Step 9: as the concrete solidifies...

Salam n g'day everyone

....wood casting are taken off. As can be seen in pics below

So not much is happening on the house now...and they're focusing on other items which i'll describe later on...till next time

By way of (still full from the steak lunch..huhu) AAMMJ

Step 8: laying the ground beams...pouring on the concrete

Salam n g'day everyone...

Wow!! by now, I've exceeded my own expectation in posting today...this is alot of posts already and I'm almost catching up to the real progress made in my house construction.

OK, now onto the main dish...I've taken pics below about a week ago..

You might notice that this is the 1st time in this blog that my post has workers on it!! it's a Saturday, so I'm not working :p. So, today's activities is still completing the ground beam, they're now pouring concrete onto the casing / mold.

How many workers are there? well, there are 5 of them working on the house including 1 supervisor but wait...

There's actually another person driving the lorry. So, that's make 6 of them altogether today

K, till next time

By way of (OK, should be my last post b4 going out to KL) AAMMJ

Step 7: Preparation for ground beams

Salam n g'day everyone..

Well, well well...
I tot that I'm going out to KL already...but seems that I have more time....(not easy having to dress up and prepare 2 young kids..)

The next step now that the foundation is in place really is to putting together the ground beams. Ground beams are horizontal beams that is used to make boundaries of the house, the rooms and other important features of the house. They're also made of concrete, therefore the workers took a few days to prepare the wood bracing / mold for the concrete. As per the foundation, the steel are also put in place in between the wood molding (see pics)

Now, we can already see the boundary of the building therefore, what I do after working hours (besides taking pics obviously) was to measure the house boundary and see if they're similar to the Plan. As it turns out, they're similar to the plan which is good

Till next time

By way of (Wonder if I have time for another one) AAMMJ

Step 6: Cover ze holes

Salam and g'day everyone...

Now, after the footing was completed, the holes are then covered by putting back the soil into it (pic below):

You can see that the stem / leg of the footing is up to the level of the soil. So, now we can already see the level of the house already.

By way of (Getting ready to go to KL) AAMMJ

Step 5: Footing leg / stem

Salam and G'day everyone..

What's next? let me post a pic or 2 for yer

Well, the above are what I meant by the footing leg / stem (dunno wat is the actual term in construction world...but since I'm a layman...i'll use wateva cross me mind really) . So, this structure is about 1' by 1' in size and sit atop of the foot(ing). It is strengthened by the Y12 steel that it encloses.

Now, does this remind you of something? This is sumtin that I just learned as well, doesn't this looks exactly like the house footing in rumah kampung (pic for yer - I took the pic from another site via google search)?

rightio....bye for now

By way of (posting in-between prepare bfast, eat bfast, prepare Ahmad's bath, washing some clothes...) AAMMJ

Step 4: House footing

Salam n G'day everyone,

Hi there again, if you've guessed that the holes are for the house footing then you're absolutely right!! Well, footing is one of the few types of foundation that is used in house construction... others are piling, use of concrete slab, or even a basement flooring as a construction (one of these days I might write about house foundations...i wish)

I remembered in my basic engineering lesson in school days, one of the method necessary to make a stable structure is to remove the land of equivalent mass to the structure (that's why is tall building, the holes are deeper i reckon)

Okay, enough of the nonsense, let's get to some pics

In the pic above, you can see that there are steel (a BS Y12 steel) use in this house construction. The steels are bunched in 6 as they're required to support the 2-storey house. Now on to the foot(ing) pic

The footing are made of concrete. you can still see the wood braces around the structure (they will soon remove it). The wood structure are there as to mold the concrete into its shape. The foot(ing) size is about 3' by 3' and the steels sit atop of the concrete and they're bound by it. (actually i think that this blog is moving pretty fast here...the construction itself only took one day and I'm at work :( during the process. I'm only taking pics b4 n after working hours unfortunately)

Laterz bro....

By way of (It's easier to just typed into the blog than using MS word, innit?) AAMMJ

Step 3: Digging holes on the ‘X’ Mark

Today it’ll be short and sweet. They’re digging holes on the red ‘X’ marks (pics)

So, what are holes for? Wait for my next installment my dear good readers

PS: Also, as you can see in the 2nd pic the sand and gravel for the concrete are ready, maybe some of you can guess what the holes are for then)

BTW, I 1st wrote this post in MS word, but then....I couldn't get the pics to be pasted in the blog. Is this not possible? what a shame...

By way of (oh my portable harddrive, where art thou?) AAMMJ