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Sometimes nightmares are real.


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At 0200 this morning, the east wall of our house collapsed.

 

I feel quite sick. And every time the feeling subsides another couple of blocks fall onto the scaffolding. And I feel sicker. Debbie's not best pleased either. I'm sitting here in our kitchen (the build is in our 'garden') waiting for more bits to fall .... 

 

It's too early to take photos, but I'll post them here later this morning. 

 

Thank God nobody was injured. It could have been so much much worse. What a time to remember that our architect specialises in disaster recovery.

 

Damn damn, damn.

Ian

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Yes, nobody injured....

Trigger? It would be unwise to speculate in public. What's needed now is  calm analysis, a plan to be formulated and then get on with it.

 

There used to be a wall here....

20170719_054959.thumb.jpg.1da34451bff71931be59410b896527eb.jpg

 

and this is what it looks like from the inside

 

20170719_055108.thumb.jpg.8711ed26dfd288ccfed80a8fcca2ad55.jpg

 

I am so sick at heart. Really fed up. So much work and preparation and thought and care on our part. And I am working so hard at not being unkind. Or placing blame.

All sorts of vacuous cliches bubble up in my sleep deprived head: when the going gets tough the tough get going, it'll be Ok, just you wait and see, we'll get over it, and other similar tripe.

 

And sick, black humour - our architect specialises in disaster recovery of all things.

 

This is going to hit us right in the bank balance.

Better charge my phone; I'll be talking to a few people today, I expect. 

 

I would be really glad of some advice and insight into what to do next. And I want to keep it positive. I'm not up for criticism or inappropriate blame. I just want to get on with it safely and competently.

 

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3 minutes ago, Ian said:

@recoveringacademic

I'm so sorry to hear that Ian. Let me know if you think I can help in any way (I'm fairly local to you in Manchester)

Ian

 

Thanks Ian. Time for a walk on a windy beach (Lune estuary) and a shouting session at the seagulls I think. God I'm pissed off.

Seagulls are good at listening, and out on the salt marsh you can swear at them as much as you want.

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1 minute ago, recoveringacademic said:

Yes. 

Strong(ish) east wind: its the east face that has collapsed: to the level of the first pour.

 

 

That's 'good' news then as it should be a really simple fix. Your builder should be able to sort this out very quickly and you'll be back on track in no time.

 

The important thing will to find out why exactly it happened but from what you've said it sounds like it was simply that the builder erected too much free-standing durisol block and didn't prop it adequately against high winds.

 

Don't let it get you down - it will seem like a disaster right now but I'm sure it's all fixable.

 

Ian

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Well at least it's not your fault. I managed to knock down a 4m long 1m high wall when lifting the beams for the block and beam floor into position.

 

I thought it would be a great idea to use a loop strap around the digger bucket, but as you can imagine a 5m concrete beam is not that stable when picked up in such a fashion!

 

There is nothing you can do about what happened all you can do is make sure that the remainder is safe and then get it rebuilt and filled with concrete asap.

Edited by bassanclan
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I know you'll be thinking this way anyway but first things first - get the area safe then get it fixed and work continuing. Lessons learned to be baked in for any remaining icf. 

 

Two years ago we had a bit of a disaster with something being produced. The senior chaps at the company were not interested in focusing on blasting the supplier but rather getting a 'fix forward' in place ASAP. It was a very pragmatic way of working. 

 

At the same time of course you need to find out of this should have happened and if anything was missing to safeguard future works. 

If there has been negligence then the first priority is to get the situation fixed before anything else. 

 

If your builder works in the spirit of things with you then that will be ideal but ultimately its your money,  house and time.  Hopefully this is a case of missing the 'don't leave more than 3 courses unpropped during high winds' part,  or something like that. 

 

Good luck today. But whatever you do,  don't remained peed off beyond today - we've all had these moments,  trust us! 

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@recoveringacademic - time for a walk and to teach the seagulls some proper German swear words then you need to do as @jamiehamy says and clear the decks safely and carry on 

 

May also be worth a quick call to Durisol technical support to see if someone can come to site and do a quick inspection of what's happened - that could be a learning experience for both parties (or all 3 if the builder is there too...) 

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Thanks folks.

Been out to look at it all with Debbie. And I've had a bit of a grizzle. Neither of us have slept much. Sleep deprivation is over-rated - we'll be fine.

 

Need to wait a bit for the wind to drop, and once the site is shown to be safe, hire a chipper (for the wood in the now has-been-blocks rather than pay for them to go to landfill) and get cleared up.

 

Lets hope that Durisol will give us some more blocks fairly quickly.

 

Not pretty this is it?

20170719_055031.thumb.jpg.7d6fc1e61589a223813cc75e15a604df.jpg

 

I could easily have been underneath that. Or worse. Sid, our tomcat could have..... 

 

I think I may just lay each block and then fill it with concrete after having put several pieces of rebar in it first. Nothing worse than a reformed smoker is there? Or a post-collapse Durisol builder.

 

We are fully committed to continuing the build with Durisol. 

Ian

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Oh bother, I feel your pain :(

 

If it makes you feel any better the exact same thing happened to me a good few years ago whilst building a large tripple garage. Blocky built the gable, strong winds that night and it was all on the floor by the morning. The builder was brilliant, the blocks were in a skip by lunchtime and then carried on. 

 

Self building really is a test of resolve isn't it! 

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16 minutes ago, Barney12 said:

Self building really is a test of resolve isn't it! 

 

Yes. It is . It really is. But then again what else is left for us to do. Sit down and give up? Stuff that.

4 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

Brief pause and a walk without a cocktail, then up and at 'em.

 

So, what do you call the cocktail for this one then? Cocktail Collapso?

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Guest Alphonsox

Very bad luck Ian - I would avoid the urge to dive in and clear thing up immediately. You need to make sure the rest of the structure is safe then fully understand what went wrong with this bit.

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Sorry to hear this Ian. Virtually every build has a heart-attack moment (or a few). 

 

I found that spending even an hour having a coffee or a beer with someone you like and trust (and who's willing to listen to you rant) is the best way forward.


Most importantly, keep your pecker up.

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5 minutes ago, Barney12 said:

 

Unfortunate scaffold co name in the circumstances :D :ph34r:

 

They're good lads. 

As an aside, for nothing, they took away the internal scaffold towers which, if they'd been hit by westward falling blocks, would have knocked the west wall out too.

So all in all, lucky.

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In the grand scheme of things, a lot worse could have happened. The glass is always half FULL ok ??

How many of the blocks are salvageable?

On the brighter side you now get a bonus visit to sunny ( ? ) Wales ?

Dust yourself off and scribble down a new plan of action, engage and push forward. 

We don't do problems, we do solutions. 

"Adapt and overcome". 

Focker, out. 

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Ouch. Really sorry to hear about this.

You will soldier on. In a couple of years time that wall will become the talking point as you show your friends around the build "and this is one that blew down, let me tell you about that...".

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6 minutes ago, recoveringacademic said:

 

None. They have been, even if whole, stressed to an undeterminable level. I suppose @TerryE or @JSHarris could work it out, but their fee for doing so would be too high. Because of the PII fees they'd be paying naturally.

With a chain being as strong as its weakest link, its not really worth the risk is it. 

"Head down, arse up" it is then 9_9-_-

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