Waterproofing the Foundation

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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!

2013-07-17 Epro Waterproofing

2013-07-18 Draintile Shooting Stone

2013-07-18 Drainage Board

2013-07-24 Backfilled

Concrete Walls Poured

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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.

2013-07-15 Pour Foundation Walls

2013-07-15 Concrete Pour

2013-07-15 Pour Foundation Column

2013-07-16 Strip Foundation Walls

2013-07-16 Strip Walls & Remove Panels

2013-07-17 Concret Wall Reveal

Insulation for Concrete Walls are centered and placed

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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!

2013-07-08 Insulation Install

2013-07-08 Form Outside

2013-07-09 Forming Wrapup

2013-07-09 Inuslation Install from back of Home

2013-07-09 Inuslation Install Thermomass

2013-07-09 Inuslation Install Thermomas Closeup

2013-07-09 Inuslation Thermomass in center of wall

2013-07-09 Inuslation Install ThermaEZE

Interior Concrete Panels Set for Trades

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Forming the interior of the wall helps our whole team get the wall penetrations correct. The typical penetrations (or wall sleeves) are needed for connections from one side of the wall to the other. The Plumbers, Electricians, and HVAC contractors are the usual suspects that need wall penetrations. In most cases when forming a foundation, Bartley can insert pieces of PVC as blockouts and then form both sides of  the wall. With this concrete house, Bartley decided to give full access to the HVAC, Electrician and Plumbing contractors, which is why only the inside of the wall is formed. Although forming one side at a time takes a little longer, the other contractors can easily set their penetrations correctly which is important when working with  a solid structure like concrete walls.

In concrete homes, electrical outlets (with conduits) are often placed inside the forms before pouring. This allowed the electrical wiring and outlets to be furnished within the wall which is smart when leaving the concrete interior walls as the finished product in lieu of drywall or another wall finish. This way the electrical outlet covers can be applied directly to the electrical outlet and rest against the concrete. If you look closely in some of the pictures you can see the blue electrical outlets that the electrician placed and drilled into the panels.

In the final two pictures, Bartley Corp is not onsite which allows the Plumber and Electrician to get their work done without interference. Once all the contractors, builder and architect say the penetrations are good, Bartley Corp will return to set the outside panel of the wall, insert the Thermomass insulation and place cast-in-place concrete walls.

2013-06-17 Forming Foundation Walls

2013-06-18 Basement Inside Wall Formed

2013-06-19 Garage Walls

2013-06-21 Plumber Arrives

2013-06-26 Electrician

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Putting our best Footing forward

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Placing the concrete footings is the critical first step in achieving the building footprint. We matched all of the footing sizes (width & depth) and rebar spacing as defined in the building plans. By having the same company (Bartley Corp) do the excavation and concrete work, our customers have fewer conflicts, fewer extras, less trades, and no need to babysit the job.  With all of the forming ready, our footing crew called in the concrete ready mixed supplier and our concrete pumping company to assist us in placing the concrete. The footing pour consisted of  75 cubic yards of concrete over a 6 hour period and all went according to plan.

With the footings squared away, our concrete form panel delivery truck was able to unload the panels directly into the excavated hole using a crane. The crane allows the form baskets to be placed very close to where they are needed. This saves an incredible amount of time and physical labor compared to other companies who typically have a flatbed of panels unloaded in one location near the edge of the hole. In the final picture, the inside of the wall being set and braced. Why is this done? Stay tuned.

2013-06-11 Drying out Footings

2013-06-12 Pouring Footings

2013-06-13 Completed Footings

2013-06-13 Delivering Panel Baskets

2013-06-14 Placing Panel Baskets in Foundation

2013-06-14 Forming Inside Wall

Excavation complete, Footings are prepped

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With a little rock hammering and a lot of equipment time, the site was ready for concrete footings.  Our total station layout person, confirmed the proper excavation and set the points for footing locations. This allowed our footing crew to hit the ground running by forming the footings with confidence. Typically, our footing crew is joined by a mini-hoe to excavate half the depth of the footing, but in this case the entire footings will rest on the the excavated grade. More forming material is needed when half of the footings are not earth formed.  The final picture shows a rain day, otherwise, the picture would show the placement of the concrete for the footings. Next post you will see concrete!!

2013-05-30 Excavation

2013-05-31 Excavation

2013-06-04 Footing Layout

2013-06-06 Footing Garage Prep

2013-06-07 Rain Day

Excavation started but Rocky

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We hit rock on the excavation of the Concrete home in Clifton. That line sounds a bit ironic, but dealing with rock & clay adds a lot of time, schedule slip, money and effort. The pictures from the Work Zone Cam shows Bartley’s progress on five (5) different work days. The excavation began in the far side of the site and is working toward the camera’s position.

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Shots from the ground level provide a different perspective on the volume of excavation that has already taken place . In the first picture (below), look for the pink circle to see the location of the Work Zone Cam, the source of the time elapsed pictures. Much of the excavated material has been spread out along the entryway where the blue Bartley truck is parked. There is at least another day or two of rock excavation needed before our footing crew can come in a prep the concrete footings.

2013-05-29 Other Side w Camera Circled

2013-05-29 Dirt lane 2013-05-29 Rock

Work Zone Cam

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To take time elapsed pictures of the Clifton Concrete Home construction process, we installed a Work Zone Camera on Thursday May 9th. Every 30 minutes we get a nice 6 megapixel overhead shot of the job site. Not many people are familiar with building concrete homes so the time lapsed pictures will provide a visual timeline. Here we show the overhead shot it will take (with myself pictured for a size reference). We also started laying out the cut points for our excavation crews. More to come soon!!

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2013-05-16 Excavation Cut Layout

Kickoff meeting for Concrete Home in Clifton VA

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On Monday Feb 18th, trades who will be working on the Clifton Concrete Home met face to face for the first time. Construction projects require excellent coordination between the builder and the trades. The construction of a concrete home is a shining example of how important a team needs to work together. This initial meeting involved the architect, builder, future homeowners, Concrete Contractor (Bartley Corporation), soil engineer, electrician, plumber, and HVAC contractor. Coordination questions and topics were discussed among the team and after another round of changes to the plans, the project should be poised to start.

The site has been cleared of the trees that needed to be removed and the trees shown in the pictures are left to remain on site through construction. The surveyor completed their stakeout of ten different hubs back in August 2012. Once the plans are finalized and approved, the next step would be to start the excavation. Also included is a side view of the home that gives you an idea of the modern design of this home.

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“I recommend Bartley Corp. without reservation”

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The job went very well. I do not believe it could have gone better. Every Bartley Corp. person on this job — from the estimator, to the foreman, to the construction workers, to Mr. Bartley himself (who came to inspect the project at various points) — was professional, polite, and completely competent. Bartley Corp finished the job in a shorter amount of time, and for less money, than they originally estimated. After each work day, the job site was cleaned up, minimizing the risk posed to clients and animals should they wander in to the construction area.

After construction was completed, the job site was promptly and properly restored to a safety and usefulness via clean up, grading and provision of stone dust. Bartley also quickly provided government agency with all required information such that grant funds could be released.

I recommend Bartley Corp. without reservation to anyone looking for professionals to provide superior high-quality concrete construction.
-Fran Hayward

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