208 Randall Mullins, Under Way

We are happy to announce a new Smart Homes project in Toney Alabama.  We are building a new house at 208 Randall Mullins Road in Toney Alabama, and we are very excited about this project.  This house is going to be an enthralling build with many smart home and energy efficient features.  Some of the more exciting features planned are a tankless electric water heater, a tongue and groove vaulted ceiling in the great room, a bacteria resistant air jetted whirlpool tub, a standing seam metal roof, an EMS storm shelter, natural stone and cedar siding, and an electric induction cook top.

 

We started this project off in an bold fashion by bravely embarking on constructing the best foundation that has ever gone under a Smart Homes’ house.  We constructed a poured concrete foundation with an integrated EMS storm shelter.  The walls and storm shelter are formed from 4000 psi, 6″ thinck, concrete reinforced with steel every 18″ horizontally and vertically.  The integrated storm shelter is tucked into the remote underground corner of the full daylight basement to provide maximum protection against the tornadoes.  The storm shelter is constructed of the same monolithic, reinforced, concrete walls that form the foundation walls.   It is also capped  by a 6″ thick, steel reinforced concrete ceiling that is mechanically tied to the adjoining walls with rebar, and formed and poured at the same time as the walls thus connecting wall and ceiling on the molecular level as well.  I’d almost like to see a tornado try to take on this storm shelter.  If it had feelings, I think the ethereal tornado would be humbled by the terrestrial fortress we have created to protect the future inhabitants of this house.

I’ve got to stop here and rave about the speed and quality of the poured concrete wall foundation.  This is the first time I’ve built such a foundation, and I am supremely impressed.  I am enthralled with the quality of the finished product, enamored with the seamless monolithic structure, and amazed at the speed and simplicity of the process.  In a real world strength comparison, the butt end of a shovel and a few man hours could take apart a block laid crawlspace foundation.  I know, I’ve done it before.   Even a block wall with poured concrete filling the empty cells of the cinder block can be dismantled pretty easily with a sledgehammer and a few willing, strong, and destructive guys. 

This  wall however would stand up to bobcat at full speed crashing into its side.  Okay I haven’t tested this theory, but it’ll take quite a beating, i’m sure.  I’ve seen a crawlspace wall of half this height, buckle, collapse, and completely fail with a minor bump of a skidsteer bucket.  Of course the shear vulnerability of a block foundation wall is not typically a concern since most of the force on the foundation is in the vertical compressive direction.  Still the shear force vulnerability exists, and if a sufficient shear force exerted itself on a block wall foundation, it would topple rather readily compared to the poured concrete wall.

The best thing about this foundation though isn’t the strength and durability; although the homeowners definitely think very highly of these features.  My favorite part was the speed and ease with which this foundation went up.  All the credit here goes to Allstar Walls, a north Alabama concrete wall, waterproofing and foundation company that I subcontracted to construct the foundation.  They made the process of putting up a concrete wall painless for me and economical and painless for the homeowners.

The timeline was very simple, and the schedule was tightly managed by Allstar Walls and Smart Homes.

• Excavate and dig footings - 3 days
• Inspect and pour footings - 1 day
• Pin corners of footings - 1 day
• Build rebar mesh - 1 day
• Form walls with lightweight, interconnecting, and reusable aluminum forms - 1 day
• Pour the forms with concrete - 1 day
• Strip the walls of the forms and place gravel in the basement foundation - 2 days
• Put gravel in the slab, build grade beams, install poly, and inspect - 3 days
• Pour basement slab - Today

When it is all said and done, the entire process should take less than a month which is twice as fast as constructing the foundation conventionally.  Twice as fast also means the homeowners pay  approximately half as much interest in payments to the construction loan.  Time is after all money, and no where is that more apparent then in a construction project.

Because of the painless experience, the speed of  construction and the quality of the finished product, I may never build a cinder block foundation again.
 

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