Ready for the pour

 Fritz arrives with his cement pump on a boom on Monday morning 7:00. And we pour 15 cubic metres of concrete into the cavity.

Getting ready for the big pour.

Most of the soil we gouged out has disappeared back into the plinth.


We have hired a machine called a "whacker" (not to be confused with a wekker) to compact the soil and stones to prepare the plinth for its layers of Plastic, Insulation, and Reinforcing Weld Mesh ready for pouring the slab.
 

Wake me up when it's finished. And don't forget my bed and my bowl.

Kind Regards

Molly the Hedonistic Hound

Heres a crude design of the Fossil Pad's skeleton.

Here is a rather crude design of the structure's skeleton.
Not drawn to scale.
The main beams will probably be 120mm I Beams.
All the steel is cut and drilled in a factory and is bolted together on site and erected on the slab.







The plan calls for three of these but we may put in four depending on what the structural engineer advises.








The house has steel Purlins to which the Chromadek is attached

And cleared out 4 Truck Loads of Cacti

C

And we cleared out  Cacti along both walls of the upper drive way. It was like something out of Transilvania.

I can see clearly now - the trees or at least significant parts of them are gone

Did a check - The sunlight should fall on the roof at 17:30 so that we can generate Solar Power

Success!

Tree Haircut in progress

Amazing how the whole aspect has already brightened up. Already the Delta Park undulating hills and trees have come into the frame and enhanced the view from the entertainment patio in Debby and Brendan's house.

Now while the chainsaws are available there are some more things round here .............. 

These trees are due for a severe haircut today

This morning Maison le Belle Champ is a hive of activity.
Some large trees are being thinned out and shaped and the foundation plinths are being built up to slab height.
The large limbs are being cut into 35 cm wood burner sized  logs - should have enough firewood for several years.
Very sad if we destroy the home of the woolly aphids  that have taken up residence in the oak tree.

The concrete pour

This huge truck arrived complete with a foldable pipe and powerful pump. The operation was controlled from a little control panel equipped with  joysticks by an operator standing at the rear bank of the excavated area.

The concrete was poured to a depth of about 200 mm (300 mm at the front). The whole operation took about 30 minutes,

In three days time we will start laying the bricks for the plinth.

Patio Design - If we have any money left over

Mark One

If I have any money left this is the Patio we are thinking of putting in.
Not very expensive as it is mostly brickwork, plaster and Tile. The Glass bricks around the conservation area may be the most costly item. We will probably need to put in a few ground level planting areas excavated quite deeply and partially filled with gravel to act as "soaks" in addition to a drain. Possibly using dressed stone - found in the excavated mound as the rear wall in the barbecue may be a nice touch.

Drawn from memory so mark two will modified to reflect actual measurements.

Waiting the Concrete Pump

The trenches have been dug and 3 x 10 mm reinforcing bars joined by cross bars (10mm) at 2 metre intervals has been laid in each of the 8 trenches. We have lifted these of the base using 50 mm spacers. On Thursday afternoon we are going to pump concrete into these footings. Then the plinths have been built we will scrape out each section to a uniform depth of 200mm and use a whacker to stabilise the surface.

The surface is pretty stable as it is as we are down to the sub strata which contains a lot of stone and rocks

Then its layers of ant poison, heavy duty plastic, polystyrene, 50mm spacers and ribbed weldmesh.
And we fill it all up with pumped concrete.
Probably by Wednesday 25th June.

The Minimalist Box

This is more or less what it will look like.

North and West Sides

Not shown are 18 Photovoltaic panels  which more or less cover half of the north facing slope of the roof. We have also lost the chimney and we are going to replace it with one of those high efficiency wood burning stoves with a stainless steel chimney.
The entire slab inside and out and including the wrap around porch is tiled with the same porcelain faux wood tiles (mid oak)
Ceilings are vaulted.

External cladding is Nutec cement slats that are called "Vermont Planking".

The internal framework consists of steel studs with 50mm of high density polyurethane sheets between dry wall and vermont planking.

All Fenestration, Windows, Doors and Curtain walls are double glazed and the material used for the frames is white powder coated aluminium.

The Roof is white steel IBR sheeting and the ceiling boards are also backed by 50 mm of polystyrene.

the idea is that this house should require very little heating or cooling.

The 18 PV panels on the roof store the power that is generated in 4 Banks (48V each) of 4 Deep Cycle batteries each.

There are separate circuits for lighting (all LED) medium use requirements and high draw appliances etc.

When the batteries are fully charged excess power will be routed to the kid's main board whilst when the batteries are drained we will run a charger from their supply.

South

The South Side is perched under a bank.
There have been some engineering challenges but so far  we have licked them all.


The North side will be extended by adding a 6 metre patio

Trench Warfare

We are building a hybrid trench/raft foundation.

First we dig a 550mm wide 600mm deep trench around the perimeter.Then

•  we divide the foundation into four  by digging another two trenches.
  
