Soil Removal

We had 19 tonnes of soil removed from the block today. The soil/clay to be removed was from the cutting of the block and the piering. We had to move it today as the plumbers are supposed to start the drainage tomorrow morning. Luckily we had a family friend with a bobcat and truck!! He did a great job clearing and leveling the front of the block. There is about 5 tonnes of clean fill left in the front corner which we will have to move to the back of the block over the weekend with the wheel barrow. Not looking forward to that...

Slab Complete

The concreters poured the slab today. They turned up at 6.50am and waited 10 minutes for the official start time of 7am (got to keep the locals happy!), then got to work. Truck after truck came along and poured concrete into the pump, which had an enourmous arm reaching right to the back of the property. By the end of the day the concrete set and was then smoothed and polished. The form work has been removed and now we need to wait 1 week for the slab to cure. Next step, external drainage and frames...

View from the back garden

View from the driveway

Building Commences - Finally!!

At last, the builders have begun. A couple of weeks ago the block was flattened, then earlier this week piering begun. There are 59 piers in total which are each about 1.2 metres deep. The form workers formed up the perimiter of the slab and then the plumber did the internal plumbing. Today the form workers were back to finish off the prep work for the slab. Tomorrow they pour the slab, weather permitting! Here are some photo's of the prep work for the slab. I'll post some more once the slab is poured.