finishing up the foundation

it is really amazing how fast the days go by between blog posts. hmm let's see, what did you miss.

i finished covering the foundation walls with rigid foam insulation. this was just after rain, so they were still damp. this was a mistake - those walls still aren't dry.

i shoveled additional gravel up against the base of the sheets, so water at the base of the wall can drain down to the drainage pipe. i used up just about the entire remaining pile of gravel.

i covered the gravel with filter fabric, and covered the fabric with rocks and CMU debris to keep it in place. i then put most of the extra concrete, mortar, & CMU debris on top of that fabric. this saves me the cost of hauling it off somewhere. it's kind of cheap to put it there, but it shouldn't be a problem, even if someone needs to dig up the footer area in the future for whatever reason.

i covered the seams between rigid foam sheets with tyvek tape. it took 1.5 rolls of tape. the tape starts above the pile of gravel at the bottom. the backfill should provide an airseal that low on the wall. higher up (and closer to the surface) the tape will assure an airtight shell. i'll be foaming the tiny gaps at the top of the sheets, then taping that seam, before attaching lath and stucco.

kate & i cleaned out most of the excess mortar droppings and other debris from the crawlspace and that was put around the foundation too. i purchased a propane heater and have been using that to heat the crawl in an expensive attempt to dry it out. i should have let the walls dry before covering them.

i rented two bobcats which i have over this weekend. i started backfilling yesterday. i have 8 hours between the two of them, so i'm trying to use them as efficiently as i can manage.

it's very cold outside, i think it dipped down to 29F last night.. but it's supposed to go up past 60 today.