We are getting close to the second pour of concrete in the walls. Our first pour was back in October. Since that time we have put 3 more rounds or Rastra block around the house. The cut outs for the windows are starting to show up.
We spent a bit of time to calculate where the bottoms of all the windows would be. The tops of the window are all at the same height. Above them there is minimum depth needed for the concrete lentil beam that runs around the house. At the bottom there is a minimum height off the floor to the start of the glass for non tempered glass. Then there is the aesthetic When you are sitting in the chair where do you want the glass to start. There is big difference between 22' and 25 inches off the floor, as far as what can be seen when sitting.
Every round has re bar in it. The windows and doors have an additional vertical re-bar going up that is continuous with the horizontal re-bar. This is requiring 3 dimensional bends in the re-bar. That is fun to bend!
In every window and door opening we placed bucks as a form for the concrete to but up against during the pour and while it cures. This task took some precision. The bucks needed to be level and plumb and the correct distance apart. So build a channel and measure, measure, measure. This extras step to make everything square and true should make putting the windows easier.
We applied water proofing to the portion of the was below ground. The water proofing was very thick. The Rastra is very coarse. The first attempt was painting and rolling the water proofing on the wall. This was very time consuming. The next attempt was to use a texturing gun. The same tool that used for texturing walls. This worked very well and we were able to apply 2 coats of water proofing in a couple of days.
For additional protection from water we will be applying a dimple board that will keep the dirt from touching the wall. If any water does get behind the dimple board it will have a path to move down to the footing.
We had our inspection on Friday for our second pour. That went well. Now the temperature just needs to change a bit and we can schedule our pour. The temperatures are in the teens and twenties. That is pretty cold for Portland and too cold for a concrete pour.
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