After completing the external perimeter walls, we’re now going to focus on the internal walls around the garage. 

We need to set forms behind these walls so they can be shotcreted on April 30.

Stripping Forms from Perimeter Walls

The site is looking good now that the forms have been stripped from around the site.  Over the next two weeks, Bill Brown’s team will set forms for the internal walls and backfill the front of the site.

North-west corner of the site looks good. This is the West Mechanical room where the heat exchange units with be located.

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There was lots to clean up after a very successful day yesterday.

Rain Showers Throughout the Day

We need to state that rain showers occured throughout the day today.  Yesterday was a bit windy, but dry.  The window for shotcrete was narrow and we managed to squeeze through it successfully. 

We’re still smiling after enjoying clear weather yesterday.

Removing the Shotcrete Spoils

When shooting shotcrete on vertical walls, there are spoils as the shotcrete needs to be ‘carved’ in a vertical manner.  Apparently, these spoils can range from 15 to 20% by volume.  Not very ‘green’ to truck away spoils.

The conveyor helped to remove the concrete quickly today.

Logistically, we had 90 yards of concrete so 10% spoils is a significant amount.  Bill Brown’s team removed as much by hand as possible and then brought a conveyor in today.  This accelerated the clean up dramatically. (more…)

It was raining around the Silicon Valley but not on Via Sereno.

We were humming Albert Hammond’s song all day, hoping it wouldn’t start pouring.

Starting the Day

GraniteRock supplied our 10 truckloads of concrete today, which was 50% slag, and Dees-Hennessy performed the actual shotcrete (using their equipment and mobile air compressor).

GraniteRock truck on Via Sereno, supplying concrete mix to Dees-Hennessy's pumper reservoir.

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It poured this morning.

Poor Weather Ahead

Looking over Los Gatos while driving north on Highway #85.

With our shotcrete scheduled for Wednesday morning, everyone was a bit nervous as the probability of rain is very high.  We received a fair amount of rain this morning so our project site is now wet. (more…)

We passed the inspection today.

Final Preparations

Shane Lothrop from Innovative Structural Engineering provided us with the definitive locations for the SSTB24 anchors, which will anchor the HTT22s that attach to the posts on each side of our four shear walls that are over the retaining walls.

These hold downs and anchor bolts are set out in Detail 2 on SIP4.

Jorge had these anchors in place quickly so we could be ready for the inspection in the afternoon.  Also, we needed to get the embedded anchors in place for the two Hardy panels in Kate’s Bedroom.  The 1 1/8 inch bolts must be embedded at least 25 inches into the concrete, beyond a cold joint. 

STAB24 in position to anchor an HTT22, which is attached to a post on a shear wall.

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It was a beautiful blue-sky, California day today.  A dirigible appeared in the sunshine, circling over Los Gatos and the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Dirigible flying over Los Gatos.

Discussion with Matt Jung

Matt Jung from 88HVAC met Bryan at the job site to discuss the geothermal and radiant heating requirements and timing.  The last time Matt was at the site was in November 2008 so a lot had changed since them.

We need to establish all ducting requirements prior to completing the concrete walls. (more…)