Final Slab

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.

Slab poured

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.