We’ve arranged for the scaffolding to be installed and expect the installation of windows to begin in the next week.  To prepare for the installation of windows (and other final look elements that might suffer from a shift in the building foundation) it is important to load the building with the heaviest materials so that any settling occurs before these things are installed.  We also considered this when we talked about roof loading.

One of the heaviest elements that will be installed is the drywall.  We had three semi trailers of drywall delivered the other day.

It took a 5-man crew almost the entire day to move the drywall into all the rooms of the house, where it was left in stacks.

18 stacks were delivered that each contained 28 pieces of 10’x4′ drywall.  Each piece of drywall weights approximately 90 lbs, so we are talking about a total of 40,000 lbs that were loaded into the house.

So how does that compare with the weight of the house itself?  A typical three story house weights about 350 lbs / square foot, fully loaded, not including concrete.  With ours, that will be over 3,000,000 (three million) lbs.  We had in total about 40 trucks of concrete put into the foundation, and each truck contains about 10 yards.  A single yard of concrete weighs 4,000 lbs.  The concrete will add another 1,600,000 (one point six million) lbs of weight as well.  Compared to the full weight of the house in the neighborhood of 4.5 million lbs, 30,000 lbs isn’t that much.  But it is better to be safe than sorry so I am glad we loaded it up.