Once the fabrication of the structure is finished we can now move onto the foundations. This is when marking out becomes a fine art.
Good plans.
A few tape measures.
String.
Sixteen stakes, some short pieces of wood, a hand full of screws and 8 nails.
Excavations were carried out by Hermica.
The operator was efficient and excellent. 7 cubic meters were taken out as well as 2 tree stumps in just 2 hours. This started at 9 o’clock in the morning. At 11 o’clock we shot off to look for concrete.
At Hongomar we managed to secure 7.2 cubic meters of concrete for 4.30 in the afternoon. Excellent service from Victor.
Next was a quick visit to Hierros y Aceros. Here again the rebar and mesh for reinforcing the concrete was arranged for delivery to site at 3 o’clock. Angel coming up with the goods as always. That clock was ticking and we needed to get dinner inside us and get grafting. Was it possible to finish this today.
Next up was a visit to Gomez Oviedo to try and get a dumper so we could transport the concrete from the garden entrance gate to the trench. Again superb and efficient service and delivery was organised.
All materials were on site on time. First we had to cut the mesh to the sizes of the trench. Then we poured the concrete, levelled it and inserted rebar into the concrete ready to reinforce the concrete base blocks.
Finished in just over 10 hours from 2 people along with contributions from all suppliers involved.
Improvisation in 1 day without having really planned it before hand. As the following Monday was a bank holiday and rain was forecast we changed the plan.
Nobody mentioned mañana. The new Spain.
After the long weekend break it was back to the grind stone. On the Monday morning we secured delivery of the concrete blocks and pre-mixed mortar from Bloques Monserrat.
These were laid out square and level. There is a slight slope to the site but later when ground works are completed the area around the house will be flat. The blocks were filled with concrete ready to move on.
When the blocks had been laid and set it was time for the sole plate fix. This is pressure treated wood and underneath it goes a layer of DPC. The sole plate is fastened to the blocks with expansion bolts. There was no need to check measurements or square it up as this was done when laying the blocks.
The sole plate is treated wood and was sourced at Marino de la Fuente.
It pays to take special care in the initial stage as you avoid all kinds of corrections in future stages.
On top of this we placed a laminate ring beam and this was fixed down to the sole plate with wood screws.
Now it is time for the structure to be delivered.