Kathy and Calvin's Home Page

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
In the beginning of July I purchased a rebar cutter/bender on craigslist. During my conversation with the seller, I told him we were looking for a concrete guy to pour the foundation, slab, and back stairwell. He gave me his info and I didn't think much of it. How could someone commuting between Portland and Corvallis underbid a local person? But he did, by almost 50%. The Corvallis "tax" hits again. It seems that everything is more expensive in Corvallis, including contractors. After calling references, we had Paul on board to do the concrete work.

Paul had bid the job to use metal framed forms. These 2 foot by 8 foot forms weighed about 90 lbs each. Not so bad until you realize we had to put 140 of them in the hole and then take them out. Remember, to take them out there is now a 9 foot tall wall in the way. Oh logistics!

By July 28th we had finished digging. I contacted Paul to tell him we can start with the footings. This is what the walls stand on. By August 3, the footings were poured.

Building the footing forms - lots of work!

Steve looking at the footings before getting poured:

The cement truck with the line pumper (the hose thing):

Kevin floating the cement on top of the footing:

Not much, but a good start to a solid foundation:

Now for the basement walls. But wait, we have problems getting forms. Stay tuned next time for the saga of Building a Home in Corvallis.