Our little house project involves a lot of concrete. How much is a lot? Well I think I heard an actual number of yards at some point, but it gave me a mild panic attack and I’ve now blocked that number out. Plus, unless you’re a concrete contractor you probably don’t relate to yards of concrete.
Because we’re on a hill (a gentle hill, but still a hill), to build our house we need a series of retaining walls. So when people see our plans for the first time, one of top-three initial comments is something like, “holy crap, how long are those walls?”
Long.
The back retaining walls will stretch about 150 feet, give or take. These are eight feet tall and roughly 10″ thick. Then there are a series of lower walls…maybe 70 additional linear feet that wrap around the southeast side of the house. A couple of these are pretty impressive–16 inches thick so they double as seating for the outdoor spaces.
The majority of the concrete will be board-formed. If you’re not familiar with this technique I’ll attempt to briefly explain it. Most modern concrete walls are built with smooth sheets of coated plywood. When it’s setting, concrete of course picks up whatever texture is next to it. So smooth plywood gives a smooth wall.
Board-forming, on the other hand, is how concrete walls were formed way back when. It involves building the forms out of timbers/wood planks, rather than plywood. So when the forms are pulled off, you’re left with a wall that now has wood grain, as well as more texture on the concrete from where it seeped through the wood joints.
Generally speaking, board-forming is rare. Not impossible to find, but not something most concrete contractors do on a daily basis. So yes, it’s modestly more expensive to build walls this way. We’re crazy about how this looks though, and definitley looking forward to the walls being built, likely in the next couple of weeks.
My sense of things is that board-forming is a bit more common in the northwest of the country. There are great examples from Cutler Anderson and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson in particular. And closer to home, Nystrom Olson is doing some really impressive stuff.
Matt, our architect, is I think beside himself with anticipation about the walls. The other night on the phone he said some version of, “I can’t even let myself think about those walls. They’re going to be very cool.”
He’s right.
Asking questions are genuinely good thing if you are not
understanding anything completely, except this piece of writing provides fastidious understanding even.
Right here is the perfect site for everyone who hopes to understand this topic.
You understand a wholee lot its almost hard to argue with you (not that I actually will
need to…HaHa). You certainly put a new spin on a subject which has been discussed
for many years. Exxellent stuff, just great!
Just wanna input on few general things, The website pattern is perfect, the subject material is real excellent. Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it. by Andre Gide. kgeddckgbkgedgda
、この週末は楽しい のために設計を支援するために私、理由この時点 有益 記事私はこの住居。
スーパーsale 限定 2015春夏新色追加 http://ohlalafotografia.com.br
こんにちはあり。 MSN 使用しての使用を | ウェブログあなた| 私が発見した私が見つかりました。 つまりこれは 非常に きちんと書かれた記事。 私はよ ことを確認してくださいブックマークにそれと戻ってくるの学ぶ もっとあなた有用の情報。ポスト| おかげで、ありがとうございました。 リターン | 確かに間違いなく | 私は意志私がよ。
セール対象商品 新作取扱店 http://nmmasons.org
グレート ウェブサイトあなたがここに持っているが、私はしたあなたは、任意のディスカッションボードここで|この記事では、議論|同じトピックをカバーするフォーラムでは} {について話しましたか?私は思います本当に好き他得ることができますの一部であると経験豊富 個人。あなたが任意の持っている場合は勧告、私に知らせてください。 おかげありがとうございました!
最高品質を待つ セール対象商品 http://jbpururuca.com.br
すべての時間 と同様 投稿私は小さい読み取るために使用される彼らの動機をクリアし、それがまた起こっていますこの場所でここに私が読んでいる これで。
2015春夏新色追加 ギフト・贈り物 http://marotechsub.com
Hi there, I love board formed concrete look myself. I am in the market for a contractor that can do this, now that i am doing my exterior home remodel. I want a few 3ft retaining walls, steps and built in concrete planters.
In your search for a contractor who can do this work, did you run across any in Portland? If so, if you could please pass on the references that would be awesome!