Roselea

Category: Build Progress

  • Continuing with DPM and Final Levelling of Ground

     With an interrupted morning, we carried on with the laying out of the DPM plastic sheeting across the whole ground area of the building. We covered up the Great Room and most of the second strip of the Kitchen and Bedroom 1. We used another 2½ wheelbarrow load of sand to fill in the hollows which means getting a more consistent thickness for the Floor Slab.

    First-two-strips-of-DPM

    First-two-strips-of-DPM

    We also nailed up the necessary fluffy expansion boards (straight into the concrete blocks, we are using hardened T nails with one of our air nail-gun tools!) around the finished section to hold the plastic in place and help it not to get blown around in the wind.

    Expansion-Strip-nailed-to-walls

    Expansion-Strip-nailed-to-walls

    It rained for 15 minutes during the afternoon but it wasn’t so bad as to stop work. Tomorrow, we continue with this job, laying the sheet out, finding where the pipes needs to come through and smoothing out the surface, all ready for the concrete Floor Slab – not long now!

  • Checking Items off List Before the Floor Slab is Poured

     Today, we carried on with the preparation jobs to be done before the concrete Floor Slab is poured. We made a list of all the tasks that has to be performed, we have completed the following items.

    Sumps

    We wanted to make it easier for us to get rid of rainwater that will fall while we haven’t got the roof on the house to make it weatherproof. So we made two sump points in the middle of the floor slab, about 100mm deep so that a water pump can be dropped in and suck out the whole layer of rainwater quickly and easily. To make the concrete “dents”, we will put two builder’s buckers full of sand and stick on a large plastic foot which will sit upon the DPM in the dents. The concrete will pour around the and through the plastic foot, under the bucket and the weight of the bucket will stop the concrete lifting it up and hopefully create a hollow area once the concrete is set.

    Sump-points-excavated

    Sump-points-excavated

    Confirmation and Adjustment of Sewage Pipes

    Then, we double checked the position of all our Sewage Pipes coming up from the ground, in various location’s around the house. The Utility room is ok as well as the one over between Ensuite 1 and Ensuite 2. But one’s located in Ensuite 3 and the bathroom was slightly off so we wiggled it around so it was in a better position. We did the same with the final sewage pipe sticking up in the Cloakroom, adjusting that one too. All is now in the right place, in relation to our new frame of reference I.e. The Perimeter Wall.

    Energy Modules

    This will be the last time we have any options to deal with  any problems with our underground water tanks that makes up the 5 Energy Modules situated underneath our house. We checked the water levels (looking down the inspection tubes) in all 5 and they are still nice and full! The rubber membrane skin are still holding and we haven’t made any holes during the installation (and repair) jobs on each module! Phew and Thank Goodness!

     Fluffy Expansion Boards

    Next we sliced up all our 7 sheets of the fluffy low density fibre boards into a pile of 100mm wide strips (all 84 of them), ready for forming “cells” (in the concrete floor slab) around each Energy Module’s location. Also, these squash-able and water proof strips (the fibres have been treated with bitumen) will be nailed at the bottom of the Perimeter Block Wall, right around the circuit, to allow the expansion of the Floor Slab against the wall too.

    Exspansion-filler-board-cut-up

    Exspansion-filler-board-cut-up

    Exspansion strips against wall

    Exspansion strips against wall


    DPM

    Finally, we started the process of laying down the DPM (Damp Proof Membrane) plastic sheeting. We started at the Great Room, by putting down more sand and scraped across to fill in any last hollows and holes before the plastic goes down. We managed to finish levelling the Great Room but not the laying the DPM before the day ended!!

    So on Monday, we resume with that task, laying the plastic sheet out and making holes to allow all the various pipes and conduits to stick through. We will have to put an extra “patch” at all these intrusions and stick down all the edges to make sure that the special “free-flowing” concrete doesn’t get under the DPM and cause a fault in the Floor Slab structure and its strength.

  • Organised The Utility Conduits and Pipes

     Today, we tackled the task of digging and loosening all the various pipes and conduits that run from the Garage to the House, and get them all laid out to come up in the Utility Room in a neat pattern.

