Roof Slab Concrete

The structure of the home is thus complete, with the roof slab done on 3rd Nov 2010. It took 119 bags of cement. The workers and the contractor were blaming me saying it's too much steel they can't keep their feet on the platform. Whatever, Krishnakumar sir, the structural engineer, wouldn't do any compromise on it. Neither would I. Even while the concretion was going on, we bought a full length 16mm steel bar and added to it. The roof slab haas two pergolas

Plastering going on.. . Roof slab not yet done

Roof slab concrete is not yet done, due to some strike in the quarries which makes crusher metal and sand unavailable. Besides, the contractor doesn't have the materials for making the concrete slab platform. So its a near halt stage. But anyway plastering is going on in the ground floor at a slow pace. Now the two kitchens are done, the verandah is done, the prayer room is done and the dining room wall is also over.

Ground floor Structure complete

The ground floor main slab concrete was done as planned, thanks to Jesus there was no rain on the day, and it was good weather. Everything went fine, and the slab was completed by 3 O'clock. It took about 85 bags of cement [L&T Ultratech]. The staircase to the first floor was also done along with the slab. Now we have to wait a few weeks for the concrete curing, before the works for the 1st floor begins.

Slab Concrete planned for this week

It's after a big interval, I'm posting in this. Our house-construction work has reached up to the ground floor main slab concrete planned for next week. Today I tried to free some place for unloading the crusher sand and metal in the plot, doing which I got bitten by a spider, and had to stop today's work. Besides, I'd to come to office.

The joinery - ground floor

All the joinery for the ground floor was made by Mr. Salim's carpenters [ Lulu furniture, Karukadam, Kothamangalam]. They were made of used[old] wood. Doesn't look as good as new ones, they say. But I feel it's enough. Many people say good opinion about it, though some are against it. This was the thing that delayed the work most. The joinery pieces were delivered more than a month later than when it was supposed to be delivered. Since I was insistent on the lintel to be made only after fixing the joinery, we had to pend the works for a few weeks. In between, the septic tank was constructed, though.

The walls

Laterate bricks[ vettukallu] was used for all the 20 cm walls. For 10 cm walls [interior- seperation between kitchen and work area, toilet and store room] we used cement bricks. For septic tank also 6 in cement bricks were used.Just above the joinery height, there's the lintel concrete, which varies in thickness with the nature of the joinery under, and the span etc, all according to Krishnakumar sir's drawing[ Associated Structural consultants, Kochi]. In some places it's 30 cm thick. In others, mostly 15cm. Over the lintel, 3-4 layers of bricks[20cm laterate bricks] were used, to reach the main slab level.

Foundation belt concrete

A belt concrete was done over the foundation rubble work, with 15 cm thickness and 30 cm[or 40 cm i don't remember exactly]. Some 30 bags of cement and about 1 tonne steel was purchased[exact amount of steel I don't remember. Will update later].

Foundation - Sand Fill + PCC + Rubble + Soil Fill

Since at one of the borders of the plot it is paddy fields, we dug the trench at that side about 1 feet deeper than the other sides. Then we did a 10 cm thick sand filling all along the trench, then compacted it, pouring water over it. Then above that we did a 10 cm thick PCC [ 1.5 inch metal]. No compromise or money saving done on anything related to foundation. After the PCC, one week was given for curing, with the concrete being lavishly watered twice a day.

[Crusher sand & metal [1.5 in] were supplied by Joy chettan [Edakkattuvayal]]

Then the rubble masonry works for the foundation started -with 80cm at the bottom, till the current ground level, then 60 cm wide at the level above it, and then above that, with 40 cm width. Rubble masonry is costly, considering the labor charges to the north of Rs 500 per day for a mason & 400 Rs for the helper. Oops. But no need to worry, as ours is a labor contract[rate per square feet - all labor included]. It was a boon that the soil there was of the correct composition - the contractor was mentioning - it will go into the rubble work and get packed well there.

At the front half of the structure, the rubble work had to be done to a height of about 5-6 feet, as the structure is designed to have different levels. This has increased the cost a bit though.

Now we are filling earth in the foundation. We have to buy some 10 loads of earth, because the earth we got by digging the trench was not enough to fill the Rubble work.

Total we have used about 25-26 loads of Rubble, 4-5-6 loads of crusher sand, nearly 2 loads metal[1.5 inch], 48 bags of cement, 10 loads (Nissan Tipper) etc till now, with the 'belt' to be done.

The Foundation

Our first plan was to go for a Framed structure, with all the load supported by about 16 pillars, but once the estimate came, the same had to be pushed down though it was a nice design to save a few hundreds of thousands of what we really didn't have with us - money.

Now the earthworks for the load-bearing structure is almost over, the foundation is about 1m deep in most of the parts. Next we have to make a 10 cm sand filling all along the foundation.

Items purchased till now:
[All loads are in Mazda Tipper unless specified otherwise]

Crusher sand - 2.5 loads
Metal - 2 loads 1.5 inches & .5 load .75 inches.

And then we started thinking of building a home for us.

The beginning itself was a lot different from how a usual house - building projects, because people used to start thinking of making a house for them when they have something in their hand to start with. We had - but just the need for it.

The decision to buy a plot near Kolenchery was taken in summer 2009, and we bought a 10 cents plot near Puthencruz.