November
2009
The Build-Up to the First Floor
With the inner leaf
of the ground floor walls completed work began on the outer leaf,
and we began to get a glimpse of our reclaimed red brick plinth.
And very nice it looks
too. We're not using pallets for doors - that would be taking recycling a
bit too far.
They're being used to make sure the edges of the openings are vertical.
The time has come to
bring in the external scaffolding - now it's really beginning to look like
a building site.
This will be the first
of three 'lifts', where the scaffolding is built up to a specific height for
the work.
The next one will be for the first floor walls, then finally the gable ends
and roof....
Getting very busy on
site now, so time to make some space by lowering the Rotoplas tanks into the
basement....
.....where eventually
they'll store the rainwater which will supply the house with all of its water.
Here's the red brick
'plinth' - just over a metre high - almost completed. This will eventually
be topped with
a decorative layer of blue engineering bricks, and then lime render will continue
on up to roof level.
And so preparations
began for the final massive concrete slab which will form the first floor.
We've been so impressed with our groundworks company, LeBrun Construction,
that we've kept them on
to complete the first floor, leading to complaints about vertigo ('It's a
bit high for us up here.....')
Again a strong wood
and scaffold framework is constructed....
...which is then covered
in marine grade plywood sheets ready for the steel reinforcements, of which
more later.....
Supporting all of this
is a huge scaffolding structure currently filling the ground floor. At the
far end, you can see
the two main bedrooms beginning to take shape, where part of the dividing
wall has already been completed.
Remember this house is 'upside-down', with the living area on the first floor.
In trying to reduce
the environmental impact of the project where possible, we'd hoped to dispose
of the spoil from
the excavations by spreading it out on site. But in reality it just wasn't
possible, and at least 12 huge lorry loads have had
to be taken away, as otherwise we would have been left with an enormous mountain
of subsoil.
Even so, more lorry loads may yet have to be removed, but with most of the
top soil back in place,
it's just about possible to imagine that this may one day be a thriving and
beautiful organic garden.
With work on the house proceeding rapidly, it was time to make a start on
the foundations for the garage.
Mike Neate checks the day's post.
Our skilled bricklaying team John and Anthony worked amazingly quickly
almost by stealth
and within just a few short days the main structure was in place.....
...and it was time for a well-earned cup of tea. We bought a few more reclaimed
bricks than we needed for the house, so these,
combined with those we recovered from the old cellar a
year ago, were enough to build the garage walls. So we saved the
cost and carbon emissions of yet more concrete blocks, and ended up with what
we think is a really interesting garage interior.
In the past few weeks we've had some proper wintery building site weather
damp, cold, and miserable
giving us a foretaste of what could well be in store for the months ahead.
To keep the rain out of the unfinished wall cavities, project manager Mike
Neate installed some temporary protective sheeting.
There's insulation in the cavity below here, which is best kept dry. The final
insulation and render which will complete
the external walls won't be installed until close to the very end of the project,
so this will protect it all until then.
Meanwhile up on the first floor, Andrew LeBrun had begun marking out the opening
for the staircase....
...and we were joined on site by architect Neill Lewis, to sort out a few
details and see how things were coming along.
And here it is known, hopefully not apocryphally, as 'The Titanic'.
This wooden structure will form a void for
the stairs and gallery to the ground floor by stopping the wet concrete from
flowing into this section.
Site manager Max determinedly tucks into a disgusting snack of mud-covered
rotting apple which he found in some rubble....
....while Mike gets to work in the basement, cleaning up the Rotoplas tanks
with a pressure washer.
There are 12 of these 1500 litre tanks, originally used for importing concentrated
orange juice from Israel and Turkey.
We bought them direct from Britvic UK, with plenty of rancid orange juice
residue still in the bottom.....
....which was effectively reconstituted with water from the pressure washer,
putting us off orange juice for life.
Well, for a while, anyway.
Two floors above, the steel structure for the floor slab was coming along
well.
This is even more complex than the ground floor steel work, because of the
large hole for the stairs, which has to be
thoroughly reinforced around its edges. Andrew and Lee Lebrun are assembling
one of the supporting members here,,,,
....while the other is already in place, as Tim continues working in what's
going to be the corner of our first floor living room.
Again, there are thousands of joints to be tied by hand, but with the pouring
of this concrete floor now just days away,
there are real signs of progress, and a great sense that at long last our
house is beginning to take shape.
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