Hello basement walls!

There's been a lot going on at the Ardmore house over the past week!  I've been crazy busy at work and with the kids, so I haven't had much of a chance to hang out with my buddy Jim while he supervises everything (or sits and waits), but I have gotten a few pics here and there.

Here's one of the big trucks that came in with all the forms on it for the basement walls.  They put the big wood rectangle forms in place and then they pour the cement in between them and let it sit to form the walls.  It's pretty cool to see how it all works.

This represents how I feel right now....

Now, here's what the basement looked like once the "footings" were in and the wood was stripped from them.  The big pile of stone represents the garage. 

Then, they start putting the big wood forms in place to hold the cement that they are going to pour....

Yes, that pile of rocks is still the garage (that 5 years from now we are going to wish we made a part of the basement ... but we didn't due to lack of funds... c'mon lottery!!)

Here's a good shot of what the forms look like waiting for cement -

Here's the cement after it's poured in:

Pretty cool, right?  I think so.

Now, a day later... WALA!  The forms come off and the basement walls are there.  Can you see me hanging out in my bar down there?  It's right in the middle... where the stairs are, do you see those too?  ;-)  I do!

Then the garage was poured to make those walls today.  Here's a picture of a very important feature of my basement... the wine cellar.  It doesn't look like anything, but it's that square with the open space.

And, here's the window required by code now-a-days (which I love)...

See that?!  Starting to look like it's going to grow up to be an actual house someday!!

The next step is the basement floor.  After that's poured, they'll rubberize the basement walls from the outside (ya know, I don't know if rubberize is a real word?  that looks funny, right?).  That makes sure the water doesn't come in.  Then they smoosh tiny rocks up next to the house to help with drainage and throw the rest of the junk-dirt we have in the yard to fill in the holes- and get rid of the dirt/garbage without paying for it to be taken somewhere.  Shudder.

So, once that's done... we'll see lumber.  Maybe next week?  I can't wait for that part!!