Preparing to Pour the Slab

We had lots of things happening around here!

My dad is a retired electrician so he is helping us to do our wiring. We laid the conduit, or pipe that the wiring goes through, that goes under the slab. It was very cool to work with my dad and hear stories of his working days.

David worked on our plumbing that needed to go under the slab also. We designed the floorplan so that the kitchen and bath, the areas where water needs to run, share an interior wall. This way we can run water lines through it, and don't have to run much in the bale walls. This also limits the material and labor since we aren't running water lines all over the house. In fact, all off our water lines except for the washing machine stay in that wall. They come into that wall from the cistern 15 ft outside that wall, and drain out of that wall to a greywater surge tank 15 ft outside that wall.

Fred, David's son, and James, David's nephew, lined the entire inside of the forms and footers with insulation panels. Since our slab will be acting as thermal mass, absorbing the heat of the sun during sunny winter days and also from our wood heat, then releasing it when thr temps drop at night, insulation helps it not to lose that heat to the surrounding ground. In the summer, it will help keep the cool in also.

They also dug deeper sections in the gravel base of the slab in the areas where heavy things will be, like our stone and loadbearing walls, cedar post, and wood stove. Then they covered it all with a plastic vapor barrier, and set sheets of wire reinforcement and rebar.

Daddy and our friend Ben worked at digging the footer for a retaining wall... through solid rock. It made my muscles hurt to watch them, and reminded me of the episode of Little House on the Prairie where Pa finds work with a friend pounding holes in rocks for dynamite. Seen that one? One holding a stake and the other swinging a big sledge hammer to pound it in. Yikes!

David and the boys also dug holes for the posts for the shed on the east side of the barn. The posts are standing and waiting for their concrete bases. The west side posts will sit on the retaining wall whose footer will also be poured with the slab.

So that was all done by Tuesday, and we've been waiting for concrete ever since. After delays by the crew and by the cement company and by some rain, it is now Friday and I'm glancing at the driveway every few minutes because the crew should be here at 2pm and it is 1:58.

2:15- They are here!

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