Details.

Cooled sqft: 3466sqft Under roof sqft: 4348sqft, 4bed 4bath 1.5 story with media and game room upstairs with full bath. 3 car tandem with a true man cave shop . Tandem will be enclosed with roll up door and rear entry door to back yard.

I will post pics as I can. They say we should be in by Dec 15th.

9/16 Grade done


9/19 forms are set


9/21 plumbing and dirt work.


9/22 Almost ready to pour!

Rear of house



Front of house

 

Im really not a fan of post tension cables for residential slabs, theyre not as reliable as rebar slabs. At the very least make sure that when they cut the tails off the cables that they put the grease pack in there and then clean the pocket before grouting so the edge of your slab doesnt chip later.

Also if its not too late get the termi-mesh around all slab penetrations, that is the main way termites get into the slabs and its really does work.

Also if youre going to have a patio or anything added on right to the slab I recommend putting some #4 4' long rebar at 12" off center, centered at the construction joint so you dont have settling problems later. Make sure they use some sort of bond breaker whether it be "red wood", fiber board or synko-flex between the house slab and patio around.

 

Yup and it's used alot. I have a 3,000psi mix design on my slab so Im fine.

Good read for those wondering what the above is talking about.
http://www.hgtvpro.com/hpro/bp_found...745450,00.html

 

nice house! Is that on the NW side of h-town?

 

NW Houston/Cypress Tx

It's in Fairfeild

 

How big is the lot? I'm going through the EXACT same process right now. Except we're about to start drywalling next week. House has very similar options and sq ft.

As far as post tension, it's prefered in Texas because of the clay based soil. With post tension the whole foundation can move as a whole. Rebar is too solid and will crack and break when one part of the foundation shifts.

Atleast that's how I understand it when I checked into it about 3 weeks ago.

 

The Man Cave will ROCK! I got a 3 car garage w/ 10ft extension for a future "shop".

If you plan on adding a lift in your garage, Make sure to talk to the contractor and verify your measurements as to where the rebar is.

I am planning on adding the Max Jacks lift in my garage and I keep getting feedback that with a post tension slab, there may be some issues. I may have to hire a person to come x-ray the foundation so that I don't accidentally destroy my foundation. Then pay a engineer to approve the install.

Builder said I would void my 10 year foundation warranty and If I drill in the wrong place the damage could be "Catastrophic"

You might want to have him add the mounting bolts before they pour the slab.

 

I'm glad you've educated yourself but that article is a bit misleading and flat out wrong on a big fact about pt cables. Most cable is 7 strand and is supposed to be stressed to 33.1kips, aka ~33,000psi. A 3,000psi concrete is the MINIMUM I'd go with having a pt slab.

The reason I don't like pt for a residential slab has nothing to do with the pt itself. It's that in residential there is no oversight. PT cables are not something to be taken lightly, and that's why you still see a lot of slab problems.

First and foremost the subgrade prep needs to be right. With as dry as its been the expansive clays are way below optimum moisture and most track home builders aren't going to spend the money to properly prep the subgrade. Then you have the actual placement of the tendons, the pt systems are designed with a specific drape pattern that gives the slab its strength and its overlooked a lot. Then you've got the actual tensioning of the cables which who knows how long its been since their ram and gauge has been calibrated or if they actually pay attention while stressing. During the pouring of the slab the sheathing of the cable can be torn and cause inaccurate readings. Only someone who is experienced and paying attention will be able to tell that this is what is happening by the gauge readout. Furthermore how do you know the slab is at 75% strength without getting test cylinders made off the concrete?

Make sure when they cut the tails off they put a grease pack in the pocket at the edge of the slab otherwise water can get to the anchor head of the cable and rust out the wedges in there and release the tension the cable. They also need to clean the pocket well before they grout it to seal the head of permanently.
You are correct, pt is an awesome construction material, in most cases in elevated decks we can reduce rebar by 75%, pretty cool stuff. And yes pt is great for expansive soil founded foundations, just has to be installed correctly
Yes you will need someone to come out with a hilti ferroscan to mark where the cables and/or rebar is. Depending on when you plan on doing this I could do it for you for fairly cheap when I come down to visit family, otherwise you will need to get in contact with a company like Terracon and they can come out and do it. I believe we charge around 500 through office for that service.

If you just go to drilling and cut a cable you may be catching 33,000lbs of force in the face when the cable breaks the concrete above it.

 

Damn, 3 months to build a 3500sqft house. I would be going over it with a fine tooth comb to make sure everything was done right.

If you have never built a new house before get someone that knows what they are looking at to help. Just because it looks pretty in the end does not mean it is right.

Looks like it will be a nice house when finished

 

^^^ Reason #2 of "Why tech?"

Define "Fairly Cheap" (PM)

I might take you up on that. As long as it is official Documentation.
I Plan on adding the lift in July of next year but may be using your services in December.

 

1slow01Z71 ...I will be contacting you when I start to build my next home.

 

Not sure what you mean by the reason #2 why tech comment.

Me doing it on the side wouldn't be official. For it to be official it will need a PE stamp and that's going to cost you some money. Sounds like all the builder is concerned about is you hitting a cable. You should get clarification from them on what exactly they want to satisfy your warranty. As far as cost it would be half of what going through an actual company would be.

 

I'm a construction inspector by trade so its my forte. If anyone has any questions relating to anything structural I'd be more than willing to help. I really only do commercial stuff but residential is much the same just on a smaller scale. I have a side business doing residential inspections for people who want a bit more oversight on their house being built. I do pretty much anything structural, from dirt density testing to wood truss inspection.

 

My parents just bought property and are looking to build a house, just out of curiosity how much is it costing you to build the house? or price per square foot? if you don't feel like saying that's cool i'm just curious as to what its going to cost my parents.

 

^^^WoW! I'll have to keep that in mind when I get into my next home build. My current home is custom & was a PITA getting built. I learned a lot from dealing with a bad contractor.

 

Sometimes there are "hookups". Thanks for the info

 

X2, I built my 1st house about 10 years ago. When we built it I thought I knew a lot but after building I found a lot of things I would have done differently. When we build a new house again I'm going to make sure it is insulated properly and spend the extra money on windows.

Make sure you have a lay out plan for your furniture so that you can lay out your electrical, lighting and data as needed. The contractor is going to just put in the bare minimum to pass inspection.

 

My background is QA/QC, Project Manager for electrical, civil, structural. Granted not the same civil inspection I would do on a explosion proof electrical substation but still I know what to look for. Cables are new to me rebar is not.

They seem so far to have there **** together and they also have a outside inspection guy that comes it at different points during the build. Plus I'm pulling the drawings and checking everything. Quality to me is everything.

 

Yup planned all that all out. Data,floor plugs, even a 220v 50amp in the garage incase I need to back feed into the house when we lose power.

contract was signed for $293k. Or $84.53 I have added a few misc things since contract so I will see. I don't think I will go over $296k

 

Switched outlets in the soffits for Christmas lights?