Concrete Slab

The concrete slab has been poured and she's a beauty. The whole day was cloudy and overcast which meant the slab avoided direct sun while it was curing.

The surface is covered in a white powder. The builder says this is salt (?) coming out of the concrete, and after a pressure clean will come out much darker.

You can see the bathrooms, ensuite and laundry have been lowered 20mm into the slab, so when they are tiled they sit flush with the rest of the ground floor.

In this detail of the slab you can see the edge insulation, the plastic sheet, the burnished finish, and a groove to encourage cracking. The slab will crack, it's just a matter of where, so you try and encourage it along lines where it doesn't matter. This line is underneath the ensuite/bedroom wall.

Slab Heating

Footings and sewerage pipes have been installed. Now the various preparations for the concrete slab pour are underway.

This is the hydronic in-slab heating. The 30kW gas boiler is outside with the hydronic manifold inside the laundry cupboard. This will double up as a drying cupboard.

You can see the slab reinforcement mesh. The engineer has specified slightly thicker mesh than you normally use for residential slabs, because of the sloping block and the height above ground.

The outer course of bricks is a veneer. The inner course transfers the weight from the slab down to the footings. Underneath the black plastic is foam insulation.

The builder now needs to wait for a good day to pour the slab. Too hot, too cold, too dry, too wet, or too windy, will all mean an inferior slab. This is going to be a burnished concrete finish, so it needs to be just right.

Foundations Laid

The builder wastes no time putting in the footings for the concrete slab.

Until now I've only seen the house in diagrams and 3D renders. The footings give me a much better idea of the size and layout. 

The footprint is larger than I expected. The builder says that the house will seem even larger once the walls, roof and plaster is finished. I was aiming for modest. I think I've missed that target.

Demolition Time

The past few months have been a frustrating bureaucratic exercise. Without going into too much detail, here are some warnings for anybody considering a knockdown-rebuild.

• Banks don't like architect designed homes; I think it's fear of the unknown.
• The local council's only purpose is to make your project difficult.

But after several months I finally have approved plans, certification ticked off, a builder onboard, construction diagrams, and the total price is still within budget.

So without further ado, here is the demolition of the old house.

This is a 20 tonne excavator. 

The demolition seemed to take about 15 minutes. But the excavator needed several hours to load all the rubble into a convoy of trucks.

It was an odd mixture of emotions watching the house come down. A little sadness to see my former home destroyed, but mostly uncertainty as to whether I'd made the right decision.

Too late to back out now!