Day 22 - Mt Wicken

Progress has slowed again. The ground workers have hit a problem in the middle of the plot.

I haven't got any details yet as it was too wet to work on Friday and I haven't yet spoken to the engineers but the initial conclusion is that we may have to redesign the foundations.

Again.

On a plus point, most of the earth from the excavations is still on site and has created our very own Mt Wicken. You can see the full extent of the work done so far, and our problems with the level of the ground water.

  

Day 21 - Wet Progress

We managed to get one pour in today, the final one should be tomorrow.

The foul connection to no 49 is complete and will be hooked up to the house later in the build when digging up the driveway will cause less disruption.

  

Day 20 - Don't Panic!

Well we had our meeting, and after much sucking of teeth, the engineer and building control inspector have come to an agreement, and the good news is that its an agreement on what we've already done.

Phew! Panic over. Work will begin today on the foul sewer running into no 49 and with two loads of concrete due for tomorrow, fingers crossed the remainder of the footings will be completed then.

   

And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...

Snow. It just gets better and better!

Plans Online

I have made the plans for the new build available to download in PDF form from my SkyDrive here:



These are standard Acrobat files, but if in the off chance you haven't got a viewer, you can download that from Adobe here.

Our New Address

I have a meeting organised for Tuesday to sort out the foundations. Building Control say that, due to the proximity of the trees just off the plot, the trenches should be slightly deeper in a few key places. Now this wouldn't normally be a problem if the ground workers had consulted them before pouring the concrete...

So while I wait for the enevitable all-off next week, a little bit of good news did arrive in the post this morning; the council have confirmed our new address and we've got our own number.

I won't print it here for obvious reasons but it's good news. We were worried we might end up with an "A" or "B" - again!

Day 19 - Engineers are NOT clever

Eveything is on hold today - the Building Control inspector has come out and said that the foundation trenches need to be 2m deep at the rear due to the proximity of the trees behind the plot. They need a meeting onsite with the engineer to discuss before any more work can be done.

Now I need to find out why, having paid my engineer to design my foundations, this wasn't in the plan from the start.

Time to put those steel toe-cap boots to the test.

 

Day 18 - Concrete is Clever

Say what you will about concrete as a building material, but it really is quite clever stuff.

The approach worked and the first third of the main foundations are now poured and set. The concrete with steel reinforced mesh has set well and the trenches are looking good, despite the problems we had with water yesterday.

Now all we need is no more rain until July and everything should be fine!

  

Day 17 - Flooded Trenches

Work began in earnest this morning on the foundations, but very quickly it became aparent that we had a problem. The heavy rain over the weekend together with the high water conditions in general combined to flood out the trenches almost as soon as they were dug.

I was called out to an emergency meeting with my structural engineer to assess the options. Luckily it wasn't as bad as we had thought and, with a strict regime of pumping and shuttering, we should be able to pour the foundations in four or five sections.

I'll be out again tomorrow to see how they got on with the first concrete load!

Day 16 - Setting Out

The ground works team set-out the ground for the foundations today and I got the chance for the first time to walk through what will become the rooms on the ground floor of the house!

A very strange experience; some of the rooms seem tiny, and then from another angle appear huge. There is a general overriding feeling that it's all too small, but I rest assured that the plans say that it's three time the size of my current house so it should be okay!

 

Day 15 - Ready to set-out

The two GSHP trenches were filled in today and all of the excess mud, concrete, sand, gravel and assorted metal objects have been removed from the site.

Tomorrow will see the inital setting-out begin and, hopefully, the first of the foundations!

Day 14 - Trench Warfare

The first two trenches for the Ground Source Heat Pump are now in and the pipework is down. We lay 100mm of soft sand on the bottom of the trench, then slinky the cables out and straight back in a big loop. Cover with another 100mm of sand and then pressure test to 3 bar.

Both pipes passed their tests and the trenches are being backfilled as I write.

The pipe was far more rigid than anticipated, but luckily the ground workers had a cunning solution - tape it over the exhaust for the digger and allow the fumes to pass through it for around 30 minutes. The heat from the gas warms the pipe and makes it more pliable. Genius!

    

I have been a bit behind on the blog for the last few days as we've been moving the company into its new digs in Quy and looking after a new addition to the family.

Hectic times!

 

Day 11 - Too Little Daylight

I didn't get a chance to get down to the plot today until just before it got dark so the pictures are limited.

The harvester has been topped off and had its tower and manhole cover attached. It's ready now to be plumbed in. The ground workers have also dug the second of the three ground source heat pump trenches.

The plot is beginning to look more like The Somme than Cambridgeshire!

We also have a new front runner for the as yet unannounced competition of the weirdest thing to come out of the ground; its a full metal bed, complete with spings. Alas, the digger has somewhat reduced its possible future applications...

 

Day 10 - Harvester In!

The harvester is finally in and fully concreted. It's not going anywhere now. I hope!

More GSHP trenches today, but slow progress as work had to halt due to freak waether conditions; snow in Wicken!

   

Day 9 - Time for concrete

We rescued the harvester this morning; luckily it was unscathed. With the pit drained the ground workers went about adding more concrete which should ensure that the tank stays put tomorrow when they bury it again.

We also dug the first of three trenches for the ground source heat pump. Let's hope these don't flood overnight as well!