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Tuesday 25 September 2012

Getting there..

Commence picture dump!

Concrete floor on Monday, dried up enough to walk upon..

 Sulking dog with a dusty nose..

 Rather complicated shape block to merge the "new-new" wall with the "new" wall as they are slightly different heights, and the beams that hold up the ceiling on grannies side rest ontop of the wall.
 This is where it is to go, on the top right.

 Moved in the Beams for the block and beam floor for boiler platform..
 View from top, seeing levelled cut to size blocks on "new" wall seperating grannies side and front of house, you can see the little squares cut into the blocks to allow for the beams that hold the ceiling up.

 Had to backfill and level the bathroom a bit to make space for acro-props to support the new block and beam platform until the concrete sets.

 Temporarily capped off the end leading to sink/washing machine and kitchen and onwards towards garage, as I am missing the last two joints and need to go buy them at some point.

 2x water pipe and electricity branching off from trench and headed towards boiler platform, there will be a utility duct heading up behind the door leading into the bathroom.

 Chisseled out the foundation to make space for the sewage pipe for the toilet as it will be recessed into the wall (it will be a wall hung toilet)
 Acro-props in position to give the platform a upward curve so when the concrete sets and the acro-props are removed the whole slab wil be in tension.
 Carried in all of the blocks as it was forecasted to rain heavily the next day.. which it did..

 Another view of the blocks... 42 pieces in total.
 Annnd the next day, first 6 blocks in place to space the beams properly.
Had to carry all the blocks up a ladder one by one.. and here's the result halfway..
 view from the top.. the beams overhang by about 15cm, the lengths come in 3 meters and 3,2 meters.. I required 3 meters 5cm or something.. soo overhang.. can't cut them down either since the metalwork is part of the reinforcing, it would need to be cut back a full length of bracing which would leave it to short again!

 And all blocks in place..

 A piece of 30mm styrofoam to stop the concrete from touching the wood..
 and 100mm to stop it touching the wood..
 grannies side, up against a roof beam, simply put some damp proof plastic under the beams and up the side, and used a old piece of plasterboard as a backing.
 Built a casing around the overhang and supported it with acro-props.

 Reinforcement in place and a little tube for the utility duct from the bathroom with water pipes and electricity for well.
 The concrete conveyer system! buckets with a pulley system.

 And after 4 hours of concreting... casing holding up fine!

 View from below, bit of dampness seeping through but all good.
 view from top... plank with blocks on right to stop the concrete spilling over onto the new roof beams. And likewise on left with 30mm added ontop of the 100mm insulation.

 And the little circular void with holes drilled down, 1 for 40mm waste water/condensing boiler.
1 for electricity cable to well, and a large slot for the two 32mm water pipes.
 And here's today, 2 days after being poored, removed the plank on right and the 30mm insulation on left.
 put damp proof coursing on foundation and upwards a bit in lounge..
 Measured out square from the new wall with large door opening and put first course in place and filled the gap between old and new wall with mortar and odd bits of ytong smashed up.

And here's a few hours later.. suprisingly 4 wheelbarrow loads of mortar went into this... but then again it was a void between two pillars and hardly straight at all.

That's all for now! :)

Sunday 16 September 2012

Are we there yet?

Picture dump again... not much to say!

Both water pipes in bottom of trench, using the slag that came out below the bedroom floor, sieved it all so the stones and large bits were out so effectively its just very fine granular material of up to 4mm or so.


 levelled it all off, added electricity cable to garage..
 different view showing hole to stand pipe on left, well in middle and garage on right.
 electricity cable to well added.
 covered up and sewage pipe for stand pipe added..
 levelled that all off and covered it..
 added conduit with 6 coax cables for satellite TV...
 levelled that all off...
 aaand backfilled it with the rougher stuff.
 stuck a little pipe in the ground next to the well to protect both the cable, and the tubing going into the well for later.
 covered over satellite cable conduit and raked it flat..
 and a view from inside.. did same here, sieved through all the material so its just fine granular material around all the cables/pipes, and all the bigger stuff over the top of it.

You can see garage power on left, sewage in middle and well electricity on right, the water pipes are below that.
 decided to cut back the rest of this wall which hadn't been done yet, so there is no more mess later and I wont damage the new floor.
 took all the rougher material that was left over from the sieving of the slag and levelled it out across floor, and soaked the whole lot extensively so it will hopefully settle properly and compact (As well as hammering with the big hammer above the trench!)
 Added lintels and half height blockwork around the walls to match the lintels heights..
 The two helpers being a bit tired..
 another view of the lounge area with the rough slag levelled out.. and you can see the satellite cable in the background going upwards.
 another 9 tonne of aggregate arrived.
and ready for concreting with the floor levelled with aggregate underneath and compacted down as much as possible by hand/feet/tools...  rebar all cut to size and raised up..

And that's it for now... concrete is drying but no pics of that yet, next time.