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.

Buildlogue #6 – Man alone

Friday 20th June: Construction Day 3 of the project. We wake up to icy frost on the lawns and biting crisp air. But, oh, what an absolutely clear and warm summer day barely one day from the winter solstice! Sitting in the conservatory writing this, I even find it necessary to open a couple of windows…

Last on Buildlogue… You will recall that we left the building site flattened with about two and a half cubes of hardfill in position, awaiting the “second layer” and finishing off, which could not be completed because Gary The Younger’s dump-truck developed track trouble.

7:30am Friday and we are patiently waiting from the Gary and Gary team to arrive with a pneumatic-tyred Bobcat to move and spread  the remaining three cubes.

(Above): This is the target at which Builder John is aiming – placing the formwork to cast the floor slab, which also details three footings for the 100x100 pillars, the slab edge detail and the slab detail at the junction with the existing slab.

The first job on the list for Gary was digging the trenches for the floor slab edge foundations.

(Above and below): Gary The Elder busy digging the foundations to the specified dimensions using the Hitachi Zaxis. Rather faster, neater and more accurately than a team of guys with spades…

(Above): Gary the Younger delivered this Bobcat S130 as a replacement for the dump truck with the blown track. The bucket looks considerably smaller than the previous truck he was using.

(Above): The Bobat being used to cart away the material excavated from the foundation trenches. Hee-Haa! Ride ‘em, Cowboy! Man, this operator certainly enjoys this machine, even spinning it around through 360° on the spot, doing neat wheelies with an empty bucket. Hee-haa! Like an intoxicated teenager in the skate-park.

Gary The Elder gets a call from his boss Bryce that Gary The Younger will be delayed at another contract, and will in all likelihood not get to our site today. Bummer! Gary will have to drive both machines and do all the digging work on his own. Not a nice end to his week, I’m sure. But, on with the work, a job’s a job that needs to be done by someone, and circumstances have determined that it will be done by our Gary!

(Above) Bryce should be pleased to know that his men work entirely without supervision under all conditions. Gary set about bringing in load after load of hardfill from the front lawn by Bobcat, then spread the heaps using his Zaxis digger, finally compacting with the machine in this phone. He also went off in his truck to collect two more loads of hardfill from the Waikanae quarry.

(Above): Fridays Gary leaves at 4:00pm to travel back to Wellington to drop off the truck for the weekend and to collect his ute (LDV). He will be going pig hunting with his brother-in-law this weekend. The photo shows the extent of Gary’s work today. On Monday, they will lay the final accurate “adjustment” coat, followed by the specified sand coat, before laying the polythene waterproofing membrane.

(Above) The Zaxis parked neatly in the bedroom, ready for work on Monday morning.

(Above): View of the site from the secret garden showing the track cut up by the earthmoving equipment, almost like a muddy farm road. If you look carefully, you will see the TARDIS still parked in the background behind the lemon tree. That’s neat, a lavat-tree behind the lemon tree!

Buildlogue #4

Friday 13 June 2014: Day 31 – We’ve had another 5mm of rain, but today is pleasantly sunny and the grass is starting to dry out a bit.

Earlier, I took a call from John (In future I’ll refer to him as ‘Builder John’) advising that Wednesday 18 June will be set a Build Day 1, as he plans to start pegging out the building site that day, and Bobcat Bryce (In future I’ll refer to him as ‘Earthmover Bryce’, in case you confuse him with any of the other Bryces with whom I am acquainted) will start removing the topsoil, in preparation for placing the hardfill.