journal

day to day notes…

 

friday, february 27, 2009

Well, its Friday today, Phil and I went to the block on Tuesday. There was 40mm in the rain gauge and everything was looking pretty green, the trees were happy. We'll need to slash again in a couple of weeks.

My head is also deep in Wordpress at the moment, looking for Solutions.

Phil and I used the laser level to work out relative heights of the footings at every join and in between to get a good idea of the contour. I ended up buying a pretty expensive self-levelling one, so we had the option of a plumb laser as well as an x and y axis to give us a square off. It was so quick and easy with the automatic level. Phil has since created a 3D map of the footings and worked out how many concrete blocks we need using the Google 'CAD' software. It looks like we need 1250 standard blocks (390 x 190 x 190) and 1250 half blocks (390 x 90 x 190).

In my intial enquiries I've found this a difficult area to source products, let alone a competitor. So far, Hays Haulage are quoting $3.50 per standard 390 x190 x 190 block and $2.18 per half. This is way over my budgeted amount which is based on Sydney Metro prices from the buybuildingsupplies.com website. They say they won't deliver this far south, but the difference is close to $2000 for the amount we need so I may get back to them with an offer. I still need to exhaust all potential suppliers in the region.

Its also time to approach plumbers to discuss the project, a quote and to get the lay of the pipes before we start locking in the blockwork.

Current thinking is to put concrete in the bedrooms as well as the bathroom, which would leave earth in the main living and dining and hallway. This is to allow carpet in the bedrooms. We will need to leave off the last half-brick (on the inside of the exterior walls) for the concrete pour so it can pour down the side. Probably should be insulated between the slab and the outside block.

It looks to me as if the initial estimates for block numbers are rather bloated. I count 789 of each type of block + 10% and swapping some for bond beam blocks. That should knock off a couple of grand.