Demolition & Construction of a Home in Petaling Jaya Part 2/9 (DEMOLITION & FOUNDATION)

Now that we have done our works for Pre Demolition, we now move into a topic. This is Part 2/9 for Demolition & Construction of a Home in Petaling Jaya.

What happens is

a) Demolition & Clearing
b) Foundation



a) DEMOLITION & CLEARING

September 6th

Its 5 : 30 PM and we just got back from a tender application in Port Dickson, Wifey and I decide to check on the property. We first realised our rubbish bin was outside. We see the front hoarding fence has already been put up, and with a surprise as well behind these corrugated sheets,......

The front has its hoarding fence put up on the gate. I like this, cause it just means you can slide the fence rather than having a shitty fixed swing fence. Looks like this entrance is going to be something to get used to for the next 8 months for the eyes. We were wondering why our bin was placed outside when we first arrived.

There were some broken tiles at the entrance, and the high incline on the driveways tarred entrance made me say to myself,...."No Way !!!!!" in my Mind 

I peeped through a small hole, and then I see it. Wifey doesnt know but I then tell Wifey to stand on the gate pillar and have a look inside and check it out.....

They smashed half of it already today ! 

3 years to catch this moment, and I missed it completely !!! This is a real shocking-surprise-sweet day all in all. 

Half Broken, or Half Unfinished ? =)

Tomorrow, all will be raised to the ground. And then its clearing the rubble off

I wanted to be there to see the backhoe strike the knock in the wall. Completely missed this one chance opportunity.

Towards the left of the tractor, against the wall are the wires that used to bring electricity to the whole house. They were removed from the Circuit Board that used to sit against the wall.

The rubble is half the house. Rebars, bricks, cement etc. Finally, the day has come. Though we were not there, it was a nice surprise. 

I would say we have about 2 to 3 more weeks till we are ready to start our foundation. But everyday now will be fun to chart progress. Real work has finally been tasted on this property after 3 years since starting this journey.

September 7th

My Dad and I take a look in the morning, its the first time he is on sight, and he says the work is very clean and nice. I decide to take a slow day although I have work. Here are some images

Wires pulled out of the Circuit Board

Beams that are still joined with neighbours side are broken correctly. There is a method to this madness, when breaking beams away, they need to be arched

The tractor is almost done with work. Only 2 remaining pillars unreachable due to the rubble

Mr. Kochai Kind and his little water pipe spraying on the rubble to minimize dust. The air was very good.

I head back home for a short rest, and before heading to the office in the afternoon, thought to myself, just take a look whats happening at 2pm. I was in for a surprise. The dump truck showed up. Not a 6 wheeler tong roro that gets dumped at construction houses. This was a 10 wheeler that gets used on all large projects. Ended up staying for an hour to see how things get cleared up. Heavy big machinery. The Adult Stuff

Pay sum monies 2 de majlis 4 tong roro. Heres the tong roro

Rubble filled, took about 1/6th of the house with it.. Malaysian trucks have wheels that look like someone shat all over them. 

Mr. Gopal a.k.a Mr. Kochai  says tomorrow and Monday we cant do anything because its a Sunday and Monday is the Kings birthday. Only 1 dump truck today. But by Tuesday all will be cleared. 

This shot was just to show that what Im really banking a view of those well matured trees standing about 40ft tall (Yellow Flame Trees). This is what Im banking on as a view when we do have our first floor and our Water Tank area built. Something lowyatt kids will never be able to understand, view or appreciate.

We are almost done with Demolition, and perhaps another day or 2 worth of works, will see us at our Foundation which is Part B in this chapter of Demolition & Construction of a Home in Petaling Jaya.

Can you believe it, that Hipster construction company with a guy who says "I have 20 years experience"  that quoted us were asking for RM 60k for all of this, screw that. Im so glad for the people we have and how they are doing things.

Just 2 guys here. Big machinery, and no time wasted. 

8th & 9th September

No work, but lots of Beer, and watched IT part 2. Damn Pennywise

10th September

I reach the site a little late at 10 : 15 AM. I head to the site and as it turns out, Mr. Gopal says that already 2 dump trucks have cleared more rubble. I wonder how will it look like by evening around 4 pm is. 

Just 2 damn pillars left. By this evening it will all be down and cleared 

Some of the grass too got removed. I dont take killing plants well, but this was not savable by a long shot. Plus we cant do anything with the previous Bucida Tree's roots and other plants roots planted by the previous tenants 

Im not supposed to be working this Tuesday, as its a replacement holiday for our company but I head to work to do some stuff and then head back. Not much has been progressed with.

One pillar left

Demolition is done. From here, we will break up the floors, and the remaining pillar will go too as well. Demolition is officially over.  Now we can move on to the next stage for the Foundation for the Raft Structure for the Home.

Next up, Foundation

FOUNDATION

Now comes the Foundation. What will be covered here will be 

- Breaking, Digging, Leveling Works

- Structure, Plumbing & Mesh Laying

- Pouring & Setting of Concrete

This will be a rather long one, and it should take up to 3 weeks as breaking the current Floor, clearing, and Leveling will take a while. Theres also compaction works that will be needed to be done while the structure is being made, followed by ground beams, laying mesh, plumbing and finally pouring the concrete and letting it set aside for 10 days.