    Utilities-Tidy-Up-Before-A-long-time

    Utilities-Tidy-Up-Before-A-long-time

    There are conduits for the Mains Electricity, data / telephone, for the vacuum system and spare empty one. Then, there are the water pipes for things like the thermal solar heated water (there and back again), 6 pipes that run under the garage for pumping heat out of the ground, supply from underground rainwater tank located under the Garage, cold water feed from house to Garage and finally, the mains water supply from the Loke. Oh yes, I nearly forgot the compressed air supply from the Garage!!

    It is a pretty network of criss-crossing pipes and conduits down in the hole

    Utilities-Tidy-Up-All-dug-up

    Utilities-Tidy-Up-All-dug-up

    We used the edge of the foundation to screw an steel strap and used that to cable tie each pipe and conduit into a neat line.

    Utilities-Tidy-Up-Ready-for-reburial

    Utilities-Tidy-Up-Ready-for-reburial

    We also used some wooden strips to create a framework higher up as well, to help to keep everything straighter up. Then, we stamped and thumped the soil back into the hole and make sure it was well and truly compacted hard down.

    Utilities-Tidy-Up-Finished

    Utilities-Tidy-Up-Finished

    It is rather neat and tidy now, at long last, since this bunch of these pipes has been sticking out of the ground for 6 years!! Phew!

  • Day 3 of Installing the Underground Temperature Probes in and around the Energy Modules

     We finished off the task of installing all the temperature probes’ conduits, around the two biggest Energy Modules, namely the one stretching across from the Kitchen, through the Hall and into Bedroom 1 and the other module stretching the full length of the Great Room.

    Day-3-Installing-Temperature-probe-conduits-Morning

    Day-3-Installing-Temperature-probe-conduits-Morning

    Day-3-Installing-Temperature-probe-conduits-Afternoon

    Day-3-Installing-Temperature-probe-conduits-Afternoon

    Day-3-Installing-Temperature-probe-conduits-Finished

    Day-3-Installing-Temperature-probe-conduits-Finished


    We installed a further 21 conduits today, plus the other 12 we did over the last 2 days, makes a total of 33 conduits, each having at least 2 and maybe 3 temperature sensors in each pipe, thus we will have nearly 100 heat monitoring probes underground, under our house, to measure the distribution of the heat going in and out of our 5 Energy Modules. The modules themselves also has several temperature sensors in each too .. and plus we have more planned to be installed outside the perimeter of our house as well – Phew!

    Measuring-Temperature-conduits

    Measuring-Temperature-conduits

    We then measured all the locations of the 33 plastic pipes sticking out of the ground and will keep a record of these data points on our computers so we can provide a graphic output showing the actual temperature readings on a map of our house .. all in real time .. when everything is working – grin!!

  • Perimeter Walls Measured and Drawings Updated

     We had a bit of spare time today after we had completed the job of installing the temperature probes conduits around the Energy Modules so we spent an hour measuring all the Perimeter Walls. We did all the lengths (14 straight sides) from corner to corner, then distances from known points already in our drawings like the Swimming Lane, and also did some diagonals across the whole building to confirm that our drawing is reflecting reality.

    Measuring-the-walls

    Measuring-the-walls

    We will update our architectural drawings so we can then know how much this is and how much that is, for example, the amount of timber we will need and how many sheets of wall panels etc.

    We had some feedback as we were doing this task, and all of the straight sides measured within 10 mm of what the construction plans said, apart from one corner at the front where it is a whopping great offset of 25 mm – Oh No! Grin!

  • Day 2 of Installing Conduits for Temperature Probes around Every Energy Modules

     Today, we carried on with the installation of conduits for the Temperature Probes around all our Energy Modules, but after we made a new drilling tool using a steel 32mm diameter pipe and welded four fat nails to the end.

    So using our new tool, we drilled and inserted 20 mm plastic pipes around the Energy Modules under Bedroom 3 and Bedroom 2 plus the one under the Entertainment room too.

