Heaps of earth

This morning the digger seems to have shrunk and the portaloo is playing peek a boo behind the large pile of earth.

Andy takes control of the vehicle and digs the soakaway for the rainwater harvester.

At the end of the day the mucking out inside the footings is underway but now it's the digger's turn to hide.

Big hole!

A very large hole was seen on site as James supervised the rainwater harvesting tank burial.









The drainage that will collect the rainwater from the roof of the house to the tank was prepared here James is being helped by Doru.





Now you can only see the dome and cover.



The soakaway is left to do next time.

The ducts are in place too, waiting for the rainwater and the floorslab so that the tank can be connected to a control panel in the garage. For that we need the house!

First Footings

The morning started with a check on the levels of the trenches.

Then the small hill of earth from the front of the site was moved to make sure there was space for the mixer.

Fortunately, there was enough space so the first batch of concrete could be poured. It was exciting to see the first of the foundations being made. It was very mucky and reminded me of sandcastles at the beach with a tide of concrete coming in.

Jerry is busy spreading the concrete. Meanwhile the concrete mixer is cleaned ready for the next batch.

Finally the footings are in after nearly three loads of concrete. James and Jerry take a well-earned rest as they admire their handiwork at the end of another long day.

Digging the trenches

This is a day for action.

The rainwater tank is delivered. James and Andy remove it from the delivery truck with sophisticated lifting machinery - muscle power.

Next, the essential digger arrives. It is an orange mean machine that's ready for anything.

The last essential ingredient is to check the plans and then James and Andy are ready to translate the plans into something concrete.







Finally, we've turned the tide from destruction to construction as the first of the trenches is dug.

The work progresses, is it a battle of man versus machine? Is Andy trying to tame a large orange dinosaur? Or is Andy showing James that he trusts him not to remove his feet?

And so the first day of construction ends with trenches all over the ground looking like an archeological dig. A bit of old water mains pipe was found but unfortunately no buried treasure.

It's theodolite time!

The tripods were placed over the nails that had been hammered into the tarmac when the topographical survey had been carried out. This alone was no mean feat since the survey was carried out two years ago and so lots of soil and grass had built up on the kerbs since then.

The tarmac was tenderly brushed and scraped (with car keys and a convenient bit of damaged guttering from the old site) and eventually the nails became visible, hooray! We would have had to redo the survey otherwise!

Based on the survey, lines have been drawn on the ground showing the positions for the footings.

Looking round the floorplan of the house it looks small but apparently this is quite normal for this stage.

I've heard that a digger may be returning soon....

Spring into action...or not

Spring has definitely sprung on site. Unfortunately, there is no perceptible building action yet.

I was hoping to report on the start of groundworks but there has been a minor hiccup. I remain optimistic about next week.

Meanwhile, the housebuilding company are hoping to assemble the house at the beginning of June now (instead of April) so as

long as they have something suitable to put the house on by then, all will be fine!

Blue Loo

Some drunken souls decided to make use of our portaloo, leaving it sideways on the gravel. We managed to get it back on its feet but then had the dubious pleasure of cleaning it. We hosed it down but didn't count on the Avatar effect of the hose as it ricocheted off the surfaces that were covered in blue disinfectant, landing all over my clothes (thankfully already blue) and face! Needless to say, the loo wasn't the only one to have a hose down.

Behind scenes things are progressing. We would have broken ground if it wasn't for Easter and all the concrete delivery places being shut!

Holes again

Spotted! Small multi-coloured action vehicle.

No this wasn't a digger gone AWOL, it was part of our soil survey.

While my back was turned some holes appeared in the ground. Small rectangular holes. Apparently the water that was chucked in them soaked away quickly - great!

Yes, there was definitely earth down in those holes and it was good!

Appearances can be deceptive

Depending on how you look at it, the plot looks either enormous or small enough for us to wonder if we can fit our house on it!

Lots of people have asked me why things have come grinding to a halt. From the plot it may look like nothing is being done but that's far from the case. Behind the scenes there is much activity. There are more decisions that need to be made: from the choice of contractors to finish the house internally, like carpenters, tilers, plasterers to chosing an air source heat pump and installer (don't mention the wood burning stove) etc. All of these decisions will result in something more visual soon. Honest! Watch this space...

Ecobuild Fun

Ecobuild exhibition opened today in Earl's Court. What a perfect excuse for a day out! I justified it to myself by searching for information about air source heat pumps and to see if there were any new and interesting eco-friendly products.

It was a beautiful sunny day that lifted the spirits as I entered the (lime) green zone. It was packed with lots of enthusiastic people, both visitors and salespeople alike. There were other self-builders and lots of architects wandering around in the sea of green.

There were various seminars/workshops and discussions going on but I only managed to catch some of David Blunkett's discussion about sustainable communities.

The exhibition was even larger than last year. Earls Court 1 was dominated by a green 'Cityscape' cube, an amazing construction; very touchy feely.

I saw many company reps for things I never knew existed and discovered some new allergy-free paint manufacturers. I have to admit that after many discussions with LOTS of air source heat pump manufacturers and installers even I was ready for some light relief. I wandered off to Earls Court 2 and discovered the modular housing display. It was very impressive and apparently can come with any type of roof, even pitched ones!

The next display which caught my eye was the Nottingham H.O.U.S.E; zero carbon and solar powered. It was full of enthusiastic students and I was very pleased to see school students too.

One of the buildings that impressed me most was the straw bale construction one that had walls with U value of 0.13 and triple glazing!

Unfortunately, my time was nearly up as I rushed to go back to be in time for the school run but I did manage to take in the woodburning stove displays...hmmm.

In my hemp ecobag at the end of the day I managed to find a globe stress ball, a save energy with my PC tool and a dynamo torch. It was a fab day and now I can write my blog in the dark while destressing at the same time as saving energy- result!