cute and cuter

Slab w/ newly saw cut control joints.

ta-da!

up @ 3 am...

A blurry photo. Perhaps come sunrise my little f-stop challenged camera can do somewhat better.

Meanwhile, note the cool boom concrete pumper truck. Concrete started arriving at 3:45 a.m., started sloshing into the hopper at 4:00 a.m., and was being 'directed' by a crew of 6 workers to the far corners of the house slab shortly thereafter.

The purpose of starting so early is to beat the heat and buy a little more 'finishing' time.

pressure building...

Pressure is building, figuratively and literally (see photograph of pressure gauge for the literal). Five zones of radiant tubing installed more-or-less to design with the odd wrong turn here and there. Footings poured earlier in the week. Strap hold-downs for shear walls installed as well.

rebar and radiant tubing going down

Radiant tubing following Rebar. Everyone racing to be ready for inspection on Friday and pour on Saturday...

Those footings are gigantic!

to sand or not to sand...

A quick stroll through the internet reveals how many different approaches to concrete slabs are out there. A lot of literature I've seen recommends a layer of sand on top of the 6 mil. vapor barrier. But I've seen some arguments against using sand at all. And a lot of pictures I've seen of this kind of house pad shows the rebar, the radiant tubing and the concrete going directly on top of either the a - undisturbed soil, b - gravel layer, or c - pink foamular insulation. I put the sand down if for no other reason than it holds the 4' x 8' foamular sheet / parasails down when the wind kicks up.

Meanwhile, waiting for the concrete crew to put the rebar in place...

Sunset over the housepad...

New additions: 6 mil. vapor barrier and rigid, underslab (at some point, once the slab is poured - stay tuned, that's scheduled next week!) rigid insulation.

On other fronts - made the first kitchen purchase: an IKEA farm sink.