Piering done

Since our last update we have had record rain and storms across Sydney which resulted in a very muddy worksite and no progress. Unfortunately the sedimentation barriers went up after all the rain so our pool suffered as mud flowed over the edge and resulted in very muddy water. We have a pool cover over the pool and power provided by a neighbour for the filter to keep running in the hope we can keep the pool in a reasonable condition - which had been done successfully over the previous winter with no maintenance.

After a few weeks delay we got the call from the concretor that they were ready to do the piering on a day my wife and I were due to be overseas - so my parents were left to oversee things.

We heard great things about the concretors from many others building with Provincial and this was reflected in what we have seen so far as well. The work seemed to be done to very high standard with a lot of transparency on what was going on.

The transparency was also there to facilitate the measuring of the lineal metres of concrete used in the 400mm piers which often go over the allowance in the tender. Ours unfortunately was no exception, we had allowances for up to 90 lineal metres and ended up with 125 lineal metres. At $85 per extra lineal metre this means we are up for close to $3,000 extra unfortunately...

Our site looks like we have a serious mole infestation - it seems quite lumpy with lots of mounds of soil compared to other sites we have seen after piering - hopefully this is OK.

In our understanding the piering process was...

1. Mark out the house on the site and location of all the piers
2. Drill Piers to rock level
3. Mark concrete fill level
4. Certifier check
5. Measure depth of each hole to calculate concrete required (with owner) and order
6. Pump concrete into each hole via pumping truck and a long hose

Next we look forward to the internal drainage to be installed, followed by the formwork and steel for the concrete slab to be poured.

Marking the outline of the house

Concrete Truck and Pumper in action

Filling the 101 400mm piers with 125 lineal meters of concrete