Dropping the house

Thanks to our fine friends at Clayton, the house has officially dropped. To this point, it had been precariously supported by a combination of temporary CMU spacers and a steel substructure, hovering approximately 16 inches above the sill plate of the foundation walls. This rather unique construction process allowed the masonry team ample room to lay the second half of the foundation and the interior piers once the two modules had been delivered.

The actual "dropping" of the house was more of an oscillating settling than a sudden fall, thanks to the coordination of the Clayton team underneath the house. Three installation experts used a set of 6 hydraulic jacks, 3 at the North end and 3 at the South end, to "see-saw" the entire structure down to the sill plate, approximately 4 inches at a time. While it was great to see the house finally settle onto our laboriously constructed foundations, I would be remiss if I didn't admit an overriding sentiment of trepidation concerning the ultimate fate of the CMU walls underneath the full weight of the house. Fortunately, everything seems to be holding!

This process of prefabrication and coordinated delivery has resulted in some interesting conversations about the potential for this particular method of construction. While I won't get into the many trajectories we've discussed, one pertinent issue that we've all had to grapple with is the scale of coordination within this project. In typical construction, various phases are more flexible in the overall timeline of the project, yet in the New Norris House we are constantly investigating logistical issues of phasing in order to ensure that every bolt, block, and beam are delivered and installed in an efficient order that (1) won't bog down the construction schedule (2) won't clutter the site with an "on-deck circle" of prefabricated components waiting to be installed and (3) takes advantage of the rapidity of assembly to ensure an exacting standard of quality that is hopefully reflected in the final efficiency of the home.