Friday 20th May. Building Inspector's visit to site before 2nd concrete pour.

A couple of minor alterations required. 40mm spacers were required to lift the lower metal mesh up to prevent it sitting directly on the visqueen.
Then the spacer's between the lower Metal mesh and the upper metal mesh may need to be lowered to allow the 35mm concrete to cover the top of the upper mesh with even coverage.
The drainage pipes are needing a little more space around to allow the concrete to surround them without if possible them touching the reed bar.
The Building Control Officer passed all this information on to Barry (M&B)
About 1 hour later the team were back to start the work.
The BCO is due back to check the work next Monday 23rd.
Called Barry, He is taking 2 days off but Mike will be in touch on Monday to complete work requirements for Building Control.
Asked for a quote for Utilities company for Electric connection and water. Awaiting reply.
** Did read on the internet though that the price can be reduced if you offer to dig the trench yourself if it is required.
Had a quote for lintels.
Asked Richard (Architect) about finished floor height. 100mm Insulation + 65mm screed covering the underfloor heating (water pipes) giving us a 2265 slab to door way height.
Been looking at hardwood floors to go over underfloor heating. There are some hardwoods that are suitable providing that they do not exceed 75mm width per panel. This is to prevent warping. Reccommended wood's include Teak, Iroko, Makore and Opepe 3 out of the 4 I'd never heard of before. None of the wood floors provide excellent coductivity. The best covering for that was vinyl followed by ceramic or stone, carpet and lastly wood.
Have now decided to go with a 6 year Architects Certificate which is the Architects approval of the building. There up to 6 staged inspections including;-

1. Damp proof course level which is inspected by the local council
2. First floor Joist level
3. wall plate level with wall plates and timber roof trusses installed
4. Roof structure complete with all rainwater goods fitted
5. Pre-plaster stage and first fix electrical and heating and plumbing installed.
6. Completion prior to occupation.- Final certificate

This should keep me motivated to work down this list in this order.

19th May (Thursday) Concrete now dry...

Ground workers (Mike, Barry, Bill and John) arrived early and began removing the shuttering to reposition it for the second  stage which means that the higher part of the metal work is shuttered 35mm

away  from the sides to allow the concrete to envelope and surround the metal reed bar. This then forms the slab onto which the brick and blockwork will be built. This is how the strength and uniformity of the foundation occurs.
The shuttering was then re-positioned by pegs into the concrete which support the shutter boards. They are held in place with nails and are wired to the reed bar.

Here you can see the corner held with the wire from the reed bar to the nail.

The boards on the top are for the men to walk over with ease as they work especially whilst the concrete is poured.  This job took most of the day.

Wednesday 18th May Concrete arrives today

Busy morning, all the shuttering is in place.
Concrete was due for this afternoon but took everyone by suprise and arrived at 11.40

Very quickly the poker, and rakes were made available, the mix was checked and the pour commenced.

11.50pm two people with torches were wandering around down the lane and went onto the land next to the plot owned by the North East Wales Wildlife.

May 17th (Tuesday)

Saw Barry (B&M) this morning and told him that there had been a phone message left from Ian (Structural Engineer to say we could go ahead and pour first stage but asked him if he would just call Building control and check to make sure.
Concrete truck is booked for tomorrow afternoon.

May 16th 2011

Monday 11am, I had a call from Barry (M&B ground construction) to ask if I could he get the exact measurements for the utility room drainage pipes from the back wall as they were making final preparations for the raft framework before the concrete was ordered. I called Richard (the architect) to ask if he could get the measurements out and I passed  his number on to Barry, for him to call him direct.

The building inspector called to the site to check the first stage shuttering of the raft and drainage pipes.
As the drainage pipes were not on the Structural Engineers drawings the metal work had to be cut to allow the drainage pipes to protrude upwards.
Word of advice here is not to assume that the Structural Engineer or Architect knows everything about your build. Go through the plans carefully **Check where you want the water inlet & whether you want an outside tapand if so, where. **where you want your electricity to go into the property (allowing for room for a meter box) also a need to know is what sort of cable thickness you will require. (+Gas box if you are to be gas mains supply)

 The cuts in the metalwork had been re-enforced with other pieces of metal reed bar which were secured to / and around the cut metalwork (which you will see on the photographs)
The Building inspector had called the structural Engineer before I got home, so when I called he knew about the query.
After calling and then sending photo's of the metal and drainage work via e mail, the Structural engineer was able to look at the plans, photographs and discuss the findings with Building Inspector, they agreed that the metalwork was correct and that the first stage concrete could be poured. This forms the outer (brick's) foundation. The second stage pour forms the slab onto the edge of which the block goes.

The photographs show the pipework for bothe the water inlet and the sewage and waste water outlet.These will go to the treatment plant at the bottom end of the garden. 

May 11th. it rained on and off for the last 2 days....

The weather between the showers has been great but the next stage is to put the thick plastic membrane down and tape it in place. With the showers we've been getting the tape will not stick to the plastic.
So half of the plastic is in place and half is waiting for better weather. I will post some photos to show the progress made so far. (will have to add them later as blog will not accept my power point)