Plumbing and Frames Part 1

Its been a while between posts, so.. lets catch up on things that have been happening over the last couple of weeks.

I recently stumbled into an amazing facebook user group, the Ryde Northern Districts - Buy, Swap and Sell.

I picked up some cheap Cliveas from a lovely lady in Ryde, snuck into the site and jammed them into the back corner! Hopefully they will multiply over the next 9 months so i have more to spread around the side of the house after we move in.

23/8 - Plant storage ;)

The slab is now well and truly cured! We had some delays caused by some troublesome windows. Firstly, our neighbour took up issue with them being stacked up against the fence as well as the tradesmen who refused to work anywhere near them. Thankfully these were moved to allow some deliveries.

26/8 - Concrete Square pits and RHS Delivery

Eventually, the plumbers managed to get onto site to trench and dig the drainage.
I missed the whole thing... I couldn't see the trenches or the depth of the pipe work. I've been dropping in so much lately without any sign of progress. Without any sign of work, i actually backed off a bit... And then bam, Tuesday 1/9/15 drop in and it's all done!!

1/9 Hollow Section (RHS) street outlet - RWT overflow

1/9 'West elevation' Downpipe connections and a few surface drains

1/9 600sq Pit - Silt arrestor prior to absorption trench system

1/9 'East elevation' Charged line Rainwater Tank connections (green), Downpipes and surface drains

Aerial shot of the site taken on 1/9/15.

Nearmap image of the worksite

 
Timber frame delivery arrives shortly after the plumbers are complete. The first pre-fabrication frames, joists and yellow-tongue supplies get lifted off the truck.

2/9 Frame delivery

2/9 Frames, Joists and Floor panels

Our Site Supervisor has managed to get some carpenters over to Rawson that he used to work with. First Class Building Construction Pty Ltd.
After some delays with the paperwork, the team arrive onsite and start to stand up the frame.

10/9 Frames - Day 1 AM

10/9 Frames - Day 1 PM

11/9 Frames - Day 2 PM + Another timber delivery

11/9 Frames - Day 2 PM- Garage Steel work and start of floor joists

11/9 Frames - Day 2 PM- Truss delivery

The build is starting to take shape. At the current rate of progress, the frames should be complete by Tuesday/Wednesday next week. I will be looking forward to view the scale and size of the building, so I'll be hovering around next week to see it come together.

Lengthy delays ahead. Bricklayers, are said to be paid in beer and gold...even Greenback ;)

Slab Progress - Part 2

As promised earlier this week. I witnessed the slab pour on Monday and took some video so my family could see some action of the event. Here it is;

Thankfully, the slab has been left to cure for the rest of the week. Some areas are now showing drier patches as the slab cures and dehydrates.

Windows also got delivered this week. There are alot of expensive windows lying out the front now. Hopefully the thieves don't help themselves as i certainly don't want any delays by things going missing!

There is a missing edge on the front corner of the garage. The front brickwork should overhang slightly to conceal the downpipe

Kitchen, Family, and Dining room area

Kitchen island plumbing stack

I am a bit baffled by this corner. It is rather damaged as the concretors lifted the stryrofoam early by the looks of it. It's also strangely located on the front edge. I'm not sure how the damaged face of the slab edge with some inlaid brickwork will improve this, and the front face stops abruptly.

The ugly corner

Slab Progress

What an exciting day yesterday! 

I arrived onsite to view the slab pour at 7am and found a hive of activity. The Pump contractors had already run the hoses and put some tyres over the formwork to restrict the hose movement. The concretors were tweaking the formwork following Rick's advice over the weekend, and Mark our Site Supervisor was inspecting the remediation areas advised by Rick.

7am - The troops are ready for action

The first 7m3 truck arrives at 7:15am and causes a little stir on the street. They begin pumping and decide 10 minutes later to move the truck fully onto the council strip due to blockages on the road.

The first of many trucks to feed the pump

The crew begin from the alfresco emptying two trucks in that area alone. The drop edge beams consume the majority of the concrete.

Two trucks down and only 10% there

8:15am - The third truck arrives and gets through the majority of the lounge, dining, kitchen, and tank/ACU pads.

8:30am - 50% complete

9:45 - The fourth truck in action with the cool and calm pump driver and his busy off-sider running madly about shuffling the hose. 

Leveling and smoothing

10:15 - The fifth truck is emptied and we are nearly there. There is alot of finishing work after this as they wait over a hour for another truck.

The pace slows as they approach the finish. Five trucks are ordered for the pour and they still need another for the garage.

10:40am - The concretors begin to remove the top edges of the formwork to complete the edge beam facing. This also avoids any lifting of the slab surface when the formwork is removed later. They refinish the alfresco and other areas that had stakes and frames within the slab surface (such as the ones shown in foreground on the porch dropdown).

11:15am - The final truck arrives and the garage is completed. 
 

11:45am - Keith is working the surface of the slab with the powered trowel. The slight imperfections on the surface created by the float start to disappear.

4:00pm - The slab is finessed to perfection. A few of the boys are still here tweaking the garage and filling areas. 

Quite an amazing result!

I hope to post some high speed video of the action sometime later this week.
Come back later this week to see the magic ;)