Unlike people online who say a 'Haus' or 'Houz' can be made in 6 months, this is going to take a while to do right. We want everything for the foundation or Raft Structure to be at its strongest, right up to watering the structure to give it strength and not allowing for cracks if possible. It will be a 2ft deep slab, which will take 126 cubic meters of concrete in my case. 

Lets begin

11th September

Mr. Kochai and his trusty little helper with the Backhoe have begun to break the floor at the rear. Heres just 1 picture 

1/4 of the whole site had seen Floors broken

12th September

I come back in the morning and see that part of the garden has been removed, finally. The septic tanks have also been broken from the day before

All down, nothing standing now

This is your Bucida / Bujida tree that loves getting planted in places like Puchong, Kepong, Cheras, Balakong etc. 

This tree should never be planted in your compound. This Trees roots are not Taproots, they grow horizontally and are a bitch to remove. The only way is to use a tractor to remove it. I hate cutting down tress. I had to do this last year. Here, the roots are still damn tough and it still has fresh roots after chopping the tree down. This tree was grown without consideration but with a "Ah, cantik lah, tanam" consideration, right next to the Septic tank. In time, it would have uprooted the tank.

Heres an image of what the floor beams looked like on the old structure. All will be removed soon.

13th September

Its Friday the 13th folks, and what do we get in the morning ?

Look kids, its TONG RORO ! WOOHOOOO ! Lowyatters favorite ! Tong Roro

Another dump truck at 8 : 55 AM arrives. Was waiting since 8 : 30 AM to see if Mr. Kochai was going to do any work and realised he didnt do any work till this truck showed up. I believe this will be truck number 6 in total so far. Probably another 2 more trucks to before its all cleared off.

 I love Big Trucks guys. Always have. Ever since Terminator 2.

This was a really nice sight. Removing the old rubble, a Big Truck, and in the background, a Bottle Brush Tree that faces all the way South to Australia. Part of the reason why I loved this piece of land when my Wife and I bought this in 2016. 3 years later, here is where we are.

May 2016, confirming the Property. Thats the old property agent. Nice man guys. If it wasnt for my Mum, who found the advertisement in the newspapers that were set for throwing off, we wouldnt be here today. Probably in some shitty area.

Precision parking

14th September

Today was good progress. We got almost everything done. The day was spent digging out the foundations of the property such as footings etc.

Huge Footings and Ground Beams

Ground Beams being dug up. We are almost done. Even the Tractor Operator says theres a lot of beams and footings

It was an impressive day. By 2 pm I had to head to work. A lot of the ground beams and footings of the old structure were removed. The contractor said it was good enough for a 2 storey house. Which reminded me of what someone once said. A long time ago, there was no such thing as China Standard Grade A, B, C etc. There was just one standard of building things and making things - GOOD. And that was it. Today ?

Today, we are forced to learn with NO trust of the people around us. We have to learn every thing from what cables are used, Standards of Rebars, thicknesses, water pipe standards and a whole load of stuff. How the world has changed and cheated many of us, has forced people like me to learn up and know everything the best as I can. 

September 15th & 16th

Sunday and Malaysia Day (Monday). No work is done. Making 3 days lost from a normal working day on a Monday this September.

September 17

Yes, finally we are out of the Monday Holidays ! Next holiday for Diwali in October. No other holidays in between. Here is what Wifey and I saw this morning.

More digging, but almost done

We view the house and theres still more digging being done but now it looks like things are reaching the front of the property. Probably another days work for all the old floor beams and footings to be removed. 

MBPJ and its love for complying with signages. This is done the right way though,...or could be wrong, even MBPJ themselves dont know

As I was on the way out, I noticed all our signages finally up. If we ever have a bar, we will take these signages and give a name for our bar called 

"Signs !" 

Have all our signages on a wall or something.

Cantik kan ? MBPJs love for signages. 5 in total.

September 18

September 18th, no workers are on site, however my contractor messages me, and it looks like Mr. Kochai's work is done. The rest of the days, I dont visit the site.

September 19 - October 5th

Weather for the Day : Light Rainy Afternoon around 3 pm

No work is on site, however, rebar work is being bent off site to the property.  I pick up my brand new second hand CLS 350 after selling my GTi. Nothing progressive for the Home during this time. 

Anyway, On the 5th of October, I realize that there was a dumpster outside our property aka tong roro with some wood inside. 

 Lowyatts favorite Tong Roro is here. Can find loads of info for tong roro on your favorite forum and threads runned by kids about tong roros and prices for comparison.

At first I was a little upset, who would dump this at my place. Then I began to look closer, I assume it was for the site to create the Raft Foundation. I head to work and dont think much of it.

8th October. 

Weather for the Day : Rainy Afternoons around 3 pm

I head to the Home at 10 : 45 AM. Lo and Behold, I find 3 motorcycles and 3 Indons doing something. So here they are creating a shed. Finally, now we know theres some activity again on site.

 

Days of waiting for something to progress, this was welcoming. Even though its just building a shed

I examine and at first thought they were creating a place to stay and asked what they were building and to which they said 

"Store". 

Even Dad who came to work later says he saw this going on as well earlier in the morning.

