Picking up here from 2020, 4.5 year on. We all know what happened unless you are
have the memory of a gold fish of what took place in 2020 and 2021, which you
will hear a lot about in a while.
14th March 2020
So moving on, its the 14th of March 2020, and
here come more Concrete Pours, finally the 1st Floor is going to see itself
poured and we are going to have a level above ground
A Pump wasnt used this time as the floor was 6" / 150mm in thickness for a slab which would have been pointless. So a Bucket system was used here.
I love Big Trucks
Likely the First Bucket going up
I think it was over 50 buckets today that were carried
What a Sight
The first Pours start in the Morning
A glimpse of what the Surrounding Looks. Love the Bottle Brush Tree
By late morning, Half of the Slab was done
2/3rds done
Cleaning up after the full pour and the road washed off any debris
By the time Mid Afternoon came about
With that, the Slab being poured, all that was needed was for it to dry and allow mother nature to shower it during these slight monsoon rainy times in March. Which certainly came and helped.
16th March 2020
Allowing for some time for the Concrete to cure, I decided to take a walk on the Slab. We are above everyone else around us, it was a nice feeling being higher after years of just being down on the ground and trusting that the vision would pay off for some view and it did.
On our left, a line of trees, in front of us, our Bottle Brush (Patron Tree) and in the distance, the emerging development and other buildings. I like a little urban development that can be viewed from a distance, without having to sacrifice feeling that its all a concrete Jungle by having greenery around.
The wet surface is visible in patches from the rains that came. That definitely helped the Concrete from Drying Out or cracking
This is where the staircase will lead us up to the first floor in future
The view from Rooms 1 and 2 have skies and Grenery from the surrounding trees. Unless someone picks up the unit next door in future and builds 2 floors, we still get to enjoy these trees, light, skies and clouds. The Yellow Flame trees here were beginning to bloom in season
That ends the topic of the Pour, so whats next ? Are we going to be talking about Beams, brick work and plastering ?
HAH !
In case you didnt take a look at the date, that leaves us with 2 days left before ....
18th March 2020
LOCKDOWN !!!
Muhyiddin says we have to be safe, this will be temporary, be in good health and all that shitty no good advise. For me it was a 2 week break to have more drinks and more drinks I did. It was fun for having a 2 week holiday for 2 or 3 days, and then it became a little boring, and platforms like Skype and other platforms took off online.
Me here thinking all of this will be a small 2 week Set Back to our dateline. Pfft !!!
2nd April 2020 - LOCKDOWN EXTENDED ANOTHER 2 WEEKS, SKYLIGHT ISSUE
I got a message from our neighbour saying that there is water leaking into his side of the common wall. To which I called him and said I cant do anything as its lockdown and its MCO which means Movement Control Order.
Eventually I gave in to do the right thing and called our Contractor and I got a Handyman from Mum to come over to inspect what was causing this leak into his premise at the common wall.
Yes, we broke the law at that time, however, when you are breaking the law to do good, its fine. This country doesn't make sense for its laws.
Remember when you had to sit at least 1 space away from someone, but you could have 2 people in the car sitting next to each other. WTF ? You can go to the Pasar Malam but you cant spend Chinese New Year with all your Family Members. WTF ?
Anyway, culprit found which our neighbours side was leaking. The Skylight Glass had filled itself with water, causing a pond. Lucky for me, I figured this out.
Its ok if water ponds on a Skylight opening like this, but it was for many days and due to the rain, the water ponded and creeped itself into the common wall and voila.
If you have a skylight for your Semi D or Link House, take note on how to resolve this issue.
Ponded Water due to heavy rains on our Skylight. Well, at least the First Floor Slab is super strong with Water
We punched a hole in it and let the water flow smoothly always. Funny, We didnt use the Hammer that was right inside the ponded Skylight. LOL ! Rich Indon leaving tools around. God Left us a Hammer, eyes and brains, but didnt use ANY of that ! LOL ! ;)
Lesson for all you Lowyat kids out there, always let water flow especially if you have a Skylight close to your Common Walls.
Hole Busted and to prevent any water hitting the common wall we put up these planks to direct the water back into our skylight and into our first floor
All the water was drained quickly
With our ILLEGAL operation done, my contractor and I spent a few minutes chatting with our masks on, and I think we were already in need for some "other human interaction" anyway than just being stuck at home. Netflix by now was running thin on ice to what I could watch and there is only so much you can watch, and only so many Nasi Lemaks you can have.
Looking back, our neighbour wasnt so bad after all.
APRIL, MAY - JUNE 25th ish
Nothing happens, and then the Construction Industry based on the type of Contractor you are an type of Construction work you are allowed to do is back again. Thank you Muhyiddin
Remember when we have 0 cases of Covid ? LOL !!!!!!! My FOOT !!!!!
June 29th
Months had rubbed me down, and I had for a while just didnt GAF about the Home and its progress. And then suddenly, its come to my knowledge that just a few days ago these little mice started working on the house again.
