Ground-floor Sub-Frame

This blog is a great way of keeping a diary on the build.

Spent the last 2 days fixing the floor joists to the bearers,fixing them with 12Kn connectors.
The pile ends and all cuts have been coated with a timber preservative.(that's the green stuff)
Although we couldn't complete the entire ground floor due to the problem with the soft ground, today I have had notice that the Producer Statement from the Geo Engineer had been completed and we should have it tomorrow.
Great news we will now be able to get a pile driver to complete the foundations and we will be full steam ahead...
The frames are due for delivery this week, so we will need to store them until the ground floor is completed.

Double perimeter joist to support the wall 

Site Clearing

As some light relief from waiting for the new pile requirements are completed, 3 large logs that I was going to mill  have now been turned into firewood!
I had a number of attempts at getting someone to cut them into posts but no one was interested in doing the work, so now I have converted the cedar logs into firewood.
Spent the weekend cutting and splitting.
Now have 3 years supply of firewood..

The Foundations Continued...

While we wait for the solution to the soft ground foundation repair I decided to pour the concrete for the good section, after getting approval from the local authority building control.
The piles are set in 400 mm dia x 900 holes and the calcs to fill all the holes will take 10 tonne of builders mix plus Portland cement, all mixed at 6;1
The whole process took me 3 days of very hard work, but I did it!

10 Tonnes of Builders Mix!

40 Kg Bag 

The Cement Measuring System...

Piling Challenge!

The contractors arrived with the auger to clean out the pile holes and due to the soft ground and the ground being completely waterlogged the hole are collapsing making it impossible to pour the concrete, plus we are now down to the water table which in this area is approx 2.3 meters
So now we have to drive a whole new set of piles using a pile driver to overcome this problem.
The Geo engineer didn't think this would be a problem and is reworking the loading calculations.
Let's hope that this will work as I'm getting a bit stressed over this holdup.

Bearers...

The 100 x 100 bearers have been delivered and have been stacked ready for installation, this is so I have no excuse for any delays.
They are really heavy as they wet, so had to drag them rather than lift, now have some new tracks on the lawn.
The framing is ordered and will be delivered at the end of this month (Sept) all I need now is for the contractor to re-drill the 16 remaining holes that collapsed in the storm.

The guard dog on duty.

The Start of the Foundations

The holes have been drilled for the wooden piles and over half of the piles are installed ready for the concrete to be poured.
Unfortunately we had an enormous storm and we had 3 months rain in 3 hours! the remaining holes caved in, it was a terrible mess with 20 holes needing to be drilled again, plus the services of a Geo Engineer to help with a solution, thankfully not too much to do, but we will now need to drill the holes down to 2 meters plus a lot more expensive concrete - oh, the joys of building.

The anchor piles (44) go down about 1 meter and yesterday checking the depth I dropped my tape, bother, my arm is not that long, had to hook it out with the end of my hammer then proceeded to get my head stuck under the prop, all very tricky...
The site is surrounded by security mesh, to keep Charlie (dog) out of harms way plus any wandering Hedgehogs.

Essential Tools...

The Site

Have started the earthworks with the underground pipes installed, with the building profile now in place.
The site is starting to look like a building site with lots of mud!!

The next job is to drill the holes for the piles and to setup the posts for concreting into the ground.

Some Background

The idea for this new project started some years back with a trip to the UK and a week staying in a converted barn in Wales.
We were so taken with the barn, that we decided that we would like a building based on similar design, although the new one would be built using different materials - We don't use slate and stone as building materials in New Zealand.
Although I'm a registered residential building designer (LBP) I don't have any formal qualifications when it comes to building houses, and I had to sign a declaration that only I would be doing the build with some help from friends and family (unpaid), family take note:)
So in the NZ tradition of a home builder DIY you can construct your own house as long as you don''t use any paid labour, with the exception of Plumber, Drain layer and Electrician.
The house design is 2 stories on piles, the reason for the piles is because following some very big earthquakes in NZ if your house is damaged you can start making good the repairs the system of Jack and Pack, that's jacking up the house and levelling the house as required.
Note: the last shake we had,was an astounding 2 minutes! Magnitude of 7.5, very scary, luckily we had no structural damage but a couple of towns further down the coast in the South island were badly damaged with the main road still closed, they have just reconnected the rail line yesterday for limited traffic.
A number of very big, relatively new buildings in Wellington have to be demolished because of the damage.
Building control now need a lot more information and detail which meant a lot of reworking of the plans to get the approval, Yes I did it, as the building was designed to exceed the current building code by a considerable amount with extra plywood internal bracing extra anchor piles plus an increase in insulation by 200% plus more hurricane straps to hold down the roof and building it wasn't to much of a challenge.

Now it's full steam ahead on the real building work...

The Container Conversion - Continued

The container conversion has become a full-time job with an element of panic setting in, we have built a fold-up bed design I found on a web-site in the USA - they supplied the instructions plus the fittings to make it work. although the instructions were a little overwritten - far to much detail but I finally got it together, and it works really well - it's call a 'Murphy Bed' for those interested in making a foldaway bed.
The container have been lined out using drywall and plastered, painted and decorated, so now looks the business.

The Foldup Murphy Bed

Pantry and Kitchen

The outside we are covering in plywood to protect the insulation and to make it look less like a steel sea container, it's now called a studio.
I have been told, if I use the word 'Glamping' once more there will be a death in the the family - Mine!

Yes, that's my shadow taking the photograph.
The solar panel on the left is to power our... all very eco.