Anyway, here's some pictures of what's been going on at 23 Te Pihopa Way, Halswell, Christchurch, New Zealand.
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The floor slab is reinforced concrete atop 50mm of Polystyrene. There are specially reinforced thicker sections where the load bearing walls and concrete block walls will go. The small box in the foreground is where a power socket goes in the floor.
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Pouring of the slab. It only took 3.5 hours to pour, and the job was complete in under 8 hours. The foundation type is all concrete block. This was a screwup. The concrete blocks were only supposed to appear where the concrete block walls are. Ah well... the overall appearance is improved, at some cost. *sigh*
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Finishing the surface in the master bedroom. The box is the drain for the shower. Please note the ugly two story across the street; our home will be a REAL shock to the subdivision.
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Slab down, and waiting on the remainder of the 240mm thick "HOTBLOCK" Concrete blocks. You can see the 50mm polystyrene panels inside the concrete blocks stacked in the foreground. The rubbish "skip" is used almost exclusively by our neighbours to get rid of their crap.
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Some steel inserted to support the large bedroom wing overhangs is visible in the right of the image.
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The blockwork begins in earnest. Because of the "stackbond" system, the walls have almost no strength at all until they are filled with concrete. They can only "lift" 1 metre at a time of concrete due to the incredible pressure the concrete places of the stacks. The blocks are heavily reinforced with wood shoring before filling.
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This is the view from within the "work space"; standard "column" blocks are laid on their sides (after some trimming to ensure fit) to create holes which allow someone in the work space to see a little of the entrance way and the street beyond. Only a little bit, mind you. The work space is designed and supplied by Matisse, using Arc Linea hardware; the world's finest kitchen hardware. It was a tough decision: a 2001 Model Porsche 996 Careera 4 for me, or the kitchen, for us both. In the end, I insisted on the kitchen!
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The block work continues after the third "lift".
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The blockwork is almost complete, including the end of the lounge, and the U-shaped section adjacent the dining area. The old 928S costs a fortune to run to and from the site; gas is the equivalent of USD $9.20 a gallon here. Still, V8 owners have no right to complain about gas prices!
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Here the blockwork is essentially complete. It is beginning to be recognisable (I think), as a home derived from Jacobs 1.
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The very "industrial" study; no windows, only two doors; one into the hallway, one feeding into the "moss and fern garden". The interior walls will remain undressed concrete blocks, finished in a "wet-look" concrete sealer. Power, networking and speaker cabling will travel around the walls in "cable tray" a galvanised long-run, open metal frame. This makes adding power points etc, very easy in the future. The study will have over 20 power outlets. The top left corner gets a small (and very quiet!) extractor fan to remove heat generated by the computers I'll be running in here. The thermal mass of the home is inside the polystyrene insulation. The effect is to moderate internal temperatures effectively both summer and winter.
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View from within the study. There is a single panel double glazed door feeding into the "moss and fern garden, which faces the rising sun. It's also the only place we'll be able to shelter from the very hot and strong Nor'West wind which whips Canterbury in the summer months. This will be a tranquil area, witgh a 2-metre tall stainless steel water feature, making lovely but muted water sounds.
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Here you can see some of the steel required to support the roof. Without Lloyd Wright's massive fireplace (replaced by the work space bench) a large amount of steel is required to support the roof, and the "wall-over", which raises the ceiling level in the work space and bathroom by about 800mm over the living area ceiling.
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Here is the fron entrance and overhang. The small parts poking out support the hidden gutter which drains the large roof. It's over 300mm wide, so cleaning should be a piece of cake!
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My best buddy Hugo thinks it's all good! He's a lighting designer at Rexel, and has made a most oitstanding lighting plan for the home. All on PIR detectors and dimmers throughout.
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IT WORKS!! The blockwork is finished, and masses of steel is fitted. The garage requierd extra steel as the builders refused to consult the garage door makers as I instructed them to do. Much huffing and puffing was required when insisting that my design was NOT conpromised in any way. The garage remains 2.4 metres tall; being 6 x the 40cm units which comprise the "vertical unit" of the home. Conveniently, the blocks are 20cm units.
This image graphically demonstrates the "Floating Roof" concept I was trying to achieve. This photo is taken on the sidewalk opposite the home. You can clearly see that the roof is "flat" from this angle, and thus walkers can see in through the clerestory windows at the front of the house, and straight out through the windows above the Quintuple-fold doors of the lounge. The roof will appear to hover in mid-air over the lounge.
The clerestory windows are all electrically operated throughout, and I will connect them to a computer controlled system which will automatically open and close them depending on inside temp vs. outside temp. Manual over-ride is a given.
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Here's a better look at how the roof will float over the lounge.
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Panorama shots taken from the rear corner of the section. It's 11:30am on almost the shortest day of the year in the shot. Still undecided if I'll have the builders cut down the overhang in the far right of the image. It is larger than I intended. I may hang bicycles from the soffits...
