BUILDING THE FIRST FLOOR

     So now the next step was to build the walls of the first floor.
This was done in the same way as the basement walls. We used the
ICF blocks and put them together like Legos, one block at a time.
This time it went much quicker  for us. Probably because we had a little
experience after doing the basement walls.

 
It wasn’t long before the first floor walls were complete.
There are a lot of windows on the first floor, so we had less wall to build.

After those walls were done, we had to put the strapping back on,
just like we did on the basement walls. These add extra support for
when the concrete is poured into the walls. And we used the same pieces of wood as we used in the basement. When we took them off the basement walls, we stacked them in the back yard to be used again.

 

Next we had to frame out the windows and doors.

It was really starting to look like a house now.
Now we had to get the walls completely ready for the concrete pour.
After the strapping was done all around the house, we had to
set up the same alignment system as in the basement.
The younger kids carried all of the poles into the house while the
older kids and adults started to install them and the scaffolding system, as well. 
Then we were ready for the pouring of the concrete into the walls.
After 5 truckloads of concrete, we were finished.