Laying the Foundation - Literally

On October 30, 2008, the cranes started placing our basement walls. The top picture is the "finished" basement, and the bottom picture shows a section of how the walls are "placed" - unlike traditional poured basements.

The system we chose to use is Superior Walls ( www.superiorwalls.com ). This is a system that consists of insulated pre-fab concrete slabs. At least, that's the layman's version of the product. I'm sure their reps have a better way of saying it. The product comes with a continuous layer of insulation that's bonded directly to the concrete - thus creating an instant R Value, and reducing the amount of energy lost through the basement walls.

One thing you'll notice about the pictures above: how clean the site is so far. Pre-fab means less waste overall, and no on-site soil contamination.

And the added bonus: The wall system is pre-studded and ready for drywall, just as soon as we're ready to finish the basement. So we'll save money down the line because we won't have to pay for lumber, and we'll be saving natural resources as well... Of course, we might want to finish the rest of the house first...