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Motronic posted:This is a very good thread that I will be watching. That's what I was thinking. Wholly overkill for the size of the structure, even if the land is sandlike. (yes, a bit of an overstatement, but not much!)
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Jun 9, 2022 22:33
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EVERYWHERE 
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meatpimp posted:That's what I was thinking. Wholly overkill for the size of the structure, even if the land is sandlike. (yes, a bit of an overstatement, but not much!) It's not just that, it's also that they brought in an oversized and basically incorrect machine that required special soil prep so it wouldn't fall over. Surely pile driving machines with outriggers like we have in the US exist in the UK as well. That's what gets used on sites like that. Thing that need surface prep are used on sites where this prep work is no big deal because the building/warehouse is an acre or so big already so who cares if you need to throw down a few meter wide bed of material around the perimeter.
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Jun 9, 2022 22:38
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Love this thread and appreciate the effort, op
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Jun 10, 2022 17:20
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Yeah thanks OP. Question for the thread, that beam type structure that he's using for the foundation, is that something you see ever in NA because I've honestly never seen it. Reminds me in principle of the q-something solution for concrete between floors but it's individual little reinforced beams.
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Jun 10, 2022 18:25
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Hadlock posted:What kind of foundations do the buildings on either side of you look like The village high street which we access site from is a conservation area, with the buildings in between us and the road being a late 16th century manor house (with cheese pegging room?!) and similar age pub (Wall paintings, possibly early C17 in first floor room of four large figures dressed for hunting?!). The old boys house on the corner was a blacksmiths. So foundation of probably like a handful of pebbles or something each and been fine for centuries. Builder chap in a new build halfway down our site is on a raft. But its a much more compact building rather than our daft elongated L. I am desperate for an earthquake.
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Jun 10, 2022 21:49
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NotJustANumber99 posted:
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Jun 10, 2022 21:53
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 It really sucks trying to shovel poo poo clay mud into a bag and then also out of a bag so spent some money and bought some cheap ballast to use instead. to get me out of this hole.   but its really pissing it down again  hmmm, the bits I haven't weighted down with steel cages are floating out of the ground and wrecking themselves  and the bits that aren't floating up are getting crushed by the trenches collapsing in the wet.  and all my poo poo is blowing away  and the saab estate car, my most important vehicle with towbar and roofrack  has drowned itself. well I suppose I did it. Brilliant!
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Jun 10, 2022 23:13
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NotJustANumber99 posted:(with cheese pegging room?!) I thought it was called buggery over there? Am I thinking of the wrong country?
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Jun 11, 2022 01:11
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Which episode of Grand Designs is this going to be
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Jun 11, 2022 03:33
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And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a spirit”; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spoke unto them, saying, “Be of good cheer. It is I; be not afraid.”
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Jun 11, 2022 03:39
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;_______;
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Jun 11, 2022 04:02
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This thread rules, and it’s nice to see Florida isn’t the only place that seems to have six inches of standing water at all times. Good luck, OP. At least if the house project falls through you can mount a graviton on the foundation.
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Jun 11, 2022 20:26
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Cheers guys for the warm words and jesus swamp allegations A picture of craning in the steel cages as I don't think I've shown that.  At the corners we've got a bunch of.... L shaped steel rebar... that needs tying together with little metal ties and a cool twisty metal tier puller thingy   still having to pump out water relentlessly, but the pump keeps getting jammed up with stones and stuff meaning it needs dismantling like a few times a day  hmmm I can't even remember this but its a different machine in the picture so i guess the digger broke or something and spent yet more money on renting plant. lol  but making progress. How satisfying is that grid of metalwork and formwork. phwoar  By the way, I have employees now. Like this is miserable and family and friends can't be expected to take up the slack so we put an advert on an online recruiter website thing. It recommended I think like 80 quid or something a day for a labourer, but this job is poo poo, people wouldn't stay more than a day, so offered 100 quid. The website takes an extra I dunno tenner. Lad replies and comes down for the day. Need to buy him steel wellies and a boiler suit but hes really good, smartly proactive and great to work with. He offers to work for 105 a day to get paid direct and save us 5 quid a day to the agents, thats cool. Hes says hes got like loads of other guys he could bring because hes a temporarily embarrassed company owner, OK cool. He turns up with just his brother, but hes cool too. Need to buy him wellies but really dry sense of humour which offsets the miserable wet work. They're Latvians and we'll pay original brother both their money and he'll sort second brother out and all is good.  hmmm. but the second brother texts me a few days in to ask how much I'm paying for him. Uh-oh. We'd agreed to just pay the same flat rate 105 quid but I reckon his brother is fleecing him the extra fiver so I white lie that were paying just the 100quid. Lol, his own brother was actually pocketing 35quid and only paying him 70 a day. lmao. So he apologises to me but quits instantly and I dunno probably not great considering they live together. Anyway, heres a selfie of what I look like at the end of everyday at the moment lol, just so you don't think I'm sitting in my digger not getting stuck in myself. 
