The upstairs concrete slab was finally cast today.  The cement trucks arrived at the site at about 4pm and by 5, when we got there, the workmen had almost finished laying the piping through which to funnel the wet concrete.

Cement truck in the street.

Standing on the first floor. You can see the piping waiting to be assembled and the reinforcing over which the concrete will be poured.

Another ‘upstairs’ view. The cluster of men are standing where the main bathroom en-suite will be. One day.

Looking back towards the street. Daisy’s first visit to her new house.

The weather and the action started up more or less simultaneously and we decided to leave the builders in peace to get on with what they needed to do.  We’d hardly got home when we got a text message from neighbour-on-the-left complaining about the noise, the fact that she ‘couldn’t get out of her property’ and threatening to call the police.  We are no longer bothered by these messages and left it to Mark, the contractor to respond which he did.  He is well aware of the regulations governing noise and working hours and remains unperturbed.  Exceptions are made for concrete pours as it is not a process that can be stopped halfway through.  He assured us they would be finished by 8.

So at 8pm we decided to go down and check on things and found the builders in the process of cleaning up.  The photo below shows that the truck was parked well away from the neighbour’s garage had she wanted to escape the noise.

8pm.

Here you can see some of the floodlights and they are illuminating the concrete that has been cast to form the floor of the cottage.

While we’d been back home the storm that had threatened to break all afternoon unleashed itself.  Fortunately is was short-lived and did not seem to have much effect on the work or the workmen.  Apparently a little rain is not a problem.  I hope we don’t have one of our increasingly frequent Highveld cloudbursts during the night.

Cleaning up before supper.

Satisfied with a job well done.

We left as Rupert, the site manager, arrived with supper for the men.  On the way home we discussed again how upbeat and cheerful they all seemed despite the time and the rain. They were all obviously happy and satisfied with a crucial job well done.  It’s good to have that sort of atmosphere on the site.

We were hoping that the first floor slab would be cast this week but that is not to be.  The necessary equipment has been booked for Monday afternoon though, so perhaps it’ll finally happen then.  A visit to the site this afternoon showed lots of action, although we suspect that the last week has been a case of two steps forward and one or two back. On our last visit we thought all the lintels had been laid, but we found the whole building team engaged in re-positioning them over the livingroom today.

It’s an interesting experience arriving on the site unannounced.  The foreman was nowhere to be seen and the men were working under the guidance of Alfred, the ‘boss builder’.  They acknowledged us briefly and kept going.  Conversation was animated and loud and not for the first time, I really wished I could understand even a little of what they were talking about.  I felt reasonably sure it had nothing to do with either the house or us, the onlookers.  I caught the word “Bafana” (our national football team) a few times and had the feeling there was a spirited debate on the go as to whether they were likely to win their next match or not.  Zulu seems to be the main language used, although I know there are men on the site from Swaziland and Lesotho as well, so it is a melting pot of cultures and language. Whatever it is, everyone always seems happy. Which is fortunate.  It could be a dangerous setting for tribal clashes.

View from the driveway. Retaining wall around the cottage on the right.

We couldn’t quite work out what the conveyor belt was for and were not up to the linguistic challenge of trying to find out.

Eventually this will be the driveway.

It’s still quite difficult  to navigate the site and I have put off even thinking about landscaping for a while.

Conveyor Belt?

It was a nice surprise to see the staircase starting to take shape.  It will be cast in cement but will be finished in wood.

This is taken through the ‘staircase window’ to be.

It’s a little difficult to see, but the dark patch on the left is the first flight of stairs and the wooden crossbeam is where the landing will be.

Better view of stair structure taken from inside.

Garage Stairs as taken 10 days ago.

Below is a close up view of the stairs leading to the suite of rooms above the garage.  In this picture you can see the doorway into what will be a toilet and wash basin (sink) specifically for the use of outside or casual workmen. This staircase is now complete and today, for the first time, I was able to get up to the first floor level of the garage where the guest suite or staff room will be.

Door to Outside Bathroom.

Looking Down from the Top of the Garage Stairs.

The photo above shows the compacted earth forming what will be the ground floor of the cottage.  Hopefully it will not rain before Monday and the slab will be thrown over it, along with the upstairs slab in the main house.

Lintels over the Livingroom.

