Buildlogue #7–Dig Done

Tuesday 24th June: Construction Day 5 of the project. One again, we wake up to icy frost on the lawns on Monday23rd (Day 4), but again an absolutely clear summer, with some light showers in the forecast for tomorrow Tuesday (Day 5), probably clearing in the afternoon.

Last on Buildlogue… You will recall that we left the building site almost filled and compacted to target levels and floor slab boundaries by Gary The Elder on Friday afternoon. 

Monday, Gary & Gary get out the pick and shovels and manually dig out the outer foundations for the slab around the southern side in front of the main house dining/ living room to a depth of 300mm. The going is tough in the rocky clay soil, but these two guys appear to approach their task with the same dedication as they do when operating their excavating machines. 

After consulting with Builder John about the precise positioning of polystyrene foam along the outer 3 metre perimeter band, they go about accurately surfacing the hardfill to the level specified by the architect. This implies that the central part of the extension hardfill is higher than the 3-metre zone by the thickness of the insulation. Then comes a final 20mm bedding layer of builder’s sand, ready for the preparation of the fitting of the steel reinforcement and the of casting the foundation slab by the builder, starting, weather permitting, on Wednesday.

Gary and Gary neaten up their work and start clearing all traces that earthmovers had been to Chartwell north wing. The work includes the tip-zone on the front lawn, which has suffered somewhat under the very wet saturated “terra infirma”.  

Tuesday, and the final spit and polish work by way of site housekeeping is done, the earthmoving equipment and tools finally laden before we say farewell to the guys. The dogs will miss the excitement, to which they have almost become accustomed, whenever one of their trucks arrives or leaves.

(Above): Gary the Elder prepares the tracks to take its load of his Hitachi Zaxis digger on the back of his truck.

(Above): Up, up, and…..

(Above): … away. The new machine fits snugly on the back of the truck, with room for the ramps, tools and spare diesel fuel.

Thanks to Bryce and his men for the polite ways and professional approach to their job! Cheers, guys.