week 2, day 1: Good news from the building inspector!
12th May 2014
The first job for today was to wait for the building inspector to arrive, and see what he had to say about the hole that was dug on Friday. The question was, were the foundations sufficient, or would additional concrete need to be poured into an even bigger trench, once built?
After a slight delay (he forgot to come...), the building inspector arrived at about 8.15am. He spent almost an hour on site, and his conclusions were very favourable.
1. Regarding the utility room, the inspector was convinced that it was part of the original house, and therefore, the foundations were sufficient. This was huge news - if his opinion had been different, it would have been a huge job excavating to support an already built internal wall! The only gripe was the lack of insulation in the utility wall, so there will need to be a layer of insulation on the inside of it (more costs).
2. Regarding the library room, after much deliberation and discussion, the inspector was happy for the builders to build up from the existing block work, using dense concrete blocks - but tying it in with existing block work regularly. The inspector will come regularly to make sure he is happy with how it is all being tied together. Technically, I'm struggling to keep up - but I know that not having to excavate anymore of the floor, and not having to bring in liquid concrete to add more foundations, is a bonus. The liquid concrete alone was going to be an extra £1200+VAT.
Much of the morning was spent with the inspector and then ordering the components for the next part of the build, now we had the go ahead from the inspector. After a slow start to the day, the concrete block work has now started to go in, and the wall is coming up! With the delivery of more blocks tomorrow, hopefully we will see the wall shoot up.
Photos 1 and 2: Today's photos are really rather boring (unless perhaps you're a builder), as they don't show much difference from Friday. You can see the concrete block work has stated to come up now - and that's all there is to show for today's efforts!
After a slight delay (he forgot to come...), the building inspector arrived at about 8.15am. He spent almost an hour on site, and his conclusions were very favourable.
1. Regarding the utility room, the inspector was convinced that it was part of the original house, and therefore, the foundations were sufficient. This was huge news - if his opinion had been different, it would have been a huge job excavating to support an already built internal wall! The only gripe was the lack of insulation in the utility wall, so there will need to be a layer of insulation on the inside of it (more costs).
2. Regarding the library room, after much deliberation and discussion, the inspector was happy for the builders to build up from the existing block work, using dense concrete blocks - but tying it in with existing block work regularly. The inspector will come regularly to make sure he is happy with how it is all being tied together. Technically, I'm struggling to keep up - but I know that not having to excavate anymore of the floor, and not having to bring in liquid concrete to add more foundations, is a bonus. The liquid concrete alone was going to be an extra £1200+VAT.
Much of the morning was spent with the inspector and then ordering the components for the next part of the build, now we had the go ahead from the inspector. After a slow start to the day, the concrete block work has now started to go in, and the wall is coming up! With the delivery of more blocks tomorrow, hopefully we will see the wall shoot up.
Photos 1 and 2: Today's photos are really rather boring (unless perhaps you're a builder), as they don't show much difference from Friday. You can see the concrete block work has stated to come up now - and that's all there is to show for today's efforts!