The Necessity of a Good Foundation

1st Week of June

"The beautiful rests on the foundations of the necessary."  Ralph Waldo Emerson

The basic design concept for any house is to provide shelter.  That is the necessity.  If a house is to be more than just shelter then some thought must be given to the shape, size, proportion, materials .  .  . from which something beautiful can take shape.

But it all must start with a strong foundation.  Just as with a good design, good construction starts with a lot of thought and planning.  Every dimension - both vertical and horizontal - will be critical as construction continues.


The forms arrive (view from NW corner of yard)

House foundation walls are typically constructed of either concrete block units or concrete.  The use of certain building materials is often dictated by regional building practices.  In our area concrete seems to be the preferred foundation wall material, and it was the material we wanted; just seems like it would be stronger. 

Arranging the forms around the concrete footings

Once the concrete footings were poured and allowed to set about a day it was time to erect the wall forms.  Pre-fabricated, re-usable metal forms are used to set up the walls.  The crews know what they are doing, and erection of the panels seems to go quickly.

Of course, the stength of concrete walls is actually in the steel reinforcing bars, typically laid in a grid pattern (vertical and horizontal), and tied together wiht metal straps.  As with all the details for the house, Steve and I act with a "trust but verify" strategy.  We check the rebar spacing as it is being laid, and don't hesitate to ask questions.


Formwork, seen from the front corner of the Garage

Things may look a bit rough at this stage, but there are a lot of level planes and dimensions being "cast in stone" (or concrete in this case) that will become critical for every other material installation to follow.



Wall Check!  Is it level?

I must admit to taking a tape measure over to the site, and checking all of the foundation wall measurements against the plans.  Given how rough everything looks, I couldn't help but be surprised and impressed that every dimension was within 1/4 - 1/2-inch of true, and most of them were exact.


Pouring the Basement Slab

By now the crews are probably used to our presence.  We show up a lot.  It certainly helps that we happen to be renting RIGHT NEXT DOOR.  And Nicholas had a bit of time "between jobs"; he was our eyes and ears during the months of May and June.  Thank you, Nicholas! 


Foundation, Basement Walls and Slab - done!

In one week's time we have gone from a large hole in the ground to having a basement.  It may look rough, but it's a great start.  We can finally start to see and feel the overall house size.  While it is bigger than the old house, it is actually small by "Great Falls" standards.  For us, I think it will be just right.