Thursday, May 14, 2009

Day 9 -- Bond Beam Basics

Today they started framing for the bond beam. I got a couple questions on what exactly a bond beam is, so I'll try to explain it here. Since our house is brick masonry built in 1937, it's not exactly earthquake-proof. The bond beam is one thing that will help stablize it in the event of an earthquake. It is a concrete layer poured around the perimeter of the house on top of the bricks. This will help hold the house together. We will also be adding a few supports in the existing walls to help stablize it latterally. We're hoping the framing will be complete by tomorrow so we can pour the concrete tomorrow afternoon. That way it can cure over the weekend and we don't have to waste time waiting for it next week.


In addition to the framing, another footing was dug today -- this time in our lovely downstairs "master bedroom". Since our interim bedroom is a little dusty, we're going to Grandma's house for the night.

2 comments:

Ali said...

Wow, that is so crazy. You now live in a house without a roof and I live in a hotel in Arizona! What a week!

Scullerina said...

Your cousin Amy here - I found your blog on Andrea's and I LOVE watching the house renovation. Very cool.