Sandwich construction

When you build a new house, you generally start at the bottom and work up. With a renovation, you can start on the top layer and the bottom at the same time, and meet in the middle. This week was pretty awesome, with our roof being done (well, the western side anyway).



and even bigger, our first slab was poured. Mark (the builder) rang to tell me it was happening so we could watch on the webcam. The snaps below (from the less-than-accurate-colour webcam) show that they don't do the old wheelbarrow-loads off the truck anymore. We got the big pump-truck running a hose right over the top of the house, reaching from the front yard, and pouring it straight into the formwork. A bit of shoving and shaking (to remove airbubbles) and then a gentle polish follows... From first to last pic is four hours.



and now we have a lovely new slab! Or, at least we think we do. It's now wrapped in a blanket, to ensure it cures slowly and strong.




You can now clearly see where the staircase will land and lead into the basement. The lip around the edges of the slab is where the block walls go, so it adds a little bit of additional waterproofing



We also seem to have vermin in the house. You can tell by the little leftovers. Concrete poo.



I'm told the guys used some of the left-over concrete from the slab to form the pads under the lounge-room floor for the new piers, straight out of the hose off the pump. We think that's better than some rock-eating marsupial having invaded the house...