Jeff's
New House Journal
July
17,
2003
Today was my pre-foundation inspection! Unfortunately it was at 8am, which meant getting up much earlier than I'm used to. There was no traffic, so I made it from my door to the freeway exit in Antioch in 48 minutes. That's an all-time record!
Once I got there, I was greeted by Matt, the construction superintendent.
We first went over my options list... which didn't start off well. He said I was getting a den, I said that I was supposed to have a 3rd bedroom. After a few minutes we both realized that had taken the wrong option list (for the lot 20 up the hill... why they have duplicates is beyond me). He said he'd find my list and make sure everything was correct.
There was also a delay related to permits that was slowing the next phase of construction. Apparently the country club up the hill has to be so far along before they can build more homes.
Then it was time for my tour!
As you can see, they're just about ready to pour the concrete for my slab foundation. There is re-bar in there already, and they'll be tightening it up on Monday. This ensures that the whole house settles together, which prevents cracks in the slab.
The 5 feet from the sidewalk up toward my house is a "public easement". I'm told that this means that the city owns it (as their utility lines are underneath), and they could rip up my yard if they had to. Matt says that he's never had that happen in 14 years in the business.
I also found out that I'm responsible for my side of the concrete wall. They were beginning landscape work on the other side of the wall, so it shouldn't be too long before there are trees behind it.
Here's a view from the back corner of the house, looking through the middle, toward bedroom 3. They have some fancy hydraulic machine that will tighten those cables.
Matt told me about this high-tech fiber optic camera that they put through the plumbing system, which helps find anything stuck. He says they find all kinds of things in the plumbing, from animals to toys.
On this side, there is only 10 feet between houses. This is the side with the utilities on it, and the gate.
However, on the other side, you've got a whopping 14.8 feet between houses. Much better.
This is a view from my back yard, looking down the row of houses. It'll be a decent-sized yard. Now if I can only make it look nice!
This is looking toward the garage. The "super family room" will be right here, with bedroom 3 in the top right corner.
Finally, here's a look down the street. The house on lot 1 (which I've shown repeatedly) is all the way down the block. That's also near where I took that nice open space picture in my last update.
That's all for now. Framing will start in about a week, and it'll look like a real house about a week after that! So I'm definitely going to go check it out in two weeks! Things are finally getting interesting!