Membrane laid and concrete pour (Friday)

Today a lorry full of sand arrived and the builders spread it out over the shingle. This protects the membrane from being pierced by any sharp stones. Then the membrane was laid on top o the sand and over the foundation walls. This marks the damp course.

Three hours later the cement lorry arrived and the boys wheeled through 2 cubic metres of cement. Stuart the builder spread it out and levelled it. Tomorrow morning we will be able to walk out on it and our dogs can come home.

Membrane is laid

Cement is poured...

Cement is levelled

Eh voila!

Shingle is poured (Thursday)

Today I woke up to find yet another tipper truck over the back garden. This time carrying stone/shingle. The builder spent the day loading wheelbarrows of shingle and filling the base. He also fixed the rodding eye pipe (which incidently had filled with concrete, despite being bunged. So a good job he disconnected the pipe!). The rodding eye pipe now passes over the concrete footing, but under the shingle (and under the concrete lintel).

Tipper truck arrives with shingle

Here you can see the channel and path for the rodding eye pipe

Infilling begins

The end of the day

The rodding eye

Tomorrow the building inspector will arrive to sign off the base and footings before it gets concreted over in the afternoon. From Saturday we shall have a base which we can walk on and our dogs can come home!

Buider sick and raining (wednesday)

Today the builder didn't show up. They are still on target for this week though, so not too much of an issue.

Walls are built (Tuesday)

Thankfully a nice dry day, and our footings had dried out, ready to be built upon! The outer skin and inner wall were constructed up to the DPC (damp proof course). Concrete lintels were put over the drains. Tomorrow they will start on the base.

Outer and inner skins with cavity

Building up the inner wall

Lintel above drains

Lintel above rodding eye

The outer skin will be built up in red brick

Lintel above drains

Internal measurements can now be calculated more accuraately

Internal measurements

Week 5: Bricks delivered (Monday)

Today we woke up to find yet another crane looming in the back garden. They spent the morning bringing bricks and sand through. Apparently the base will be finished by the end of the week. Due to heavy rain, our footings flooded over the weekend so Joe spent Sunday re-routing our gutters to empty into a water butt, and then into the sewers using an old hosepipe. I spent Sunday night (11PM) bailing out the footings.

The builder tells me this morning that bad weather isn't a problem from now on.

A few pics:

Another day, another crane

Bricks brought in

Part time work today 

You can see how we have re-routed roof water into a water butt and into the sewers

Concrete is poured (Friday)

Today the concrete was poured into the trenches. The builder spent the morning measuring heights and depths with his lasers.

The cement pump lorry turned up at noon (on time), but unfortunately his partner in crime, the cement mixer, got lost, and didn't pitch up until 14:30. So our builder spent 2.5 hours twiddling his thumbs.

The cement pump lorry

Originally the idea was to use the boom on the lorry to go over the garage roof and into the garden, but in fact they just joined pipes together through the garage. Here are a few pics of the pipe being assembled.

The pipes before they were connected

All joined up

Once the cement mixer turned up the cement was pumped into the trenches.

Cement mixer can just be seen in the distance

The pump is started! Whoosh!

Trenches are filled

Depths are measured

The concrete it levelled

The pipes are disconnected

Eh voila!

View from upstairs

NB: The builder in fact disconnected the rodding eye (even though he had bunged it) in the event of the bung failing and concrete swelling and entering the sewers. He will reconnect on Monday once the concrete has set.

The concrete will take approximately two hours to cure, and then we will be able to walk out on it. It is not dependent on weather conditions as it is a chemical reaction.

Next week the builder will start on the outer skin, and then spend the week preparing the base.

Footings approved and waste removed (Thursday)

Today, another grab lorry arrived to take away the remaining (enormous) pile of soil. I am very pleased it has gone as I think our neighbours were getting a little annoyed by the ever-increasing pile. The building inspector arrived to look at the footings and has approved them. So tomorrow, I have a cement lorry and mixer turning up to fill the footings! Exciting times!

The building inspector will return on Wednesday to inspect the concrete.

Footings dug (Wednesday)

Thankfully the weather has been on our side this week. Today the builder and his workforce (two teenagers!) spent a productive day digging the footings. They have gone down about 750cm. The sides started to collapse so he has had to reinforce them with wood, until the building inspector arrives in the morning.

Here are a few pictures from the end of the day, taken from the house.