N3Bruce's Journal: Homebuilding

Saw that Slashdot has an article today about prefab homes, a topic near and dear to my heart. I am in the process of building one, but am only in the process of putting in the foundation. From what I can see, the contractor is doing a good job. The subs that I have seen so far seem to know their stuff, and the work has been progressing well. The main dig of the foundation took a day, the footers another day, and the walls formed out and poured the next. Those guys really work hard and gracefully on the narrow ledges and edges of the forms. It is certainly work I would not want to do myself, one slip and down into the hole you go, and while probably not fatal, such a fall would almost certainly result in broken bones, torn ligaments, or painful bruises. As of today, the foundation is nearly complete, save outside stairs, the installation of French Drains, the outside waterproofing, and the stone base for the basement floor.

The modules of the house will be ready in about 5 weeks, and delivered just before Christmas, so the builder has plenty of time to finish up the foundation work. I hope the early winter here in MD is more benign than last year, though most of the work is inside there are still things like septic systems, well hookups, and other things that are at least a little dependent on the weather. Time will tell...