10th October

Weather for the Day : Rainy Afternoons around 3 pm

Workers begin doing site markings. Strings are put up to ensure the site is marked correctly for digging.

Markings being done for levels

12th October

Weather for the Day : Rainy Afternoons around 3 pm

Get a call in the morning from the contractor asking about levels of the house one more time. We decide that the levels will be below by certain amounts from the new Raft Foundation as follows :-

Car Porch : 150mm below to allow a ramp for a wheel chair just in case

Verandah & Rear of House : 25mm below just to allow no water to come in if washing is required

Garden : 50mm below Verandah and Rear of House to give a barrier between the grass

15th October

Weather for the Day : Rainy Afternoons around 4 pm

Its Digging Day. MBPJ decides to stop by and harass a little. The Contractor gives a call. MBPJ asks for the approval letters to allow for construction, to which I tell the contractor 

"Tell MBPJ to go and do their job and look at the posters for references. My approval reference numbers are on the front gates hoarding fence"

Out of all projects, mine seems to have 5 signage's and looks like either

a) shitty neighbour might have complained

b) MBPJ was just being kind enough to check on our progress

You decide

Anyway, here are some images of the dig. MBPJ left with their tails between their legs that day

Tractor is back. Digging begins

A 6 wheeler lorry was used this time to clear off the soil

16th October

Weather for the Day : Heavy Rainy Mornings

More digging takes place, but the Monsoon started to flood the dig site. Water ponds. Its looking like a swamp now. The dig is practically over by now, the dig is 30" / 2.5 ft / 76cm deep. Soon, the crusher run or stones will be coming in. As it turns out, our contractor says on Monday, the 21st of October. How wonderful, I will be heading to Singapore, work continues, and by the time Im back, theres some fun that awaits.

Its a Swamp Thing. The Monsoon weather has arrived.

20th October

Weather for the Day : Heavy Rainy Mornings around 6 AM

While I was in Singapore, looks like the Malaysian weather got the better of our site. I had literally drove back straight to the house from Singapore to take a look at things. My neighbour says that the water should be removed for the soil to settle before any concrete is poured. If you have such a situation, ask your contractor to kindly pump out the water to allow the soil to remain less swampy.

While little keyboard warrior kids are taking the Sunday off, Im here looking at my water issue immediately upon driving back from Singapore. Contractor says he has organized a pump.

21st of October

Weather for the Day : Rainy Afternoons around 3 - 5 pm

Its the start of Scorpio. One of my favorite months. Scorpio is all about the rebirth, rejuvenation, new beginnings. And this is the start of it. I head to the property in the morning around 11 30is with Dad, I decide to bless the place before any stones are poured. There are 6 motorcycles on site. Looks like the cavalry is ready for the stones. 

Most of the water is dried out. This isnt too bad. You cant get all of the water out but we can certainly get most of it out. A decent job I would say

Muddy and Soggy

Before and After (Sunday and Monday)

However, I got stuck in the mud twice. I thought I was going to sink. Hilarious. Here are my shoes.

Thank God for my Dad, he helped get some corrugated paper and it was heaven sent that he was there to help me get the job done

With the place cleansed,  the Crusher Run arrives in the afternoon. The Contractor says that things are slightly delayed due to the weather, his advise is that the Concrete Raft will be poured in early November. Well, some things, we cant control. We leave it to mother nature. 

Dad says that its good that the soil is Muddy for the Crusher Run stones. It will bond well that way with the stones. He is right.

We can expect the stones to be compacted with an Earth Compactor to help the levels settle in for the stones while waiting for the Concrete to arrive in November. Should take about 3 to 5 days ish on the stones I supposed to bond, and level with the Earth well.

22nd October

Weather for the Day : Rainy Afternoons around 3 pm

Head over in the morning and see that the same cavalry is there, same 6 bikes in total

Some people are using the bin for Milk, and Wine Bottle Trash too. Never leave your bins outside, for some shitty neighbour will decide to use it. I dont have to worry, because this bin has been paid for by the contractor

And here are the guys filling in the Crusher Run 

Looks like its going to take till just before Diwali to fill it in. The first truck looks like it filled up at the driveway. Lets hope the surface gets done and compacted by Diwali.

23rd October

Weather for the Day : Rainy Afternoons around 3 PM

Its 11AM, Today we have 9 people on site. Looks like one team takes a break, while another continues with work. Progress is made since yesterday and now it looks like theres just a little left

A quarter left to go

The head Indon on site says that another lorry is due today. Followed by some compaction work likely before Diwali. Hope works will allow the rebars to come in with some plumbing works as well.


24th October

Weather for the Day : Rainy Afternoons around 1 pm

The neighbour suggests ways to ensure a 100% independent structure from out side as there are still some common ground beams. We decide to meet the next day with the contractor.



25th October

Weather for the Day : Long but Light Rainy Afternoons around 1 pm - 5 pm

I meet the contractor in the morning around 9 45am with our neighbour as well. We discuss on some ideas how the raft will not tie in to the neighbours side. Luckily, our neighbour who happens to be an engineer, is helping us with some good tips.

Neighbour tells us to fill up the bottom part of his side of the ground. Which we did quickly. This is so your neighbours side will not sink with loose soil.

During this time, my contractor and I decide that the rain is becoming too unpredictable and we decide to leave 5 days aside for the soil to settle in as the rains are not going to be good for any rebar works and the best we can do is just wait for better weather.

No work that can go on especially for pouring concrete meantime.

Mat Indon giving his best 90s Dangdut Club Pose. Im sure he's a popular hit amongst the ladies. Towards his left, are planks of wood, that I assume will be for the Raft Foundation.

As it turns out, work had started as well on compacting the stones


28th October - 4th November

Weather for these Days : Bloody dry and warm. Some mild rain between 6 - 8 PM

No works are done, Diwali arrived on Sunday and Monday was a holiday.

It turns out that the days are bloody warm too. With slight sprinkles or rain only ! Someone turned off the tap from the skies. I message my contractor and say to him, we should get back to work. The soil is good and dry now, and we dont know how much longer this good weather is going to keep up for.

The steam roller has already compacted the whole place by now. Theres also wooden planks that I see lying around. I suppose its for the raft's border. The image was taken on the 29th of October.

All compaction works had been done for the Crusher Run stones. Look at how hot that image is. What a hot and humid week ! Perfect for concrete laying.


5th November

Weather for the Day : Rain pours around 4pm

Work starts, and guess what, the tap in the sky turned on today =|

But for a short while. Cloudy skies in the image below, and a sunny skies in the image above. What trickery !

However, My guess, is that this week, we will have 1 day where its going to pour like crazy, and that will be all. Nothing heavy as the weeks before. Im sure its not as bad a prediction as the Malaysias Meteorological Department that says it is rainy weather only WHEN it actually is raining.

We have 6 workers today digging trenches. My guess, is that they are digging for those wooden boxes to be fitted inside for the raft.

What weather trickery is this ?

Great weather for working without the Sun, bad weather for steel and laying concrete. Im guessing November, nothing is going to move fast due to the weather. December should have our foundation ready.

6th November

Weather for the Day : Has not rained, time is now 5 : 52 PM

Work continues, today, they have shifted to digging the trench on the side of the Crusher Run base. Work seems a little tough. These guys take breaks frequently. Its manual labour. Looking at all the soil piled about 3 feet in height against the shitty neighbours wall, isnt easy work.

3 men work, 3 men chill. Taking turns digging the trench. 

There is all of 6 of them today inclusive of Mr. Dangdut of Batam, 1995. Hope theres no more digging for them. Theres still pipes, rebar works and concrete to pour to complete this stage.


7th November

Weather of the Day : Sunny in the day, rains in the evenings

All is finally dug out. Piles of soil have been removed, so it looks like the work is finally ready to look at the next stage.

However, The cops also decide to pull by to check on the status of our premise. Which was nice and convenient that we didnt have to call them for any of our concerns =) wonder why we were so lucky =). Maybe they were concerned about our personal safety =)

However I heard the workers say something in Malay I believe, shortly after PDRM left something about

"2 ribu !,.."

geez, wonder what all the fuss was about ? Anyway, who knows ? You can go figure =)

Anyway, PDRM, Cepat, Mesra & Betul. Come without having to call. Amazing job ! Talk about Civil Service, its World Class. Very efficient. MMmmhmmm.

Shortly after PDRM left at about 12 PM. Trenches have been dug throughout the border of the Crusher Run

12th of November

Weather of the Day : Gloomy, but rainy in the evening

More stones had arrived, it was used to fill in more surfaces to get things in a better shape. And a lot more stones. Though they cleared it up pretty fast.

Now you see it

Now you dont

13th November

Dad pays a visit and says that the wooden boxes were being laid down. How exciting. Ill wait till the 15th to see a difference.


15th November

Weather of the Day : Cloudy and Gloomy. But rains in the evening

The property has now a box ! Wonderful ! We are officially detached from our neighbour as well in shared ground beams. This was a pleasant site.

The box is finally made

11th December

Weather of the Day : Freaking Hot, and some clouds, but no rain at all

Now I have been busy with a couple of International trips, one for Business, the other for Charity.
A leaf turned inside me, why travel for "holidays" when I could be travelling for charity. Thats 2020 and beyond's new purpose for travels. Its time to give back, what so much has been taken for. Some hipsters probably dont realise this yet, but for me, I guess I'm one of those who now who cant be arsed to be selfish for myself to have a holiday. I ought to be giving back with my travels.

I couldn't have cared much about the progress of the property at this point and for good reason that I had much to prepare before my trips. No work had continued, and its alright because the weather of all things, could have rained, poured as much as it wanted to, there was little if not NOTHING much going to be achieved. I didnt want the concrete to be poured in the rain anyway. What a slow process. But just as the sun is beginning to show itself again, this is where maybe we will be coming out of a funk.

Its the Sultan of Selangor's birthday. I meet up with the Plumber and we run through the plans on site. We determine locations, and make a slight amendment to one of our man hole chambers will be. It was a bloody hot day, and the night before, having a few drinks really pushed out all the sweat with the heat. I literally sobered up within 20 minutes.

We found that having a drain is pointless and we will bury our drain using an 8" pipe for any rain water discharge. After all, this could give us back another foot to the garden. Thanks to the neighbour who wanted us to detach completely from us.

Markings with strings had been done either on the 9th or 10th, while we were away in Nepal, and it was a pleasant surprise getting to meet the spirit of this house before any concrete is even poured, just by looking at some lines. I head back and have more drinks in the evening.