    Day-2-Installing-Temperature-probe-conduits-2

    Day-2-Installing-Temperature-probe-conduits-2

    Day-2-Installing-Temperature-probe-conduits-1

    Day-2-Installing-Temperature-probe-conduits-1

    Day-2-Installing-Temperature-probe-conduits-3

    Day-2-Installing-Temperature-probe-conduits-3


    Mind you, even this all metal tool suffered, one of the nails bent right over and in bending it back again broke off!! But it is doing the job .. as long as the pipe is kept clean. We eventually resorted to using our pressure washer to blast clean the pipe 2 or 3 times whilst drilling a single hole, sometimes the sandy soil is quiet sticky and clogs up the inside of the pipe quickly.

    Tomorrow, we will continue with the last two Energy Modules, our biggest ones, with an additional 20 more conduits to do!

  • Preparation for the Installation of Guttering Downpipes and Underground Pipeworks

    This morning, we got on with clearing the sandy soil material away from the base of the Perimeter Wall around the house so we can collect and transport the Rainwater coming off the roof, using 100mm pipework and sent to our filtration unit at the end of the Swimming Lane.

    There will be a complete circuit around the whole house, with seven downpipes from the guttering, each of these downpipes are located in each of the “inside” corners, like the front extension, the Conservatory, and the back extensions.

    We managed to do about half the circuit so far in this shortened session this morning.

  • Installing more Conduits for temperature Probes around Energy Modules

     This afternoon, after we have finished the task of leveling  the ground, we started installing more conduits for our temperature probes that will measure the performance of our Energy Modules and how the ground around them is changing over the course of the seasons and the year and beyond.

    We are using a DIY vacuum cleaner and a long hollow plastic pipe with nails attached on the end, to drill and suck out the sand and soil to form a deep narrow hole. We then insert the plastic 20 mm pipe with one end melted and squashed flat to form a waterproof tight seal. We are drilling down 1.5 metres so we will have a temperature probe located 500 mm below the level of the Energy Module and then another probe higher up so it measures the mid-point of the Energy Module too.

    Drilling-a-probe-hole

    Drilling-a-probe-hole

    Sometimes, it is jolly hard to drill down because we hit a gravel layer in our sand dunes which we think were the original seabed layer when this whole area was under the sea!

    First-3-temperature-probes

    First-3-temperature-probes

    Tomorrow, we are going to change our drilling tube over to a metal one so we can weld on more strongly the “spikes”  (heavy duty nails!) to survive the bashing and turning actions. the plastic version is ok but it is already showing signs of wear and tear so we found a metal pipe lying around and we will use that instead!! Yes Another homemade tool – smile!

  • The 5th and final day of Smoothing the Ground ready for Floor Slab

     For the first half of the day, we finished off scraping and leveling off the remaining section of the Great Room. We are all completely done now, the whole area across the footprint of the house is now all smooth. After lunch, we ran the petrol compactor all over everything to make sure it is good and settled and solid.

    Smoothing-the-ground-finished-1

    Smoothing-the-ground-finished-1

    Smoothing-the-ground-finished-2

    Smoothing-the-ground-finished-2

    Smoothing-the-ground-finished-3

    Smoothing-the-ground-finished-3


    We might sprinkle some sand here and there to fill any holes we might find that are too deep, but it is looking good actually.

  • Day 4 of Clearing and Levelling Ground for Floor Slab

     With slightly cooler weather, we carried on with the task of scraping and clearing away the excess sand and soil from all the ground between the foundation strips. We did the remaining section in the middle of the house (Hall and Bedroom 2), and then also completed the section with the Kitchen and Bedroom 1 and finally we got half way across the Great Room.

    Levelling-Site-Day-4-1

    Levelling-Site-Day-4-1

    Levelling-Site-Day-4-2

    Levelling-Site-Day-4-2

    Levelling-Site-Day-4-3

    Levelling-Site-Day-4-3


    Some of the ground was very hard so we got out our electric rotavator to loosen up the surface so we can scrape it – phew! We have probably moved, in total over the last 4 days or so, several tons of excess material to the outer regions beyond the Perimeter Wall, but it was a good day’s work and we should easily finish off this task tomorrow – no sweat!!