So I think it has been almost a year since I last posted. Many reasons why but the main reason has been a lack of power at a time when I can post. That means no sun, no blog. So not blogging at night when I have a minute to write.
I won't bore you with all the gory details - and they are gory- but show you a bit of the journey instead. A real rollercoaster. Character forming is what I think people have said. People who want to die fast!
The first photo shows the barn site cleared of brush and the foundations dug and pads in. All by hand. We had a helper for a few days but found we could do more in a shorter time and just finished it ourselves. I had to see a chiropractor after they were dug as when I looked up , I would fall over. Funky feeling!
After that we had a ready mix concrete truck bring in 6.5 cubic meters of concrete to throw the pad foundations. Did you you know that is around 15 tons? And it was the 2 of us hauling bum to tamp out the air bubbles and level it off in an hour and 15 minutes. Shattered .
Sorry no pics. Too busy aching.
Sorry no pics. Too busy aching.
Then you can see Jan building the concrete block squares to act as formwork for the holding down bolts. These hollow blocks were filled.
We had the reinforcing steel bent to the engineer's specs and manufactured the cages on site. It was fiddly and we ended up forming a production line. I clamped and jan welded them. It was just quicker and stronger to set them in the foundations. We made small concrete blocks to rest the cages on and mixed and poured each fill by hand setting the bolts as we went. It's a very important step as the bolts must be precisely in place or setting the steel will be a mission.
At this point we hit a financial hiccup. It lasted a long time. Besides, so much happened concurrently so while it seems it all happened quickly, it was over a year from plan submission to this point. But more on the building's progress and other stuff when I have charged up this phone.
