Clearing the site…

 

(Last weekend I didn’t think there was enough for a blog entry.  But this weekend, after a week and a half at groundworks it turns out I had more in my head to clear out than I realise, so it’s a bit longer than expected…)

 

After the grunt and sweat and fatigue of manual demolition it felt like one big ‘Hurry Up -Wait!’, the wait partly imposed by Steve (semi retired builder) being on holiday. 

 

The plan was to start groundworks at the beginning of May when neither Steve or Bob (structural engineer) were on holiday.   We had a window of nearly two weeks between Steve’s return and Bob going on the 12th of May.  But events transpired so we ended up with Kev the Dig starting on site on the 7th.  The best laid plans and all that.

 

Steve has a 1.5 ton digger, and he and I could have done the lot, albeit more slowly than we have.  But our party wall agreements and our site insurance all required “experienced (tick) and insured (cross) contractors”.  So I’d cast around for recommendations and ended up with just one recommendation, Andy the Boss and Kev the Dig, so I got a quote from them.  The cost was one of those ‘Roy Schneider’ moments, from Jaws as he sat on the beach and while the camera zoomed into him and the background got further away.

 

But it seemed like we didn’t have a choice as we didn’t want to just google random dudes.   So throughout the demolition we had this big looming cost slowly trundling towards us in my mind.   Demolition was all consuming, not because of what it was so much as the sheer full on-ness of it, the constant intoxication of elation and fatigue.  And that meant I put insufficient time into looking at alternatives, even though we are ‘cashflow challenged’ in getting to watertight.

 

Over and over again I’m learning that the building world takes ‘just in time’ to the ultimate limits.  Days before we are due to start I suddenly get given several recommendations of good guys who will happily work day rate and so I arrange to meet some on site for them to have a look so I let Andy the Boss know that we simply couldn’t afford it.  Turns out being dead straight with peeps (which in fairness is always our intention) does pay. One quick phone call and it went from me saying “really sorry we can’t afford you” to “yes we understand the risk of day rates but we are really happy to work at those day rates”.

 

So on the 6th Andy the Boss and Kev the Dig turn up with a 2.5 ton digger.  Next day Kev the Dig and I start pulling up concrete and scraping off the site.  I say “and I” in a kind of loose, hanging round on site, tidying up a bit and wondering what exactly I should do, sort of way.  I wasn’t really needed most of the time.  I did dig to find the sewer pipe a couple of meters in from the road, cap it off and note position.   Will be interesting to see if I can easily find it again.

 

 

We discovered some bigger than expected lumps of concrete, which Kev dealt with by lifting one end up and dropping them. Later one of our neighbours shared the fact that they could feel those bits happening as they sat at the far side of their house.  Scary.

 

Kev suggested we take some of the big heap of stuff we’d saved for floor make up (which I’ve learned to call “crush”) and spread it at the front of the site as a sort of parking/lorry bearing area.  Damn good idea, I should have thought of that.  So I did have a role to play.  My role was from time to time to say “yes Kev”.   At least it made a change from “yes Steve”.

 

Kev was very considerate to the neighbours, stopping when he noticed excessive dust being created and sending me round to conduct neighbourly relations.  And our poor, dust covered, deafened neighbours continued to be rather brilliant and tolerant.  Another example of how fantastically lucky we have been.  

 

Thursday lunchtime saw Kev suggest, politely, that I was in the F way (technical term), and that he’d be quicker if he could shut the fencing and not constantly be checking that he wasn’t about to flatten anyone.  So I went home and in truth not being on site that afternoon or the day after as Kev did his thing was tough.

 

But when J and I went to site on Saturday it turned out that the world hadn’t ended without me.   

 

 

Actual founds…

 

On Monday Steve and I set out the profiles.  What a whole new experience, and I found it a lot more stressful than I had expected.   The implications of making a mistake just didn’t bear thinking about.  Steve sighed and shook his head at me on a very regular basis but we eventually got there.

 

Then Tuesday Kev the Dig was back, so we started digging in the north east corner.  Exactly as indicated by the test holes we hit good ground just below the surface, excellent for our shallow founds.  Then the digger straddled that trench to do the south eastern corner.  Soft ground.  Damn.   We at first thought we’d just hit a soakaway, and we did pull out bits of concrete and pipe.  We had no choice but to fill in the north eastern corner trench again and get seriously stuck in to the other rear corner.  

       

We went down about an extra 600mm, which in the scheme of things is not that huge, and the soft bit was less than two meters long though of course one digs more than that to make sure. 

 

So it’s at this point that the warranty surveyor turned up.  I’d requested that they attend the next day but they had staffing issues, and as I had previously agreed with the lead surveyor that they’d work partly off pictures if need be, I agreed an inspection as late as possible on Tuesday afternoon.  That turned out to mean 12:00, as he had to get home (two hours drive) to pack for a holiday.  Sigh.

 

At this point we’d dug about 7.5m of our circa 72m (linear) foundations.  His only comment was that he thought we’d need another inspection.   He was on site about 10 minutes, and I learned more about his impending trip to Turkey than he did about our build.  I got a call from him that evening confirming that I’d need another inspection and that we should cut off the little ends of roots that we’re sticking out of the first few inches of topsoil around the trenches.  Roots in the trenches I could understand being a concern, but hey ho, just say yes and try and smile.