There are actually strings tied around the premise. I was actually walking in different parts of the building. How I wish Dad and my Wife would be here

One thing about plumbers and contractors, they seem to have nice taste in vehicles. Better looking than Aussie tradee's.

14th December

Weather of the day : Rain from 11 am all the way into the night

I head over in the morning and take a look with Dad and Wife the plumbing works being done. We see a lot of cement bags being delivered and some bricks. This will be for the Man Hole Chambers one day. One has been done, the other 2 will have to wait till after the concrete is poured.

Dad spots one of the pipes flowing upwards, having a pair of sharp eyes along with you always helps.

Yes, and behind the new Man Hole Chamber, is a white pipe that was not flowing downwards. Be careful that water should always flow downwards. 

Pipes are in

16 - 18th December, MORE SET BACKS AND DELAYS

Weather during these days : Sunny mornings, Cloudy and Rain mid day, sometimes it rains at night.

1.  Thin screed of cement poured on top of the stones. That's to seal off the stones.

2. The box has finally been all boxed up fully ready for the rebars to come in. Not too long now, looks like we are getting ready for a date for the big pour. (Or are we ?)

3. The rest of the time was taken to be used for re measurements

Taken on the 17th of December, after cement was poured over stones on the 16th of December, it rained and in the morning of the 17th it looked like this

True enough, there is a problem. The contractor calls to say that the dimensions of the plot are smaller than surveyed. Ill be meeting him tomorrow. Looks like the ideal garden of 17ft, now has come down to 13 ft, Fuck me. Im going to try and see if I can preserve this garden at 13ft at least.

ACCUWEATHER, Bullshit predictions

Lets see the weather predictions from the 18th December till Christmas eve make sense. Cause Malaysias Met department will be shit. Ill use this as a guide to see how predictable the weather mentions on ACCU Weather vs Reality.


19th December

Weather of the day : Very hot and sunny at 12 PM, had to buy water, some clouds, its still warm at
5 : 30 PM. Rain pours for 1 hour between 6 30 and 7 30 PM. Thats all.

Bloody hot weather at 12PM. No filter, this is really hot. The rebars are all in, and the entire raft area to be is boxed up finally. But some tweaks are going to be done to the size as well

I meet the contractor at 12 pm. We realize that we have an issue with the front of the house now only being able to have 21ft of space for the car park. This was not right. I dont like in a Cheras house kind of a short car porch. So we go back and make some tweaks to correctly fit 25 ft at the front for the porch.

We then realise the rear of the house has space to play with. We tweak this as well to fall in line with our original plan. Turns our the Architect and Engineers plans were a bit off. So we went back on our Architects plans instead. Our raft as well was a little too wide, so we decided to shave off a little of the raft width by almost 1 meter.

Lesson 1 : Check the Architect and Engineers Plans if they line up well

Lesson 2 : The width in front and our rear has a 200mm difference, our length has about almost 900 mm in difference on the left side of our property. Even with Arhitects, Engineers, Surveyors, things still can be wrong. This is why our car porch needed tweaking. 900mm is 3ft. Whose fault ? Surveyor ? Architect ? Engineer ? No time to blame. Solve the issue. Glad the Contractor brought this to our attention.

The rebars are just about having some rust, so this means in the days to come, they will be tied up. These bars were bent off site, and delivered to us. 

Wife showed up just at the right time to have a quick discussion together and we we relocated the house correctly. We discuss what space to sacrifice to make the best of things.

Its amazing that our rebars that took the longest time to deliver being 12meters in length, will now be shaved off by almost a meter. Shit. Anyway wont take long with a saw cutting machine.

This is all "Ikat Bisi" work or Tying Steel work now. Hope it finishes within a week. Ready to be for the final stage of 1 days work of Concrete Pouring and 10 days of setting.

We are almost done with this chapter.

20th December 

Weather of the Day : Sunny morning and very hot. Cloudly afternoon, not much sun. Heavy rain pours from 5 : 45 - 6 : 45 PM. No rain after that.

The Mat Indons are readjusting the size of the box today for the Raft Foundation. Some string tying. Nothing progressive. Doubt anything else will happen as that's all that can be done otherwise.

Look at that weather, looks brighter than yesterday. This trickery is crazy. Apparently we only get clear weather January 7th onward's. ACCUWEATHER says an AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORM !

More pondage from an overnight rain. The weather is really the greatest enemy here. It slows things down. The size of the box is now about 3 feet in length shorter and about 4 feet in width narrower. Looks like today once this is done, they will be re-fixing the water pipes again. Followed by lunch, followed by afternoon rain, more water pondage, followed by nothing I guess till tomorrow.

I doubt tomorrow will bring fantastic results. Indons will be in a Dangdut mood and probably take the day easy. Lets just hope that the rebar works will be done by next week or concrete before the year ends. =\ meh.


21st December

Weather of the day : Sunny mornings, cloudy afternoons. No rain. Bloody warm day. This has been  VS Accuweather's bullshit predictions.

Its the start of the Winter Solstice. But I dont visit the site.


23rd December - ADJUSTMENTS AND MORE DELAYS

Weather of the day : Sunny, warm, less clouds. Hot. No rain. Looks like Accuweather prediction of a Stormy Afternoon is Bullshit and Malaysia's Met Department have failed miserably.

Looks like we are not going to see any concrete poured before the year 2019 ends.

Tricky luck and good weather 

When theres no work, theres fantastic weather, when there is work to be done, there is shit weather. Trickery is just as such. Couple that with Readjustments, and you get delays.

Plumbing had to be removed and markings redone before the work can continue with pipes again. The plumber is away in Varanasi and returning conveniently back on the 24th, a day before Christmas. Which means no foundation slab will be ready till next year 2020.

Which means it now all falls to middle of January followed by CNY holidays. 

Progress has been very slow, and as much as I would like to look forward to paying my next payment to my contractor. But even I cant do anything about it.

27th December

Weather of the Day : No rain. Just Gloomy

I dont go back till after Christmas. Some rebars were delivered on the 26th of December. On the 27th of December the rebars are brought in to site and cut to shorter length.

Even more Rebars. These ones are more fresh.

30th December 

Weather of the day : Hot, no rain, Sunny.  The weather has finally broken into Sunny days. Accuweather says no sunny days till the 7th of January. But we all know, thats a crock of shit now.

Rebars are finally being tied together. Im sure the Indons will finish by this evening the first round of rebars. And an in between nap of 3 hours between 11 : 45 - 3 : 00 PM. Good thing is I dont care much, as there's still no second payment till the concrete gets poured. 

11 : 45 AM, Rebars finally being tied

Im optimistic though, that once the slab is done, this curse can be removed. And we can start flying fast. Tomorrow is the last week of the decade, and the last day before Vision 2020 takes place. Im really not arsed till New Years Day happens.

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2020 Arrives ! Here are some notes before moving on

1. CNY arrives early, 26 & 27 Jan. Which means hard working so called contractors and sub cons will ask for leave of 2 weeks, but actually people have already started taking leave ! (Hard working social elite class) We have to pour concrete just before CNY and let it dry during CNY. We will see CNY leave from 26 - 7th February. Estimated Days Lost : 10

2. Roof has to planned, materials ordered by mid February so by early April we can start working on the roof and be ready just in time for Ramadhan so our Indon brothers will be able to work in the shade, half the pace of already what is, half the pace.

3. Ramadhan is from 23rd April - 23rd May this year. Very early again. Which means even when there are the next Monsoon rains in April and possibly May, we have to build the roof before Ramadhan starts. This will allow our Indon brothers to be able to work in the shade to do things like brick work and maybe plastering. Estimated days lost for Ramadhan : 15

4. Hari Raya : Monday and Tuesday will be off. Estimated days lost : 2

Total days off excluding holidays such as Labour day - 27 days till 1st June 2020

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2nd & 3rd January 2020

Weather of the Day : Rains in the evenings and night, in different areas

A new decade has come ! No flying cars and today, Mazlee resigns as Minister of Education which Im in support for.

NOTE ABOUT THE WEATHER : 

Something about the weather - maybe this will be important to you. Selangor especially Petaling Jaya over the last years with my tracking of weather, I realise that a 2 week cool period that has amazing winds is due during this time of the year in January. These same winds come again in August and September before the year end Monsoon too.

I hope this super cool breeze arrives when the concrete foundation is poured.

It lasts very briefly, but then it gets super hot for 2 months till April comes and once again the Monsoon arrives again.

On the 2nd of January I call the Contractor, we have a discussion and say that the slab must be done by or before Chinese New Year. He says can, no problem. And true enough, suddenly theres quick progress again. The string markings are done, and the plumbers show up again.

Here are a couple of pictures

2nd January, Rebars been laid in cross section. Tied Vertically first in length.

Note that there is some rust on the rebars. Some surface rust is no concern. Its actually BETTER as it provides a rougher surface for concrete to catch onto. If your rebars are very old and super rusty, till the point where its rusting even inside, then you have something to worry about.

3rd January, Plumbers are in, markings are in, bent rebars are being organized. You cant see the strings but the plumber is clearly crossing over them. Workers on the right are re-cutting the pipes to fit correctly in our new box

4th & 6th January

Weather of the day : Gloomy, a little bit of sun. No rains. Perfect for working or pouring concrete

Finally, better weather since early October.

The pipes are back again. Rods are now in vertical position for future pillars. 20 more days before CNY. Within 20 days time concrete will finally be poured.

Concrete, within the next 2 weeks, if my stars are aligned just right

Looking forward to finally closing this fucking chapter


7 Jan

Weather of the day : Hot as fuck, no rain,

More rods arrive, cutting begins again. Rebars are cut to size, then brought inside, one by one. Slow process as the length allows for one rebar to be cut each time.

More Rebars

The Rear is ready for concrete, the middle has been the same since last week. The front requires more cross section rebar tying work.

Has anything changed ? Actually Yes !

This is what the rear now looks like on the 8th of January. Its actually ready enough to accept concrete. A second layer of Rebars have been fitted and tied before concrete can be poured.

 Rear is ready

8th Jan

Weather of the day : some clouds, slight rain in evening.

My estimate would be that by this Saturday the 11th of Jan, the rebar works should be done. Since we had rebars dumped on 27th of December and were tied by the 30th of December, the new Rebars works should be done too within 3 days or 11th Jan.

