The roof and the neighbours

Back from a weekend trip to the “Afro-European” city of Cape Town I was really happy to see that the roof braces have now started to be putting into place!

The roof truces have now started to be reinforced with the horizontal braces, although not exactly the way that I had thought but the way that has been done actually works quite well, so I guess I will leave it that way.

When I was leaving the site I met the next door neighbours that showed and told us all about their house. I was pleased to know that their roof was also strapped down and that in 17years of strong winds all the problems that she has had have actually been the thatch flying off the structure!

So my mind is now quite rested as far as the roof goes but the holes on the other side are still there! No stone has been bought I suppose although I saw a truck delivering just as the sun was setting and we had left the neighbours house.

Guess it is necessary to sit down once again with the contractor and re-align our building phases.

Red, yellow, green and blue

Painting the tyres was fun as well as rewarding!

The playground at the QEII is now (once the paint has dried properly) fully operational! We might still lay the floor tiles next week but now they can start using it.

The children really enjoyed it and although we wanted some of tyres left black the enthusiasm was such that they all got painted!

But I must say that that was not the only thing that I saw that both pleased me and looked nice. When I visited the site late this afternoon, Tau had started with the top of the wall detail. It looks great! The wall looks separate from the roof and we managed to avoid a messy finish using only plaster!

I also had a quick look at the metal straps (earlier I had a returned phone call from one of the UK expat architects, that told me that this was one of the standard details, and that as long as the straps were properly embedded in concrete and properly nailed down I shouldn’t worry too much about it) so I had a look and they had actually been round tightening it!

The roof and wall junction is looking okay, the interior plastering on B is well on its way, so as soon as the poles arrive and are installed we can move forwards onto A!

for more pictures click here http://picasaweb.google.com/pck.clarke/PaintingQEII

Recipe

“Plastering Mixturure (ho Lila)

Donkeys and horse’s refuse/dung and cow dung
Selokoe type of sand (it’s a bit sandy and clayish)
Mixture
10L Selokoe sand
5L Cow dung
5L Donkey’s or horse’s dung
+/- 20L of Water
After putting the mixta on da wol, collect some water in a basin and dip fingas in da water and sprinkle on dat surface and smoothly rub on da surface to make it look gud. Do it ova & ova again a few times.”

Not quite sure if this is the way to go on with the panels. Not quite sure if this is the kind of mixture you want children to be playing around with.

I got this recipe from one of the women that every 3months has to re-plaster there houses at Ha Kome cave village. This village has been established in 1824 as a refuge from the cannibals and ever since they have re-plastered and maintained there houses. The plaster mix that they use has therefore proven its way… Not like mine…

My last test did not work that well! Of the 3 panels all 3 broke, the worst being the 30% cement… I now have some commercial clay, but I will also filter and test some other mixes as well as backings…

Something had to give…

After 3 hours of tense discussion, Mr Linakane decided to just drive off…

Ntate Sello and all the rest of us were left there looking at his car drive off wondering what had happened! Ok the conversation was not going that easily, can’t really say that it was going his way… I was not prepared to give in on this one.

I don’t care if the top of the wall detail is not going to be as fine as I had expected… Don’t even care too much if the windows are crocked (not saying that they are, but really couldn’t care too much if they were…) but I do care if I feel that roof is not properly secured and resistant!

So as I insisted, and insisted, that I would not feel comfortable if we did not brace it my way. When he drove off I thought it was the end of it, specially when I called him and he didn’t pick up, but soon after he called Ntate Sello got a phone call, and since he had already understood my point he managed to reach an agreement.

I will not get all that I asked for (the purlins will not be put in, and to his defence, I did visit quite a few sites and never saw any) but the bracing will go in every other one, thus making it more rigid. Diagonals will also be put in place and like this I think that I will able to sleep at night…

Just for the record, the discussion was mainly about the fact that he though that I was over-designing/spending (we are both on the same side, he should understand this) by wanting to brace it 9 times as opposed to 7!!!!

It was a morning well spent nevertheless! And it seems we are in for a long battle now…

Because I don’t like to finish on a negative tone, I’d just like say thank you to Liau and his friends for having finished today the concrete for the playground!

A little bit longer…

Unfortunately I didn’t manage to meet with Mr. Linakane today… he got held up at Leribe… So I will have to wait a little bit longer to sort out the roof problems.

At the site work was carrying on as usual, Tau still plastering the inside and Ntate Sello has started to collect grass for the roof.

