Concrete construction for hurricane resistant homes in hurricane prone areas.
As impatient as I am I moved forward on some items that are out of sequence, but DONE, unlike other issues! City of Marathon requires approvals for an inspection of rough plumbing, electrical and mechanical work before I can move forward. I had gutters installed, so we can feed the cistern (required for my PBAS permit) of reclaimed water. I got a used cistern, one of the only deals I could find now here. The biggest news is…
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Working is so rare around here, that when it happens, they put up a sign! After the stud lines have been placed on the concrete floors, the rough plumbing was installed. Due to the inefficient design, the second bedroom shares common walls with two bathrooms. I am hoping to add insulation or a double layer of sheetrock to deaden the bathroom sounds. I also delivered the 3 bathroom fans and kitchen fan to be fitted as…
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After a long wait (in my mind) the roof is mostly complete. This week the final (I hope) concrete pour was completed. The wood trusses are installed, the plywood over the trusses are installed and the waterproof membrane is on! The exception for the roof is the final metal installation. The concrete pour was to finalize the truss supports. The contractor decided to set the trusses and then pour the concrete around the set trusses. Why?…
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Finally! The concrete pour for the second floor is completed. What every idea I had for a completion date is a sad joke. First, I guess I’ll go through the second-floor concrete pour. I send the week before the pour trying to add electrical outlets to the balcony area before the concrete was poured. I asked the general contractor for the name of the electrician so I can coordinate with him. Nope! No answer. It seems the contractor wanted to…
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This week the contractor and his crew are framing the second floor for the next concrete pour. This one is a little different as it will have the second floor balcony/loggia. The balcony will be a few inches lower to keep water from moving back towards the interior living area. The contractor has his crew creating the rebar “cages”. Those will be used for the horizontal concrete beams and the vertical concrete columns. I need to talk to…
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Now that the first floor is up, and the concrete has cured enough, the contractor is putting up the temporary supports for the second floor. I am unsure when the second floor will be poured, but it will be soon (I hope!) The method to support the forms for the second floor are wood 4″x4″s, two are attached to a metal connector. The metal connector is used to lock the 4″x4″s together. The workers can place one on the floor…
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Since the last posting the contractor has formed up the first (raised) floor and built the concrete block walls that enclose the first floor. This floor will contain the bedrooms and utility room. It seem to take a long time to form the floor and the support beams of poured concrete. Due to lots of building activity I had to wait an additional week to get this concrete pour completed. The workers used five 10 yard truckloads. It was hard…
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When is the first floor not the ground floor? In Europe, and the Florida Keys, of course! There has been confusion around here as to what floor the contractor is working on…. I’ve had trouble communicating with people about how far along we are, which is not very! Here the floor above the ground floor is the first floor. The contractor promised me that now “my crew is on your job until it’s done”, YAY! But we will see. I’m…
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The next step is framing the first floor (above grade). The supports have been constructed and the plywood for the subfloor has been installed. In Silicon Valley, the building are constructed with steel supports and metal floor deck to support the raised floor. But this is the Keys, and this is how it’s done. The next step is to install the rebar that will support the concrete pour for the subfloor. I’ve never seen the supports built of wood and…
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The next step was the perimeter walls and the free standing columns. As we were preparing for the construction of the perimeter walls, I had ideas for making some changes in the field. Due to the City of Marathon’s illegal granting of building rights to the biggest developer in Marathon the state of Florida has stepped in to “review and comment” on all construction permits and changes to existing permits. All of the drawings were done months ago but trying…
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