Blog

 We completed the Assembly of the cellular framework in the rest of the Floor Slab, namely the Entertainment Room, Bedroom 2 and then Bedroom 3 and Utility Room.

We then went around pinning into place all the fluffy expansion strips onto the framework where the 5 Energy Modules are, plus some extra pieces to aid possible concrete expansion when the whole Floor Slab warms up. That didn’t take so long and we finished up by putting concrete blocks on every “T” junction of the framework to weigh it down against the buoyancy when the heavy liquid concrete gets poured in. We calculated that the weight displaced by the OSB 100mm high strips will be approximately 3kg per every metre plus another 2kg displaced for the fluffy strips so in some lengths of the framework, it could add up to 15kg from junction to junction. We put plenty of concrete blocks weighing 20kg each on every junction so the total weight from all these blocks should counteract the uplift from the liquid concrete.

 Today, we started assembling the wooden dividers which go across the whole Floor Slab from the sections we made last week. We have done the Great Room and the section that includes the Kitchen and Bedroom 1.

It is working out reasonably OK, without too many difficulties, apart from sometimes the concrete foundation strip having a lumpy edge so we have to cut into the OSB strip a little bit to make it fit like a jigsaw. The fluffy expansion strips will be done later when we have completed all the wooden cells.

We carried on with the front extension section and tomorrow, will continue across from the Hall and Entertainment Room, towards the back and Bedroom 2 and then over to Bedroom 3 and finally the Utility Room.

While it was wet outside, we continued with making pieces of the cellular framework matrix that will divide up the Floor Slab into lots of rectangular regions so that no cracks (hopefully) will form when it cures and then gets heated up and cools down again and again and again!

We put together a heap of readymade strips of various lengths (using the OSB 100mm wide pieces we produced the other day), plus another heap of strips ready to trimmed and fitted in place during the installation process.

Monday, we will have to sweep the water off the plastic if it is still there, and then start assembling the dividing framework right across the slab, and then insert the fluffy expansion boards in and around the appropriate areas.

 Today, while we waited  for the rain shower to clear up, we sliced up loads of strips of OSB left-over from our foundation shuttering, down to 100mm wide, and these will be used for forming the cells all over the Floor Slab to make sure that the soft fluffy expansion boards are held into place solidly, plus also make sure that no concrete is allowed to be more than 3metres in a single piece to avoid nasty cracks from appearing in jagged and random places when it cures but also in changes of temperatures over the seasons.

We also sliced up more old shuttering boards into 50mm wide strips, after lunch, and these were used to mail up the flappy loose ends of the DPM up the walls.

Then, we mixed a wheelbarrow load of dry concrete using 3 builder’s buckets of sharp sand ballast and left over cement and patted blobs down and around each and every item sticking up through the DPM plastic. There were 4 sewage pipes, 32 temperature probe conduits, 5 huddles of pipes, wide tubes and more conduits, some more water filling conduits as well and finally, the dozen electricity, water air and vacuum pipes and conduits to and from the Garage!!

The next job is to use those 100mm wide strips and form the matrix of cells all over the ground. We have started the ball rolling for the “day” of the poring the slab to be Wednesday 5th October, but it still depends on our Building Inspector coming and approving our work and also for the concrete people to come back from Holidays to answer technical questions on whether we need some special additives to be included to make the concrete more suitable for coping with wide temperature fluctuations during the seasons as we have our Energy Modules being heated up during the Summer and then cooling down during the Autumn and Winter.

Today, we finished off laying down the plastic sheeting over the ground. We completed the strip over the Entertainment Room and Bedroom 2 which was fairly difficult with the array of pipes etc. looming out of the ground! The last section was then levelled and scraped flat again (after the petrol compactor had whacked it down a week ago), and we put out the last strip of DPM across Bedroom 3 and the Utility Room. The corner in the Utility room was particularly complicated with dozen pipes and conduits sticking up including one tunnel as well!
We also went around with our 100mm wide silver duct tape and sealed all the overlapping joints on all the DPM plastic sheets we have put down.

Tomorrow, we will mix some light grade concrete and put a blob down at every single intrusion through the plastic where pipes and conduits had to come up so that any slits and cuts in the plastic are covered up nice and solid to avoid the very liquid free flowing concrete from sliding under the plastic and ruining the performance of the Floor Slab. No Thank You!

 We carried on with the task of laying the Damp Proof Membrane (DPM) plastic down on the ground inside our perimeter wall of our house. We now have completed and reached up to the edge of the Entertainment room and half the Bedroom 2 at the back. We had to put down more sand to flash off these sections and scraped it level, which took all morning to do.

We had no rain today which was nice, but it was rather windy and had our plastic sheets flapping in the wind a bit so we put down lots of concrete blocks on the edges to hold everything in place! tomorrow, we resume and do the last 2 strips, but after we go and buy another roll, our 4th from Jewson’s, and we will only need about 5 metres off this roll to finish the job – Oh Well!

 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.

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.

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!