Form Work for the Staircase was done, the Pillars for the First Floor leading to the Roof were made, and we were taking deliveries of Bricks on the 1st of July.
There was movement again and I think everyone wanted to start work again, be productive (Except the Indons) and get back on schedule so claims on payments can be made.
Formwork for the Staircase was suddenly done
Concrete being delivered for the Pillars
Pouring into 1st floor Pillars
Just a pic
Formwork for Pillars that were poured
Bricks being delivered
Needed a Crane to hoist up these bricks
Lovely truck full of Red Bricks
Lovely sight, nice and neat
First Pallet of Red Bricks making its way in so Brick Laying can start
Water Tank Roof Slab with a Skylight. Here is where one day ill sit and enjoy views from the 2nd Floor
Pipe Works begin downstairs, while Brickwork upstairs go on
This was all a new view of the property. It began to finally look like a Home
Brick Works began, and we bricked up the common wall and plastered it
This view shows that we have what are called 'Apple Trees' in the distance grown on the LDP. This view has some stunning Sunsets that I would enjoy some evenings
We plastered the Common Wall and then gave it some Pentens T200 to waterproof its surface
'
This would prevent water
The Concrete Slab for the Water Tank Level is also done. Being a 20' x 20' size, it wasnt just for water tanks or a skylight alone, its for me and Family to enjoy Sunsets, a little cocktail / beer time some days, and have it used maybe for Stargazing at times as the light polution below is a little high from the street lights
That said and done, the Indons were working. Not in high gear, but at a slightly better pace. This was welcomed.
July 2020
Brick Works begin coming up swiftly and though it should have taken about 2 weeks at best for the first floor, it took about a month from the hard working Indons having a smoke at 9 am in the morning and leaving by 3 PM all dressed for their date all these evenings.
More patience, which I didnt have at that time was required. It will get done,.....EVENTUALLY.
Bricks,
More Bricks, separating areas slowly taking place
The Home had on the 1st Floor half the Bricks applied here, it was taking shape !
More layering !
Even Downstairs began
August 2020
Our Neighbour Says that there should be a seperation of our First Floor Slab and that there should be a drain from our common wall to our First Floor Slab. This was not sounding great. The Slab itself needed to part away from the Common Wall by at least 2 inches to be safe.
This was hilariously upsetting and comical to watch our Indons complain as our Neighbour said that the Slab would Expand and Contract and that could damage the old Common Wall.
I mean, I dont know much about Expansion and Contraction, but I think this isnt a super structure like the Penang Bridge that expands and contracts daily.
Nevertheless, what can we do ? As upsetting and ridiculous as it sounded, even the Architect had to get involved on this. Anyway, hack away. 6 inches of G25 Grade Concrete with all those stones that strengthened with all that rain, had to hacked.
In the name of peace and progress.
Separating over 2 inches of Concrete in Width
And below this, would be a drain system in case any water leaked again would see water dripping into a camouflaged water pipe. Yes, we lost about 8 inches of the building here for that purpose. Eventually it was about 1 foot.
Well, thats what we deal with sometimes
It looks odd and till today, we are trying to camouflage ways of making this seperation look more natural.
September 2020
Wont you look at That ! We are almost done with our Brick Works (On the First Floor, and it is beginning to look like a Home ! A Structure !
Let me guess, you would paint this Cheras Grey (Gray)
*** Later on our road, 3 new demolish and rebuild Homes were painted Cheras Grey in 2024 ***
I regret having put up that Flag now. I love our people and our country, but hate our Politicians for ruining things
This is a view from our Bathroom with a long 1 x 8 foot fixed Glass Panel that would let in Ample of light into the bathroom and has a view of the skies. Plumbing Works had to be accurate at hell, or it would have been Indon Design Sdn. Bhd. placements of things. This required reworkings a few times
A view of trees from one of our windows in the Master Bedroom that has amazing Sunsets. Yellow Markings on the walls dictate where plug points would need to be placed. Bangla Electrical Works Sdn. Bhd. was also a challenge. The Electrician showed me the symbols of what to describe to the bangla what we wanted where, and the Banglas didnt know what the symbols meant. FML, so Yellow Paint spray paint had to be used for Markings
This is a view of our Trees, another Fixed Glass Panel in our Wardrobe Area. Lets in Ample of light
Sometimes, thats the only way you can get things done right, you have to be there and tell, and show things personally
Brain Drain in our Country is a serious issue, and Lowyat folks are a part of it too
With that, this long awaited Part 4/9 is Finish. I dont think I need to talk much about the Electrical Works and Plumbing Works, Ill drop them in here and there as we progress. I am Happy that today, after 4.5 years, this section here has been updated.
So with Brick Works all done for the 1st Floor, we can move on to Part 5, and I will try to update this section next weekend !
No comments:
Post a Comment