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We have a basement….and some utilities

Thorfun

Entry posted by Thorfun

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It’s been a while since my last blog post and over the last 5 weeks the basement contractors have been busy and have finished the basement. Well, the external walls at least as we still need to build the internal walls and put the block and beam on top.

 

It’s looking really good although it is a bit reminiscent of a prison with all the concrete and 3m high walls (not that I’ve been in many/any prisons that is, it’s just from watching movies).

 

The groundworkers are back on-site tomorrow to carry on with fitting the external EPS insulation, backfill and the rest of the foundations for the above ground arms of our property.

 

Here’s a sped up time-lapse video of the entire basement build. 3:40s long so it shouldn’t be too onerous to watch.

 

We had one hiccup with the basement construction when the digger driver decided to turn the cab a bit too close to our existing house and crunch into the wall causing a massive horizontal and vertical crack.

 

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Luckily it was a room we use as a larder that is attached to the main building of our existing house but I still wasn’t happy especially when the main response I got was “well, you’re going to knock it down anyway” and “it’s only cosmetic”. Like that’s ok then ?. Anyway, they resined helibars in place to sure up the walls and, even though it doesn’t look great, I am at least happy that it won’t fall down before we knock it down.

Apart from that, all is well and we’re happy with the basement and the progress so far and are looking forward to next week to see some more progress.

 

Here are a few photos of the finished basement (although it's a lot cleaner now they've finished, I just don't have any photos since that happened! ?‍♂️)IMG_0802.jpeg.077e0877909c39ee746c21f1520f3485.jpeg.

 

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the sunken courtyard:

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During the basement build we had a road closure of our single track road to allow UK Power Networks and Southern Water to install our new 3-phase electricity connection and water. A road closure is a very expensive thing as the local council want their pound of flesh to pay for administration and notification of the road closure. So we had to pay for this twice. But, I managed to persuade both utility companies (actually Clancy Docwra for the water) to work under one road closure at the same time. Unbelievable and anyone I’ve ever spoken to has said “yeah, good luck with that!”. So, if anyone ever doubts that you can get utilities to work together I am proof that it’s possible. I will be getting a refund for the other road closure (that's about £2k saved thank you very much) which is a very nice bonus.

 

UKPN came and dug the trench across the road, Clancy then put in their water main, backfilled a little and then UKPN put in their cable and then Clancy backfilled ready for Clancy to come along the next day and tarmac it. All done and dusted in 1 1/2 days. Very organised and efficient. I was suitably impressed. Here are some photos. ?

 

water main being laid:

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now the electricity (in ducting):

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multiple utility companies working happily together (who'd have thought it?):

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our connected 3-phase head:

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Both water and electrics won't be connected until a long way down the line but at least they're in and that's another potential headache out of the way.

 

Thanks again for reading and, until the next instalment, it’s goodbye from me.

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ProDave

I got all my services in with one road opening, Scottish water did the road opening (actually their appointed contractor) and were happy for me to lay in ducts for electricity and telephone before they filled it and closed it.

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Thorfun
46 minutes ago, ProDave said:

I got all my services in with one road opening, Scottish water did the road opening (actually their appointed contractor) and were happy for me to lay in ducts for electricity and telephone before they filled it and closed it.

well done. UKPN wouldn't let me run ducts, they said they had to do that work. I think you did well there!

 

Openreach came out and said they could run their cable in the same trench but they'd still need to dig to get to that point and would charge for that and to run the cable under the road as we're in an overhead area. they then said I could have a pole erected, the cable run and all the ducting for free. I just run the duct from the bottom of the pole to our house. so my telephone connection is £0 apart from my time digging the trench. that's a real bonus!

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tonyshouse

Will there be a land drain round the outside of your basement? Best day low as possible, ideally bottom just below bottom of slab/walls or have you got pumped drainage inside with a sump? 

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Thorfun
8 hours ago, tonyshouse said:

Will there be a land drain round the outside of your basement? Best day low as possible, ideally bottom just below bottom of slab/walls or have you got pumped drainage inside with a sump? 

yep, land drain is in around the entire footprint of the basement. it feeds in to a sump in the courtyard (it's under that wooden cover in the last basement photo) and from there the water pumps out to a ditch outside the property. The sump will also collect any rainwater from the courtyard as well.

 

Our waterproofing is Type A and Type B so no internal waterproofing or sump/pumps.

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Bitpipe

Great achievement.

 

Looks uncannily like ours did with the main basement and adjacent box.

 

How are you taking ground level services in and out of the basement box? Have you cast in any knockouts or will you just core drill what you need?

 

 

 

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Thorfun
1 hour ago, Bitpipe said:

Great achievement.

 

Looks uncannily like ours did with the main basement and adjacent box.

 

How are you taking ground level services in and out of the basement box? Have you cast in any knockouts or will you just core drill what you need?

 

 

 

thanks. I remember you saying that your guys did 2 x corners and then moved the formwork around to the other corners so I knew what they were going to do before they even told me. 

 

we have 6 ducts leaving the plant room in the basement for utilities coming in (and potentially going out if required) and 1 duct for a soil pipe. You can see them here circled on this photo:

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we have one other waste pipe leaving the house but that isn't above the basement so will be a regular penetration in the slab above ground.

 

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Bitpipe

Well done. It looks beautiful - quite a shame when all the concrete gets covered up though - I kept the walls of the plant room un plastered so I could still see it.

 

 

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Thorfun
34 minutes ago, Bitpipe said:

Well done. It looks beautiful - quite a shame when all the concrete gets covered up though - I kept the walls of the plant room un plastered so I could still see it.

 

 

that's a good idea actually as I do like the raw concrete so leaving that room bare will be a nice touch I think.

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Bitpipe
1 hour ago, Thorfun said:

that's a good idea actually as I do like the raw concrete so leaving that room bare will be a nice touch I think.

 

To be honest, if you're bolting stuff to the walls the PB would just get in the way!

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Thorfun
Just now, Bitpipe said:

 

To be honest, if you're bolting stuff to the walls the PB would just get in the way!

did you seal the concrete in any way? if not I presume no concrete dust comes off in to the plant room? 

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Bitpipe
Just now, Thorfun said:

did you seal the concrete in any way? if not I presume no concrete dust comes off in to the plant room? 

 

Nope, walls should not shed any dust.

 

Your floor may though as it's just tamped flat vs cast so you may need to seal that.

 

 

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