 

Anyway, not long after that visit our BCO turned up, also early.  But oh, how different.  In a lovely way he gently interviewed first Steve then Kev the Dig.  I can easily imagine many don’t realise he is interviewing them.  He didn’t need to interview me, he didn’t need to.  From previous phone calls he knew what a well meaning numpty he was dealing with.

 

We talked about the soft ground we’d found and what we’d done in response; I talked him through the overall project; we talked through the drainage plan (which as a result needs to be redone); we talked through how we had managed and continue to manage risk to the neighbours; and we talked through the floor build up and the placement of insulation and DPM.   

 

And it appeared we passed muster.  Most pleasing, our founds have BCO approval.  

 

The rest of that day passed in a blur of digging and moving spoil to the front of site ready for a grab lorry next day.  As part of that we found an unexpected big lump of concrete underground, half of which needed gunning out.  

 

I lay awake thinking about the build sometimes, well, mosttimes.  That night it occurred to me that during all that shenanigans we’d not rechecked the exact location of the founds.  Our outside edges are 900mm wide with the walls placed very near the edge. That means that the placement of those founds is critical - kind of a tolerance of +50mm/-0mm type of thing.

 

Next morning at site I annoyed everyone by checking.  100mm out on the deep bit, less further along which could thankfully be sorted with the digger, but not the deep bit.  Oh.  So, with a pour booked for the afternoon and Steve and Kev fully employed digging ready for that I searched the employee list for a mug to pop down the 1.4m trench, remove the shuttering on one side and manually spade off 4” and shovel that spoil out all in double quick time.   The options were somewhat limited.  It was either me or me.  That’ll be me then.  And after that it was my turn to attack the big lump of concrete with the breaker after Steve had done the first half.  Tough morning. But the humour helps, as illustrated by the message Steve sent J.  Humph.  

 

    
 

Getting that done, getting all the stop ends done ready with starter bars, etc. was more time consuming than we had allowed for.  But it was ok, I was in control, it was agreed that I would call when ready for the concrete lorry.  Only it transpired that Kev happened to be on the phone to Andy the Boss and he told him we were ready for concrete far earlier than I would have done.  Massive stress and much gritting of teeth and we did get there, but it was very touch and go.  Not doing that again.  Thankfully J was onsite to instil a little calm and perspective.  And to keep Steve chatting when I needed him to accompany me in running round like a headless chicken (and help me get the stop ends right!).   The thing is Steve knew it was all going to be ok, and that I was panicking over nothing.  Shame I didn’t!

 

The pour itself was über manic.  It was agreed by a majority vote that I was to be in wellies in the trench removing props. (Steve and Kev voted for it to be me, i.e. not them).  It’s a bit like an old black and white army film comedy where they ask for a volunteer and everyone but the prize idiot takes a step back while the officer looks away.  

 

I had no idea concrete could move so quickly.  Struts I had hammered home with every ounce of strength simply slipped out of position as the concrete pushed sideways, but then had to be instantly grabbed and thrown out before being enveloped and lost forever.   Down the 1.4m bit was the worst by far.  Definite feeling of peril, even though all I would have had to do was stand up and let the guys pull me out -so only my wellies were in any real danger of being entombed, but still a bit scary.  

     

So next day I quietly ensured that all accepted that the next phase would be less stressy and better controlled.   

 

First diversion from my plan was the ply shuttering.   Earlier in the process I’d asked about its removal and was told it was up to me, it could be left there but we could remove it if I preferred.  So when I asked if our first job was ply removal I was told that it was too late, if it was to come out it has to come out straight away.  Another Oh.

 

Second diversion was another soft bit, opposite the first one indicating that there appeared to be a seam of soft stuff running across the rear of the houses, perhaps thats why they are where they are, to avoid building over a small brook.  Either way we dug past it and ended up with a mirror of the other side.   This time I tied rope to the lowest struts.   Not being down there for the pour again.  In hindsight it’s entirely possible that I needn’t have been in the trench at all, but it was effectively a leg pull for the grockle.  I did mention previously that the build process is so full of laughter!

 

That evening a small bunch of Suffolkian (carefully how you pronounce that in polite company) buildhubbers met in the pub near our site.  As I lead the 47 seconds long site tour (errr, here’s a filled trench, here’s and empty one, and heres some dirt) I realised that the only thing I had to show off was how close the pub was.  The safety brief before entering site was longer than the tour - “you should all have hard hats, boots, hi vis and gloves on but you know that so it’s your own bloody fault”.

 

Oh well.  It was an interesting evening and I enjoyed my nachos.

 

Because the concrete was ordered for 10:00 the next day we had ample time to prepare.  Only to find that they couldn’t get to site till 12:00.  There’s one thing more stressy than being tight for time for a pour, and thats dealing with two keyed up impatient builders for two hours with little that can be done.  

 

Between the first load and the second we needed to dig a small foundation linking the previous pour to the current one, with the concrete from today’s first pour held back by ply.  That we did just in time (providing the stress fix that groundworkers appear to enjoy).  That ply did have to come out to allow the two pours of the day to meld, and that took a surprising amount of force.   

 

After a late lunch with much planning talk, Steve set my homework (tidying, moving stuff, ordering), and even after that I got home a little earlier than usual, with two thirds of a set of foundations.  Behind schedule but still pleasing.