Progress!

The ground has been cleared, and the piers have been concreted!! The slab was supposed to have been laid last week, along with the drainage, however we have been experiencing torrential rain - so that's been put on hold until we get some dry days....hopefully soon! The framing is supposed to be delivered tomorrow.

Looking towards the rear of the property....the swimming pool in the distance... Looking towards the front of the property....check out the portaloo...the large white stash on the left hand side are polystyrene blocks, what they call waffle pods - for the slab.

Apparently polystyrene rafts and waffle pods have revolutionised the concreting industry over the last decade. A waffle pod system can save considerable money as site preparation is much simpler and there are significant savings in the amount of concrete used. (Isn't Google wonderful!!!!)

The polystyrene raft is also a great insulator, reducing heat transfer through the floor. The on-ground system (rather than in-ground) slab, eliminating the need for labour intensive trenching - formerly essential to create underfloor concrete beams in conventional slab construction methods. Construction takes place on cleared level surfaces, allowing work to continue uninterrupted in inclement weather conditions.

The Wafflepod system uses polystyrene void formers arranged on the levelled building area in a grid (waffle) pattern with reinforcing between and above the voidformers. Concrete fills the spaces between and across the Ribbed Raft to form a slab over the entire area. The spaces between the void formers effectively become concrete beams on ribs resulting in a slab which is a structural element of immense strength.

...We have encountered an issue with the building company!! They have advised us, after we have signed off on all the plans that they need to build a blade wall (1.2 metres in length) inside the garage...between the double garage and the third garage. This is to structurally support the steel beam for upstairs!!! Go figure....you think they would have suggested this right at the beginning of the planning process...but no, they spring this on us now!!! We went back to them and advised that the display homes, the ones with the triple garages don't have this blade wall. Their answer to this, was the display garages are framed and gyprock lined (like gib board in NZ). So we have asked them if we could frame the inside of the entry garage wall to avoid the need to have a blade wall, as this will keep the openness of the garages. Fingers crossed!!

We are meeting the site manager, Gary, a week on Monday, to introduce ourselves, build up a relationship, and to establish the timeframe for each step of the build.

We also finalised the kitchen plans today with the external kitchen designer, Nancy, from Marquardt Granite Kitchens. This was an exciting and fun process. Outline of the sketches in the next update.