Concrete work at Concrete Home complete

Posted by Andrewbartley on 2014

The final slabs were poured this month at the Clifton Concrete home which completed Bartley Corp’s scope of work! Although a complex project overall, with ease, the concrete flatwork crews prepped the garage slab, first floor slab, and exterior concrete. The grade beams, rebar and poly installed in the garage slab are easily seen from the time-lapsed photos. A concrete pump was used to place the concrete inside the walls of the first floor home. Bartley crews used powered trowel machines to finish the concrete surface followed by soft cutting the construction joints. Broom finishes were used on the exterior concrete stoops and slabs.

We are proud to complete yet another concrete home and continue to be the leaders in concrete homes in the Washington DC metropolitan area. Learn more about the benefits of concrete homes at: https://bartleycorp.com/residential-concrete-foundations/concrete-homes/

If interested in a concrete home, please contact us so we can connect you with a local builder familiar with concrete homes.

NOVA e+ Home

Posted by Andrewbartley on 2014

The Northern Virginia e+ Home which is located in Springfield, Virginia is earning a spotlight for its green and passive properties. This Bartley Corp project included the full foundation package and many green products. The Thermomass insulated walls that Bartley Corp constructed vastly improved the heating and cooling efficiencies. Bartley Corp also installed the Stego Wrap Vapor Barrier and XPS Insulation Board, both which were placed under the basement concrete slab. As an architectural appeal, Rockwell window wells were installed to protect the basement windows and allow more natural light. Another insulated product, the AmDeck Floor system, was used to support the above grade concrete deck.

Every project requires a different set of requirements, specified products and management. The Bartley Corporation consistently excels due to the Attention to Detail that is taken individually on each project.

More about the Northern Virginia e+ Home can be found at http://www.nova-eplus-home.com

807 Rockville Pike (Rollins Avenue) Project

Posted by Andrewbartley on 2014

Working with @Steven-J-Karr-AIA-Inc & @OurHouse_ZionRd, the commercial division of @BartleyConcrete excelled at completing the concrete work for the Rollings Center @ the Pike.

Bartley performed the footings, concrete walls, interior slabs, exterior walkways, concrete stairs, and pervious concrete.

Congratulations to Steven Karr on 30 years of success: http://www.sjkaia.com/pdfFiles/sjkaia_MetroArchitect2014.pdf

Above Grade Walls of Concrete Home Complete

Posted by Andrewbartley on 2014

Until now, the Clifton Concrete Home was just a concrete foundation. With the hard work of setting and pouring the above grade insulated concrete walls, the project now is uniquely in a category that the industry calls a concrete home. The advantages are documented (http://www.concretehomescouncil.org http://www.cement.org/think-harder-concrete-/homes http://concretehomesmagazine.com to name a few) and getting to this milestone will reap ongoing rewards for the homeowners for decades to come.

To accomplish above grade walls, Bartley Corp started by tying rebar per the structural plans. Next, one of our crane trucks brought in our large commercial “gang” forms. The larger panels provide a bigger finished area, can increase the efficiently of setting the wall and are stronger than stacking several panels to boot. Only one side was initially set to allow the other trades (electrical, plumbing, HVAC, elevator etc.) to place their blockouts and material in the walls.

Next the Thermomass insulation was placed in the center of the wall which is key to creating an energy efficient concrete home. The crane truck returned to set the other side of the concrete wall panels. The first pour consisted of 90 cubic yards of concrete followed by 26 yards of concrete the next day in order to separate the concrete at the flashing (a specification that took Attention to Detail). After stripping the walls, a solid concrete home was revealed. Beautiful!

Super Speed Concrete Home Construction Video

Posted by Andrewbartley on 2014

Check out a video of the Foundation level of the Clifton Concrete Home! This entertaining 51 second time lapsed video shows the unexcavated site through the basement slab pour.

Bartley Corp is back on site, so stay tuned for some more progress that will show the 1st floor concrete construction! Please enjoy, share and Like !! Yes this is the same video that was leaked from Vimeo last week (its also on YouTube.com ).

Watch this video on YouTube

Seasons Change but Concrete Remains

Posted by Andrewbartley on 2013

It has been months since Bartley Corp has worked on the Clifton concrete house so we wanted to share an update. In the Summer, Bartley successfully prepped and poured the basement level slab (first picture: concrete slab is not visible from the Work Zone Cam angle). This marked the final stage of Bartley’s “typical” concrete foundation package. To recap the concrete foundation package, here were the steps: Excavation, Footings, Walls, Waterproofing, and Slabs. After the slabs, Bartley turned back the job to the builders.

