Discussion
Well, we are now out of the ground thank goodness. It has been a hard and stressful few weeks but the last pour was Thursday night. Funnily enough it was the last trench for the block and beam which caused the most problems. There must have been an old pond there because the ground was black, (and smelt of rotten pond water). The trench caved in on a few occasions, but thank goodness we only had to be 1.5m deep on these trenches. Time was pressing on so rather than shutter the sides we just poured and filled the hole. It probably took another metre and a half of concrete but as it was the last concrete lorry turned up at 6.15pm so a bit of a late one.
I’ve lost count of concrete and graphic lorries but I’d estimate about 75 cubic metres of concrete and about 15 grab lorries of muck away. It hasn’t been a cheap exercise I can assure you.
Friday was spent clearing up the site and digging out the over site for the ventilated void under the block and beam floor. I also got the digger driver to excavate for a slab for my chicken pen. The chickens are currently being boarded at a hatchery, so it will be nice to get them back.
I’ve got two more grab lorries booked for this morning, so hopefully come this afternoon it won’t look as if a hurricane has blown through my front garden.
The bricklayers are starting on Monday morning, so hopefully there will be something other than mud and concrete to see by the evening.
I’ve lost count of concrete and graphic lorries but I’d estimate about 75 cubic metres of concrete and about 15 grab lorries of muck away. It hasn’t been a cheap exercise I can assure you.
Friday was spent clearing up the site and digging out the over site for the ventilated void under the block and beam floor. I also got the digger driver to excavate for a slab for my chicken pen. The chickens are currently being boarded at a hatchery, so it will be nice to get them back.
I’ve got two more grab lorries booked for this morning, so hopefully come this afternoon it won’t look as if a hurricane has blown through my front garden.
The bricklayers are starting on Monday morning, so hopefully there will be something other than mud and concrete to see by the evening.
The bricklayers started on Monday, they are certainly quick, as you can see from the pictures they have made great progress. I spent Monday loading out the bricks and mixing for them but the past couple of days they have been on their own (just two of them). They have just got the front two skins of brickwork to do and then they are up to damp. The block and beam arrived this morning so I am hoping that come tomorrow evening we may have a garage floor or at least a bit of it. I’ll have to concrete the cavities at the weekend and then the face work will begin next week if not before.
You can get fully sealed moulded pits - just drop in like a bathtub. Like this: https://www.mech-mate.co.uk/
Bricklayers slightly thwarted by the rain today, so the front cavity wall wasn’t built. It wasn’t a wasted day though as fortunately all the block and beam arrived on site yesterday so the three of us spent the day cutting beams and laying blocks. Hopefully by tomorrow evening the front walls will have been built, all the slip blocks laid and all the blocks round the edge cut and laid.
Hopefully that is achieved so that Saturday I can fill the cavity with concrete ready for the face work to be started on Monday.![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/Z4AYH8wp.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/7od4PCX6" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/7od4PCX6.jpg)
Hopefully that is achieved so that Saturday I can fill the cavity with concrete ready for the face work to be started on Monday.
Apologies- if it has been explained above I missed it- questions-
Why do the foundations need to be so deep? Unstable soil?
Why the beam/block approach and not a bed of concrete?
Finally, what happens with those blocks are they concreted together or left like that? (Always wondered when I see that in construction)
Why do the foundations need to be so deep? Unstable soil?
Why the beam/block approach and not a bed of concrete?
Finally, what happens with those blocks are they concreted together or left like that? (Always wondered when I see that in construction)
Looks fantastic! Good luck with the build.
Very interesting, as I’m just finishing a remarkably similar 3 car garage, which appears to be almost identical to yours in size and design. Mine is 10.7m wide by 6.5m deep, with dormer accommodation above.
The only notable difference is that my staircase to upstairs is external so that it doesn’t take up any of the room inside. I wanted as much room as possible for my cars, ignoring the advantages of an internal staircase
Here’s the upstairs of mine, to give you an idea of what sort of space you might end up with. It’s huge. You’ll love it.
Very interesting, as I’m just finishing a remarkably similar 3 car garage, which appears to be almost identical to yours in size and design. Mine is 10.7m wide by 6.5m deep, with dormer accommodation above.
The only notable difference is that my staircase to upstairs is external so that it doesn’t take up any of the room inside. I wanted as much room as possible for my cars, ignoring the advantages of an internal staircase
Here’s the upstairs of mine, to give you an idea of what sort of space you might end up with. It’s huge. You’ll love it.
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