Got a hold of the concrete delivery folks down in the nearest town to my property. Turns out that they think they can get a truck down there.
$95/cubic yard after taxes/fees. 3 cubic yard minimum. $25 surcharge for loads less than 3.
That’s $215 for a delivery for my footing vs. $324 just for the concrete mix in bag form – not counting the mixer rental, wheelbarrow, and physical pain of carrying all that concrete 
15 x 15 footing
5/8″ x 20′ steel rebar $19.56 each, unknown grade from Lowe’s
8 pieces – $160 for the footings
Six 1/2″ x 10′ bars per wall spaced 32″ vertically, 1′ in foundation. $5.20 each
Six per wall so 24 total -
$124.80 total
Then add up top another piece to finish the reach to 10′ ceiling -
1/2″ x 1.5′ rebar unknown grade $1.74
Six per wall, 24 total -
$41.76
Bond beam – $160 just like footing
—
Block:
8x8x16″ – $1.50
One 15′ course = 11.25 16″ blocks
2′ for foundation = three courses of 24″
12 foundation courses total
(Then put in a 4″ slab)
10′ ceilings = 120″
15 courses
60 wall courses total
72 courses total
72 x 11.25 = 810 blocks
$1215 in blocks
Bond beam blocks – not sure on cost…
—–
Concrete:
126 80# bags for the slab — but we may mix our own
12 80# bags per side for the footing x 4 = 48 80# bags / just buy the 5000psi bags and be done with it
48 x 5.98 = $287
126 = 174 bags if just regular concrete
1 Part Cement to 3 Parts Sand for Mortar Mix for Cells in Blocks
So one 70# bag of Cement Type N is $8.58 and a 50# bag of sand is $3.10
1 x $8.58 = $8.58
4 x $3.10 = $12.40
————-
220lb = $20.98b = 2.75 80# bags
Holy Moses conversion table… http://www.mc2-ice.com/support/estref/popular_conversion_files/masonry/mortar.htm
I will have to pick this back up tomorrow after some sleep.
I think this door will do… Steel door, prehung, pretty straightforward.
It should seem pretty simple. Renting equipment to do a job is a pretty straightforward thing. However as I quickly learned, renting equipment is just the beginning. This foundation is much more complex than I had planned. Luckily there are people at Nuway rentals that we’re able to help me.
So here’s where we are. I need to put together an action plan for excavation, substrate placement, vapor barrier (perhaps), rebar layout plan,and of course plan for temperature….
I picked up a book recently that focuses on foundations so I’m reading it this weekend to see what else I’m missing. Foundations and Concrete Work – you can buy it on Amazon here:
I specifically like that it focuses just on the foundations and doesn’t get carried away on things I’m not interested in like patios and retaining walls, etc. It also has a lot on cinder block foundations which is the type of foundation I’ve settled on.
Still looking for a good roofing book – specifically something that addresses how to build a roof from scratch and not something that just focuses on shingles, etc.
Today, for just a slight moment, I actually felt like the pain was starting to diminish slightly. How wonderful would it be if it continues….
In other news, I sent the check for the deposit to the survey company today. Then we’ll have the contracts drawn up for the survey company, knock the survey out after Christmas, and hopefully get the deed submitted and transfer the property to my name after the 1st of the year.
I’m still watching a ton of videos and reading articles on home construction. I’m looking forward to taking on this cinder block project… building a structure from scratch will be an amazing achievement for me.
This is pretty neat. Just found a ton of free building plans:
http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/extension-aben/buildingplans/
Pretty interesting site. Lots of info re: concrete. Videos, too. Not sure how much of it is marketing garbage yet, but so far I like it.
I found myself staring at the wall on Saturday night while I contemplated what had just happened and whether I was still in one piece. It turns out I missed the second to last stair and bam, down on the stairs I went… unfortunately down on my tailbone. And now, laid up on the couch ever since. The good news is this has allowed me to finish reading the entire story of the gentlemen in Texas who built a house out of cinder blocks…
http://www.texasmusicforge.com/gimmeshelter.html
I’m also finding plenty of articles to read on http://www.concretenetwork.com/ to inspire me while I’m trying to figure out how exactly I want to set up the cabin.
Hopefully this week will bring two estimates back from the surveyors and hopefully at least one of them will be less than the one we’ve received so far.
In the meantime, I’m laid up on the couch with Olivia the wunderdog and I’m relegated to watching old movies and reading websites while my rear heals. Hopefully this gets better ASAP, I’d hate to get the property purchase squared away before I could actually start working on it….. nothing worse than having something to do and being helpless to do it.
Reading up on construction techniques for footers, frost lines, cinder block walls, etc. Who knew concrete could be so interesting….
I had trouble finding information about frost lines until I found the following documents:
Air Freezing Index – http://classes.mst.edu/civeng217/project/001/www4.ncdc.noaa.gov/ol/9712/AFI-pubreturn.pdf
I then looked up the AFI for Vichy Airport (Rolla, MO) and Salem, MO to give me an idea of what I’d be dealing with.
Then I used a couple Army manuals to correlate the AFI -
http://publications.usace.army.mil/publications/eng-manuals/em1110-1-1905/entire.pdf
http://armypubs.army.mil/eng/DR_pubs/DR_a/pdf/tm5_852_6.pdf
http://armypubs.army.mil/eng/DR_pubs/DR_a/pdf/tm5_852_4.pdf
And I kept this handy guide from NOAA: