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Photo Update; July 2nd 2014

July 2, 2014 //

We had a site meeting today:

Site Meeting

Here are some photographs taken today. We met with two potential swimming pool contractors and Bernard also met with a security consultant to discuss the possibility of installing a roll-down security shutter that will be used to ‘lock off’ the upstairs part of the house at night. Keeping the upstairs area of a home locked off from the downstairs at night has become something of a norm in this country. This is why many new houses now have an upstairs ‘pyjama lounge’ which is basically a tv/family room where a family can gather late at night even if the rest of the house is ‘alarmed.’ As I write this, I realise it might sound a bit extreme to some people, but this sort of thinking comes completely naturally to us now.

But for now, this is how things looked on site this morning:

Street view taken at an angle through a neighbour’s electric fencing.

In the photo above you can see that there is still a lot of activity happening on the roof. The roof sheeting was delivered this morning. This was much sooner than we expected but our metal workers’ union, NUMSA, started a major strike yesterday. The roofing people, with whom we’re very impressed, actually had the foresight to deliver the sheeting today as they suspect there will be huge interruptions to their schedule soon. It’s unusual for contractors like this to be so proactive.

We think these guys are great.

Kathlego Trusses – Thinking Ahead.

I think it’s been a while since I mentioned the roof. We have chosen to have an iron roof – traditionally used for farm houses in the past – and have selected a dark grey called Dolphin Grey. The lighter shades of grey looked almost white in our bright sunshine. All the colours we considered vary a lot depending on how light strikes them at any given time. I’m looking forward to hearing our summer rains beating on these sheets.

Roof Sheeting being stored.

The stairs are occupying my thoughts quite a bit:

The Staircase taken from the front door.

We wanted the sense of space given by positioning the stairs this way; ie with the lower half flight away from the front door. It means that the higher flight is ‘free floating’ in that it will need bannisters on both sides. I’m giving this a lot of thought at the moment along with how I’m going to ‘furnish’ the area below the stairs. For a while I wondered if my daughter’s baby grand piano would fit but I think it will be a bit cramped. Until the floors are in and the painting done, it is proving to be quite challenging for me to envisage just how this space will work.

Second flight of stairs.

The upper flight of stairs opens directly onto the landing/pyjama lounge which faces out over the park. The walls which you can see in place now are at a height demanded by safety and security laws. I am still debating lowering them and putting a railing across their top or a glass panel. It is behind these walls that a security shutter will be lowered at night.

“Archive” photo of stairs from another angle.

It much easier now to get an idea of what the covered patio is going to be like. It is a lovely big space and I think we’ll probably use it more than the indoor living area. In the picture below you can see a ‘square’ marked off in the ceiling. This is where a skylight will eventually be installed.

Bernard was funny when we saw the arched openings for the first time. ‘They look good’, he said, ‘I don’t usually do arches…’ ‘Then why did you agree to have them here??’ ‘Because the house needed them.’ – his response… And I think he’s right. The house did need them and I think they frame the view rather well.

Patio Arches

In the elevation which I am posting again below, you can see the design of the patio quite clearly. It is satisfying to see it taking form now.

The North Elevation is now becoming a reality.

Below is a picture of a ‘contemporary farm house’ under an iron roof similar to the one we’ll be having.

Contemporary Farmhouse with iron roof from which I drew some inspiration.

Tags Building from scratch. Parkhurst. Roof Trusses.

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Midwinter Gallery

June 22, 2014 //

Here are some catch-up photographs from the past couple of weeks. Most were taken yesterday – Midwinter’s Day – under blazing blue Highveld skies, typical of this time of year.

Rafters against the winter sky.

You need a head for heights.

Sure-footed roofers.

The photo above was taken from the second bedroom – on the east of the house – looking towards the main bedroom which is on the west. You can seen straight through the openings of what will be two sash windows, opposite each other in the main bedroom; one facing east onto the upstairs balcony and the other facing west.

Rafters over the main bedroom.

In the photo above you can see the east facing sash window from inside the main bedroom and part of the north facing window. The rafters in all three bedrooms will be exposed.

House and guest suite over garage, taken from the driveway.

Bernard and Nigel – current site manager – in discussion with an electrician.

Below is a picture taken from the cottage. It shows the plastered steps leading up to the door of the guest suite above the garage. The doorway opening under the steps leads into a washroom for casual workmen.

Steps (plastered) up to guest suite.

Looking through the door into the guest suite.

And below is a view of the north-facing front of the house, as seen from the park. At last, it is beginning to actually look like a house…

View from the park.

Tags Building from scratch in South Africa., Downsizing to Parkhurst

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From A Distance

June 4, 2014 //

I am in England for a couple of weeks. Now seemed like a better time to come over than later in the year when I expect the house to become more demanding. I missed a site meeting this morning and was rewarded with a batch of photographs which included a couple showing the start of the roof construction over the guest suite. It’s great to see it taking shape.

Roof trusses over guest suite above the garage.

View of trusses from the south.

Reminder of what the guest suite will eventually look like.

Progress seems to have speeded up in my absence. Perhaps I should make more travel plans…

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Fountains and Fireplaces

May 30, 2014 //

A few weeks ago, on a breezy Autumn morning, we took ourselves far beyond our comfort zone once again. This time we were in search of Vasco Henriques, a company known for its concrete fireplace surrounds and we took Bernard along with us for the ride. It was quite a long way out of Jhb; halfway to Pretoria and near Lanseria Airport.

Below is the advert that had caught my attention in this month’s Conde Nast House & Garden magazine:

Ad in Glossy Magazine

I’m not sure what I was expecting; some sort of showroom, perhaps? That wasn’t what I found. After a few wrong turns we eventually found ourselves at an unassuming gateway at the start of a winding, overgrown driveway. It didn’t look very promising but as we rounded the corner at the end, we arrived in a flourishing Highveld concrete garden. Sometimes finding the unexpected can be fascinating.

Concrete Garden on a breezy Autumn day.

Casual Display Style

It was a Sunday but they seem to have a 7 day working week. It was a little unusual in that there didn’t appear to be any sort of office or reception area and we were welcomed by Christina who seemed to be in charge, not only of the whole operation, but of a group of workmen as well. The magazine advertisement which was behind this excursion bore little resemblance to what we found. Perhaps it all looks different on a week day… Having said that, Christina was extremely helpful and appeared to know all there is to know about fireplaces and fountains.

Christina. Very knowledgeable about all ‘things concrete’.

There were many different options and after a while it became quite confusing. Although we left feeling we knew exactly what we would eventually order, I have a strong suspicion I might have to make another expedition out there just to be sure.

Everywhere we looked there seemed to be something else to see. The company does not confine itself to fireplace surrounds. There was a vast selection of fountain pieces – both wall mounted or central features – and every conceivable kind of garden statuary.

Way too Ornate for us.

Better but too big.

Maybe ok with a wider mantle.

Perhaps something in between this and the previous one?

A walk further onto the property took us into a concrete jungle:

Concrete Jungle

And along one path we found a treasure trove of every sort of small garden ornament one could ever wish for:

Treasure Trove

And then we discovered the fountains….

One of a collection of fountains.

Another…

And another. I like the bullnose concrete surrounds.

So far, I have two water features planned for the new garden; both on the south side of the house. But because I love the sound of water in a garden and the fact that flowing water attracts a variety of birds, I suspect there will be at least one additional pond or trough on the northern side.

A selection of lion – and other – fountain heads.

Bernard was very taken with the lions:

Bernard with lion giving an idea of its size.

Lion close-up

Altogether it proved to be a very interesting morning. I love finding surprising places like that. It would have been just that much more satisfying if there had been a good coffee shop. Having driven all the way out to the ‘countryside’ – which is a euphemism for ‘veld’ – it would have been nice to have had a place to sit and enjoy the somewhat quirky surroundings, make notes and possibly even some final decisions over coffee.

As it was, negotiating the bumpy road out again, we spotted one last fireplace surround which just happened to come closest to what we were looking for…

Close to what we’re looking for.

The proportions on this one seem better suited to our space. Not entirely sure about the square feet. Seems we’ll have to go back for another look.

I have been collecting photographs of water features for quite a while. Here are a few of my favourites:

Small Water Feature

Outside the library, on the south side, there is a small, curved wall providing some screening from the driveway. It is quite close to the French doors leading out of the library. I plan to have a small water feature set into that wall. Something like the one above, but the trough will need to be smaller. And it won’t have a silver ball.

Trough with 3 Spouts.

This one (above) copied from an article in the Garden & Home magazine, caught my attention because it is more or less the same size as the water feature we are going to install against the north-facing retaining wall below the cottage. I like the stone cladding but not the more ornate overlay.

This is my favourite.

There is still a way to go before we get to water features but the plumbing connections are ready and waiting.

Tags Building from scratch in South Africa., Downsizing to Parkhurst, Water features. Fireplaces.

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More VIP’s on Site

April 29, 2014 //

More London VIP’s

Last week our son and daughter-in-law were in Johannesburg on a visit from London and they visited the new house for the very first time. We had not realised that Greg had not been home (ie to Jhb) since before we bought the original house in October 2012, so he has really been entirely dependent on this blog for information as to what his parents are getting themselves into.

It was interesting seeing his reactions and hearing his impressions. Overall, he seemed to find the house bigger than the impression he’d had from the photographs I’ve posted and generally seemed quite satisfied with what he found. I had the feeling he might have been surprised by this…. Of course, having lived in London since 2005, his perception of space is different from ours and he and Carly were quick to recognise that the cottage we’re building on the street side of our house is just about exactly the same size as the flat they have recently bought in Maida Vale. But I am the first to acknowledge that there is absolutely no point in comparing South African sizes and prices with London.

A Maida Vale Mansion Block.

The two aspects of the new house with the most appeal for them, are I think, the outlook over the trees in the park and the undercover veranda which will be similar in size to what we have in our present home. Undercover verandas have become very important areas in South African homes. Given our (usually) moderate climate, they are spaces where we spend a lot of time and are often treated more as an open-sided room than a veranda. I think too that Greg realised if he ever wants to practice golf shots while home for a few days, he will only have to go through the gate in the garden wall to be able to swing golf clubs to his heart’s content.

Another discussion that came up was centred around the bathrooms. There are three en suite bathrooms upstairs. The ‘main’ bathroom was to have a bath and separate shower, the bathroom attached to the second bedroom was to have a bathtub and no shower and the third, only a shower. I had reservations about the second bathroom and had discussed with Bernard the option of having a shower option over the bath. He seemed resistant to this idea as being a less than ideal compromise. I was planning to have the discussion again… However, having discussed with Greg and Carly the fact that the second bedroom would probably always be first choice for guests, given that it faces the sunny north and has a lovely view, we decided that the bathroom should incorporate both a ‘tub’ and separate shower and discovered when talking to Bernard that by moving the passage wall just a few centimetres, we could achieve this. Nothing like offspring to help one revise one’s ideas…. Needless to say, the builders will have had to move a wall this week. I use the word ‘tub’ with some hesitation as it is not one we hear often in South Africa. Or in England, for that matter. It is very much an American word. In this country and in England we tend to refer to a bath tub as simply a ‘bath’. We would never say ‘she’s in the tub.’ We’d say ‘She’s in the bath’ or, ‘She’s having a bath.’ With the internet, movies, international décor magazines proliferating everywhere etc, it is becoming more acceptable here and I have to say I really love the word. There is something very satisfying about it. I think I shall start to use it! A few weeks ago I came across a whole article and debate on Houzz about the pros and cons of showers versus tubs. Showers seemed to come out on top but if you can fit in both, I think that’s still first prize.

After checking out the house (in detail) we moved on to 4th Avenue Parkhurst where we had brunch at Vovo telo. Despite it’s being the Monday of the long Easter weekend, (In SA both the Friday and the Monday are holidays) all the restaurants on 4th Avenue that were open (most of them) were heaving with people. I was pleased the children were able to enjoy this aspect of Parkhurst as it’s one of the things we love about our new neighbourhood-to-be. I love the High Street feeling of 4th Avenue where little shops and restaurants still open onto the pavement and the street as opposed to being stuck inside big shopping malls.

Downsizing is interesting. It elicits different reactions from different people depending on their ‘head space’; on what age or stage of life they’re at. We’ve had quite a few people express great surprise (shock, perhaps?) that we’re choosing to move from the suburb we’re in which appears to have a certain cachet, to where we’re going. Even if we want to go smaller, the implication is that perhaps we could have simply gone to a smaller house in the same suburb or a similar one. Well, we could have. We have permission to sub-divide the property on which we now live and if we were really determined to stay here we could have built a house on what is now our tennis court. And one day, someone might do just that. But we were looking for something different. Much as I love my neighbourhood, I feel as though we’ve ‘done our time’ here. While there are still some ‘older’ people, there are also lots of new, younger families (just like we once were) with school-going children who love the bigger gardens, pools and courts and who fill up all the rooms in these rambling older homes. If I could choose the buyers of this house, I’d pick a young family just like that and I’d hope that they wouldn’t even consider building a house on the tennis court. We bought this home from a family who’d lived here 25 years and we’ve been here for 20. I think we’re only the 3rd family to have lived here.

We could also have decided to move into a gated estate but we didn’t feel ready for something like that and many of them are quite far from the area in which we now live. Moving to one of them would mean changing our whole lives. As it is, Parkhurst is a 5 minute drive away as the crow flies and 10 at the most. Although it has a completely different feel to it, it is still in the middle of my usual stamping ground. We will have the same pharmacy, the same corner shop, the same supermarket, doctor, nursery garden and most importantly, the same veterinarian. It has a more ‘urban’ feel to it and that is something we’re looking forward to. We’ll be able to walk somewhere for Sunday brunch.

It seems to be a suburb for starting out and for winding down. Whenever I drive through it, I am surprised by the number of prams being pushed along the pavements; some by young parents and some by nannies. And at the same time we have several friends who started their married lives there and who have very recently moved back. We think we’re going to enjoy living there and also, we think that when our children and other family members visit from London, they’ll enjoy being there too.

Tubs of Fun

Tags bath/shower debate. building., Downsizing

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Bricks for Africa

April 17, 2014 //

Great site meeting today with lots of progress made in a week.

Brick Delivery

This is quite a popular slogan for businesses in South Africa. Looking at the truck this morning, I wondered whether you use this expression elsewhere in the world? It’s used for all sorts of things here when there is perceived to be plenty of something; ie” There was food for Africa at the picnic” – There was more than enough. But I don’t mean to get sidetracked into a language lesson. It works quite well here; we have ‘Sprinklers for Africa’, ‘Flowers for Africa’ etc etc.

Unloading.

Work on the cottage is progressing quite well. Below is a picture showing the start of the staircase which will to the left of the entrance. A compact guest toilet and basin will be going under the stairs.

Work has started on the cottage staircase.

Eric, our engineer, seen through a front cottage window.

Looking South from the cottage through the French doors and window openings.

The cottage will essentially face the street although there will be windows on the northern side to let in sunlight. The road is quite busy, especially in the morning and late afternoon. Although there will be a narrow veranda and then a wall between the cottage and the pavement, we’re starting to consider double-glazing the south-facing windows.

Below is a picture of the house taken from the ‘garden’. Today was the first time in a while that I’ve been able to get down to the garden level, over piles of rubble and bricks. The slab above the veranda has still to be thrown and until that happens, the brickwork on the main bedroom can’t start.

View of the house from the garden.

A different angle showing start of 2nd bedroom.

Window openings in 2nd bedroom.

Looking up at the French Doors from the 2nd bedroom.

(The second bedroom is the room our children are likely to use when they visit from London and probably other visitors too. “Downsizing”, with both our children living in their own homes abroad, means that we will no longer have two clearly demarcated bedrooms, one for each child. This will be very different from our present home. Whenever either has come home in the last 14 years, they have naturally returned to their childhood bedrooms.)

This morning, looking at the depth and length of the space that will have to be filled in between the retaining walls and the cottage, we took a sudden decision to build a storeroom into it instead. Bernard thinks it’s a very good idea and Eric, the engineer seems to think is makes very good sense. More space to store garden equipment that would otherwise have had to be in the garage. The photo below shows the wall into which a door will be knocked.

We have decided to put a door in the retaining wall on the right.

Part of this space – between the cottage and the double retaining walls – will be made into a garden storeroom.

I am not a fan of windowless, cellar-type rooms so the door will have to have to be slatted or will have to include a window.

The bathroom for the main bedroom has started to take shape:

The start of the main en-suite bathroom. The low, oblong window will be next to the bath.

These windows face west and won’t be seen other than from the path leading down to the garden on the west side of the house. (Which is why I accepted the oblong one which would otherwise have looked odd in relation to all the other windows.)

Two Heads are Better than One. (I hope!)

These two guys are studying the plans intently at the top of the conveyor belt which is positioned through south-facing window of the main bathroom. It is not a floor-length window; it’s temporarily this deep to allow access now.

Welcome Distraction

Every now and then when I’m on the site I get distracted by flashes of vivid pink; the roses in the neighbour’s courtyard. If you can see past the ubiquitous electric fencing, they make a welcome change from the rubble and brickwork on our side.

Glimpse of a Garden.

Eventually, a pathway will run down between our house and this garden wall. It will provide us with access from the driveway to the garden in front of the house. The wall itself has been put on a back burner for now as our neighbour has not been open to discussion on the subject. The yellow part of the wall on the left is paintwork still remaining from the kitchen of the original house, which was built right up to the boundary. One day this walkway will be covered with jasmine and climbing roses… Watch this space.

Trellis-covered garden path.

The photo above (from Garden & Home magazine, June 2013) shows a narrow walkway between a house and garden wall, similar to what we will have. Eventually, the rubble-strewn strip we have at present, will hopefully look something like this.

Tags Building from scratch in South Africa., Downsizing to Parkhurst

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VIP Visits Site

April 10, 2014 //

‘Birdsong’

My daughter arrived home from London this morning on a short visit and came along to the site meeting with me this morning. Anyone who has a daughter will appreciate that this was an important event. Firstly, although London has been her base for the past 5 or more years, our present house where we’ve lived for the past 20 years, will always be the one she thinks of as ‘home’ and so to see it being slowly ‘dismantled’ as I steadily sift through cupboards and shelves and make plans to fit into a much smaller space is probably unsettling for her.

Home for the last 20 years.

She visited the site before the previous house was demolished and I think she – along with many other friends and relations – struggled rather to envisage how we were ever going to create a new, welcoming home there.

The Original Street Frontage.

But today, with the upstairs walls going up and some of the rooms actually starting to take shape, I think she was reassured.

Mark (our contractor) explaining the dimensions of the patio.

The conveyor belt in position.

The conveyor belt is now in position and was in action today. It is being used to carry building materials up to the first floor. In the photograph above you can also see the openings for two north-facing windows in what will be the living room of the cottage. Above the garage is a window that has somehow made a completely unplanned appearance and no explanation was forthcoming this morning… It will have to be bricked in. While we have made a change to the window schedule for both the cottage and the guest-suite, this opening does not fit with either the original plan or the new one so someone was a little confused. We have had very few errors of this sort though and nothing that couldn’t be easily fixed.

Today’s View to the North.

Bernard and Rupert discussing the changes to the guest-suite windows.

Standing Upstairs and Looking South towards the Street.

The weather seems to have stabilised and it’s great to see measurable progress from week to week.

Tags Building from scratch in South Africa., Downsizing

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A Sunny Site Meeting

April 3, 2014 //

I’ve just come home after the first sunny site meeting we’ve had in months. In fact, it’s such a beautiful day that I arrived on site to find a makeshift coffee table set up and questionable coffee on offer. How could I refuse?

Mark is visibly relieved to have the slab throwing over and done with and is sure that progress will be quicker and smoother from now on. Since Monday night the walls of the cottage have started growing. Below are some photos showing what things look like today:

Looking South towards the cottage. Photo taken from what will be the 3rd upstairs bedroom in the house.

The cottage, taken from the street.

Looking back towards the street from where the second bedroom will be.

The chair marks the morning coffee spot. And these clear African-blue skies are what we’ve been missing for the past three months.

View over the park from upstairs.

View from upstairs looking slightly towards the east.

Looking almost due north.

We feel very lucky to have an outlook like this from what is going to be essentially a ‘townhouse’ is a very central suburb of Johannesburg. It was this sense of space that made buying a stand of just over 800 square metres possible for us. Although our own garden will be very small and my biggest concern about downsizing is the loss of the lovely garden and beautiful trees we’ve had for the past 20 years, I’m hoping that having all these ‘borrowed’ trees will make it easier to adjust.

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Lights; Action!

March 31, 2014 //

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.

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Stepping Up

March 27, 2014 //

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.

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