At the end it was just too late…

Yesterday I got held up by all sorts of little bits, concerning the Sentebale guest house, so by the time I did manage to have some time it was already too late to go to site.

I did manage however to meet the welder and with him we discussed the detail for the frames that will be mounted on the courtyard. The QS also returned an amended version of the claim and like that it was a lot easier to check…

On site work was going well, the door frames should now all be up, and all the partition walls are now done. All that we got left now is plastering roofing, and the courtyard.

Where, by the way Tau has already started to lay the foundations for. Speaking to both the contractor and the foreman, it seems that they are keen to at least have half of the building as an example that they can follow once I’m gone.

In the afternoon I went to meet the welder and since he was working at an old site (which I had visited with Martin nearly 6months ago) I decided to have a look around and see how that work had matured. The walls still look new and that really gives me confidence that our building might look the same in 6months time.

You could say that I’m not ambitious, but I am trust me. I have seen many buildings, less than a year old, with cracks that were not your average hairline or shrinkage crack, some had serious structural problems!

And it did move fast!

Amazed was I when today the dome nearly completed…

I had seen it start two days ago, but had not looked at it since, so today when I went to site in the morning and it was 5 courses away from being complete, I was more than surprised!

The structure is self supporting and easy to build, when I asked Christopher (TED) what was the biggest they had ever built he said 4,5m radius. I think that there’s potential here for something else, it just needs to be refined and maybe it could be used a simple and cheap housing solution?

There were also some big changes on the rest of the building. The roof structure (not braced, yet) is up on Block B in all of the small section and in 1/3 of the large one. The thatchers have finally showed up, all four of them, and that also seems to be picking up speed. And Tau and his men have nearly finished the last partition walls. The foundations for the courtyard have also started to be dug.

The QS showed up today and promised to bring me tomorrow, the emended version. He also claims that that is the way that they always do it… Maybe it’s just me, because this is my first time checking this sort of documents but I do believe that the way I asked him to do it is a lot better.

Orange, green, and yellow…

An early morning site visit (I had gone to drop off Liz at the airport, gave me hope that one day I’ll also be on my way to the airport) proved quite useful, as they were setting out the last walls in the kitchen area.

I also caught a glimpse of the thatcher, didn’t quite manage to see how many guys he had with him? Not really a problem, as it will be possible to calculate how many they were…

And in the Afternoon I received claim nr2 from the contractor. I had a quick look at it and have decided that I will not check it, until it is properly done! Who ever did it, just didn’t care anything about what they had doing and have mixed, previously claimed amounts with current amount! A true mess!

Both these events were important, however the biggest achievement of the day, was the decision on the colour scheme. Well not quite the decision (as I still need to go and find exactly the colours that I want), but the “go ahead” from Lydia on the overall colour scheme.

As agreed the scheme will be a simple, traditionally inspired (picture shows one house with a similar scheme), orange/terracotta for the walls, yellow/beige for the frames and light green for the doors and windows. The interior will be painted a light crème and the carpet tiles and vinyl tiles might be of changing colours.

Sills, roof and dome

I have since learnt that not all things move at the desired speed. Now that I know this I am a much more conformed person.

Yesterday I visited site and as there was little of interest to report I chose not to do so and to use that occasion only as comparison point for today. It was with some surprise, and also a bit of joy, that today the roof structure on the front of Block B has started to go up. Also the interior window sills have started to be put in place in Block A, and in the general things are starting to look a bit more finished (there is still miles to go, but the spirits, at least for today, were high).

A new thatcher also showed up today (4 were meant to come), but I must say that their progress was not that noticeable.

The biggest change of the day was the start of the Biogas dome. I met on site the guy that started TED 20 years ago, and he told me that he would be accompanying this build step by step as part of the training of the men that are doing it. This makes me feel more confident both with its quality and speed.

So things are slowly moving in the right direction, and with a little bit of luck we might soon be starting to see it close to its final shape.

