The bottom plate is finished!

Last Friday Herr Starke, from the company that lays the foundations, rang to say that they had taken longer than planned digging for the ice wall (see below) because the ground was so solid. The result will be additional costs :-( but the delay was only one working day. Anyway, here's how things progressed:

First of all we had the bottom plate finely plotted on the layer of split (marked by the wooden posts).

 

The picture two above shows that the excavation company had some additional work to do because they hadn't left enough room between the edge of the house and the slope.

The next step was the digging work for the ice wall (a 1 metre deep wall of concrete around the perimeter of the bottom plate) which was cast last Friday. Note layers of steel mesh and pipes ready to be laid for the plate.

And this is the ice wall:

Then today at 4pm "all hell broke loose", or so it seemed - a concrete pump and two lorries with concrete turned up all at the same time and work got started laying the concrete into the mould.

First of all the mould:

Then every wee boy's dream: big lorries!

 

Pouring the porridge...

 

 

Et Voilà! The finished product:

 

 

 

The next post will contain pictures from the factory where we will be going to see the house being "built".

 

 





Just moved the garage...

On Wednesday Herr Starke from the company Glatthaar (British website), who are laying the foundations next week, rang after he had been to the site to see if everything was as it should be. He informed us that if the garage were to stay where it was originally planned (on the boundary adjoining the neighbour's garage) then we would need reinforced concrete foundations 3 metres deep! This is because the neighbour's garage has a basement below it, and therefore our foundations need to be the same depth as his to prevent pressure on the walls of his basement. In view of the imminent extra costs we had a re-think and are now going to join the garage to our own house - as we don't have a basement, then ordinary foundations will suffice. This has the added advantage that the patio will be protected from the wind on 2 and a half sides - the half side of 3 metres still allows us to look out of the living room across the fields to the south east. Wonder why we didn't think of that before... This also gives us the option of having the obligatory parking space (in accordance with building laws every house must have a parking space on site even if there is a garage) on the south side of the garage, meaning we can use the land on the west side of the house for a small front garden. A nice place to put the Ballymena cow-tail pump...

Excavation for foundations done and dusted.

Between 10th and 13th June the excavators were left to their own devices as I was away on business. This feeling of "leaving it all up to them" can be very disconcerting, but on the other hand who are we to tell them how to do their job...

This is the view looking East across what will be the garden with the utility room, kichen and living room looking out to the North, the living room also to the East and South. The blue pipe is the water mains with a tap on it for the builders.

This is the view looking South up the hill.

And this is looking North across the patio. Having seen the gradient and the amount of humus waiting to be modelled into it, it was hard to know whether to laugh or cry...

The view to the North West: The bedroom is on the nearest corner, the living room on the short part of the "L" on the right.

 

And this looking East from where the garage will be.

Next step is the laying of the foundations between the 25th and 27th June. Unfortunately there will only be photos of the finished product because I will be away at a conference during that time.. Maybe it's better that way - it'll stop any interference on my part.

And we're off!

The mobile phone rang at 7 o'clock (!) this morning - or rather it didn't ring because it was on silent mode. When I rang the number back at 8 o'clock (a more civilized time of day), it turned out it was the excavation company who had called from the site to say they were starting! Talk about short notice - or no notice, more like! Thankfully it was my office day and I was able to down keyboard (we used to say down tools or down pen) and go to the site. That was after I rang the architect to get him to send some more plans (drains, foundations and the land survey) to the excavation company. This was what I saw when I arrived (10.30 am):

The surveyors were also on site and had just marked out the position and height of where the foundations are to be laid (25th til 27th June). Apparently there had been a bit of "handbags at dawn" between the digger driver and one of the surveyors because the driver was of the opinion they weren't working fast enough and were holding him up. The result was that, when they were finished, the surveyors left the site without explaing the height markings on the sewer. Anyway, the digger removed the humus layer around the site - about 15 cm in depth. Some of it was taken off site and the rest was left in piles for later use in the garden. Herr Haaf, the boss, arrived and he cleared up the tiff between the driver and the surveyors and explained the markings to the digger driver.

This afternoon Wim and I went to the site again and had a look round. Now all the humus has been removed. While we were there we met Zoe, and English woman who lives in the village, and her dog Uschi - much to the delight of a certain Fox Terrier...

The next stage is on Tuesday when the deeper digging and filling starts for the foundation. Until then it looks like this (4pm today):