11th January ? Sheesh, lets see

9 Jan

Weather of the day : Hot as hell, evening rain 6 - 7 PM

Look at that bloody weather. No filter again. Half the rebars are in. Another day to go, all will be in, estimated that Saturday all will be tied, or between 13 and 14th Jan at latest.

Half in

10th Jan

Weather of the day : Hot, some clouds. Good enough for Dogs to lie down on their backs in the grass

The rebar outside has still not come in. More tying work goes on inside. Second round of tying of rebars are halfway done. We can see that the sub con is standing on the rebars almost on ground level.

The subcon comes at 1 : 35 pm. I ask him when the concrete is going to be thrown, he says "Wednesday or Thursday next week". Finally, we can close this fucking chapter by next week. I will take the day off, when the concrete is going to be poured, will be a day to celebrate for sure.

Will they tie it all by 11th January ? Hardworking Subcon, seen him 5 times so far

11th Jan

Weather of the day : Sunny and Cloudy

Today is Saturday, exactly 4 MONTHS !!! since the foundation work started. And the rebar works now look complete. But theres still half of the rebar sitting outside. My guess now is that by Tuesday the work will be complete, here are some images

Looks like its all in, Mat Indons were final tying things up

More tying

A view from the side

What one day will be the Verandah where drinks and some outdoor parties will be held. Not my best rendering, but just getting an idea what some things will be like to rough scale

 I can at least enjoy beers, Gin, Whisky, Vodka or whatever on Sundays with this view while getting a hang over on the Verandah. Need to get an old tube amp power amplifier like a Marantz or something for this Verandah

I took a pic of the trench where one day the garden will be. The initial size of 16ft is now down to 12 1/2 feet thanks to some readjustments. 

12.5 feet from wall to Raft Box

 This is what 6 - 8ft of a Cheras / Eco Park style property usually looks like for Greenery.

MmmmMmmm, pubic hair greenery, maximise on Square Footage Lor, build more building footage can refinance get better money lor

Not for me though, even when we are 12.5 feet in Width, we will have enough space to at least turn a bicycle around. Our original target was 16ft. Damn adjustments. Anything less than 12feet now is really not worth it having a garden.

We have 25% Greenery. only by Cheras, Bukit Jalil, Kepong, Purchong folks would say this is too much Greenery

I cant complain. In Section 14 or Damansara Heights theres huge 9000 square ft plots and above, the proportion of Greenery is 30 % and upwards to the size of the Building. We have just 3,933 square feet to deal with, everything is a fight and everything is tight. Greenery for me is a priority. Am glad we have still achieved 25% of the total plot. Thats respectable for a Semi Detached Home that usually has 15% or less. 

We wait for next week. Really tired of this stage not yet being completed. Its been a slow 4 months. 

12 Days of Progress, we are here, Just next week for concrete, unless something else pops up

13 Jan

Weather of the Day : Medium Rains at 4 : 30 pm - 5 : 30 PM.

This is the week to close this chapter.

Work is 90 % done. Checks for formwork - Levels, alignment and placements were counter checked. Some adjustments needed for 2 pillars. The main Contractor is also on site. Plumbing still has to come in and install another pipe for the shower drainage. How can they be so foolish to forget and not notice. Happens to the best of people.

 Level markings for concrete

Today, we have a plan that Thursday or Friday this week, Concrete is poured. The rest are just last minute checks, and installing some pipe

The 8ft Verandah is visible. And the Subcon probably has been having too much Pre CNY Pork Belly and Cristal.

14th Jan

Weather of the day : Freaking hot in the morning. Gloomy afternoon by 3pm. Sun is back by 4 45. No rain.

The Rebars from outside are also finally in. They will be used for the pillars after the Concrete for the Raft Foundation is poured..

I realised this morning that the kitchen plumbing was off, by 6ft. So the plumber is going to have to shift this. Am not sure if Thursday will be pour day, but at least Friday or Saturday, but this week its going to be it.

Took measurements myself this morning. Some crafty Indon work, so a slit trap has been built, but how far off are we ? 

Well, looks like it was an afternoon rush job by the Indon plumber

This is why its important for site visits whenever possible. Tomorrow is a site visit with the plumber in the morning.

15 Jan

Weather of the day : Hot. No Rain

Rebar works going on for pillars. Great. I meet the plumber at 12 30 in the afternoon to discuss some issues. I didnt want to move the floor traps that were inside the house to outside. Many of you would put it outside, but I wanted the Verandah to be a super clean slab. Now we have 2 floor traps outside because of this cock up. But I came to realize, actually, it may make sense.

Today after going through so much of time and punishment on this property, Im a bit flexible to say yes to some cock ups, and being able to point cock ups done. I was lucky to catch some errors and some modifications were made last minute.

Pillars being made in the morning

By afternoon about 6 or 7 pillar were tied

Speaking of errors, we have aprons around the house, something the contractor didn't have to do, because we have an 8ft Verandah at the side already. This was pointed out by the Plumber. 

So that is going to be cut off as well. All these last minute details that pop up.  If it wasnt the discussion with the plumber about the Rebars for the Aprons around the house, we would be doing unnecessary work further without my knowledge.

