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EF Block addition: Fort Joe

Bannedjoe

Well-known member
Some 20 years ago, my wife and I built our house, by ourselves, just the 2 of us.
After considering many styles such as log cabin kits, cordwood, and other things, we finally settled on cinder block.
What can be more durable than that.

We were working as truckers.
We'd stay out 3 months at a time, come home for a few weeks and work on the house, then go back out.

It took the better part of 2 years before the walls and roof were completed.
We built the foundation all at once, figuring we'd most likely build it in two parts.
Shortly after making the first part livable as a one room house, we got distracted by opening our own restaurant.
That took 10 years out of our lives working and staying there 24/7.

We retired in 2015.
I was quite happy with what we had, but the wife wasn't, and wanted to continue with the plan.
It took me almost 4 years to gear up and see things her way.

A few friends had gone with EF block, which is a composite of styrofoam and concrete. The blocks are stacked, loaded with rebar, glued, then filled with cement.
This particular block, once filled, without the addition of anything else, is rated at R-40.
There's many advantages to using this block, one being quick, and a bit less heavy than cinder block, which I feared I just wasn't young enough anymore to handle.


There's a long ways to go, and I'll probably be working this the rest of my life.
I hope to have it enclosed and floor poured by this time next year.

Anyways, if anyone is curious about this style of building, I have tried to document as much as possible as we've gone along.

Enjoy, if you care to.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjlTBW7fbzOMrAI1nvhB0HI30eWaRmh3I
 

FrancSevin

Proudly Deplorable
GOLD Site Supporter
Some 20 years ago, my wife and I built our house, by ourselves, just the 2 of us.
After considering many styles such as log cabin kits, cordwood, and other things, we finally settled on cinder block.
What can be more durable than that.

We were working as truckers.
We'd stay out 3 months at a time, come home for a few weeks and work on the house, then go back out.

It took the better part of 2 years before the walls and roof were completed.
We built the foundation all at once, figuring we'd most likely build it in two parts.
Shortly after making the first part livable as a one room house, we got distracted by opening our own restaurant.
That took 10 years out of our lives working and staying there 24/7.

We retired in 2015.
I was quite happy with what we had, but the wife wasn't, and wanted to continue with the plan.
It took me almost 4 years to gear up and see things her way.

A few friends had gone with EF block, which is a composite of styrofoam and concrete. The blocks are stacked, loaded with rebar, glued, then filled with cement.
This particular block, once filled, without the addition of anything else, is rated at R-40.
There's many advantages to using this block, one being quick, and a bit less heavy than cinder block, which I feared I just wasn't young enough anymore to handle.


There's a long ways to go, and I'll probably be working this the rest of my life.
I hope to have it enclosed and floor poured by this time next year.

Anyways, if anyone is curious about this style of building, I have tried to document as much as possible as we've gone along.

Enjoy, if you care to.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjlTBW7fbzOMrAI1nvhB0HI30eWaRmh3I
Kudos on your endeavor.

The wife and I built our current house which started out as a simply flip of a burned out Model house. We lived in Chicago but the house was next to her parents in St. Charles MO. Halfway through the 4 month project the Wife decided we were gonna move in.

I've been flipping it ever since.

I would never live is a cookie cutter, corner lot tract house in a subdivision. Exactly what it is. So lots of remodeling , upgrades and expansions.

Still at it today.

I can relate to your saga.

The EF block also works as a foundation wall. I've been considering that for the new bathroom addition.
 

Bannedjoe

Well-known member
Kudos on your endeavor.



The EF block also works as a foundation wall. I've been considering that for the new bathroom addition.

Thank you!

The frost level doesn't exist here, also you don't have to dig down very far before you can come across a boulder the size of a whale.
Basements and the need for deep foundations pretty much don't exist around here.

Good luck with your project!
 

FrancSevin

Proudly Deplorable
GOLD Site Supporter
Thank you!

The frost level doesn't exist here, also you don't have to dig down very far before you can come across a boulder the size of a whale.
Basements and the need for deep foundations pretty much don't exist around here.

Good luck with your project!


I'm in hydraulic clay. 16" X 6" footing at 90" on an 8 " thick wall.
I pour 11" walls which will be about 8 yards of concrete for an 8'X8'X8' box. That is a lot of wheel barrel loads.

I have a 3 1/2 cubic foot mixer. I think I can get away with mixing on site if I just do footing and then a block wall. I can mix and pour the fill-crete into the blocks at leisure.
 

