Lester, our radiant heating contractor, came out and installed the PEX tubing that will eventually allow hot water from the boiler to keep our concrete slab nice and warm and heat the whole basement. Once the tubing loops were run and zip tied to the mesh, he pumped compressed air in to 70 psi as a pressure test to ensure the loops are air (and water) tight. They’ll stay pressurized during the concrete pour and cure to make sure they don’t get squeezed anywhere. He gave me a list of warnings to pass on to Mario and his guys when they’re pouring the concrete: when they’re using a concrete spreader, don’t hit the tubing! When they tip up a wheel barrow, don’t hit the tubing! When they’re running wheel barrows back and forth, lay down some half-inch plywood so they don’t hit the tubing! I sensed a trend.

Also basement PEX tubing

Also basement PEX tubing

Mario is planning to pour the floor on Thursday, and I’ll be there making sure that Lester’s instructions are followed. If anything happens to the tubing during the pour and it leaks, our whole radiant-heating plans will crumble. The only choice would be to tear up the whole brand new concrete slab and start over, or switch to hot water forced air in the basement, and with the lack of head room I don’t want to run ducting!

Back Basement Steps

December 2, 2015 / / 0 Comments
Formed steps

Formed steps

Our concrete mason, Mario, was back this past Saturday building the forms for the stairs. He pointed out that the basement drain we put in was too high. Somehow, between the time we put it in and when he came by it had lifted by about an inch, which I confirmed with the laser level. Since I needed to adjust it anyway, he asked if I could center it in the landing because it would be easier for him to slope the landing to it. That meant not just shortening the length of pipe, but adding an elbow that I fortunately already had.

Drain reposition

Drain reposition

I got that taken care of Saturday afternoon, and Mario was back on Monday to do the pour. He wound up tenting the whole operation with a tarp to keep out the rain. Yesterday he came back out to remove the tarp, clear the forms from the basement footing curb, and make sure everything looked good. We’re pretty happy with the finished results, and we plan to bring him back to pour the basement floor once the plumbers finish their work. If you need a concrete mason in the Chicago and Northwest Indiana area, we recommend MG Concrete.

Finished steps

Finished steps

It was snowing this morning when I snapped a photo of the finished stairs. I need to check the basement and see if the drain is working. I also plan to grind down the bit of footing stone that is proud of the landing by a couple inches so we don’t have a tripping hazard. Hopefully I can get some photos of the finished footing curb as well.