Thursday, August 19, 2010

Slow going with blocks

The blocks are not going up anywhere nearly as quickly as we'd been sold.  These internal walls will be carrying load for the hollowcore 1st floor, so we can't get these in place until they are completed.  It's not a mis-estimation on the builders part, the issue is that the blockies didn't turn up for a few days, and I suspect didn't exactly do a full days work when they were there.  These guys are subcontracted by the structure builder, so I don't have a direct line to them, and the builder isn't always on site while these guys are supposed to be, so supervision is minimal.  At this stage with everyone complaining about the lack of work you'd think people would want to get through it and maintain a good name for the next job.  I guess not.

This story is nearly finished, most of the blocks are up and hopefully this will then get slabbed next week.  The final ICF row, internal blocks and then the roof (finally) can start.  In the picture the columns are either side of the fireplace.  We're looking to install a warm air circulation system, this is above the stove we'll fit here and allow air above it to get heated and circulate back out the top of the stack.  This should improve the heat we obtain from the unit when its on.  We still plasterboard over the area so this space is hidden, and we'll have to work out how to affix heavy items such as a TV etc.  But combined with the Heat-Recovery ventilation we can use the stove to pump heat all around the house.  It's located in the central open space, and warm air here will naturally circulate to the dining room, kitchen, back lobby and top landing.  However, if we're in a position that we're depending on this for heat we're already in trouble!

Again I'm only worried about the pace of building from the perspective of getting the house sealed.  We're getting quotes for windows, doors, stone and have plaster in mind, so if we get pushing we might have an intense 8-10 weeks to get weather tight and ready for internal fit-out.

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