Groundworks Weeks 1-3 and Time Lapse Video
Entry posted by Red Kite
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Well lots is happening on site:- we started with demolition and asbestos removal which was a super easy and quick, services were a nightmare (especially the electricity supply), and finally we have drainage signed off and planning conditions and building regs submitted etc. Finally ready to go!!!!!
So three weeks ago our groundworkers started on site, and It is an ongoing epic against a backdrop of rain and a sea of wet clay and the proportions are epic! The foundations for the two houses are combined and built off a common RC (Reinforced Concrete) slab and behind a common U shaped RC wall - all cut into the slope. That, plus a new driveway and some interesting levels and drainage means a monster digout. There is over 600m3, to be dug out, and if that doesn't mean much to you watch the videos and you will begin to appreciate that kind of volume of wet clay looks like. For the technical - not sure if the 600m3 is ‘in the ground’ or ‘as dug’ (clay bulks up when you dig it) but either way its pretty huge!
So rather than use lots of words we thought Time Lapse Video might tell the tale better - watch the week by week video instalments as the project progresses. Ask questions and we will try and clarify but there is a lot going on - blink and you might miss it. So see https://www.dropbox.com/sh/th9f6e3cel5dm1q/AAAfsWdAH184J75bCNUUtzVra?dl=0
for the gory details! We will attempt to add new weekly instalments over each weekend so look back periodically to see progress (unless we forget; in which case it’s only a temporary time lapse).
Some notes on progress to date:-
Week 1 – This opens with a clear site post demolition and is taken from the rear of the site, The two houses will sit to the left and right of the site and the one of the right (Plot 1) will be split level into the site and the one on the left (Plot 2) will have a full basement - in ground to the rear and out of the ground at the front. The video shows site prep, making the new entrance at the front that will be our new drive and is really neat for loading muck away lorries (try to count them!) and bringing in materials (later a lot of concrete, steel, timber frame etc). Also over on the far side you can see a new manhole being constructed. In the foreground you can see the stormwater attenuation crates going in and being backfilled.
Week 2 – shows more drainage going in over on the far side and some muck away. Also some sheet piling went in but the camera failed to catch it. Over on the far side of the site is a shared driveway and we wanted to make sure this didn’t fall into the hole and that our neighbours had good access. Also, and most important, our contractors need a safe place to work and not have several meters of wet clay fall on them!
Week 3 –this is where the real fun ‘big dig’ starts and you begin to get a feel for the scope of the project. You can see some more sheet piling going in to stabilise the edge and corner which was a bit unstable. Progress over the week is a finely balanced mixture of digging and muck away – getting enough out of the ground to keep the lorries loaded and flowing, while maintaining enough room for the digger to work. You can start to see the U-shape of where the RC wall will go as they cut out both sides around the site of the two new houses. The contractors are doing a great job and hardly seem fazed by the weather – though they have needed to pump out a bit from time to time!
Technical note - using a Brinno BCC 200 Pro camera and experimenting with fps and time delay and timer variables so hopefully it will get better! At the moment the camera seems to chew batteries but hopefully this is now solved - Week 2 was truncated because the batteries died in under a week ?
Enjoy and watch this space
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