Stem Walls!

It's unbelievable to me how much progress can be made in a week. After so many months of preparation, it's hard to believe this is our house being built. I feel sorry for the sucker paying for all of this work. D'oh!

We generally only have time to check on the site during lunch so we miss a lot of stuff. By the time we got to the site, the dozer had already pushed the extra dirt from the excavation off to the north side, the pad was flat again, the footings were dry, the stem wall forms already measured and lined up, and a cement truck was already on site dumping concrete for the stem walls!

Stem walls are formed by pouring concrete into pre-made wooden forms that have been carefully measured and propped up. This cement will be the outside border of our foundation, the part you see from the outside even when the house is finished. Some parts of the floorplan border have been left without stem walls because they will be poured with cement at the same time as the foundation but will not be supporting walls, such as the screen porch and the garage door area.

Pics of stem wall forms and concrete pouring:






Bonus pic of the day - our ridiculously cute child pausing while playing with leftover slightly rusty rebar:


Next week, the plumber arrives. Stay tuned (I will try not to get any butt crack shots)!