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Benpointer

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  1. Benpointer

    Week 2 - Foundations

    By Benpointer,


    General
    The excellent SE we contacted on Thursday to design the depth of our foundations came back on Friday with the answer - deeper than we wanted at 1.95m in the corner closest to the neighbouring oak (15m away) but his quick response has saved the schedule.  We need to add clayboards in the corner nearest the tree but overall it could have been a lot worse.
     
    His rapid turnaround was brilliant and it meant we were able to crack on this week.  The groundworkers had already discounted Monday as I suspect they thought they’s be waiting for the SE but through the rest of the week dug all the trenches and on Friday we had 7 lorries of readymix poured.
     
    The only issue was they hit a shaley layer at the bottom of the deepest trenches, so with the BI’s agreement they poured a couple of loads of concrete in on Wednesday before digging out the rest of the trenches.
     
    So now we have all the foundation trenches filled with concrete.
     

     
     

     

     
    Next week the groundworks team plan to concentrate on the drains, installing the sewage treatment plant (we’ve gone for a Kingspan Biotec 2) and ‘losing’ the massive pile of spoil we have, across the paddock.  Block and beam floor to go in the following week.  Target for completion of the groundworks is 27 June, so three more weeks allowed.
     
    I’ve checked in with the timber frame company (Turners) and they are still on schedule to deliver and erect the frame between 7 - 18 July.
     
    I have also finally managed to get some quotes for scaffolding and that’s scheduled to go up 1 & 2 July.  The company we have always previously used have singularly failed to respond to my repeated requests, so I gave up on them and got a couple of other quotes in, and selected one.
     
    Windows, roofing, screed, plumbing and electrics contractors all lined up - I need to sort out some plasterers.  The first indicative price I had for boarding out and plastering was… Ouch!  Hoping that might be an outlier; it’s certainly more than Homebuilder’s Bible was suggesting £ per m2.
     
    In other news, we’ve found somebody who wants the timber garage, which we need to remove to create enough space for deliveries. He, his dad, and a friend are taking it down today.
     
  2. Benpointer

    Week 1 - Breaking ground

    By Benpointer,


    General
    Our groundworkers arrived on site as promised on the Tuesday after Spring Bank Holiday.   Raining all day of course!  Though tbf it’s fairly light rain.  They made a good start removing a concrete slab left over from a long-demolished, clearing the oversight and creating a temporary spoil dump site on the paddock.
     
    Three issues this week:
     
    An unexpected armoured cable is discovered on day two - our groundworker Marcus is unsurprisingly cautious.  Quick call to our electrician Nick.
     
    Nick thinks it’s probably the a redundant feed from the neighbouring house to what was their workshop - should be fine. He comes to inspect it and concludes it is dead.  We explain that the groundworkers have asked him to cut it if it’s safe to do so.  “You want me to cut it?” he asks, slightly incredulously. Yep.  Nick angle-grinds through the cable - cable is dead, electrician is still alive - problem sorted.
     
    Second issue: We found out on Thursday that the Building Inspector unexpectedly wants a “Structural engineer to design depth of foundation due to clay soil and the nearby oak tree”.   Both our architect and groundworker expected that the BI would be happy to agree the foundation depths based on the NHBC tables. But no, the BI is no longer allowed to do that he says.  So, we are in a hole so to speak but just not sure how deep a hole...
     
    A rapid scrabble to find a SE who is able to help and help quickly, as we want to dig the trenches next week.  On Thursday we got hold of a chap we used for another project 15 years ago - he thinks he could help in short order.  We await a result.
     
    Third issue: We had hoped to keep the existing timber double garage for the duration of the build, for storage through the build.  But the groundworkers are worried about access and off-loading our beams for our B&B floor. The timber frame and window companies also think the space is very tight.
     
    I conclude the garage will have to come down - now.  It was a mistake on my part to try to keep it; we could have dismantled it carefully during the ‘phoney war’ ahead of construction proper. Annoying.  Fortunately our PP includes demolition of this garage so, we are fine on that front.
     
    Our chippie knows someone who may want it and will dismantle and remove for nowt at their expense, hopefully in the next two weeks.  Failing that the groundworkers will knock it down with a digger, but it would be a shame not to recycle it.
     
    Edit: The SE has come back with the foundation calculations over the weekend (what a hero!) so we should be all sustems go for digging the foundations next week.  Hurrah!
     
    Pre-start "One day my son, all this will be yours"
     

     
    Making a start.  In the rain obvs:

     
     
    End of week 1.  Happy with that!

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