Aprons on top of an already wide Verandah

Why have a 2.5 ft apron when we already have an 8ft Verandah ? Would be leading to a 9ft Garden otherwise. Im lucky that the Plumber pointed this out. Took me about a good 3 minutes to figure out what the Aprons were. The indons said "kaki 5" or Walkway. WTF ! After telling the Indons they can cut this, they didnt look to pleased but I cant be arsed what they look or feel. Even they couldnt read the plans.

No mention of Apron anywhere in the plan

See why its important to do site visits frequently ? Lowyatt kids meanwhile will be having a sip of bubble tea, but here I am in the sun looking at the site, making sure that things are going to work well. And clearly the subcontractor too is not doing his job as well by examining plans correctly and whats mentioned on them.

I get a call from the contractor as well at 3 PM. I ask him if concrete is tomorrow or Friday, and he says


"Tomorrow"..................

Tomorrow nights celebration

The day has come, now I leave it in Gods hands. I accept whatever the plan is 'Up There'. I will believe it when I see it. By this week, this long chapter comes to an end. And a new one begins


Jan 16

Weather of the day : Clear skies in the morning. Some clouds in the afternoon. Rain between 5 : 40 - 6: 40 PM

In the morning, my Wife does a driveby and sees on site theres a pump truck waiting. I get ready. Months of waiting for this. Now its finally

9: 15 AM - I arrive on site and see this. What a view

Good Morning. These are some Australian Summer looking skies

Pump Truck. Not some bucket method, we use good equipment here

What a view

Neighbours car covered, and road is covered to ensure no concrete is on the road

Waiting for the first truck. Even the Vibrator is ready

MONTHS OF LOOKING AT THIS EMPTY BOX WILL ALL BE OVER SOON ! YOU THINK IM NOT EXCITED ? !!!

9 : 25 AM - The main contractor arrives on site. We are waiting for the first lorry to arrive.

10 : 26 AM - The first lorry arrives. Pouring begins. 10.5 CBM The contractor leaves. And shortly after the subcon leaves even when the contractor says he will be there the hold day. Cause, well, Cheras motherfuckers will never be around anyway with their lowyatt lifestyle. Doesnt bother me cause its not my money being paid yet till the job is done.

First Truck Arrives 10 : 26 AM

10.5 Cubic Meters being poured

 Pouring Begins

10 : 45  AM - Subcontractor leaves, only to return at 1 : 45 PM. Something the main contractor will be reminded of when he collects his payment. If you are someone like me, you will take note and write these things down, as it would come in handy in future. 

10 : 45 till 12 : 40 PM

More concrete gets poured

All trucks come from Sungai Buloh with Grade 30 Concrete. Hearing the truck turn the concrete around before pouring, hearing that energy, just felt good. Roaring big stuff

At one point there were 3 trucks waiting. What a sight. Wonderful. All truck reverse backwards into our road to our Home

Here at this point we are just more than halfway done

12 : 40 - 1 PM - Lunch Break. The workers have KFC, Even they seem to have their tradition with good days and special days. Everyone, even the drivers and operators for the Pump Truck has KFC too  =). Except the Subcontractor, who probably would have had some filet mignon or something. I had Spritzer water

1 - 2 : 25 PM. Concrete pours till it is filled

The last truck for the day

All is filled

All if poured. 13 trucks were needed for this job

2 : 25 - 3 : 55 PM

The Pump Truck had some concrete, probably around 1 cubic meter worth still in its pipes. It was discharged on the road onto a Tarpaulin Sheet. It was then brought in manually with a wheel barrow. Finally, the road was washed clean and any small stones were swept away.

Pump Truck discharges balance concrete

Workers bring in the balance and begin washing the road

All is in, and Mr. Filet Mignon Subcontractor gets reminded by me about our neighbours and a thing or two about cleanliness 

3 : 55 PM

The end result is this picture below. Our Foundation complete. Ready to dry

Our Foundation Curing 

Drying Slowly

At 4 : 15 ish,

We all leave, I head over to the Booze shop, buy myself some German beers and have them with Dad at night. I was burnt by the sun.  he Subcontractor before leaving said " Todays weather has been verrrrry beautiful "


5 : 40 - 6 : 40  PM

Rain Pours. Fucking Subcon Jinx.


11 : 15 PM

Wifey at night gets me some comfort food and then get moisturized. Even my face.




A few experiences to take back :

1. Subcontractors or Contractors will never be around. Indons always will
2. Not everything will be perfect. The subcon didnt actually protect the vehicle of our neighbours car originally
3. The neighbours entrance was blocked by the cement trucks
4. Neighbours can also be very picky, especially the older kind and when you have a neighbour who is also a part of the same trade and industry

Anyway, whats done is done, we learn from mistakes. Im glad I was on site to look at how this was done, and take note and attention of future pours such as for our pillars, first floor and roof as well. Some things



SOME STATISTICS AND NUMBERS :

Total Concrete Trucks : 13

Total Cubic Meters : 111 CBM

Days lost to weather & no work on site Since 6th September 2019 : 41 days

Original timeline plan : 1 month

Months dreaming about concrete pour : 2 1/2

Days met Subcontractor on Site : 6

Payments Made : 1


We are officially done with this very long blog posting. Finally we can move on to the next chapter. FINALLY !