Day 11 - Drying Cement / Talk with Construction Guy

Progress

So today when I went when I went to take my "stalker" photo there wasn't too much progress but the cement needs a bit of time to dry.  There were at least two workers working on site, one worker was working around the outside of the foundation while the other (assuming that there wasn't more) was working on the inside of the foundation.  I'm not sure what they were doing but I did get to learn a bit more about the construction progress.

 I ran into the the head guy today (he says he's second from the top but i've never met the the mysterious head guy so he's the head guy) and had a really good talk about the construction process.

So a few things I learned:
-When you put the walls of the foundation up it takes 2-3 days to dry before you can start putting up the frame (depending on good weather).
-The cement floor in the basement is not put in until the frame is done (and I believe that is fully framed with a roof but I'm not 100% sure).  After the frame is up all the electrical wires and plumbing goes in before the cement is put down on the floor in the basement.
-Snow is worse than rain for construction because they have to shovel the snow, the construction workers get cold (brrr!), and since it's so cold it's harder on the machines they use.
-The ground in Edmonton doesn't take that long to settle because it's clay based.  Calgary will take a little bit longer but different places in Edmonton can have different soil types.  Before they excavate the lot they get someone in to test the soil to see what soil they will be working with in regards to how long it will take to settle as well as how they will need to change the cement mixture (if they need to).
-The metal looking thing coming out of the foundation at the top (don't remember the name but I know it's not rebar) will be bent down and then back up and are suppose to help stabilize the house in case hurricanes and such come through.  He said that in Edmonton you really didn't need them but they put them on anyway for a just in case.  My guess for them after he said they'd bend them down was to maybe put more support for the main floor.

Hopefully I run into him again because I will no doubt be curious regarding something else and he's very good at giving out a lot of information (and very friendly).  He welcomes the questions and he doesn't give off the impression of "go away and let me do my job" which is really nice!  When winter hits and if there is a regular crew around the construction site I'll probably get them Timmies to help warm them up (esp since they've been doing such a great job) because I know I didn't enjoy working outside in winter when I had to.