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Jun 11, 2022 23:24
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I again have to say this is such insane overkill for a single story house foundation. Or any house foundation, but drat if you're not doing it well. Also, I absolutely hate backhoes/your style digger. Capable of multiple things, good at none of them. And I get it, not judging. I have a tractor to do the tractor parts and a mini excavator to to the min excavator parts now and everything is so much better. If I could add a skid steer to the mix it would be even better, but you've got a house to build not a heavy equipment museum. E: that 027 Kubota you rented is a really nice machine for that job if not just a touch small/limited reach. Motronic fucked around with this message at 23:52 on Jun 11, 2022 |
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Jun 11, 2022 23:48
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Motronic posted:I again have to say this is such insane overkill for a single story house foundation. Or any house foundation, but drat if you're not doing it well. I wish you were my building inspector! I would be interested to talk off the record to someone as to why I've had to do all this. No one can understand it. Yeah we knew the digger was a jack of all/master of none and it is so nice when we've got rented plant and things just work and are easy. But there are just so many jobs that it can just about do. Like right now (spoilers) its broken again and it means I can't dig the hole I need or bring bags of sand up to do mix mortar/concrete, or bring up pallets of roof tiles. You don't miss it till its broken, which is always. Also should have got a JCB. The spare part I need for it is currently doing laps round Illinois, hopefully to be put on a plane soon. Machine was made in France, but everything has to come from the US. I will probably get charged extra import tax when it arrives.
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Jun 11, 2022 23:55
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NotJustANumber99 posted:Also should have got a JCB. The spare part I need for it is currently doing laps round Illinois, hopefully to be put on a plane soon. Machine was made in France, but everything has to come from the US. I will probably get charged extra import tax when it arrives. This is hilarious to me in particular because my miniex is a Yanmar and nearly every time I'm trying to get parts for it I end up buying them from the UK because none of our Yanmar dealers in the states are worth a poo poo for digging equipment (seems they all sell/stock/service the Yanmar road paving stuff). Maybe we need to fence parts for each other. Edit again: Oh wait....that thing says Ford on it. I bet that's actually a New Holland. Which is headquartered less than 2 hours from where I live. Motronic fucked around with this message at 00:03 on Jun 12, 2022 |
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Jun 12, 2022 00:00
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Yeah its a new holland!
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Jun 12, 2022 00:04
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Jun 12, 2022 00:08
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I noticed you had rebar ties on site. Those hold up outer tie rod ends pretty good too for even longer than zip ties. (Do I need to find some outer tire rod ends for you?)
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Jun 12, 2022 00:11
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Aahh good shout! I'll try that. i've paid for the brand new part. Its just still in Chicago. Too be honest you don't want to get involved, by the end of it you will have shipped me an entirely new machine.
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Jun 12, 2022 00:17
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NotJustANumber99 posted:
I've only spent more than 24 hours in England once and I was 16 on a school trip and distracted by the things 16 year olds are so my memory is fuzzy on the subject but, Are these posts on a time delay? Is it really that wet and gray in England in June? Seems awfully wet  if it were not for the time stamp I'd assume this was taken in late NovemberGodspeed
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Jun 12, 2022 01:34
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Maybe if you had kept the break room Open the Latvians would have stayed! Man I gotta tell you this is just the best bread but I don’t know how I could live (I mean this in jest) with knowing you spent so much more and so much effort for this foundation. It’s just so ridiculous
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Jun 12, 2022 04:48
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Hadlock posted:Are these posts on a time delay? Is it really that wet and gray in England in June? Seems awfully wet Not OP, but the answer to both questions is: yes It is currently raining It has rained before It will rain again
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Jun 12, 2022 06:47
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OP what is your occupation / background. Like before embarking on this adventure had you driven diggers much? Assisted in building other houses? Just curious because I would have absolutely no idea where to even begin thinking about such a project. Whereas you seem pretty capable despite all the comedy and tragedy along the way. This thread owns, eagerly following
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Jun 12, 2022 15:42
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Hadlock posted:Are these posts on a time delay? Is it really that wet and gray in England in June? Seems awfully wet Apologies yes. This is all in the (like recent) past. When I say things like this is me now! I am talking about the me, then. Apart from the digger being broken, that is true right now. But also, then. When/if we get to now I will do a big bright celebration post or something to mark the occasion. Docjowles posted:OP what is your occupation / background. Like before embarking on this adventure had you driven diggers much? Assisted in building other houses? Just curious because I would have absolutely no idea where to even begin thinking about such a project. Whereas you seem pretty capable despite all the comedy and tragedy along the way. I am. Pretty capable. Lol My gf's(at the time) ex pestered her with messages lamenting her lowering her standards so much to be with, as he called me, "some fat builder" with my actual builder friend laughing when I told him the story, through fits and giggles managing back "but you're not even a builder!" So there we are. My parents bought an old barn when I was a kid. We lived in caravans for a year on site, converting it. I was bullied at school for being a gypsy, but other than the emotional scars I didn't really contribute much to the process. I wanted to be an architect but got a D at art and was told I wasn't allowed. I failed out of an industry or five, developing my skills, or at least understanding of lack thereof. I'm hesitant to say too much about myself, its a thread about the project but absolutely interrogating myself about it eh... i did and I didn't have that much experience. All my 'normal' friends that maybe kind of do some DIY or whatever think I'm amazing, all the ones that work in any kind of related industry consider me a pleasantly deluded idiot or something like that? It's certainly my first full house build.
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Jun 13, 2022 23:55
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I've made a purchase though to solve the pump clogging up! and we're making progress!  even looks like the weather's changing!  lol. obviously for the worse. (obv in the winter now for those I'd accidently mislead)  not much doing for a few days  but things start to thaw and away again    digger remains a right diva https://i.imgur.com/jOT7T5y.mp4 https://i.imgur.com/vSaYuRQ.mp4 yah whatever man, trace back the problem  new hose from good lads just 5mins down the road  And we're away again I'm aware this is getting a bit old, being stuck in the ground, trust me, I know it. Another post or two and I'll get us a bit further. NotJustANumber99 fucked around with this message at 00:27 on Jun 14, 2022 |
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Jun 14, 2022 00:22
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NotJustANumber99 posted:
It's not getting old at all, these are great and informative and very interesting posts. Interesting solution for the pump, I've seen full on diaphragm pumps at bigger sites which will happily pump (some degree of) little bits of gravel and stuff around without too much fuss.
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Jun 14, 2022 02:48
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NotJustANumber99 posted:They turn up and do the whacking test. im learning a lot and this thread is very good
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Jun 15, 2022 06:04
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The foundation principle reminds me a bit of my house, but without all the crazy cross bracing. That part seems overkill, if it just ringed the outside it'd be pretty normal. Not an expert tho.
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Jun 15, 2022 07:26
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I think we all know what OP should do at this point: pay the local stone masons to build a gigantic stone fortress on the site instead and then declare independence from the crown
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Jun 15, 2022 23:45
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Working on another post just looking through my hugely, very bigly disorganised folder of building files and found something lol. I think i had my laptop delivered to me when I was in hospital so I could try and send useful stuff to my brothers in my absence. I drew this up trying to explain to them how to mark up and actually crop the piles. I was on (not a doctor) some really powerful painkillers/antibiotics into my veins at the time and this was probably totally clear to me what I was explaining to them, like I can see it now and its all right its just probably not clear to someone not totally involved.  They lolled and said nah no chance you'll be doing that when you get back. edit! also my new digger track end thingy is now in the uk. in london. if the online tracking is to be believed if flew from chicago to detroit and then here? NotJustANumber99 fucked around with this message at 23:57 on Jun 15, 2022 |
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Jun 15, 2022 23:45
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99 on painkillers muttering like Brad Pitt in 12 monkeys "you gotta crop the piles man, you gotta crop the piles"
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Jun 16, 2022 06:56
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things are getting very gunky so ordered 20 tonne of fun hardcore to scatter down about and any leftover well theres a driveway. Possibly I was just bored and hadnt had a truck through in a while. Still making progress  But I've still got like 200quid a day lads on site helping me out, when they turn up. And the pump has broken again  You can maybe see that bit close to the camera is missing  so unfortunately when you've got guys on site on your dime, you make terrible decisions to keep the railroad going and drive off and buy a whole new pump to keep said guys on site and working  Then it bloody snows again and you send them all home, lol  You can see we have a new strategy of building little damns and pumping out locally to keep us moving but current weather has defeated us. Yeah frozen  smash that out and pump  But just wasting our time really  So now we've got a bit further on I've realised I've got no idea what I paid the steel cages guy for really earlier... like a bunch of them just havent been made, because they were complicated and I have a bag of bits to put together myself. I do enjoy putting together bags of bits but it seems kind of a gently caress you that I paid all this money and some turned up made up and others didnt and noone mentioned any of why? anyway    And then I start making up the corners and connections, I've been quite looking forward to this bit     I still have to bend down the left over pile steels into the ground beams and noone seems to have much advice on how. So I shamble into my pile of destroyed stable block  This looks promising and grind it out  and get bending  Also a fallen tree to deal with, lovely logs 
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Jun 16, 2022 23:40
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It's crazy how your boggy trenches are starting to look like foundations, doesn't feel right somehow. Was this in the most recent winter or earlier?
