Parapet and Retaining Walls Formed

Here the forms are in place for the parapet across the top of the front of the house and the retaining walls that will hold the earth back on the sides.











A closer view of the front with forms in place.















The back parapet and retaining wall being formed.









The front with the forms removed.

Third Module Complete, Flat Roof Section Formed

This is the view from the dining/living area. The left opening goes into the entryway and module that will have two bedrooms. The right opening will have a triple casement window.




















Here the overhang is being supported while the concrete fully dries. The front door will be in where the narrow opening is on the right.











This is the steel that is supporting the flat roof section (masterbedroom and bath) and the overhang at the back of the house.










Here the form is in place for the pouring of the half module that is the masterbedroom. They will be pouring on the 2/22.















The view from the overhang at the front of the house. There will be a parapet wall where you see the capped steel sticking up. The earth will be retained behind those walls.












Here is the view of the front with the supports removed.

Second Module Poured

The view is from the living/kitchen/dining area looking out the back. The large opening will accommodate the 3 panel sliding door and a large kitchen window. The area in between will be blocked in with cement. The door to the left will go into the master bedroom, which is a half module with a flat roof.















This is the view from the top of the building just before the 2nd module was poured.



















This view shows the overhang on the back of the house. There will be a parapet wall that holds the earth back up there.








The two poured modules and the third one, which will be the garage, being formed.












A closer view of the three modules together, the overhang can be seen on the 2nd module.










Pumping the concrete for the 2nd module.

First Module and Second Module Form

These photos show some of the steel re bar that went into the 12" walls of the first module. The provisions for electricity can be seen also.



The first module was poured on 2/5, and the second was starting to be formed on 2/6. The second module will be divided into two bedrooms and a bath.

The First Module Form

Because the lot is so narrow, we had to create a ramp through some trees to be able to come around the narrow path around the wing/retaining wall footer with equipment. More fill was brought in bring up the level around the footer.









The form truck arrived from Minnesota; so now each module will be poured one by one.


The one that is formed up to be poured first is for the kitchen/living/dining area.



My excavator is starting to form a retaining wall out of large rocks at the back of the house.

Monolithic Footer Complete

Watching this house go up is more like watching a bridge or multi storied building, there is so much steel and concrete involved. The engineer required that the footer be poured at once, so now there is a bold outline of the house with wing walls on the site.

Excavation and fill to support a massive weight

It has been a long time since the last post because it has been a long and trying process getting the plans from Earth Sheltered Tech. altered to FL code. Since the last bought of hurricanes in the state, there have been code changes, so that requirements that allowed one of these structures to be built in Vero Beach, have been made more strict in terms of load bearing calculations today. Basically, this meant that I had to add about 100yds of concrete and more steel to the existing plans. Because of the added weight, I had to truck in over 130 loads of compactable fill to to create a firm pad to begin to pour the footers. So now the house will be built atop a mini mountain, that will be even more pronounced once the house is covered with earth. The rock pictured will be used to support the sides of this "mountain" ---the sides and back of the pad will have to be supported by them to keep the fill in place. I will need to build a stairway to get out of the back of the house to the back yard. And it will be a rocky climb around the sides of the house to the back also. I have tried to plan so that no truck will have to access the back of the structure. My lot is only 130 feet wide, so to access the rear, I would have to use the adjacent property. The last photo shows the start of the footing forms. We should begin to pour next week.