Day 270: Stone walls going up

The walls surrounding the service areas (scullery, kitchen, store room and garden store) are built with stone. The stone work is a time consuming and labour intensive process…but the effort is worth the reward.

Day 260: Details

The cavity walls consist of 110mm brick, 110mm air, 110mm brick and an additional 110mm stone on the outer façade. Butterfly wall ties are built into the wall to secure the two brick sleeves. A plastic layer, damp proof course (DPC), is installed above the floor level to prevent damp to gather in the cavity. Weep holes are located above the DPC to allow the moisture to escape.

This is the opening for our dog door. The dog house will be built into the store room with a door to the outside and a door to the inside.

It is difficult to report on the overall progress. The ground floor walls are almost up, but there is a lot that needs to be done before the next slab can be cast. Steel columns need to be installed to help carry the weight of the first floor slab. Two small slabs above the store rooms and scullery need to be cast. The braai and fireplace must be built in. Let’s just say that it is not going to happen this year.

Day 254: Scullery walls and window openings

Day 248: Stone masons

Day 241: Progress report

To give you an overview, here is where we are now:

 • The driveway is complete
 • The basement is structurally complete
 • The basement still needs plasterwork, pipes, electrical wires, rainwater collection system, stairs, front
   door, steel sliding gate, concrete polishing
 • The ground floor slab is structurally complete
 • The ground floor walls are starting to go up
 • The ground floor still needs walls, stone, braai, fireplace, internal doors, windows, aluminium doors,
    structural steel columns, concrete polishing and kitchen fit out
 • Then the whole first floor and the roof still need to be built.

It is a slow process…