Whilst at the LCCU work has been carrying on slowly and meeting with the contractor has been a real challenge, work at the QEII hospital today went on until 7pm! Just a little bit longer they said!

It is nice to see this kind of dedication! Thank you Liau, you have been doing a great job, and if not for lack of labour and problem at Cashbuild to pick up extra materials I’m sure you would have finished today… But it was great to arrive at 6pm at the QEII and have to wait a little bit longer so that you could finish your work!

The last thing that seems that will go on for just a little bit longer is my stay here. (I will call A4A and discuss that tomorrow) I had not predicted the delay that we have on site and I feel responsible (in a good way) to stay here a little bit longer and see it through!

However I can only stay until mid-September, and that’s already stretching it to the limit! I’m sorry that I won’t be coming back as soon as I had promised, and I know that I will be tight (on time) to complete writing my thesis but some times there are things that you just feel that you have to do!

The stand still…

A quick morning site visit served to confirm my fears… The roof is still the same…

I decided yesterday, after another favourable opinion for the metal straps to leave them in place. But I had already instructed for the bracing to be up in position. This is crucial for the stability of the roof. But the contractor feels differently and so far nothing has been done!
This morning Ntate Sello was asking me to please sit down with Ntate Linakane and decide what to do for the roof as he needs to carry on! I told him that my wishes are the same as his and that the sooner we carry on the better… but that the roof needs to be properly secured…

Apart from that all seems to be proceeding well… Tau is making good progress with the plastering, and the stone for block B I believe has been organised, although I will only believe it when I see it!

Monday I will therefore meet Mr. Linakane and explain to him that despite what he thinks we are both on the same side!

And today we built a playground…

Well, not quite but we did make a good start at it! And if we had had a few extra pairs of hands we would have!

Camille and I spent all our day at the QEII hospital helping Liau (a volunteer from the Lerotholy polytechnic that accepted my invitation to come and help us on this project) build the playground! It was exhausting but fun! By lunch time we had already managed to set out all the tyres and pour crushed stone over then.

By the way, the playground, which we fought long time for is a simple, concrete slab on a crushed stone sub-base, with a tyre fence. It is quite simple but I think the children will actually like it once it becomes operational.

So as I was saying, by lunch we had already managed to make our sub-base and placed all the tyres in the right positions. In the afternoon, we started pouring concrete, but not even with the help of two of Liau’s friends (thank you so much for your help, all of you, hope to see you on Monday) we managed to finish the concrete.

Monday we will restart and finish this process. Then, next Thursday the children that will visit the clinic will be invited to paint a tyre! It will be a nice moment and it will contribute to sense of ownership of the place!

Although we didn’t manage to finish it today, I learnt a lot about construction, about pouring and levelling concrete, about making smooth, and about the way that some people are actually willing to give back to the community all that they have received!

more pictures of the construction click here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/pck.clarke/PlayQEII

And the beat goes on…

Still not sure what to do about the roof, today I took a teacher from the Polytechnic to have a look at it.

At first he said that it looked weak, but after coming up on to the roof and looking at it properly he was quite confident that it would hold. We then took a sample of the strap to another teacher, this time a structural engineer, and he said that it would be fine! He actually told me that traditionally there are no straps what so ever, that the roof is not attached at all, just sitting on top! Don’t know if that should reassure me or scare me…

The spacing of the bracing has also been an issue… When I confronted the contractor with this, he replied back that that was the traditional way, and that was what he quoted for! I told him that he also quoted for a wall plate, so where has it? He said that if I insisted I could have my wall plate because it was cheaper… I DON’T WANT CHEAPER! I WANT SAFE AND RELIABLE!

Tomorrow I will try and contact another architect, and get from him another opinion, but I can’t wait for too long, time is running out! Work on other sections, such as plastering is proceeding at good rhythm but the roof is rather crucial!

Rest of day was spent chasing suppliers and finding materials. Tomorrow we will start the playground at the QEII. I’ve managed to persuade a student to come and help us and he has organized a team of 3…

It will be good to actually do some manual labour for a change and put my brain to rest!

Wall-plate…

To wall-plate or not to wall-plate that is the question?

