Parallel lines

This week we made more particularly visual progress by putting up the rafters and a few frames. Also all the interior wall framing has been completed. One gets a fantastic sense of the interior spaces and the variation from outside to inside.

This week my brother visited Hanmer Springs and also helped out lifting framed and fixing rafters. He is overlooking the site in the picture below.

360 UB 45

On Tuesday the ridgebeam arrived with the rafters. We managed to overcome this hurdle without too much difficulty as the HIAB (truck crane) was able to set the beam in place within its maximum reach. It is temporarily braced at the moment and soon the rafters will hold it in place.

For the remainder of the week we worked mainly on the attic floor and ceiling below. Once that flooring is complete the rafters can be fixed in place.


Jacob unhooks the strop after the beam is set down in place.

Full steam ahead!

Since the last post we've been very busy. A lot of progress has been made - visible and actual. The underfloor insulation has been installed (the white stuff between the joists above) and the floor has been laid over the whole first floor now. Merlot is here inspecting the job. The 4 framing packs for the first floor arrived at Midday Wednesday.

Below shows the frames being erected since Wednesday and some of the steel that helps support the roof. The second picture below shoes Jacob and I moving one of the smallest bits of frames out of the way(sits under the steel portal-frame to the left).

The frames going up make the most visible difference to any site, whereas they have been prefabricated and we've merely tacked them in place. Most of the work today has been cutting slots in the floor for the steel to be bolted onto the block wall beneath. [click on the photos to see them larger]

Dwanging once more

After the piles were set we built up the subfloor structure. The piles were all cut off to level and the bearers fixed to the piles. The joists were then laid down and fixed to the bearers and finally dwang cut to fix at 1800 centres between the joists. For the anchored piles, of which there are eight, 12kN (kilonewton) galvanised nail-plates were fixed to the pile/bearer connections.

Concrete puddings

This picture above was taken after a flurry of activity heaving large wheelbarrows often full to the brim with concrete down sticky, muddy, mucky soil to pour around the piles. We set a total of 38 piles including 8 anchored piles set 900mm into the ground.