Team AngelaIt's Like Extreme Home Makeover: Angela Edition!

Yikes, I’m late posting this! John Corsi our builder is moving faster than the speed of blog. Attached you’ll find pictures of the foundation, which they poured a coupla weeks ago right before that biting cold front came through and frosted anything that stood still.

The foundation is designed to cope with a water table that’s only 2.7 feet below the surface of the lot. That’s the reason we built it as a crawl space instead of as a full basement, which would have been like digging a well under the house, and then trying to keep it dry.

The design is interesting (if you’re into that kind of thing); it’s set on crushed stone with serious drainage at the perimeter, and along its outer walls John used a material called “dimple mat” which is like wrapping your foundation in bubble wrap. Doing so creates a moisture barrier, plus a layer of air against the foundation walls (between the dimples). If any water gets in there, it can just flow down to the drainage area at the base of the foundation and be drained away. The slab floor of the crawl space sits on 2” of rigid foam insulation, with a plastic vapor barrier above the foam. That will keep the slab warm and dry, improving indoor air quality- a #1 goal since Angela’s lungs are compromised. Later, we’ll shoot 2” of closed-cell foam against the interior of the foundation walls, keeping the entire crawlspace warm and dry- no mold allowed!

These unusual but eminently practical waterproofing and insulation systems were brought to us by Building Science Corp, an outfit that consults on energy-efficient and sustainable design. Our man Kohta Ueno over there has been very helpful, and John has implemented his out-of-the-mainstream ideas without batting an eye- though John’s subcontractors think I’m crazy (which I kinda am when it comes to houses).

One more thing: if you look closely you can see there’s a lip on the inside of some of the foundation walls- that allows us to seat the floor joists on them, which brings their tops flush to the top of the concrete.

So what’s important about having the tops of your floor joists flush with the top of the concrete? It means the finished flooring is only a couple of inches above that, so it’s only one step down to the earth when Angela wants to go out into the yard with the poodles. Better yet, we’ll bring the Team Angela patio right up to the same level as the finished floor at the dining room’s exterior door, which means no steps down to get to the patio! If she’s in her wheelchair, she’ll be able to roll right out and into the sun.

It was our architect Henry Arnaudo who suggested that “reverse brick shelf” foundation to lower those joists. In short, the people who are helping us with this project “get it” and the house will be safe, healthy, and easy for Angela to live in as a result. I can’t thank them enough.

As I write this John has already flown by, and he’s got the first floor decking on, the first floor walls are up, and if I don’t get over there to take some pictures the next blog post will show me painting the trim at the end of the job!