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Jun 17, 2022 07:12
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Back in the present and my digger part has arrived from that there America! And it's the wrong part!   The left and right end are threaded the opposite way to each other where they screw into the ends of the track rod. And at some point someone has evidently swapped it round. So my right hand side party actually needs to be a left. So there's another two weeks and shipping cost to wait before the digger is back in action. Lol
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Jun 17, 2022 14:19
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NotJustANumber99 posted:The left and right end are threaded the opposite way to each other where they screw into the ends of the track rod. And at some point someone has evidently swapped it round. So my right hand side party actually needs to be a left. They must have done that to make it right hand drive 
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Jun 17, 2022 14:26
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Before the groundbeams can be poured I need to have a bit of a think about the sewers. The plans show the main sewer serving the kitchen/utility and a toilet running right under the house before picking up the other connections on the front side of the house. The site slopes down from the road, in exactly the least helpful way with our shallowest sewer at the lowest point of the building site. To find out where the sewer is in the road involves having to physically go to the water company offices in a nearby town, sit in their lobby and take pictures of the info on a iPad thing bolted to the wall.  Its not even particularly accurate, drain 8801 is our nearest but is actually the other side of our access track to where it is shown on the system. But its 2.77m deep. I used the dumpy level to plot the levels from the road all the way back to the far point of the building and keeping with a minimum fall of 1 in 80 it should be just about possible to get the drains to work out. But I'm not allowed to dig in the road and the bit I can dig on my land is going to get to almost 3metres deep which is a bit intimidating. Anyway the quote I get for someone licensed to do roadworks is like £15 grand so, nah. We'll buy a pump, bury it somewhere close to the house and avoid all that upfront cost and difficult, deep digging. Also I can lay things at 1 in 40 slope rather than the bare minimum. But for now we still need to set the pipework up that goes under the house at groundbeam level, all the other connections will happen later through the blockwork support walls under the beam and block floor.   Get 20 tonnes of shingle delivered for filling around all the underground pipes.  Get all the underground pipes delivered. It was cheaper to buy a whole pallet than the individual pipes actually needed, anything left over can go on Ebay.  I've used a fatter bit of pipe as a conduit that I'll push the actual drain pipe through and spray some foam in the gap to prevent any ground changes from damaging the pipe where it goes through the concrete as per building regs.   Stick some shingle down  And pipe  I'll stop up the ends and come back and join on either end later on when I do the rest of the drains. But now its just backfilling against the formwork so it doesn't all burst open when the concrete gets poured.    Starting to look not like total poo poo. 
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Jun 18, 2022 17:38
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NotJustANumber99 posted:Get 20 tonnes of shingle delivered for filling around all the underground pipes. So is shingle a regular quarry item around you/in the UK in general and what is it? Around here we'd use "#2 stone" for that, also known as "3/4 clean" which is just washed 3/4" crushed stone which very locally is a crushed blue sandstone but I suppose it's other types of stone in other places.
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Jun 18, 2022 17:57
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It's 4/10 graded gravel. So some one has measured all the pebbles and they're between 4 and 10mm. As you say, what the stone actually is varies regionally and probably from one order to the next as to what quarry fills the order. I don't care what it is as it's getting buried but it looks nice enough and exactly the same as driveway gravel? I'm sure if I use the leftovers for the driveway and try to order more the same it'll turn up and be totally different.
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Jun 18, 2022 18:25
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Shingle is typically coastal stone, not crushed. I believe this means that it doesn't compact (so it protects whatever it is around) MOT is a general term in the UK (also crusher run) for crushed stone that is compacted using a plate for patios etc Also I love that you left the full length of the piles in the sketchup CancerCakes fucked around with this message at 18:41 on Jun 18, 2022 |
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Jun 18, 2022 18:37
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