I managed to finish work a little early today and got on with the walls, making good progress. As suspected, the first row was the most difficult, with the angled rebar snagging on some of the blocks. The second and third rows have been much easier, albeit some persuasion was…
The blocks arrived today, but it did not get off to a great start… The delivery driver refused to take the blocks around the back to the worksite, because he would have to drive across some grass and it had rained the night before. He also said that he would…
A number of different things have been achieved today. First of all, digger was back to level some of the spoil that was extracted from the pool. Now we have a height off the slab, we know the final patio level. We are probably going to put AstroTurf down next…
Taking advantage of a the good weather and the longer evening before the clocks go back, I prepared all of the plumbing which is to be buried when it comes to back filling. This is not all of the plumbing, as some of it will be above the natural ground…
Whilst I was back in the UK, I received an email from the local mayors office to inform me that my planning application for the garage conversion required some additional information, specificaly: A narrative to explain the overall proposal A graphical illustration of how the proposed construction will look in…
Today I have removed the shuttering from the concreate slab, which has revealed a very nice crisp edge. I’ve done this to be able to remove some of the membrane, so water does not build up under the slab, without the possibility to drain and also to remove the wooden…
I am now back out in France again for a few weeks, with the aim to get the walls up to 1.6m in height. This will not be the finished height, but I need to pause at this level to pour the cement into the blocks and also create the…
As I have previously commented, my plans tend to evolve and just in case you thought that they were pretty extravagant already, I have just decided to notch it up even further. My plan all along has to have a feature wall above the deep end, with a waterfall projecting…
We came down the following morning to check the slab and find that it has hardened sufficiently to go down for a closer inspection. Putting the laser level on points across the slab make me feel better about the exploits the previous day, as we are generally only 2-3mm out…
The day has finally arrived to pour the concrete slab and we went out early to check all the levels again. All appears to be fine and nothing has moved. Two pumps arrived on ahead of schedule and the drivers we both excellent and helpful. However, the self-placing (beton autoplaçant)…