Finishing Footers & Laying Rebar

This is (finally) a wrap-up of the footer digging over the past couple of weeks. Nearly two weeks ago, we received our permit earlier than expected, so we had to go into digging overdrive. Ken hit the lot a few days after work to finish it up, and I helped him:

Lenny and Logan, some more new neighbors

Logan wanted to help

Measuring depth of the dirt from that yellow string, ensuring dirt is even and enough has been removed.

Okay, so this was a joke

We worked until nightfall that evening

We resumed our work a week later to complete the digging and clean out the footers all in preparation to lay the rebar, and ultimately pass our first inspection:

All those leaves and stuff had to be removed before we laid any steel. 

...So I had to get in there with a shovel to scoop it all out.

The next day we laid the rebar. It was by far the longest, most physically demanding day of work on the house so far. We worked from 9am-6:30pm, and were constantly stepping in and out of the footers making it a serious workout. As someone who exercises pretty often, my hamstrings were still sore 3 days later. (Now I understand why construction guys are so thin...) I didn't realize ahead of time how exhausting it would be, climbing up and down carrying a bunch of steel, but I should have thought about it before celebrating too much the night before on my birthday :) 

First we had to go around and place nails 12" from the floor of the dirt. These nails indicate the pour line of the concrete, to be poured after passing inspection of footers & rebar. 

After the nails were in place, we were able to remove that yellow string, making it a lot easier to move about the lot:

Next up was measuring and bending all this steel, based on which footer it needed to be placed in. With all that steel to lay, Ken was doubtful we'd finish it all in one day. I assured him we would. Little did I know what I was getting myself into...

After we laid the steel down, it had to be tied off to the "chairs" it sits on to make sure it doesn't shift or move anywhere once placed. This was done with little wire "twisty-ties". I realize now I should have taken pictures of the chairs and ties, but I was not in a picture-taking mood on Wednesday. I did take a couple photos of the finished product, and hopefully you can get the picture: 

These long, straight lines were obviously the easiest to work with. Not much measuring and certainly no bending to deal with.

The bends were certainly tougher to deal with.

As were these step-downs, where the elevation in the house changes. Both bars had to be bent the same 45 degree angles, which was challenging. 

But the most grueling may have been the front of the house, with all these 90 degree angles. I'm getting tired and hot just thinking about this, by the way.

In order to make the nails more visible in the dirt, we sprayed them with paint. This way the concrete guys know how much to pour.

It was a very tiring hard day's work but turned out to be worth it because we miraculously got it all done, and passed our first inspection the next day. Next up, pouring concrete!