XHY SITE VISIT 22 FEB 2008

Things were quiet this Friday afternoon.

Most of the crew was gone, the sun was getting low, and the major task of building the wall-forms and placing them around the site is almost finished. They look like hunks of large train track ready to be placed around a Christmas tree.

Here are the main actors in the next task.

The re-bar sticking up from the footer is capped with a protective alum. bar (do not want anyone falling and getting stabbed by all those spikes!) Behind them large concrete "enviro-blocks" have been set. And behind them is a pile of panels. It is hard to see, but steel poles have been attached to the panels. When a panel is lifted into a vertical position, on the footer, near the re-bar, those poles will be set 45 degrees to the ground, on to the top of the "enviro-blocks". Those with good eyes may see a glint of shiny steel on top of the blocks. Those are bolts which will be set into the blocks to hold the poles. The poles can be tweaked to plumb and align the panels just to where they need to be.

Then the laborious task of erecting the re-bar for the walls begins. Robert (the site super) hopes all will be ready to start the 4-day concrete "shoot" on 17 March. Place that on your calendar. It should be amazing to see.

HOMEFRONT

It has been in planning for a while, but after Zhufeng's 3-day week-end, our bathroom remodel is underway.

This is what it looked like before

And this is what it looks like now.

The first of Ikea base cabinets was assembled in order to tackle the hardest part of the project...choosing finishes. 

In this case tile pavers for the floor.

You can tell from the samples we are going from pillar to post: pure black to greenish orange. 

Any favorites?

XHY SITE VISIT 14 FEB 08

As you can see the wood forms are stripped, and the concrete is happily drying in the sun. If you look close you can see the rebar sticking up have cute little red caps.

The formwork for the walls is being made on the ground. Indeed, the first forms are being used as large work-tables for the next ones. The plywood is cut to size, and the steel brace beams are being laid out and attached to the plywood. It will take quite a number of panels to form the walls!