We spend quite a lot of time discussing issues with our Builder, everything from finished floor levels to details of roof construction, taking in brickwork and timber details along the way. Sometimes he’s asking us to decide between alternatives - things that we’re going to have to live with. Other times he’s just explaining to us what’s going on. Usually there’s a cost implication and frequently the discussion ends up with a decision to go and order this or that.
When you see the depth of the original hardpack flint & lime foundation just a couple of inches under the plinth walls you wonder how the barn managed to stand up for so long. Says something about the way they used to build - or maybe something about the stability of the subsoil on which it's built.
Another section of plinth taken down, the frame supported on needles and acrows, and a bit of plinth retained.
Laying the foundations for the new plinth walls involves digging a trench a metre deep and chucking a load of concrete into it to act as the base of the wall.
If the sidewall of the trench is obviously unstable, and could cave in, it’s supported with shuttering – sheets of ply along the sides of the trench and small acrows across the trench. This is time consuming and avoided if at all possible. This means that sometimes, till the concrete is poured and has gone off, there’s a risk of a cave in. And like all risks, they can bite you when you least expect it. We’ve had a couple of minor cave ins, as evidenced by the ragged ege to the trench. The most embarrassing one (for me that is) happened when I was helping to barrow cement to one of the trenches. I got too close to the edge and the side gave way causing the barrow, and me, to slip into the trench squelching into the cement that had already been poured. One of the guys helpfully hauled me and the barrow out, while another guy cleaned up the mess I’d made. Fortunately apart from seriously wounded pride and a couple of scrapes and bruises no harm was done. Just cost me a few extra bob in cement to fill the slightly larger section of trench. They can be a bit scary when the cave in gets close to the foot of the scaffold - wouldn't want a section of scaffold to collapse.
If the sidewall of the trench is obviously unstable, and could cave in, it’s supported with shuttering – sheets of ply along the sides of the trench and small acrows across the trench. This is time consuming and avoided if at all possible. This means that sometimes, till the concrete is poured and has gone off, there’s a risk of a cave in. And like all risks, they can bite you when you least expect it. We’ve had a couple of minor cave ins, as evidenced by the ragged ege to the trench. The most embarrassing one (for me that is) happened when I was helping to barrow cement to one of the trenches. I got too close to the edge and the side gave way causing the barrow, and me, to slip into the trench squelching into the cement that had already been poured. One of the guys helpfully hauled me and the barrow out, while another guy cleaned up the mess I’d made. Fortunately apart from seriously wounded pride and a couple of scrapes and bruises no harm was done. Just cost me a few extra bob in cement to fill the slightly larger section of trench. They can be a bit scary when the cave in gets close to the foot of the scaffold - wouldn't want a section of scaffold to collapse.
We seem to have acquired a pet pheasant. He struts around like he owns the place. You just wait till the Glorious 12th. Or does that apply in England, and to pheasants, and is that July or August? Now that I'm a country bumpkin I should know that sort of thing. Wonder if Google knows.
Testing of the water borehole took place this week. Samples were taken to be sent off to a lab for analysis to check we're not going to poison ourselves if we drink it. Also the flow rate had to be checked over a 24 hour period to confirm that there's enough water down there for the Ground Source Heat Pump and that the extraction won't impact on other wells in the area.
You start by stringing out 52 m of electric cable attached to the submersible pump
Then pay out 52 m of water pipe
Attach water the pipe to the cable all along it's length
Attach the pump to the water pipe and drop it down the well. Actually you only allow 50 m of pipe and cable to be pulled down by the weight of the pump - that way the pump remains dangling 2m off the bottom of the borehole.
For the purposes of the test, the top of the pipe was attached to a small section of pipe with a flow meter discharging into the stream. The consultant started by dipping the borehole with a clever little device hanging on the end of a tape measure which beeps as soon as it touches water. That tells him how far the water is below the top of the borehole - in our case 2.9 metres. He also dipped a nearby well - in their case 5.75 metres. He then ran the pump for 24 hours at various rates of flow and every few minutes dipped the borehole and the nearby well. He found that the measured drop in water level in both wells, and the recovery times when the flow was reduced, were well within Environment Agency limits. So all's well. Which is just as well. I was well impressed. I think the consultant was well pleased too. Well, I'd better get on.
And finally, not a lot of change externally this week ...
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