Jo-Anne is reporting that the two layers of reinforcing steel (rebar) are looking good and documented the progress and status with the photos below.
Both layers of reinforcing steel are in place.
East side of lower level with reinforcing steel in place.
You are seeing a gap in the blog entries as Bryan is in Mendoza, Argentina for a week. However, Jo-Anne is dropping by the project site to document progress.
Bryan posted some photos to his Facebook account. Here is the link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=79718&id=702686961&ref=share
Bryan stayed at the guest house at O'Fournier, with the ultra-modern winery and the Andes in the backgound.
Our good friend, Rusty Weston, wished Bryan well as he hummed ’Don’t Cry for Me Argentina‘.
Given the wet weather in Los Gatos, we took some time to update our static pages describing the project. We created renderings of certain rooms and views using the picture-taking functionality in the architectural design software that we have been using (Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD v12).
Let’s go back in time to April 2008 …
Prior to starting this project, we evaluated the three-dimensional software that architects use when designing buildings. After much analysis, we concluded that Graphisoft had the most comprehensive, integrated suite of software tools for designing buildings and structures in 3D. Thus, one of our selection criteria for architects was the software that they used.
We interviewed 13 architects for our project and found a wide divergence in their use of software and other productivity tools. At one end of the spectrum were those that used pencils and paper, to the other end with full use of 3D software. No surprise.
Our objective included using software to build a complete ‘model’ of the house in 3D prior to breaking ground. We believe that proper design and planning with a 3D model will help with a robust design and avoid design conflicts in order to reduce change orders during the actual construction. As well, we wanted to be able to complete ‘sun studies’ in our passive solar design, knowing what roof overhangs were required to reduce the cooling and heating loads on our house.
In terms of the architects using leading software, we were surprised to find that some architects used lower versions of ArchiCAD and were not within N-1 of the latest release. One of these architects offered to migrate to a more recent version on our project. Not.
Another architect, unknown to us, used a third party service to perform all of the development of the model in ArchiCAD v11. We thought that he had these capabilities in house and he was fully conversant with the software.
Although ArchiCAD can run on both Apple or Windows-based hardware platforms, every architect that we spoke with used Apple as a platform. Wanting to avoid problems going across platforms, we decided to invest in a new Apple iMAC to run ArchiCAD.
Having the same hardware and software platform as our architect allowed us to ‘see’ the model as it was developed and understand the design issues we were facing.
After moving into the Construction Documents phase, using the 3D software became much more involved and important. Being able to view the 3D model as it changed each day made reviewing the changes and communicating our requirements to John Rider (Jrider+Design) much easier and faster. Also, having the same software and having John pass the model to us each day allowed us to work remotely over the telephone so it was faster and easier to collaborate on the design details.
Importantly, John Rider used version 11 for several months after Graphisoft released version 12 and then John upgraded to version 12. We believe that architects and designers should be within one release of the most recent version of the software they are using.
An important requirement with our design and engineering team was to work electronically. With ArchiCAD, John could export DWG files (in any flavor) to our engineers and import DWGs from those engineers. Importing and exporting DWGs allowed us to ensure the structure was consistant across our design team and allowed that team to collaborate and integrate their individual components.
From a visual perspective, and to illustrate how powerful ArchiCAD is, we took ‘photos’ of the renderings and used those on our static pages. The static pages with renderings include the following:
>>> Project Overview
>>> House Plans
>>> Main Level Remodel
>>> New Lower Level
>>> Integrating Design Elements with Resource Efficiency
>>> Project Timeline
The much needed rain arrived today. Big time.
We went to the job site at 2:00 pm today, and only one of the three pumps were running. This was not good. The breaker on the temporary power pole had tripped, so power wasn’t going to the two pumps and only the pump from the swimming pool was working. The water level was above the trenches for the drain pipes leading to the sewage ejector pit.
Heavy rains caused the water level to fill up the trenches where the pipes run to the sewage ejector pit.
It was cold and raining last night. We were treated (?) to one of the rare days when the Santa Cruz Mountains are dusted with snow. The snow line was fairly low today and, when the sun came out, it was quite pretty.
Bryan had a meeting in Almaden Valley this morning so when he was there, he snapped a quick photo of the dusting of snow on Mt. Umunhum.
Snow on the peak of Mt. Umunhum.
After completing the perimeter of the slab with the 90° rebar, it was time to work on the mat for the slab. This is when it gets difficult to walk and takes more time.
Reinforcing steel, rebar, strengthens concrete walls to help minimize cracking and buckling under load. Since we need a ‘concrete boat that is heavy enough to sink and strong enough to avoid breaking and cracking as it sinks’, we need a fairly strong mat slab and foundation walls.
For our project, our structural engineers (Duquette Engineering) specified the requirements for the rebar in the mat slab and the foundation walls. There is a two-layer grid required for both the horizontal mat slab and vertical walls. The horizontal plane is connected to the vertical plane with #8 rebar bent at a 90 degree angle. These pieces are set every 6 inches on center. The horizontal mat slab has two layers of #5 rebar with each direction spaced 12 inches on center (creating a grid). The minimum distance rebar can be from the exterior surface is 2 inches. so spacers are used. One of the tasks when setting the rebar in place is to tie the pieces together with wire. Very tedious work.
Oh, the diameter of the rebar is the number multiplied by 1/8 of an inch. Thus, a #5 rebar is 5/8 of an inch in diameter and #8 rebar is a full inch in diameter.
Positioning the materials in advance.
