Day 31 - setting the beams

We finished drilling the holes through the ends of the beams and through the bearing plate.

Once drilled, we removed the beams from the footings then painted the bearing plates on the top of the posts and the cellar with a preservative (one of the few places we will be using a harmful chemicals) and cut damp-proof course for each bearing. The bearing plate and sheet of plastic were then attached to the underside of the beam with the threaded rod and welded washer. Once all of the beams were ready, we filled the hollow concrete blocks with concrete, placed the beam back in position and tapped the threadded rod and washer down into the wet concrete. This is the easy way to make sure that the bolt is in the right place for the beam. Once the concrete is set, we will bolt the beam to the post.

Thankfully, Dave volunteered to help us out at the right time - some of the beams were heavy - and we usually get visitors dropping by in the evening, and some of them bring beer!

One of the perks of working late!

Day 28 - post beehives

We finished building up the posts to full height, and were able to add a beam to go under the long span of the octagonal room of Pat and Wendy's house. Not sure why we didn't design this in before, but we were able to add it quite easily to the existing foundation pads.

The row of 'beehive' posts that will hold up the beam at the back of the houses, and the little offset post in the foreground to carry the projected bathroom and water tank above.

Three of the five posts that wil hold up the octagon tower.

We also got into the pit between the edge fo the excavation and the cellar wall to pull up the plastic that had been cast under the footing. This was an extremly messy job but was easier than we had thought by using the water in the trench to help wash away the sticky soil and mortar that had fallen into the base.

Day 27 - post collars

Pat worked on Saturday to mix a few loads of concrete to build up collars around the base of each of the posts. He also filled the holes of the first block. We were worried about the stability of these posts, especially with the super-size bed of mortar, and about these blocks being knocked off their footing during construction. When in doubt add more concrete!

Day 26 - posts

We started to build the concrete block perimeter piers. The top levels of the concrete pads had been set a few days ago using a long piece of wood and a level, measuring down in relation to the top of the cellar walls. Unfortunately, in our rush we added rather than subtracted the thickness of the plywood which will go on the underside of the ground floor structure (which will be on top of the cellar wall, but not on top of the piers)! This meant that the top of the slab was too low, and when this error was added to the substantial margin of error that we left (it is easier to make the pier higher than shorter) we had to put a substantial layer of mortar under the first block in some of the posts.
This kind of error is demoralizing, but we were able to deal with it without too much damage. We will build up the base of the post with concrete left over from another neighboring house build, to provide more stability.

We positioned the posts using triangulation - measured from two fixed points at the ends of the cellar wall - and a water level - buy using a clear hose filled with water - which we should have done in the first place!

The difference in levels and colour of the water at the base of the two cellars is significant - when viewed from the top of the party wall.

Submerged ladder ...

What happens when the site safety officer leaves for the day!

Day 20 - preparing pad foundations

We were only on site for a couple of hours today because of the rain, the kids being around and needing to sort out some of the details for the next phase of the project. But we did accurately lay out the positions and base height of the perimeter posts - using the old fashion methods of triangulation with two long measuring tapes, and a long board and level.

We then prepared the basic formwork for the 15 pads - most of them 1m x 1m square, with a bit of extra digging in some places and some filling in in others.