Sometimes things come back to haunt you

Not all days can be fun and joy…

My day started off as my night had ended. Quite and adventure I must say, last night Harper had 2 flat tyres and after picking up the passengers (last night), today we drove back to give him his fixed tyre so that he could finally drive back! Nearly 24 later he was back in Maseru and I was off to site…

When I visited the site, expecting the same kind of progress as I had encountered yesterday, I not only did not find it (what was I thinking anyway?) but I also noticed that we are having some problems with the plastering.

On the tops of the walls especially in the round sections, the plastering has cracked. I suspect the reason for this is in part the omission of the wall plate. Not that it avoids cracks, but because if it was there the poles would have been free of plaster and would then be able to slightly shit their position as the wood expands and retracts due to changes in humidity.

Maybe I should have been stronger and not have conceded to that change of detail, but my thoughts at the time were “we need to move on”. I still believe that we do, and I do hope that once the roof is on, and before we paint that maybe we will be able to resolve this minor issue and that it will not come back to haunt me (again).

Best day so far

I would like t start by saying that it was not (entirely) Ntate Linakane’s fault that we did not meet last Tuesday, in fact he did end up coming but someone had told him that I was not here and then forgot to tell me about it…

Today we did meet and at the arranged hour! The meeting was really productive and we have agreed on a lot of issues that were still pending. Next Tuesday we will meet again and try and set a date for completion…

But this was not the only thing that went well today. When I visited the site, it seemed like something really special was happening (or maybe I just learnt to expect less, who knows?). The thatcher finally showed up, and had already done a bit of work.

I spoke to him and he explained to me how he will go on about it. It’s quite interesting! The thatcher works with an assistant, whilst he is placing the bundles on top and sowing them down the helper is tightening the sisal rope to assure that the bundles are nicely into place. They start at the eaves (bottom) and slowly make they’re way up to the ridge (top). Once the metal flashing is fixed they will then comb the grass down to finish it. Whilst this is being done the inside is gradually being coated with clean combed grass. In this way a nice thatch finish will be visible from both sides.

The Structure for the roof on block B is also being put up at good rhythm and I’m really less sceptical about it than I was with block A.

And if this was not enough progress for one day, the last slab has finally been cast! (when I left at 3:30pm they only had about 3m2 to finish, so I assume that by the end of the day it would have been finished!)

If the next few weeks go as today there might still be a little bit of hope for this building after all. (it will not be complete unfortunately, but it will be at a stage when I can comfortably move on and not look back too much over my shoulder)

The other side

Work on Block B looks like it might finally get on its way!

Today when I visited the site hoping to meet Ntate Sello and discuss the courtyard and the “DPM sandwich”, I was very happy to discover that the Roof Structure man was back and had started to erect one of the roundavlos.

It should have started last week, but anyway I’m actually happy that it started now… I already had to rectify a small detail, an maybe if they had done it lat week this week we would be discussing the same problems as we had on Block A. What is past is past and now we should only look ahead and carry on to finish this building ASAP.

Ntate Sello was not there, he had to come to Maseru to buy extra materials, but he told me that I could show Tau how to do the “DPM sandwich”. Upturning the DPM is not a standard practice in Lesotho, and it had been causing great problems so in order to make everyone’s life a little easier and allow us to move forwards, we have devised a solution that avoids the use of mesh! It’s actually quite simple, behind the existing plastic DPM you paint a Bituminous layer (2 coats, one pure paint, the second, at right angles, mixed with ruff sand, then over this mix you sprinkle extra sand, the whole purpose of this recipe is to provide a good key for the plaster), now that you have your Bituminous layer you upturn the plastic DPM and cast your sand and cement screed. After that you can cut the excess plastic DPM because (hopefully) the pressure from the sand/cement screed plus the 50mm overlap of DPMs will be enough to make it continuous. It is not an ideal solution but I believe it will work!

This is supposed to be last month here, to finish the LCCU and go home, but never have I received so many requests for new projects. I cannot start them and follow them through to the end so I’ve sent them all to “London”, for A4A to decide whether it is possible for them to commit to these new proposals.