Tag: steel

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Plastering, plastic and patience

The last few weeks have been great. Well that’s a lie. They’ve been ok. I have now entered the phase that should really be contractually accompanied with at least four therapy sessions.

For someone who has a problem deciding on exactly what colour toothpaste to buy, the idea of choosing an entire house of objects and colours leaves me overwhelmed – and completely excited!

The plastering has started – walls are now being smoothed over leaving large areas of colour decisions. My door and window frames started suffering from all the plaster work and I have now insisted on all of the wood being covered – tape and plastic now protect the Iroko frames as the plastering continues.

I have also changed my mind about 1 or 2 things including the addition of TV and extra power points in the two bedrooms. We have also knocked down the concrete bench and are  re-building it at a lower height – it was built too high.

This week sees the first test installation of the glazing around the clear layer of the house – Craig from Glassmen in Cape Town has been the go-to guy on all the glazing and has been great. This also means that I have to make my final colour decision on the steel posts and I-Beam.

I have finally signed for and bought the small strip of land that lies next to my erf – this means I gain about 30m2 of garden area. It also means a slight re-design of my entrance area and gate –  another council submission and more planning.

The question most commonly being asked is when will I move in – the answer is unclear – hopefully by the beginning of next year.

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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.

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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.

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Slab Prep work

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.

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Steel & Insulation

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.