Documenting my house builds
The slab is set and the walls are going up quickly. The wet conditions right after laying the slab were perfect for curing the concrete. Now that the sun is out the work on site is happening quickly and smoothly.
As the windows are placed in position they frame the views – it’s a great process to see what and where the windows will be framing – so much so that I have moved one of the windows over slightly to adjust the view from my bed.
It’s been a few weeks since the last update. Bedroom 2 has started taking shape and the walls have gone up.
The last few weeks have been spent prepping the final slab for the main bedroom. The slab also forms the ceiling of the lounge & dining area.
The usual steel and conduiting was laid. There have been many decisions regarding lighting and electrical points as most of these have to be cast into the slab. There were some oversights in the last slab that will have to be corrected – additional lights will need to be core drilled into the slab.
Plumbing has also been a discussion and wether to lay water pipes into the slab or not was a debate between plumber and engineer, engineer triumphing.
The steel I-beams have been installed and the slab rests on a series of steel posts that rise from both the I-beams and the walls. The only problem that we foresee is the positioning of the glass on the I-beams. There is very little tolerance where the glass passes the posts, exasperated by the welding joints that make it difficult to place any brackets around that area.
Hopefully the glazing guys will be able to figure that one out.
The slab was poured today – another sunny winters day – and it all went really well. This slab was probably the most tricky part in the design and construction process of my home.
The weather played along and after many tweaks to the steelwork, the engineer, Andy Cowie (CDA Design CC) , cast his final critical eye over everything and gave it his thumbs up – the concrete was poured onto the second floor slab.
An additional beam was added above the garage and had to be poured at the same time. The beam construction delayed the pour by a few days but the schedule still seems to be reasonably intact. Next step is walls for bedroom 2 and the framework and scaffolding for the remaining slab and concrete walls.
There are still some critical decisions to be made regarding doors, windows and other details that are now starting to creep into the whole process as we get closer to getting all the wetworks in place. It seems like houses are made out of bricks, mortar and many many decisions.
To see the progress of the site from start to current status check out: Progress in Pictures
World cup news: Bafana Bafana exited the world cup in style today. They played brilliantly and left the country with a feeling of a job well done. There have been some great games including an amazing 7-0 win to Portugal which I had the pleasure of witnessing live at the Greenpoint Stadium.
There has been more prep work for the slab – laying of conduits, prepping the holes for the skylights, putting in the boxes for the downlighters etc. the steel has all been placed and after some last minute changes to the design of the landing and other refinements we are just about ready to pour the slab.
The supports for the main bedroom slab have also been put in place and the various conduits and water & sewerage pipes have been threaded through the steel poles.
The weather has been up and down and looks to be wet for the coming week.
In between all of this we have just entered a very exciting time – The World Cup! It’s been an exciting weekend and the energy in the country is at an all time high. Bafana Bafana did well to walk away with a draw to Mexico – it’s a great time to be a South African!
Hopefully the weather won’t dampen the spirits at the Italian game tomorrow (Forza Italia!)
And hopefully the weather won’t disturb the slab laying schedule this week.
It’s been a few weeks since the last post. I was away on holiday for 2 weeks and was pleasantly surprised to see that the ground floor walls are all pretty much done. The formwork for the first slab is busy being erected and soon we will be going up to the next level. The pace has been amazing and I can now really start getting a sense of the space. It’s getting more exciting, and more expensive, as we move along.
There have been very few hiccups – the only and more recent one is a door that needs to be moved as it does not allow enough space for a kitchen counter.
Other than that – window and door frames are in, the weather is playing along and it’s full steam ahead!
The last of the conduits were put in position, the weather played along and the concrete was mixed.
It was a break in the grey weather and a few good friends that made Saturday quite a big moment in the House Bossi series.
Almost out of character, but probably in keeping with my hippie tendencies of many years ago, I decided that I needed to mark the moment of my home’s birth with some sort of ceremony. I wanted to add some “good energy” to my home – so using the old cliche of “Home is where the Heart is” I thought that burying a heart in the ground floor slab would be just the thing.
It was meant to be a moment between me and the concrete, but friends at lunch decided they wanted to join the ceremony and “bless” the stone. An impromptu ceremony followed amidst the chaos of concrete, steel and many hard working men – the home is now blessed with great sex, great fortune, great love and few other great things.
The heart lies somewhere between the kitchen and the dining room.
No sooner than the slab set, the walls have started coming up. They are sprouting quicker than I thought and it’s very satisfying watching them grow, adding personality and character to the space. I feel like an expectant father. Or not.
I am off for 2 weeks on holiday and am looking forward to seeing the progress when I get back.
The rain has stopped for a couple of days so progress can continue smoothly.
The steel is down and the slab is just about ready to be poured. We have added a layer of 40mm polystyrene (Sagex) underneath the slab for insulation. A home loses a lot of heat through its floors into the earth. The Sagex prevents a lot of this heat loss ensuring a more energy efficient home.
Before pouring the slab we also need to lay the conduits for the electrical and other points. The conduits for the various plug points and switches need to be set into the slab to prevent having to chop and grind through the concrete at a later stage.
We can only hope that we haven’t overlooked anything at this point.
The foundations are pretty much done – the steel has been ordered and the slab will be laid next week.
It’s great to be able to start feeling the outlines of the structure – from plan to reality is quite an amazing feeling. Size and area seem to be on a constant acid trip, warping every time I visit the site – some days the lounge feels huge, some days it feels too small. Once the walls are up the acid might wear off a little.
My FFL (finished floor level) issue was resolved and I will now stand slightly higher above planet earth than originally planned – about 10-15cm higher. This resolves possible water and garden height issues that could pose aesthetic problems later. So all good.
An aside: The not so good news is that Jeremy my uber-builder was involved in a mountaineering accident damaging his leg and worse yet lost a friend to the mountain. Condolences to him – not an easy thing to get through.
He has managed to hobble onto site since his fall. Better news is that his recovery, while not quick, will be full.
The foundations are moving along swiftly. The east boundary now consists of a very deep and very solid foundation.
The finished floor level is another decision that is critical at this stage. Once decided there’s no going back. I need to take various factors into account including height above the road for drainage and height of the garden area. The site is relatively flat although the west side does slope up slightly – it is possible to excavate some of the garden area to create a more uniform level – alternatively I could build the house slightly higher to compensate for the slope.
It’s a matter of centimeters.
We now also have a new corrugated iron site office.
After a few emergency engineering drawings and some scratching of heads, the foundations are being poured.
The fact that my property is approx 1.5m higher than my neighbour’s means that I have to get my foundations down to a level below their’s. This means my foundations are now about 1.9m deep.
The soil test results varied – in some places it was good while in others additional support in the foundations was needed. The engineer made the following observations in relation to the complexity of the foundations.
a) The proximity of the neighbours lower level structures to the new structures
b) The fact that the neighbours retaining wall is not common, thus all new structures must be independent.
c) The existence of an old swimming pool which intersects the new foundations and thus introduces foundation and ground slab bridging complexities.
d) Subsoil and surface drainage issues.
It has all been taken into account and I will now have rock solid foundations and a slightly emptier wallet.