  
• and lay 3 Reinforcing 10mm bars into each trench tying them together with wire
  
• 250 mm of concrete is pumped into the trenches by Fritz and his pump.
• A plinth is built using brick on the East, North and South walls and dressed stone that we discovered under the surface of the soil that we excavated on the West wall. (When I think of all the money I am forking out this will probably become the wailing wall)

This is scheduled for Tuesday 10th June

The four sections are treated as follows

• soaked with long lasting termite poison
• packed with hardcore to a distance 150mm to the top of the plinth.
• the hardcore is pounded into submission with a device called a whacker.
• a layer of heavy duty PVC lines the cavity
• a layer of 50mm High Density Polyurethane sheeting goes in next
• A steel mesh is suspended above the Polyurethane by 30 mm spacers
• A few pipes are cast in place to accommodate wiring to the kitchen island
• Fritz visits us with his concrete pump and  fills the cavities to plinth height.
  
  

We then wait for 3 days spraying the concrete slab with water at regular intervals.

Some of the Build team

An absolute pleasure to work with these guys. Nothing is too much trouble

Gibson Leader of the Matabele team

Some of the team at Lunch after starting work at 7:00

Hans Lombard - Master Builder

Kitchen Design

This is our third revision of the kitchen design because there was too much walking to be done and not nearly enough counter space. This design follows the golden triangle rule and minimizes walking between functional areas

South Wall - Kitchen Island not shown

West View Kitchen Island Not Shown

Arial view

Approx 2.2 metre kitchen Island

Site Excavation

We hired a back actor for a day to shape the site and to knock some trees down. By the way much less expensive than a tree feller. There is a difference of roughly 3 metres in height between the Fossil Pad and the kids house so a lot of soil had to be moved. We were also able to rip an oak stump out of the drive way using the same machine.
The oak tree stump was about 1500 mm in diameter and the bole extended 1500mm under the surface of the drive way anchored by 5 major roots.

Dragged kicking and screamiing from the earth.

We also removed three large trees of about 3 metre high each .

Managed to snag the top strand of the electric fence but that is a small price to pay.

The Street Facing wall.

Wall to the left of main entrance.

On both sides of the gate we erected a wall consisting of double bond brick with brick force steel reinforcing between each course.
Wall shown in its un plastered state will be painted when it is fully dry.
About 36 metres of wall in all. Wall was erected between the pillars of a very well constructed stone wall Each division ie. the distance betweem pillars is about 5500 mm.

Wall to the right of the main entrance

The final floor plan design

This was the final floor plan we came up with after making allowances for Battery Cupboards, Gas Bottle storage, heat pumps and geysers.

Where the fossils will spend their days

There are seven metres from the North street-facing wall to the house which we intend enclosing to form a sheltered patio. The idea is that Grace will bring me freshly brewed coffee and inviting looking drinks at regular intervals (the ones with the umbrellas) whilst I contemplate the state of the world.

This is what it may look like.

Of course there will be space for a barbecue on which we can throw the odd lamb chop or two.

Not too shoddy hey Ron!

No space for a lawn mower - Drat.

La Belle Champe

Maison La Belle Champe (House in the Pleasant valley) also known by the Belsham clan as the "fossil pad" is under construction. 
It is located on Brendan and Debby's property.
Many of you have expressed and interest in the progress and trials and tribulations that we will endure over the next few months (To gloat I suspect) so here it is warts and all.

The fossil pad was conceived as a 10 square metre box with a vaulted ceiling. The inspiration is a minimalist mid century Danish Barn. Here is the initial concept. My friend Terry who is an experienced project developer / construction guru told me that I had designed a "BOX" and I needed to get an architect and add some "twiddly" bits.

I knew we were  on the right track. What I had in mind was a barn with vaulted ceilings and a minimum of internal walls. In fact in the design the only room with full height internal walls is the bathroom.

The entire slab including wrap around porch is to be tiled with porcelain timber look tiles with etched grain. This would both maximize the use of space by bringing the outdoors in - simply by opening one of the sliding doors.

Construction would be steel frames clad on the outside with Vermont planks and on the inside with Rynolite panels. With 100mm of insulation below the slab in the wall cavities and under the vaulted ceiling. Windows, Curtain Walls, Sliding doors and Doors are to be double glazed powder coated aluminium framed.

The whole house will heated in Winter by a small wood burning furnace.

The house is off the grid. So cooking is by gas oven and hob, 18 Photovoltaic panels are planned for the roof and the water will be heated by a 1000w heat pump. I haven't run the numbers yet but I estimate having to install about 16 12V Deep Cycle batteries connected serially in banks of 4 because 48V is the best configuration.

I have a cunning plan to supply the brats with spare power when our system is over generating and use some of theirs when we experience continuous rainy days.

In the next post I will include the later revisions of the design.