Patching concrete, Framing floor

This blog post documents the repairs we made to the foundation and the beginning of framing the new floor.  We had two large openings in the foundation we needed to repair: one was where the old doorway was and the other was an existing window that will be obstructed by the heating trunk line.  I missed getting a good picture of the forming process, but what we did is fasten plywood to both sides of the holes to form it.  We then drilled holes in the sides and bottom in which to insert short pieces of rebar and then we tied it all together.  Before pouring, we applied bonding adhesive (moose-milk) to the existing surface.  We used 11 bags of concrete and mixed it in a wheelbarrow.  When we pulled the forms there was a lot of "honey-combing," or voids on the surface.  This is undesirable not only for aesthetic reasons, but because water can get in these holes and freeze, causing the surface to spauld and deteriorate.  To correct this issue, we used a bag of foundation plaster and skimmed the surface of the patch, overlapping the cold-joint to further seal moisture out of the joint  

Exterior of abandoned window

Interior of abandoned window

Interior of abandoned door

Another step that I want to make brief mention of here is the waterproofing we applied to the interior of the foundation.  Concrete is very porous, and wicks ground water into the interior of the basement quite easily.  There were no signs of significant moisture in the existing home, which would have been seen as water stains inside the basement walls, mildew spots, mold, crumbling drywall, etc.  However, just to be on the safe side, we wanted to take every precaution we could to reduce the possibility of future moisture problems.  Water tables can change over time and basements that have never had any water intrusion in the past can develop problems down the road.  This process is fairly simple and cheap to do now (I think we spent about $160 on asphalt waterproofing product and one evening applying the product)  If this step prevents the home from developing problems down the road then it will have been worth it,



Once we finished the foundation repairs and modifications, we were finally able to begin framing.  We reused most of the old floor joists, replacing ones that were broken, excessively warped, or otherwise unusable.

Future dining room includes a cantilevered bay window to add space and  street appeal

Beam and temporary supports placed to allow us to set floor joists

An increasingly annoying reality is that we are running out of light every evening before we are ready to be done.   We are pushing hard to get the exterior finished before the time change when we will have no light at all in the evening.