Week 7, day thirty-one

Tuesday, 8 March 2011


Happy international women's day, blog folk! And happy big four-oh to Melly, if you're out there...


Well, the race is on: the concreters finally turned up again this morning after being absent since mid last week. The boss man is off on holidays after today, and James the plumber is off from Thursday - if we want to pour the slab next week as per Warwick's schedule, both of them have to finish their prep work before they vamoose.

For the concreters, turned out that was simple enough. They kicked off on the dot of 7am and by midday had the foam underslab insulation down, the plastic sheeting on top of that, and the steel mesh the icing on the fairly unattractive cake (see right). Pretty walls now hidden underneath.

Manifold: heating heart and brain

For James, who was anxiously waiting to get going long before midday, it's not quite so simple. He needs to get all the bibs and bobs in place for the underfloor hydronic heating, which is a fair bit of fiddle work. First they map out the circuits in a spiral shape in each room space (with fabulously hot-pink piping), tying it on to the steel mesh underneath as they go. Each circuit has to start and finish at the manifold, which is the brains unit that will control the whole system. Once he does that (and he didn't even manage this much by the end of today), another layer of steel mesh goes on top, separated by these little plastic cap thingies (which Jem has stolen three of to use as a rocketship - hm, must give those back before tomorrow). James then has to untie the piping from the bottom mesh and retie it to the top mesh, before doing pressure testing and whatever other checks are needed to make sure it will all work once it's forever encased in concrete.

Our bedroom: SO big it needs two circuits (ha!).

Hallway, left; bedrooms, right - all snake back to the brain

I turned up all cheery this afternoon thinking it looked like it was all on track, but James isn't quite so optimistic. If he gets it all done, we pour the slab mid next week. If he doesn't, more like Tuesday the week after when he's back on deck. Howsabout a raincheck on those hols, fellas? Easter's just around the corner...


Meanwhile, the brickies finished up on the truly massive carport wall today - without a roof or anything else to give it perspective, the neighbours must be wondering what the hell it's for (one has indeed had to ask). Quite amazing to stand with Charlie's gorgeous plans in one hand and the beginnings of a house in front of you, and see how it's all actually going to be something three-dimensional one day...

Carport wall from side - a little terrace will be tucked in here

Carport wall from the street - handball practice?