Rain and block laying don't mix

Winter solstice has passed, so on the positive side, the days get longer from here on. The winter rain and gales however have become a regular feature, limiting what can be done on site. Plenty of shed work for now getting setup for the next stage.

Timbercrete block laying

We are finally out of the dirt and mud. Block laying started at the end of May with the assistance of a labour only block layer to get us started. Timbercrete's plans and building system has proven to be very clear and straight forward. Some careful thinking ahead is required to ensure all plumbing and electrical services ducting is in place. We have used Timbercrete's Contemporary Block (505 x 230 x 200 thick); almost 1500 blocks in all. 

Foundations completed

A lot of work went into the foundations, all to covered by concrete. We have installed under floor piping for hot water heating in 4 zones. Hot water will be supplied to the floor as needed by a solid fuel cooker with a 13kw boiler, solar panels and a total of 450 litres of HW storage.

Footings concrete and foundation blocks

Build Consent approved. Yippee! So we are officially all go.

The footings concrete goes in followed by 10 days of wet weather. The end of the long dry spell!

The foundation block work is contracted out are completed in less than 8 hours.

Profiles and footings

Building profiles are set out. We are taking advantage of the long dry weather. No word on the Building Consent, but we proceed reasonable confident given all the preparation in the consent application. Fingers crossed. 

Site excavations

My "level" site ended up with a fall of 250 mm over the 16 m length combined with over 300 mm of top soil in places, there ended up being quite a bit of earth to move. The surrounding site will be contoured  level.

Home grown timber

We ended up with 20 cubic meters of millable logs and large pile of firewood rounds. The 20hp Jinma tractor was able to skid all but the 3 largest logs. The vegetable garden sustained only minor damage despite being where most trees would have liked to fall.