Happy New Year! We took an opportunity on this clear but crisp day to go check out the progress on the house, and much to our surprise the slabs for the basement floor and garage had been poured. The under-slab plumbing had already been completed.

Sean, our construction supervisor, wasn’t sure they’d get to those this week but it looks like they managed, despite the weather. The straw is to prevent frost from forming on the concrete as it cures.

Next up will be to backfill the foundation (dump all that piled up dirt back in around the basement walls), then with any luck they’ll be framing by the end of next week!

Update: As will happen from time to time, I had no idea what I was talking about and there actually isn’t any concrete under that straw. Sean called me on Monday and clued me in to this fact, that it’s been far too cold (highs of around 20 degrees for over a week now) to pour concrete lately. Once we hit a 20-degree and rising day, they’re standing by to pour. They put straw down to prevent the ground from totally freezing.