Stripping the Foundation

Once the foundation is poured it has to be stripped. Ray is the kind of guy that will not expect me to go to the jobsite and build the house. He will gladly accept help when it is offered, but he will not demand that I go. If I made any noises about not wanting to go, he would quietly accept it and not make a fuss. That makes it easy to want to help!

I knew that there would be jobs that I was capable of. These jobs would help us move forward with the housebuilding, while Ray was working on his paying jobs. So, of course, there was no question that I would have to be willing. Now, if you remember, after the first house I said I would *never* do this again! And I truly meant it!

(At the end of the foundation pour, I told Ray, I quit. I have quit three times now, but this is really the last time!) laugh

It was exhausting, and really, in that house what did I do? I helped lift some heavy walls, and I did the complete electrical drilling of holes and running of wires and hammering of electrical nails. I then painted the entire house. Well, that house was 2100 sq ft that I had to wire, but only 1300 sq ft that I had to paint. And I thought that was hard! The foundation was 800 sq ft.

Then along came the next house, and I helped with the footings and a tiny bit on the foundation, tarred the foundation and laid the drainrock. Then I helped labour for framing and did some insulating. At that point, I was only planning to do the painting, but it was not to be. We were under a time crunch and I had no choice but to jump in and help Ray with the mudding of the drywall. What a messy job that was.

Lunch Break With My Little Helper

By the time I was done I was mudding and sanding everywhere. This was followed by painting the entire house. This time it was 2800 sq ft that I had to paint.

This shows a link to a page where we had a very busy day on the job.

We finished days before Christmas, but those days were 20 hr days! I would work from about 6:00 am - 9:00 pm, and Ray would work from 9:00 am - 3:00 am. We worked like mad to get done, but got in just in time.

When that job was done, I was seriously done! I had worked much more than the first job!

Now, this job, I can already see the pattern. I am doing things I have never done before and the work has only just begun! I began this job thinking my girls wouldn't do much, because they are girls and delicate.... Silly me!

I realize now that they need to learn to do as much as I can do (in time), because one day they will be wives and it would be a wonderful thing if they were able to help their husbands build their family homes! So let the training of the girls begin! (smile)

Cassidy arrived at the job in the early morning and worked on stripping the garage.


When I arrived at 2:30 pm, I could see a monster job ahead of me. Where to start? Cassidy told me the first thing I had to do was to remove the cleats that were nailed all over the forms. I began doing this job after I delegated jobs to the children.


Austin would carry the 2x4s and 2x6s to an area and pile them neatly.

Cooper would pick up all the denailed cleats and deposit them over the wall. Plus, he removed all the ties from the bars once they had fallen off the walls.



Raine, Savannah, and Briton would carry the cleats away from the foundation and create a pile on the meadow. We began to work and everyone worked nicely in unison.


I had a goal (as I usually do!) and told my kids I wanted to get the inside stripped before their dad arrived. I knew it would be around 6:00 pm, so we didn't have a lot of time.

After I had removed all the scrap wood cleats that were nailed all over the forms, I took the nails out and left them for Cooper to pick up. This took over an hour. I sat down to rest in the shade. It was another very hot day! As I sat there I asked Cassidy what was next. He said I had to remove the bars. I figured I would be sliding the bars back out of the holes in the ties that I had slid them into in the first place. No.

He informed me that I would take my hammer and whack at the end of the tie and break it. As I sat there, I am thinking, Ya, right! I am going to break those metal ties?

When was the last time you had to smack a metal bar and break it off of a concrete wall? Then Cassidy jumps down and shows me how it is done. Whack, whack, whack. Done.

I scoff, Superwoman! That's what I have to be! No problem. Just add that to my job training. Justine - Breaker of Metal Bars (laugh!) Crazy! There are 24 ties in each board. Each tie took about 4 hits to break. There are about 80 boards. Do the math! That is about 9000 swings of the hammer! For someone that uses a wooden spoon to mix cookies. Do you think my arms will hold up?

Then I begin to hit the ties like Cassidy instructed me and I saw how he figured it would be no problem: there is a spot in each bar where it is intended to snap if you whack it hard enough. Well, for me that means about four strikes with the hammer, since my muscles and swing are pretty pathetic. Once again, I was working up a sweat.

Speaking of sweat. My mother once said to me: Horses sweat, men perspire, and ladies glow. Well, people, I can honestly tell you: I sweat! That is something I am not accustomed to. I used to be a glower. No more.


Little guys kept up their hard work and by 6:00 pm I had removed all the bars on the lower four feet around the interior of the foundation; I had dropped all the forms from the four foot walls;


Austin had moved all the loose lumber; and the younger ones had cleared all the small scraps of wood to the meadow. It was looking good. We stopped to have a blueberry snack break, a drink of water, and then back to work.

Shortly after that, one of the children said that they heard their dad arrive. Now, I will begin to try to illustrate for you what the next scene felt like.

Remember, we have busted our butts. I have been swinging this hammer like a crazy woman for three hours, and have successfully removed 1/2 of the ties from the rods on the inside of the foundation. My arm is falling off. The muscle in my shoulder is knotted in a very complicated knot.

And then suddenly, it was like the descent of eagles. Or perhaps, from one of those dinosaur movies. We were down inside the foundation and the walls were 8 feet high at most parts. Out of nowhere, three large male bodies descended upon us. It was like they swooped down, literally on top of the walls for a couple of them, picked up hammers and began SWACK, SWACK, SWACK, and the metal bar fell down. One hard hit per tie and it broke. Others jumped down into the foundation and without a word just began whacking ties .


I stood there with the children watching the lack of effort from the mens crew. No effort. Our effort? Hard work. These guys came in like superhumans and bang, bang, bang, the walls fell down!


We left shortly after that to go home and make dinner. We left the Super Humans there to continue the job. Three hours later, they arrived home and upon inquisition informed me that ALL the walls were down. Not just the second half of the interior, but the complete exterior of the foundation was also done. Wow!

But Ray tells me that it would normally take 1 1/2 days to strip that foundation, and it only took him and the big boys 3 hours to do what they did, because of what our crew did before them, plus because we will finish the job today, while they are back at the other job where they are getting paid. So we may be slower, but at least it is a job that we can do.

Day 2 Stripping the Foundation

Wall Are Nearly Bare Now

This time at the job I had to take all the nails out of the forms that were knocked down the day before by the guys. The children cleaned up all the cleats, and bar that was outside the job. And then at the end of the work we all sat down and enjoyed some fresh blueberries! Nice and refreshing.

Eating Blueberries Out of Their Hats

The next job I have to do is to plug the holes with some tar goop and then paint black weatherproofing all over the foundation to make sure it is waterproof. While I am doing that the children will be raking out the pit run (gravel dirt) all over the driveway.

We will be ready for inspection on Tuesday, so I have only until then to get the foundation prepped and ready for drainrock on Wednesday! We will then backfill the foundation on Wednesday, and after that the framing can begin.

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