Day 39 - The House Build on Solid Foundations

BarnGirl arrives on site to be greeted by the very large derriere of a lorry; Mr Easycrete arrived with one of two heavy loads of concrete, ready to be dispatched into the beautifully prepared trenches.

Mr Easycrete arrives

Easy does it. Maneuvering lorry derriere in order to funnel the flow of concrete

 

The Barn Boys at the ready to guide the concrete into the trenches of the North, East and West elevations. It poured down the shoot very quickly with Matt and Tim hastily grabbing their rakes to minimise air pockets and to level it to required height on each step.

Mr Easycrete fires up the mixer

Chocks away. First fill

Boss Jon with one eye on levels

  

Matt and Tim rake the concrete to ensure it meets Boss Jon's oversize ruler reading

Smiley Tim directing the funnel of concrete

 

    

Trench fill steps

A step in the right direction

 

The bricklayer's scheduled to arrive tomorrow to lay the solid concrete blocks and bricks on top of the concrete, so cure away, please.  In the meantime, the concrete blocks get a pampering, with a blow dry under shelter!  Yes, really!

bouffant blocks

Bring on the walls!
Love
BarnGirl
xx

Day 37 - Next Steps. Barn Boys prepare steps for the stepped, trench-fill foundations

.....and on and on they dig. 

Shepherd Howard once again entrenched. This time at my front door

At last, their oversize ruler pings a joyous note indicating that the Barn Boys have dug deep enough, to start 'stepping' the trenches* to prepare for Mr Easycrete's delivery of concrete and make a start on the foundations. That's after they've pumped out the rain water AGAIN!  

As BarnGirl's Barn is on a sloping site, it's necessitated step foundations - the concrete is stepped by securing form work into the trench.

Starting the step 'form work' for trench-fill foundations

One step at a time

 

Once the form work or steps have been positioned at the correct level, concrete (NOT cement) will be poured in, to a specific level. When this has 'cured' aka hardened, gone off, set, a layer of concrete blocks and bricks will be added and BarnGirl will start to see her barn going up. Hurrah!  I asked Boss Jon when the concrete would be set, oops, I mean cured. 'In about 24 years!' In reality, it would probably be fine for Inspector Walt and me to walk on the following day, along with the resident deer, badgers, rabbits, foxes and other local wildlife.

See If you're interested 2 and 3 below, for further info on concrete and curing. 

Who's the hooded man with the saw? 'tis Smiley Tim cutting board to create steps for trench fill foundations

Boss Jon with oversize ruler measuring foundation steps

  'Half a day in a trench. To think I could be in a warm, dry office!'

  

 

Mud n clay, mud n clay. Rain rain go away

Looking forward to Mr Easycrete's arrival with his lorry load of concrete.
Love
BarnGirl
xx

If you're interested....

1. *Trench-Fill Foundations
Traditionally the foundations for the walls of houses and similar buildings have consisted of strip foundations (generally unreinforced) with block or brick masonry up to damp proof course level. In ‘trench-fill’ narrow trenches are dug to the required foundation depth and completely filled with concrete.
This approach minimises the amount of excavation as access to lay blocks or bricks deep in the trench is no longer required. In addition, the trench is only open for a short time, leading to safer site working.
 


2. What is the difference between cement and concrete?
Although the terms cement and concrete often are used interchangeably, cement is actually an ingredient of concrete. Concrete is basically a mixture of aggregates and paste. The aggregates are sand and gravel or crushed stone; the paste is water and portland cement. Concrete gets stronger as it gets older. Portland cement is not a brand name, but the generic term for the type of cement used in virtually all concrete, just as stainless is a type of steel and sterling a type of silver. Cement comprises from 10 to 15 percent of the concrete mix, by volume. Through a process called hydration, the cement and water harden and bind the aggregates into a rocklike mass. This hardening process continues for years meaning that concrete gets stronger as it gets older.


3. What does it mean to "cure" concrete?
Curing is one of the most important steps in concrete construction, because proper curing greatly increases concrete strength and durability. Concrete hardens as a result of hydration: the chemical reaction between cement and water. However, hydration occurs only if water is available and if the concrete's temperature stays within a suitable range. During the curing period-from five to seven days after placement for conventional concrete-the concrete surface needs to be kept moist to permit the hydration process. new concrete can be wet with soaking hoses, sprinklers or covered with wet burlap, or can be coated with commercially available curing compounds, which seal in moisture. 

4. Can it be too hot or too cold to place new concrete?
Temperature extremes make it difficult to properly cure concrete. On hot days, too much water is lost by evaporation from newly placed concrete. If the temperature drops too close to freezing, hydration slows to nearly a standstill. Under these conditions, concrete ceases to gain strength and other desirable properties. In general, the temperature of new concrete should not be allowed to fall below 50 Fahrenheit (10 Celsius) during the curing period. 

