Inspection Passed

Mohammad was in today to watch Tony and Rui perform the ball tests for the various plumbing stacks in the basement, as well as to review the overall layout.  Passed!  Now we can start prepping the basement for concrete.

Plumbing starts

Mario and Rui were working in the "relative" comfort of the basement at 150 Van Dusen.  At least the wind is blocked out and the soil/gravel is extremely dry so it wasn't that bad working there (says me!).

Water/sewer upgrade

Imad, the supervisor for CoXCo who does the city water and sewer upgrades for Etobicoke, has been really great with working with my schedule.  His guys started early this morning and were able to get the new 1" water service and brand new sewer line in by the end of the day.

Forming and shoveling

Tom and Chris formed the stairs today, while I managed not to slip on the deck tarp while shoveling...impressive!

Pouring

Tom poured the porches today in blistery conditions!

Forming

Thom had his cold weather gear on as we worked most of the day yesterday and today trying to form up the various concrete components of the build:  front porch, suspended slab back porch, walkout steps and garage.

Floor complete

Miguel finished the first floor floor today, right on time!

Framing begins

Miguel's team arrived this morning to set up the first floor floor.  The idea is to get some protection for the basement before the snow arrives.  When he's back from vacation mid-January, we will frame the rest of the house.

Stone slinger x2

Backfill

BR Landscaping had three guys on site today to do backfill around the perimeter of the foundation and the garage.  I can always breath a little more easily after this step has been completed.  Any danger of dirt walls caving in or a flash flood setting us back are gone - nice!  

Waterproofing

Rock Concrete was in to complete their final task - waterproofing.  The steps involve applying a bitumen layer, setting the weeping tile around the base of the footing, then installing the plastic waterproof membrane around the perimeter, followed by a good layer of at least 12" of gravel to allow for adequate drainage without dirt filtering down to block the weeping tile.

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...

Fencing and toilet

Safety fence and construction toilet... check!

Power Disconnected

One of the last things we had to do in preparation for demolition was to remove the overhead hydro service from the house.  Toronto Hydro was in today to do the work, so we are good to go.  Now, we wait for permit and get ready for the house to come down.

Check!!!

Temporary Power Installed

There are two scenarios for temporary power during construction.  The expensive solution is a temporary power pole and a special service from the City of Toronto.  The cheaper/better option is to ask a neighbour to let us install a dedicated exterior plug, then compensate them for the use of the power for two or three months.

Luckily, next door neighbour "Beverly" is really nice and let us install a GFCI outlet for our use today.

Check!

Water meter removed

In preparation for demo, we basically have to get all of the services removed from the house.  There was no gas service, so that's easy.  Today, a City of Toronto worker came in on schedule to shut off and remove the water meter.

Check!

Tim-ber

We finally got our permit to destroy the large pine in the northwest corner of the yard, so Ryan from Karmatree and his team were in to remove it today.  If all goes well, we should have our building permit in two weeks and then we will start the race to beat winter!

CoA Meeting Notice Posted

We are headed to Committee of Adjustment in a few week's time, so we've posted the mandatory green notice that lets everyone know what we're up to!

Tree Protection Zone

We've assembled the massive tree protections zones as required by the city... hopefully we have some room left to work!

Project Launch

Welcome to the 150 Van Dusen Blvd project site by TPM Custom Homes.  This summer we will be building a custom, 2-storey home on this tree lined street just steps from Bloor and Islington.