More Concrete ...
This week works continued apace. But before we get to that, there was a little niggle, or spanner-ette in the works. It happens, apparently...
Don't ever, ever, let anyone tell you that building in Portugal or the Azores is a piece of cake. (Spain, Italy or France also for that matter) There is much paperwork, bureaucracy and to-ing and fro-ing to settle. Many processes to check.
This became apparent during the week when my project manager received a letter from the local council (camra) stating that they didn't have all the documents required to release the builder's licence. Essentially, they were missing the thermal specification / energy survey that is required for new builds.
So instead of the project manager presenting me with the good news that the builder's licence was present and paid for, I got an email saying there was a little problem...
Ricardo, the architect and engineer was contacted for a meeting, and he met with the project manager at the council offices - where a replacement document was provided and signed, handed into the officials and therefore, hopefully fulfilling all requirements for the already colossal paper trail.
Now, before I get all negative about this, one must remember that the reason for all this 'thoroughness' is to protect the homebuilder and improve the quality of building. So they are forgiven :)
Fortunately, it is unlikely that this issue has caused any delay, since the past week and forthcoming weeks are still being spent doing ground, foundation and preparation works, which do not, as yet, require the full builder's license. But to be sure Azevedo, the builders, will be happier when they have the license and can move forward. As mentioned previously, they have already committed substantially regarding financial investment in materials and labour, so the confirmation of the license is sure to make them happier.
Meanwhile a transfer was made to them for some of the wall works and repair to the access road. So they have some funds for some works undertaken.
Before leaving this subject and moving onto the latest progress, this week again highlighted the importance of a good project manager, trustworthy and 'on the case'. Can anyone imagine doing any of this without boots on the ground, at the site? So, I reiterate, not for the feint hearted or those of a nervous disposition.
Progress this week....
Now we get to the good stuff: A bunch of progress pictures that show a significant development of the site:
The terrace wall has been built and infilled. Here we can see that the entire wall is re-inforced, and of course it needs to be, as it is holding back a fair few tons of earth. We can now get a proper idea of the size of the decking, under-house parking and workshop / storage. I reckon there is about 75 square meters underneath the raised section of the house. Not insignificant.
This similar picture gives a better impression of the height of the under-house area - it is not as low as I feared, so I shouldn't bang my head on the ceiling! Note, here we can see soil (foreground) from the terrace above - this is an issue I will mention in the text below...
Re-inforcement for the beams on the next level up. Everything is looking suitably industrial; good thick beams, as per the specification. But seeing it in a photograph is more impressive than as a drawing.
And here we see from the other side of the house ... that scaffolding looks a bit scary guys.
The main level marked out and partially boarded for foundations. The area behind the boards and up to the trees will be a stepped terraced, walled area for a little herb and vegetable plot with a small sun deck off the bedroom. Hopefully. We'll see how this develops later.
Finally, we can now see pretty much the whole ground floor area, including the main deck of the house. To put this into perspective and context, my current end-terrace in the UK has a ground floor area of about 50 square meters!
I mentioned earlier under the second image my Project Manager noticed a potential issue with soil, water and general muck coming down under the house (into the garage / workshop space) from the terrace above. Although the landscaped sides of the terrace looks good on paper, practically it could be subject to erosion or movement.
He made an executive decision: To put walls at either sides of the house at the lower level to stop this happening. The rationale was, that although totally open looked good on the drawings, practically it would use a lot of mess under the house in the event of heavy rain or soil erosion or movement.
Adding these walls does not affect the planning, as the space is still classed as 'open'. And additionally,now makes the very large space one step closer to being totally enclosed. The opportunities this presents are numerous, as you can imagine.
Structurally, this will make things even more solid and stable, although slightly at the expense of the aesthetics, with half the house being in mid-air! I really don't have a problem with that; much better that the area is partially enclosed and dry, free of mud or soil.
Unfortunately the architect was not present to offer input. A shame, but I think the project manager's decision was the right one. This will no doubt lead to a small increase in cost for labour and materials, but in the grand scheme of things it should be negligible.
Going back to Chief Architect, I added the two side walls to the under-house area, as well as the terrace retaining wall. Nice.
Well, that rounds out this weeks progress. Presumably next week will see foundation works continue on the main upper area of the house. The weather forecast is mixed with Monday to Wednesday forecast for rain, but the end of the week looks like brilliant sunshine... so a mixed bag. I reckon progress should be good.
Next Up: Level 2
