Bontrager Concrete Specialities Inc. of Nappanee, Indiana, considered their most challenging project for 2000 to be the residence of the Sheperd family in Bristol, IN. This home is set on a wooded but fairly level lot, but it contains many angles and some special features, such as a theatre in the basement level.

Kevin Bontrager said that “pictures and words can never give you the complete description of the time and labor” involved in this project.

The home consists 415-foot x 10-inch x 11-foot high basement wall, 60 feet of 10-inch x 13-foot high theatre walls, 117 feet of 10-inch x 5-foot high garage wall, 94 feet of 8-inch x 4-foot high porch wall, and 35 feet of 8-inch x 2-foot high wall in the theatre area. Total wall poured was 721 feet.

The basement of the home contains 4,479 square feet of floor area, including the theatre which has 2-14″ drops in the floor. All slabs were poured over 2-inch styrofoam and radiant tube heat runs.

There are 10,576 feet of rerod in the footings and walls, and a stone ledge on all exterior walls.

“This project may not sound that difficult but as any poured wall contractor knows, when you go over 9 feet high, it adds a lot more time,” Kevin Bontrager said.

“You also need to come up with more parts and pieces when you stack your forms. When you add in the 40 ninety-degree corners and 28 angle corners and 13-foot high theatre walls, the complexity of the job becomes more apparent,” he added.

Out of 343 total yards, 287 yards were pumped.