Stripping the forms

Ahh... walls!  Rock Concrete was back in again this morning to strip the forms and reveal our walls.  With the calcium added to the concrete under OBC rules, the concrete has cured very fast.   

Concrete!

Right on schedule, ignoring Mother Nature's delays, we poured the foundation wall concrete today.

Ready to pour

The guys finished their forming work and rebar this morning, but the crappy weather means we are shifting the pour until Monday.

Working in the rain

The walls were pretty much complete today and now we wait for a good window to pour.  Tomorrow looks like a mixed bag forecast, so it may be pushed to Monday.

Forming begins

The guys from Rock arrived mid day after finishing their last house, and started preparatory work for the forming that they hope to complete tomorrow.

Forms Delivered

Rock Concrete craned in the forms that will be used to shape the concrete foundation walls today.

Footings repinned

GTA Surveying was in today to repin the wall locations while we stripped out all of the wood and garbage away from concrete footings.

Finally, we pour

Well, after an unsettling week of responding to phantom issues raised by an unknown neighbour [by the way, I've never understood people who call the City/Province/Parking/Police for the seemingly sole purpose of delaying the project and costing the owner of the house, their neighbour, more money...but I digress...], Rock Concrete was finally able to come in and pour the footings.  Yeah!

Footings

Phil was in today with his team of 5 to form and level the footings.  These guys are one of the most specialized trades in the business, and they are in high demand by both custom home builders and large multi-unit developers to do their thing!

The other hole!

Everybody wants a walkout these days... whether it's for potential future rentals or just an excuse to rake more leaves... 

Walkouts can be challenging, especially in an area like Etobicoke that has variably high water table levels depending where you are digging.  Due to the fact that the walkout has to be dug four feet below the basement floor level, it can be quite deep, which poses not only water risks but also risks of collapse during excavation.  This is why I always fill the excavated part of the walkout with concrete.  It provides the most stable surface to build the walkout and exterior adjoining wall on, and also speeds the process of forming the walls (otherwise they have to form a wall, pour it, wait, come back, strip footings, waterproof then do it all again.

Here was the first of 3 9-meter full concrete trucks to deposit their load in the giant walkout at 150 Van Dusen...

Excavation Time

Survey

The first time we need the surveyor in is to locate "the cut".  The surveyor will put stakes at various areas (usually a meter outside each corner of the house) and provide us with a measurement denoting how deep to cut the excavation.

Bricks and block

Demo!

Demo started today.  Bye-bye house!

Demo before demo...

DSR (Designated Substance Report) tests came back positive, though in an ever-so-small way, so we had to get some ceiling and flooring out using a special remediation crew.

They did a great job, responding on time and throwing a big crew at the job so it wouldn't set our actual demolition back too much.  Thanks to Frank Dodaro at Coast to Coast Environmental Inc!

Testing the house before demo

The lab tech was in today to test for hazardous materials.  Unfortunately, he found trace amounts of asbestos in the ceiling and some other areas, so we're going to have to get that removed before taking out the rest of the house.  They should be done by Thursday, so not too bad, but it is a wasted expense.

George and the machine have to wait until Friday...