House frame is complete

One week has passed and allot have happened at house build. The frame is up and nearly completed except for a few beams in the car-port. Also the roof rafters are on place. So the house will have a hat soon. It feels good to have it weather proof soon before the autumn storms start. It is really fun to walk in the house and you get a good feeling of the spaces and the different rooms. You also see the views from the windows and you can imagine where we will dine and have a lounge area etc.

We have not only been amazed by the speed of the build we have been working at the garden during the weekend and have had VERY nice help from our parents. With out them would there not be any grass sown this weekend. So the hole front side of the house is grass sow I would say that it is about 600-700 square meters off grass. Now is only to wait and see if will grow. After some consideration did we chose Lord Nelson Royal as grass brand. It should suit our garden good because it has a high amount of Festuca rubra variants that is tough grass type.

Next in the build step will be the roofing and then get the windows and doors in so the house is weather proof. It is important to do this as soon a possible because the moister amount in the concrete slab is usually the time stopper in the end. I will try to make weekly reports so you all how are interested can follow the build steps.

It is allways nice to see people work!

House frame build started

Hello All!

Now after the vacations have the build picked up again after 4 weeks of waiting. Before vacation was the concrete slab done and it have cured during the vacation. If you have been following the blog have you seen that we have not been idle we are still making progress on the garden but it is slow. But now when the builders are back and a big pile of wood is deliverd to the build site will it happen things.

The plane is to raise the frame and add cladding with asfaboard to make it weather prof. The house is not a pre-build frame except the roof trusses which are pre-fabricated according to drawings. So there is one big pile of wood that will become the frame and the structure for the second floor. This will take roughly 2-3 weeks to finish. This will be the first time when we see the size  and height of the house. So it is exciting time ahead!

During the vacation have we also added a new member to the family so my wife well be the new build leader because she will be home with the little boy and can oversee the build. It will be a bit hard to let the control go but I have full confidence in here ability to make this good.

My plan is to keep you informed as the build progress and what problems we bump in to during the way, so keep tuned because now will the build pace speed up significantly.

The concrete is poured.

As usual am I sorry for the delay on blog post´s but there have been one small change in the family that have been taking much of my time lately. Roughly two weeks ago did my first child a well shaped son arrive in two the world. You think that one more man  would be good for the work force. But it feels like we are one man less working at the site :)

But build site have not been idle because of my family business. The concrete slab is poured and have been hardening for 3 weeks now. It looks promising but the house feels small. But I think it will change when the walls are there.

Currently are the builders on summer vacation and  will start working in the beginning of august again. The plan is to get the walls and roof on in a few weeks then will the windows arrive. During the summer vacation are we starting the the garden. The plan is to sow the grass lawn in end of august so we can get a head start on the weeds. But before we can do that do we need to break up the hard crust from the excavator. This is hard work because of all the rooks in the ground. But I do not need any gym card after this and it is also nice when you get a helping hand.

There will be more updates when they will start build again, so until then have a nice summer and let the sun always shine on your side. Last picture of the they, what do you do when there is no shade for your caravan. Build your own camping site!

House foundation done.

There have been so much happening with the house that I have had no time writing on the blog. But here is a update on what is happening at the building site. 

The status yesterday evening looked like this (but cleaner when we left because Helenas parents helped us clean):

Groundwork is done and all the rough planing of the garden is done. The excavator has left the site and should be done. The edge elements are in place and the Styrofoam insulation is also in place. The reinforcement is going forward and should be done in the end of the week. All the plumbing that will be in the concrete slab is in place. So we are getting closer to order the concrete truck and pour the the concrete slab.

To get this far have we been forced to work on the site and help the builders. When we took the decision that we need a piled foundation for the house was there allot more than just put the  piles in the ground. The concrete slab needs to be much more reinforced and and have more reinforcement bars. Here is where the problem came. The company that usually makes the reinforcement cages for HM-house had to much to do. So it was up to the building team to make all the reinforcements and bend the reinforcement irons. I heard that this will cost us more money because it takes allot of time. So I and Helena and my dad set to work to bend 411 U-shaped frames and 225 V-shaped frames for hand. But we had the time and I am glad that I can help the builders and speed up the process. I am also glad that I do not have a gym-card because that would be a wast now. I get more then enough exercise from this work.

Step 1: Cut the reinforcement bar in 6 pieces.

