The foundation for our new house and attached garage/front porch is finished! It has taken a while to gather all of the footage and photos to document this portion of the build, but today I am ready to share with all of you this exciting step!

I have heard from those who have gone before us in this building process – that the foundation portion is perhaps the most slow moving. And, so far, that has been the case for us as well. I think it has to do with the fact that the process has to be done in multiple steps. First, the footings. Then, the foundation walls for the basement (if any), and finally the garage and porch foundation.

For our property we had an additional couple of steps because of the walkout portion of the basement.

 

OUR FOUNDATION

When it comes to foundations, there are a variety of options available. We chose to utilize a somewhat new technique called ICF foundations. Insulated Concrete Forms are becoming more of a standard in home construction. Though they are a bit more costly material wise, but the final product provides a very thick and sturdy foundation wall.

The main difference between an ICF foundation and a traditional poured foundation is that the forms they set before filling with concrete are permanent. They become a part of the foundation itself. With insulation on both sides, there is no need to add any after the fact. You can read more about Insulated Concrete Forms here.

 

PHOTOS OF THE FOUNDATION PROCESS

The very first step of foundation work is to set the footings. They are slightly wider than the foundation walls, and need to rest below the frost level. Here in good ol’ Minnesota, that means a minimum of five feet below finished grade. That is one of the reasons that most homes in our area have finished basements. The excavators are already digging so deep, that it isn’t a lot of extra work to add them!

Our basement includes one wall that is a walkout. This will be great for evenings out on the patio, and for the kids when they have friends over. Because the finished grade on the walkout side is lower than the rest of the site, they started the digging there.

They set the footing forms out of wood, then poured them with rebar inserted. You can see from this picture how the lower level is ‘stepped’ to include the walkout wall.

This picture shows the same walkout wall, now poured up to the finished basement floor height, in line with the rest of the basement.

The walls went up rather quickly using the ICF’s. This is, again, the walkout side of the house. We are really loving the privacy back here!

 

 

Viewing the foundation from the street-side though, I had a bit of a panic attack.  One of my goals all along was to minimize the height of the house, to help it blend in with the neighborhood surroundings. And to me, the foundation looked like it was sitting so high out of the ground!

This happened in part because of our sewer dilemma. In order to avoid needing a sewage lift station in our basement, they raised the entire foundation by six inches. We discussed options to make up for these extra inches, including using shallower floor trusses. Ultimately though, we were reassured that the grading would help everything blend in nicely, and so we decided to just carry on.

 

BASEMENT PLUMBING

The plumbing crew came in and added the basement connections. They also added a radon mitigation system, which will run from below grade to above the roof. This is a new requirement for residential construction. Essentially it will help to release any radon gas that accumulates below grade, making it a safer place for us to occupy.

Once that was finished, they also connected the house to the city water and sewer system, which will run under the driveway. This created another freak out moment for me when I noticed a large PVC pipe sticking out of the ground right where the front of the porch would be!

Turns out this is the sewer clean-out. I was again reassured that grading would put this pipe at grade, and that it could be disguised with landscaping.

 

PORCH AND GARAGE FOUNDATION

The crew moved onto the porch and garage footings and foundation. Because there is no lower level below them, they didn’t need to dig quite as deep.

Meanwhile, they prepped the basement level for our in floor heating system. We are very excited to enjoy this feature in the cold winter months!

The crew was able to pour the porch and garage footings and the basement floor on the same day. That was very exciting! They came back the next day to set the foundation walls and poured them soon after.

This image shows the finished foundation walls. Standing in front of the porch and looking toward the house. The garage is set back, on the left.

 

 

PRELIMINARY GRADING

The excavating crew came back to smooth things out and, I have to say, they worked some magic. I was quite pleased to see that the grade did indeed help minimize the height of the foundation. It is still a bit higher than I would have liked, but ultimately there wasn’t much that could have been done. Looking on the bright side – being the highest house in the neighborhood should mean we will never have any water problems!

View from the street/ drive entrance looking toward house. You can use the pipe sticking out of the ground for reference. Watch the video below to see a more panoramic view of our site with the foundation finished.

 

UPDATE NO. 4 VIDEO

See our property take shape in this video!

 

That’s all for this update! I hope to be back in just a couple of weeks with the next step in our construction process- wood framing. We are super excited for this step, for a couple of reasons. One, it is supposed to go rather quickly. And two, because things will finally start taking the shape of a house! I know the kids are especially excited to walk around in the house and explore all the nooks and crannies!

 

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