House build

[Colin Grigson]

We had a big storm here last night - lots of rain, which has cooled everything perfectly for the concreting today, it also compacted the ballast nicely after the wacker had done it’s work. Temperature’s dropped nicely too - I was worried about pouring concrete in 34’C but today was a temperate 18’C … perfect conditions !. Slab is almost complete, concrete will be left now for a week or so to go ‘off’ and then it’ll be finished ready for walls …

 

[alicat]

Oh, that's coming along nicely. Thanks for the pics. I'm hoping that the wind stays at your back.

 

[Colin Grigson]

Oh, that's coming along nicely. Thanks for the pics. I'm hoping that the wind stays at your back.

Thank you alicat

 

[JhnBssll]

This is both very exciting and very depressing at the same time Very exciting to see your build taking shape so quickly, yet very depressing knowing how long my tiny extension has taken me to date Keep on with the updates, enjoying this 😊 I'd be interested to know what your architect says about the first fix solar idea - a great plan in my eyes

 

[Colin Grigson]

This is both very exciting and very depressing at the same time Very exciting to see your build taking shape so quickly, yet very depressing knowing how long my tiny extension has taken me to date Keep on with the updates, enjoying this 😊 I'd be interested to know what your architect says about the first fix solar idea - a great plan in my eyes

I watched your extension thread with great interest … I’m sure if I was doing all this myself it too would take a lot more time. You made a cracking job of your building work - it’s always a better standard when you do your own. Although I’m very pleased with the builder, at the end of the day it’s not his house and shortcuts will be taken … whether they’re spotted or not remains to be seen … I now have the CC (builders chapter) massive watching them - they’ll not get away with much .

 

[Colin Grigson]

Whilst the concrete slab hardens, and to keep them out of mischief, the builders are connecting the sewerage, water and building a tanked shaft (not sure what that’s called) that will house the water meter and the sewer riser thing (again not sure what it called - it has a manhole cover at the top - the big black item on the slab) …

 

[Colin Grigson]

The slab has had a week to harden and so the builders are moving on to walls today, firstly they’ve applied a bitumen type solution to the concrete, and then unrolled the damp course which is bitumen impregnated material which is heated using a huge naked flame as it’s rolled onto the bitumen solution applied earlier. Then the corner bricks will be positioned and fixed .. we’re waiting for the an with the equipment to arrive to facilitate this …

 

[alicat]

Gosh, they're fair cracking on. Is that a single-skin building? Those blocks look a fair size...

 

[jowwy]

Gosh, they're fair cracking on. Is that a single-skin building? Those blocks look a fair size...

i was thinking the same about those blocks......

 

[Colin Grigson]

Gosh, they're fair cracking on. Is that a single-skin building? Those blocks look a fair size...

Yes, single skin, the blocks are 40cm x 30cm x 30cm, the holes throughout give the thermal quality apparently. The finished walls are insulated further on the exterior using 15cm thick (I think) polystyrene. You should remember that we can quite easily have -30’C here in winter and +40’C in summer which requires serious insulation to maintain a comfortable temperature inside - helped in summer with A/C everywhere.

 

[Colin Grigson]

An eventful day or so, you’ll see from the photo that the blocks were being laid from the corners inwards and it appeared to me that the builders were doing fine … until the ‘Clerk of The Works’ turned up … he was on holiday last week so had a fair amount of work to review. His verdict was to instruct the builders to partially dismantle the walls since (from the front elevation) the vertical joints in the block work were too close together - he insisted the blocks be laid differently to achieve a half blocks gap between vertical joints … they look fine from the angle I’ve pictured but I could understand his concern when viewed from the front - builders are not happy today …. He also asked them nicely to re-route the main water supply - the builders wanted to run the supply within the solid floor but the ’Clerk of Works’ pointed out that water at 5-10’C and underfloor heating at potentially 40’C could/would cause condensation so that upset the builder too … it’s to be moved to the tech room where planned ….

 

[alicat]

Wow, what an amazing clerk of works.

 

[Colin Grigson]

The builders have been busy for a couple of days … at this rate I’ll be moving in next Thursday!

 

[Colin Grigson]

There appears to be a Europe-wide shortage of building materials at the moment - not sure what’s driving it, but it’s a pain !. The only bricks our builder can buy are slightly higher spec. (which on it’s own isn’t an issue) but they’re a different colour too . The house will be insulated, rendered and painted so we won’t see the difference when it’s finished … but in the meantime it looks awful !. Don’t be too shocked at the standard of

brick laying - you’re spoilt in U.K. with your beautiful bricks and bricklaying …. here it is this way - all houses look awful during build and then magically transform with insulation and render, but we’re a long way from there yet. The builders have left now pending availability of materials … we were in no hurry but now we’ve started ..

 

[Colin Grigson]

Things are progressing slowly with the materials shortages, but today the builders have started the shuttering for the larger lintels and the base of the upstairs floor … both of which will be steel reinforced concrete. They’re also joining the DPC beneath the first course of bricks to the external vertical component of the DPC. The photo doesn’t show much I’m afraid - I’ll try to get more informative shots next time