The heavy wooden beams – which you can see in this picture – are positioned beneath the concrete lintels to prevent them from sagging when the concrete is poured.  The metal poles keep the planks in place.  Once the concrete has been poured (hopefully on Monday) it will be left to set and only after that will the wood be removed.  We are having a combination of wooden floors, fitted carpeting and tiles upstairs, all of which will be laid on a concrete base.  This is a fairly typical way of building a double-storey house in South Africa.

Yesterday, after two months of solid rain, the sun came out and we took the opportunity to visit our muddy building site.

Although quite a lot of progress has been made in laying the lintels which will make up the first floor slab, there is not a lot of visible progress to see since our last site meeting and the forest of steel poles supporting the lintels make moving around the house quite difficult.  All the bricks for the building of the second floor have been delivered and are waiting on site.

Work has begun on the staircase that will lead up to the suite of rooms above the garage:

The start of stairs leading to rooms above the garage.

The patio pillars which will support the upstairs balcony have also been put in place.  Downpipes to take water run-off from upstairs are hidden within these pillars.

Patio Pillars encasing rainwater downpipes.

We haven’t been able to access the house through the front door opening for months.  The heaps of building rubble and treacherous mounds of mud have made the approach virtually impassable.  Instead we have to cross a plank bridge to the opening that will one day be French doors leading out of the library.

Walking the Plank.

I’m not sure what I’m looking forward to more; seeing the walls of the second storey go up or seeing the driveway graded.  I think the contractor’s priority is getting the walls up.  Yesterday I was simply relieved to see sunshine on the site again.  It was shortlived though.  Rain is forecast for the rest of the week.

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February was a funny month.  Plagued by rain, including several thunderstorms which dumped vast quantities of water on the site in the space of half and hour or less, progress was slower than expected.  Here is a quick photographic update of where we are now on the 1st of March.  I’d like to believe that the dry, more mellow days of Autumn are around the corner, but if the steady rain today is anything to go by, that would be foolishly optimistic.

Albert, our head builder.

Albert is on site everyday and participates in the weekly site meetings.  He seems to manage and co-ordinate all the other workers quietly and without fuss.

Rupert, our site manager.

Rupert is often on the site but also takes care of small collections and deliveries of materials.

Fireplace in the making.

The fireplace is going on the west wall of the living room with a sash window on either side.

Consulting.

A makeshift table.

Windows between lower and upper kitchen cupboards.

These windows will be able to be opened.  The eastern boundary wall is very close to the kitchen so I’m on the lookout for interesting garden wall features.

Concrete lintels for the first floor have arrived.

The first floor slab is made up of concrete lintels with blocks that interlock with them in some way.  Other than in the garage, on the ground floor we are having plastered ceilings below the slab.

My brother (an architect), and my sister-in-law (with an eye for design) from Cape Town doing an impromptu site inspection.

Retaining wall going up on North side of cottage.

The retaining wall which is being built down the west side and across north side of the cottage is one feature that has been altered during the construction process.  The engineer decided it should be a double core wall.  This comprises two identical walls built parallel to each other.  The space between the two wall is filled with concrete and a special, porous waterproof membrane in incorporated to diffuse water rather than have it build up against the brickwork.  Looking at the work in progress one could be forgiven to thinking we were building a fort.  Hopefully all this extra effort will prevent the cottage from sliding down onto the house below – even if this rain never stops.

Lintels ready to be raised into position.

In South African brick-built houses,the  first floor is often made up of concrete lintels interlocked with blocks.  Sometimes the ceiling of the ground floor is simply the plastered, painting underside of these lintels.  In our case, we’re putting in plastered ceiling board 150mm below the slab.  Electrical wiring, transformers for downlights etc can then be fitted between the slab and the ceiling board.  This allows for changes to be made later too if you decide you need more fittings at a later stage.

Concrete lintels in place above garage. February 27th.

Almost each time I visit the site, I find some sort of random ‘still life’ arrangement that looks like a painting waiting to happen.  Below is an example:

Boots made for Working.

And I love the way every effort is made to keep clothes tidy in the simplest of ways:

Hanging Space!

Hopefully the garage will soon be able to be used for storage and for keeping clothes and building materials dry.  When is this rain going to stop?  I’m thinking of buying gumboots.