Log Home Update: Part 6Footers

We drove out to PA yesterday to take some more stuff to the storage unit, check on the progress at the building site, see about requirements for changing driver’s licenses, ask about the adjacent property’s status, and lunch with Don and Deb our Contractor/friends.

We hauled an exercise bike and treadmill to a second smaller 10’ x 10’ storage unit we rented. This will also be where I will put the larger power tools from my workshop (table saw, band saw, drill press, molder/edger).

The footers have been poured for the foundation walls. The footers are about 24-30 inches wide and mark the edge of the building. In the garage area, where there will be no basement, there will be a 40” wall constructed above the footer. Thirty-six inches of the wall will be below grade. The main portion of the house will have a full basement. Here the foundation forms and walls will provide for a 9’ ceiling height once the floor is poured. As the photos show, the footers have reinforcing steel bars (rebar) that will extend up into the foundation walls and that will tie the two pieces together. The two areas without the rebar are the garage doors and the walkout basement area.

Standing at the front door.


From behind the garage looking north.


From the southwest corner looking across to the utility room in the basement.


Looking into the basement through the walkout. Standing underneath the first floor deck at the north end of the home.



We thought we might be able to switch our licenses now, but we need to be in residence before we can do so. We won’t be living in PA until the house is completed unless we move in to Joe and Linda’s home for a couple of months. We have actually talked about moving into the Adirondack cabin for the interval but that will still be 250 miles form the construction site and I would really like to do some of the work with Don and his crew. However, 250 miles is a loooong commute.

When we stopped at the realtor’s we learned that the adjacent 7 acres have not been sold. Since that piece has a long, narrow neck from the road to the interior that carried the driveway to the perced building site. It would be a very, very long driveway shaped like a question mark. The road is at the dot at the bottom of the ? and the building site is located at the end of the hook. You actually drive over almost every part of the 7 acres to get to the site. If the home in NJ were sold I would be making an offer today. I may still make the offer and hope our current residence sells soon.

Lunch with Don and Deb was very enjoyable. Terry and Deb carried on their own conversations about food, sewing, shopping and TV. Don and I talked about the construction schedule, how we are going to store materials, and when he would like me to be there to go to work.