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No basement? Or does that get dug out later? Basements can be a godsend when the nights are so hot that you can't sleep upstairs and don't have/can't afford constant air conditioning. Also good during tornado weather ... [X(]

Did they do footings much deeper than those concrete pads? Around here the clay soil (former bottom of Lake Agassiz) moves too much between freezing in winter and drying out/soaking up water in summer so houses need very good support below the top 10' of soil.

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

No basement? Or does that get dug out later? Basements can be a godsend when the nights are so hot that you can't sleep upstairs and don't have/can't afford constant air conditioning. Also good during tornado weather ... [X(]

Did they do footings much deeper than those concrete pads? Around here the clay soil (former bottom of Lake Agassiz) moves too much between freezing in winter and drying out/soaking up water in summer so houses need very good support below the top 10' of soil.

Basements are very rare around here. Our master bedroom will be on the ground floor so that will help if it's hotter weather. Also, running the AC pretty constantly in the Summer is the norm here. [:D]

These footings are around 2-3 feet deep with some steel reinforcement in the concrete. The rest of the house foundation will be cinder blocks and bricks on top of these 2-3 feet of concrete to form a crawl space uner the main floor. This method is regarded as more sturdy and stable than the other common "foundation" used in this region, which is just a concrrete slab that is several inches thick.

You may be able to tell from the photo, but there is a lot of clay in the soil here as well. Fortunately, it is never cold enough, long enough for the ground to freeze in the Winter here, so we don't have to deal with much expansion and contracting of the soil.

To give you an idea of how mild our Winters are in general, when the pool is built we will never have to "close it down". We will leave it full and the pump will run for it's normal cycle each day. There will be a thermostat on the pump control and if the air temp drops below around 34F, the pump will kick on and stay on to keep water moving through the pipes. That's all we will need for "winterization" for the pool. [8D]

ORIGINAL: Orm

ORIGINAL: USSAmerica

So the dry weather this past week finally allowed them to break ground and pour the foundation for our house! Now you lot won't have to listen to me whine about the weather... as much. [:D]

Nice to see it begun. And thank you for the picture. [&o]

It will be fascinating to follow the progress of the house construction. [:)]

I hope to continue taking a lot of pictures during the construction, Orm, but I'll try not to bombard you guys with too many. [:D]

ORIGINAL: USSAmerica

ORIGINAL: Orm

ORIGINAL: USSAmerica

So the dry weather this past week finally allowed them to break ground and pour the foundation for our house! Now you lot won't have to listen to me whine about the weather... as much. [:D]

Nice to see it begun. And thank you for the picture. [&o]

It will be fascinating to follow the progress of the house construction. [:)]

I hope to continue taking a lot of pictures during the construction, Orm, but I'll try not to bombard you guys with too many. [:D]

This is "THE THREAD!!!" - all off topic input is welcome. Giving us construction info is good gen.

but I'll try not to bombard you guys with too many.

Comon' LeMay 'bombard' us.[:D]

I would still have put a basement in. It is the cheapest addition that you can add to a house. Then there is also no need to build a crawl space for the snakes, skunks, and other varmints.

Good morning, mates. Even if it’s Monday...

Hi all,

Good morning!


Leo "Apollo11"

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: USSAmerica

So the dry weather this past week finally allowed them to break ground and pour the foundation for our house! Now you lot won't have to listen to me whine about the weather... as much. [:D]

I am always astonished by the simplicity and speed of how the most of family homes are build in the USA... [X(]

BTW, Mike, have you ever heard that someone you know build the house in the "European style" (i.e. basement, deep reinforced concrete foundations, reinforced concrete sides, brick walls etc.)?


Leo "Apollo11"

Hey.

ORIGINAL: Apollo11


BTW, Mike, have you ever heard that someone you know build the house in the "European style" (i.e. basement, deep reinforced concrete foundations, reinforced concrete sides, brick walls etc.)?

Leo "Apollo11"

I suppose what I would like to have if I ever got a house it wouldn't be in the "European style". [:D] I would prefer something in a traditional Swedish style built in wood. Perhaps a newly built variant (or restored) of the one in the picture below.

But if someone wanted to give me this house I wouldn't say no to it. [:)]

Good morning everyone....GP

ORIGINAL: Orm

But if someone wanted to give me this house I wouldn't say no to it. [:)]

That is a nice house 🏠 👌....GP

I'm curious about the dual chimneys. Over here newer houses are built with high efficiency furnaces which vent exhaust from a small pipe out the side of the house. Big old brick chimneys lose a lot of heat and crumble after a while, especially if acid rain eats at the mortar. Do Swedish houses still use wood or coal for home heating or fireplaces for cozy moments? Or maybe for disposal of bodies? [X(]

The white house with a double chimney is an American house so I have no clue.

The red one in the other picture is Swedish but it is a hundred years old so the design is a bit obsolete with double chimneys.

Some (few) Swedish houses still use wood for heating, although it is usually a secondary source. Pellet stoves where a popular heating model for a while when the houses were upgraded. Now I think the downhole heat exchanger is the most popular model for heating houses. I also think district heating is common alternative.

However, masonry heaters have made a resurgence in popularity and newer buildings may have one, or a fireplace for the cosy winter evenings (most old houses have one, or more, if they haven't tore it out. I saw a fairly recent report that said that there were bad air pollution effects because so many houses burned wood in their cosy fireplaces...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downhole_heat_exchanger

Good Monday morning - Tithe. [&o][&o][&o]

ORIGINAL: Apollo11

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: USSAmerica

So the dry weather this past week finally allowed them to break ground and pour the foundation for our house! Now you lot won't have to listen to me whine about the weather... as much. [:D]

I am always astonished by the simplicity and speed of how the most of family homes are build in the USA... [X(]

BTW, Mike, have you ever heard that someone you know build the house in the "European style" (i.e. basement, deep reinforced concrete foundations, reinforced concrete sides, brick walls etc.)?


Leo "Apollo11"

Hey Leo, it's common in a lot of parts of the USA to build basements, at least 1/2 to 3/4 below ground level. They are more common in the northern and older parts of the country. I don't know how deep you mean for reinforced concrete foundations, but the one for my house is around 3 feet deep. Very few houses are built with concrete sides over here, but plenty of commercial buildings are. Bricks are frequently used above the foundation level instead of other forms of siding, but only for appearance and ease of maintenance. Most exterior brick walls on houses here are only the outside layer of wood frame walls. A good German friend that some of you may remember from these parts as Historiker commented more than once on the big differences in construction methods between the US and Europe.

We will have a gas fireplace in our house. I wish it were wood burning, but it wasn't an option. Natural gas has become very inexpensive here over the last 20 years or so, increasing it's popularity.

It's funny, for newer construction, in the very cold parts of the country up North, wood burning fireplaces are shunned because they can actually lose more heat up the chimney. In the South you see more new wood burning fireplaces because the heating factor is secondary to the ambiance of a fire.

We will have lots of room in the back to build a campfire style fire pit to enjoy out there.

... and since it is a Monday....