Michael Holigan: " Now that the city has approved of the plumbing, we've come back and added sand throughout the whole foundation to give us a level surface to work on.
Al Carrell: " You know compacted sand is a lot more stable than regular field earth.
M.H.: " Plus, it gives us a level four inches of concrete, we don't want two inches, we don't want six inches, we want a level four inches the way the engineer designed it."
A.C.: " Also, we've added a lot of strength in here, by putting rebar all around."
M.H.: " That's correct, Al. Plus, we've added the post tension cables, the way the engineer designed it."
A.C: " This little chair or seat, is going to hold the cable up, so when we pour the foundation, the concrete is going to be as much on the bottom as it is on the top."
M.H.: " And below the cable on top of the sand, we put black polly, now that's to prevent the foundation from ever sweating. Moisture can come up from the ground years from now, and cause a carpet to mildew, or the wood on your wood floor to start popping off, and we don't want that, so we're going to go ahead and lay polly on the whole foundation. Now all we need is an inspection from the city, and we're ready to pour concrete."
A.C.: " Now it's most important for the cable to be right in the middle of the concrete, that's why we have those little chairs in under there, because we want to make sure that it's going to be right."
M.H.: " That way when we put tension and pull on the cable, it's not going to pop out of the concrete, which could cause some major damage to the foundation."
A.C.: " Next, the foundation must be level, the reason is because eventually, you're going to be walking over that, you're going to be putting flooring over it, and it needs to be as level as possible. Now, you see the guys out there are raking across there, to smooth it off, but that's not the end of it. They'll come back in and hand trial a little bit."
M.H.: " That way when we come back and lay tile there won't be any dips below it, where it might make the tile crack, or cave in."
A.C.: " Absolutely, any time you're going to have a rigid material, like a ceramic tile on there, it has got to be a smooth surface or it is going to crack."
M.H.: '" And before the foundation totally hardens up, we need to go around the perimeter where the frame is going to set, and install foundation bolts, now we're actually going to get back to these in a couple of weeks, but we're actually going to bolt the walls down to the foundation to protect us in tornadoes, or earthquakes, or high wind situations."
A.C.: " Absolutely.'
Episode 001 1995 - 96 Season
| Plumber | Stove Tip Bracket | Choosing a Builder | Kitchen Sink Remedy | Post-tension Foundation | Lifespace Home | Selecting a Lender |
To order a Video Tape, call 1-800-TO-BUILD and ask for Episode #001.