Complicated jobs can take more time and effort by the whole construction team and this project is no exception. In the Fall, the builder and framers have been backfilling and installing the first floor deck. In the bleak midwinter, mother nature brought some snow and kept construction workers off the job (see last picture). Soon enough, Bartley will be back at the site to work on the first floor walls, which is the true difference between a regular stick built home and a concrete home!

Backfill Matters

Posted by Andrewbartley on 2013

Backfilling a foundation is an important step in building a home, but it can come with pitfalls. Once the concrete walls have cured, the foundation is waterproofed, draintile (and preferably drainboard) is installed, a qualified equipment operator “back” “fills” the area between the exterior wall and the designed grade level.

The fill can vary but a coarse, well-draining material is recommend to help keep the basement dry. Builder Magazine says “Site soils are fine if the natural soil in the area is mainly sandy or gravelly, but don’t use the existing soil from the site for backfill if it contains clay or organic material.” The backfill material can be specified in the plans.

Bartley Corp typically includes backfilling in the excavation scope of work. In this case, the backfill design called for a loose crushed rock so the builder decided to complete the work as it is a more time consuming installation.

The big mistakes made when backfilling can cause a cracked wall or a long-term water problem. A qualified equipment operator places the proper loads and moves the equipment in a safe manner not to cause too much pressure against the concrete walls when compacting. In some cases bracing the walls is necessary to ensure the loads are not too much for the concrete walls when they are still curing.

Waterproofing the Foundation

Posted by Andrewbartley on 2013 with 4 Comments

Waterproofing is an important part of Bartley’s foundation package. We are happy to use the EPRO Waterproofing system (www.eproserv.com) consisting of ECOBASE , ECOSHIELD, and ECODRAIN. Shown in black, ECOBASE is a water-based polymer-modified asphalt emulsion application which is sprayed directly onto the concrete wall. Next, ECOSHIELD, a blend of polyolefin copolymers, provides a vapor barrier protection over the first waterproofing membrane. Then pictured in grey, ECODRAIN is a polypropylene filter fabric and dimple board combination. The filter fabric promotes proper water drainage and the dimple board protects the fabric.

Exterior Drain Tile is also installed along the base of the wall by our waterproofing team. The drain tile is perforated PVC drain pipe that helps keep water from building up at the base of the wall.

The EPRO system combined with the expert waterproofing installers makes it a Bartley foundation!

Concrete Walls Poured

Posted by Andrewbartley on 2013

Measure thrice, pour once. Bartley successfully poured a 152.5 cubic yard wall in the heat of the summer (88 degrees). Inside the wall contained rebar, PVC blockouts, electrical boxes, Thermomass, ThermaEZE, wall spacers, wall ties, insulation blockouts and pressure treated window and door blockouts. All this material and labor added up to a price tag of $74,797 for the foundation wall portion of the contract.

The pictures show the wall pour assisted by a concrete pump and 16 ready-mixed concrete trucks. The next day, the wall crew was able to strip (remove) the panels off the foundation walls to get ready for the waterproofing.

Concrete is not a very forgiving material so all the work that went into getting the walls set correctly was worth the effort! Attention to Detail and Production meet value is our motto and it holds true especially in this case.

Insulation for Concrete Walls are centered and placed

Posted by Andrewbartley on 2013

Given the go ahead from the other contractors who set their wall penetrations, the Bartley crews returned to finish setting the wall forms. Unlike the typical concrete wall for a foundation, the plans called for two kinds of insulated walls; one insulation system that is cast in the center of the concrete wall and one that is cast on the outside of the wall.

The first system, Thermomass (http://www.thermomass.com) is a rigid foam insulation that is placed in the center of the wall with fiber composite connectors that keep the insulation in place. The major benefit is the insulation eliminates thermal bridges which improves the thermal mass effect of the concrete wall. The effective R value of the system is 20.4 in the Washington D.C. area. Pictures that contain blue insulation are showing Thermomass.

The white insulation is a system called ThermaEZE (http://www.certainteed.com/products/foundations/foundation-insulation/311483) where the insulation is set on the inside or outside of the wall. The expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulation is set against the concrete panels during installation and the concrete is poured normally. In this application ThermaEZE was placed on the outside of the wall in order to assist the steel decking and support design. The R value of ThermaEZE is 9.4 for 2 inches of the material and a 10” wall.

Moving along the wall, the crews placed insulation, the rebar and then the exterior concrete wall panels. At this point, the walls were ready for the next critical step, the concrete wall pour. Get excited!

Category: Residential