Bannedjoe

Well-known member
I'm in hydraulic clay. 16" X 6" footing at 90" on an 8 " thick wall.
I pour 11" walls which will be about 8 yards of concrete for an 8'X8'X8' box. That is a lot of wheel barrel loads.

I have a 3 1/2 cubic foot mixer. I think I can get away with mixing on site if I just do footing and then a block wall. I can mix and pour the fill-crete into the blocks at leisure.
The leisure thing is doable, although I think most of us would feel better about a mono-pour.
But for me, getting a truck up here twice along with a pumper for this project isn't financially feasible.
So we did the first lift by hand.
The second lift will need a truck and pumper, unless I get deluged by a bunch of illegals who'll work really cheap.

I think my mixer might be closer to 5 or six CF.
I can easily get (10) 60 pounders in, maybe a few more.
But my days of 80 or 90 pound bags is long gone.

For the first part of the house, we drove the pickup 50 miles to town and bought 90 pound bags of portland.
Then we drove 6 miles down to a wash and loaded the pickup with sand by shovel, then unloaded it, then mixed it, then wheelbarrowed it.
I'm just not that young (or stupid) anymore.
 

FrancSevin

Proudly Deplorable
GOLD Site Supporter
I've done mono pours at this house for years. Yes, when I was younger. And the landscaping was minimal. Now we have multilevel hardscapes.

Front porch pour was 9 yards with foundation and deck. Back house foundation repair was 7yards. Back porch foundations and deck was 14 yards.

The original builder poured the walls without a footing. I under cut that mistake, 10 feet at a time, when I placed a drain system around the perimeter, mixing one 80 Lb bag at a time. This created a footing and the foundation wall so the cracking ceased. Two years of hand work and carrying material up and down the stairs.

I was young and foolish back then. But, the basement is now dry and virtually fully finished with hardwood floors, drywall and a lower garden apartment/storm shelter.

We also went up. We converted about half of the truss roof to beams and rafters. My wife has her painting studio, actually a she cave, up there.

Whilst the "Property Brothers" can do such a remodel/redesign in a one hour show, our work has taken 40 years. Almost nothing of the original structure still exists. Most every nail, timber, pipe, wire, and screw was placed by my own hands. I have no idea how much we have spent over that time but surely we will not recover it if we were to sell.

However,that was not the intention. I enjoy doing the work.
 

Danang Sailor

nullius in verba
GOLD Site Supporter
I've done mono pours at this house for years. Yes, when I was younger. And the landscaping was minimal. Now we have multilevel hardscapes.

Front porch pour was 9 yards with foundation and deck. Back house foundation repair was 7yards. Back porch foundations and deck was 14 yards.

The original builder poured the walls without a footing. I under cut that mistake, 10 feet at a time, when I placed a drain system around the perimeter, mixing one 80 Lb bag at a time. This created a footing and the foundation wall so the cracking ceased. Two years of hand work and carrying material up and down the stairs.

I was young and foolish back then. But, the basement is now dry and virtually fully finished with hardwood floors, drywall and a lower garden apartment/storm shelter.

We also went up. We converted about half of the truss roof to beams and rafters. My wife has her painting studio, actually a she cave, up there.

Whilst the "Property Brothers" can do such a remodel/redesign in a one hour show, our work has taken 40 years. Almost nothing of the original structure still exists. Most every nail, timber, pipe, wire, and screw was placed by my own hands. I have no idea how much we have spent over that time but surely we will not recover it if we were to sell.

However,that was not the intention. I enjoy doing the work.

:nopics:
 

FrancSevin

Proudly Deplorable
GOLD Site Supporter
Dug a ditch this weekend for a driveway drain line I should have installed 6 years ago, About thirty feet long and two feet deep. All I have left to do tonite is back cut the sod pieces and replace them.

Next, I cut four feet of the concrete driveway and set flush drain scuppers. I will level with four inches of 1" minus, tamp solid and set 4" X 6"pavers 20 feet wide about 4 feet deep at the garage door. This should limit water going to the basement and take some load off of the sump system.

My two car drive is completely cracked. planes are to break it up and haul away. I'll continue the pavers down to the street. Luckily, I live in a subdivision so, about 30 feet by 20 feet. The big job is removal and preparation. Laying pavers each evening when I come home will be, by comparison, almost relaxing. This is about $3,000.00 ( I don't have) of pavers and gravel so it will likely wait until next spring.
 

FrancSevin

Proudly Deplorable
GOLD Site Supporter
My apologies to Banned Joe. I did not mean to commandeer his thread. I thought I was posting in "What are you doing today."

Mods are welcome to delete it.
 
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