Bend it to the right shape. Total of 4 bends/frame

10hours and 411 frames later 

I have also helped the excavator build the stone wall around the entrance and the car-parking. I am very pleased with the result. It shapes the entrance and we get a good surface for guests to park there cars. Here are some pictures.

The sewage system is also finished and put down in the ground. No I need to fill it with pup and see if it works properly. It not much that is visible after the builders have done there work. Then we will add some plants to hide the big white box.

Next thing that will happen is the big pour of concrete and that will take place in the beginning of next week and after that will they start to rise the outer walls and the roof. So if we are lucky will the outer frame be done before the summer vacation. But I do not believe that before I see it.

The House got legs

Hello all.

It has been a bit silent from my side for a few weeks, it has it´s reason. As you know have the built start going forward and the digging is on going. When the reached the depth for the house where there some problems. Every one you speak to about the soil condition and it it will be hard to get a solid ground said that it is mostly sand and it is dry. That is true for the first meter of soil is it nice coarse sand. But bellow that is is very fin grid sand that. So when they dug out roughly 1-1,5meters the saw this very fin sand. The sand it self is good material but when you mix it with water it becomes a liquid which is not good to place a house on.

So our option was to give the house legs that rest on the rock or the correct therm piles. This is a big change on the slab for the house it has to be reinforced and the piles need to be calculated for the correct position. I have to thank HM-hus and Svenning Ritkontor for there fast work with the drawings and planing. Also we need to get a guy  how can put the piles in the ground on short notice. Luckily did HM-hus have a good contact that help us out yesterday evening, thanks Pålbilen!

The biggest problem with piling is that you pay for the meter piles they put in to the ground. Our house is fairly complex and needed 30 piles which is allot. So it is 30piles x depth to rock => meter of piles. It is very hard to know how deep it is to the rock. I can be honest and say that this cause me some bad nights with little sleep. So yesterday was the big day when we would found out how deep it was to the rock. I think we can call our self lucky under the circumstances because it was an average of 7 meters.  I sleep well this night my worst fears was that it would be 20meters or more and that is allot of piles and the cost would fast grow. So now can the build continue again.

Here are some pictures of the piling work.

The diggers have also started with the sewer system. Because the house is on the country side is there no municipal sewers so we have our own small wast treatment system. It is to big cylinders that have some chemical flocking and a after chamber for reducing the remaining nitrogen. The water coming out of the plant will probably be cleaner then the water in the stream that we will release it in.

The big DIG has started

The ground contractors have started there work on the building site.  According to locals have they been there roughly 5 hours and already is the old house foundation removed and the car entrance is started. I am glad to see that the base material in the soil is nearly 100% sand + allot of big round rocks. it is only 15-20cm of dirt on top of the sand. This is good because they do not need to dig deeper and fill back with gravel for the new house foundation.

If you have looked at the future garden plans do you see that we have planed for a stone wall on one of the lots edges. Similar to this one:

We are planing to use the stones from the ground that is revealed when they dig out for the new foundation. So I stared moving stone after stone. I can tell that there is no need for any gym-card after this weekend. For a nice stone wall do you want big round stones so it will be heavy. But I think it will blend in nice with the current country side.

Off coarse did we take some pictures of the new hole. 

Before:

After 5 hours of digging with a 14ton´s excavator:

We will go to the building sight alot now and carry stones for the stonewall.

House garden plans.

I think it is time that I make a update on what is happening with our house build. Things have started to move on now and the tempo is increasing fast. The ground contractors will start digging on Wednesday and they have roughly 10days to complete the gravel-bed for the concrete slab before the builders come in and start there work. So if we are lucky will the concrete slab be ready before the summer vacation.

While we have the diggers at site we will use them to make a rough planing for the garden. Here was our problem we had an idea of the garden but nothing on paper or how the different height levels should work together. But we are lucky to have a Landscape architect as friend how helped us with the garden plans how to make walking areas. We are immensely happy with his help because it will make the build cheaper and help the diggers how they should elevate the land.

The basic concept for the garden is that it should be easy to maintain and it should blend in to the surrounding country side. The house is located close to the meadows that graced by domestic animals. So the choices of plants should be exist in the nature or in other country side gardens. We are planing to have one part of the garden which is cultivated and have a greenhouse and the greenhouse should be close to the kitchen so you can go out and get what you need for your fresh salad. So here are the plans for the garden and a ideas for plants and trees.