5. Why do concrete surfaces flake and spall?
Concrete surfaces can flake or spall for one or more of the following reasons:

• In areas of the country that are subjected to freezing and thawing the concrete should be air-entrained to resist flaking and scaling of the surface. If air-entrained concrete is not used, there will be subsequent damage to the surface.

• The water/cement ratio should be as low as possible to improve durability of the surface. Too much water in the mix will produce a weaker, less durable concrete that will contribute to early flaking and spalling of the surface.

• The finishing operations should not begin until the water sheen on the surface is gone and excess bleed water on the surface has had a chance to evaporate. If this excess water is worked into the concrete because the finishing operations are begun too soon, the concrete on the surface will have too high a water content and will be weaker and less durable.

6. Will concrete harden under water?
Portland cement is a hydraulic cement which means that it sets and hardens due to a chemical reaction with water. Consequently, it will harden under water.

For further information on concrete basics, try this helpful site:
http://www.cement.org/basics/concretebasics_faqs.asp

Day 30 and 31 - Barn Boys in the Trenches

Matt and Tim start the Big Dig

The poor Barn Boys have spent days in the trenches. Each time I go up to visit, I see less and less of them as they disappear deeper and deeper into the ground.  It's slow, painstaking work digging, by hand, through sandstone. Machines simply don't cut it, literally; they just ping and bounce around, barely scratching the surface.  

Hopefully, a Viccy Sandwich cake, rock cakes and a fresh supply of 'kitchen sink' cookies have helped to sugar the sandstone pill.

Sandstone cross section

'Phew. Some clay, at last'

Every now and again, they hit a welcome patch of clay, which made the going 'good to soft'.

Preparation for foundations on West Elevation

Trenches on North elevation.  Recording Studio

Inspector Walt checking Shepherd Howard's trenches.
Please note....ANOTHER BarnBoy toy arrives on site

Trenches in North Elevation. Master bed

Boss Jon dig dig digging

'Get me outa' here!'

Hat-less Matt and Smiley Tim slowly disappear

'Digging trenches by hand is getting a little dull'

 

Shepherd Howard strikes gold and finally reaches the kitchen (SE) wall foundations

The Barn Boys are almost ready to start 'stepping' the trenches, before the arrival of Mr EasyCrete and his concrete lorry.  More of that to follow. Thought I'd lost all those pictures, but thanks to photostream, I have recovered them.

Well done the Barn Boys for persevering with the hand-digging. The area now looks like the site of an archeological dig or an ancient burial ground.

I'm getting behind on my posts, due to an unforeseen, unconnected BarnGirl situation this week, hence this is a bit 'bloglite'. Will crack on.

Love
BarnGirl
xx

Day 29 - The wall continued to fall

It was heavy going removing some parts of the wall, other parts came away easily. Fortunately, the earth behind stayed put - layers of compressed muck n straw on top of sandstone, on top of clay.  Meanwhile, in the upper deck, Boss Jon, Digger Ryan and Shepherd Howard were digging the foundations.  A slow, back breaking, sweaty job it was too, unless of course you're Digger Ryan and get to play in the Digger!
More of life in these trenches to come.


Now you see me......

am

 Now you don't

pm

Do you think the Tate might like these?

Love
BarnGirl
xx

Day 24 & 25 - Barn Survives Biggest Storm Since 1987!

Gotta' love a Daily Mail-ish headline!

Yes, we survived the storm, only losing a few sickly trees and yet another limb off the battle weary conker tree.
 
I was woken at 3am with the almighty gusts rattling windows and testing the trees, still heavy with fruit and yellowing leaves. 

At 7am, I received a text from Boss Jon, 'The barn survived!' The Barn Boys had done a sterling pre storm strap-up job - strapping the straps of the straps on to the straps of the strapped barn. Not to mention the extra scaffolding and steel beams; there's now far more metal than wood. I wasn't sure if Inspector Walt and I were visiting a ride at Thorpe Park, or a gig on the Pyramid stage at the Glastonbury Festival!

Happily, the barn was standing to attention when the Barn Boys arrived for work.

Kitchen

Imaginary door to lower level

Imaginary door. View from Upper level

Steel beams in utility and bedroom 2

Steel beams and scaff in my dressing room

Metal meets wood - East meets West

Straps and steel beams

More straps and steel beams

Not for Birmingham hips

Inspector Walt - 'It's all belt and braces'

Strap hook

Straps

and more

even more....

Inspector Walt - 'Come on, Barn Girl, I need a proper walk and to inspect the view'

Is that Mr Darcy I see over yonder?

The Tree....that never had to fight, for sun and air and light

Westside Story

Bye for now.
Love 
BarnGirl
xx