The roof has been causing me (daily) headaches since I first saw it. In one of my last posts I spoke about the need for purlins and braces, I also mentioned that the wall-plate had been omitted…

I had not been too worried about this as we had a ring-beam, but it has since been flagged to me that the metal straps (and nails) might not handle the diagonal strength properly…

I must say that that is a scary idea but when the contractor and the “roof specialist” tell me that the wood will splinter if we nail through it, I now have a problem to resolve?? To help me with this I have asked a teacher from the school of architecture to come and see the site tomorrow… I will also consult with few more architects, which have worked in the country for long, and then try and make a decision…

But that was not the only issue that I tried to solve today regarding the roof, in the morning I drove off to Bloem and I picked up a sample/model of a fire proof system, I feel that it is one of our best options, now I just need to convince the contractor that it is so!

Apart from dealing with this today was also the day that we finally decided on a start day for the QEII playground. If we manage to order and receive all the materials tomorrow, on Friday we will lay the concrete, then a week from that we will paint and glue the floor tiles.

It will be good to see something finished for a change!

Happy birthday

It was only too late that I realized that Mr. Linakane had not shown up to the meeting we had organized. Unfortunately today was a public holiday, the King’s Birthday, so it will have to wait until tomorrow…

The celebration was up at Butha Buthe and it was a privilege to see all the dancing and singing as well as the military display. Whilst this was going on work on site carried on as usual (or at least during the morning), I do hope that the day has been an inspiring one all around. Tomorrow I will check…

Happy Birthday King Letsie III! May you help your country and your people prosper…

Poles, Braces and Purlins

Much discussion has occurred, both here and “internationally”, about how to sort out the roof.

Like I said last post when I visited the site, the roof had been put up but still there were no provisions for bracing or diagonals. So after a lot of thinking and realizing that details are of little use, we spent the morning up on the roof, showing exactly where the new poles were to go, explaining their functions and trying to convince them of their necessity.

It is all more difficult when the roof-guy does not speak English, Tau helped us translate, and then Camille and I marked out on the walls, pole by pole whether it was no have a high or a low “A” and where the diagonals are to be placed. Like this there is less margin for error, but as soon as the posts arrive I will be sure to be there once again to be sure that they installed properly.

Apart from this work on site is carrying on as usual. We are still struggling to find stone to fill up “Matla’s craters” and preparation for the rendering has now started. The only other slight mistake that I encountered was that they forgot to pre-form the space for the pipes in the concrete (in the boys bathroom) but I’ve been told and believe that that will not be much of a problem.

Since we were up on the roof, we made a little mock up of the new solution for the connection of the walls to the roof. Before this detail was to be resolved by the wall plate and another piece of wood, it was a fine and elegant detail, but since the wall plate has been omitted (for reasons that I still cannot explain) I had to think about a new detail. What I’m trying to achieve is a crisp line separating the roof plan and the wall, this will now be done by a stepping back of the render. We made two tests and then Tau build us a small portion and it seems to work. Not as elaborate as the original but I guess that it might work all the same.

Driving back to the office I noticed that the demolition of Lydia’s house had started, so I stopped, asked and was not amazed when I discovered that Lydia had asked them to start but that they didn’t study at the polytechnic nor know whether they would get paid for it or not… I guess some things never change!

roof…

For the first time I was really surprised, when I reached the site!

Maybe I would have been surprised any other time that I had been away from the site for 9 days… But nevertheless today I was surprised.

Much has changed and now, on block A, the roof structure is 3/4 up. But unfortunately not all was done as I had left detailed…

The roof structure was mounted without a wall plate, not a major issue (since there is a ring beam, and that will distribute the forces evenly) but still it would have been better if it had been put in. Sometimes I ask myself why I actually do details? I do them but then the “specialists” always end up doing whatever they are used to doing!

The horizontal bracing is still missing (and they were planning on economizing in this field, a non-option I’m afraid!), and a few diagonals have been neglected, but with a little “assistance” it will not be too difficult to put them in, and the fact that now the roof is coming on does make a big difference!

The LCCU , at least when you look at block A, now looks more like a building, and I can start to understand what exactly the spaces will be like. The windows have now been changed to match and that also did wonders for it.

However, on Block B, we are still a little behind schedule. Although the partitions for the toilets are now done two slabs are still missing… We are still struggling to find enough stone to complete it, but I think the contractor is now considering buying some. I need to speak to him as this is not the only thing that he needs to buy!

By now it seems that it will not be possible to complete it on time but I still have a little hope that if luck is on our side and we carry on as now, or a little bit harder, we might still make it!

more roof pictures

Back in Town

15:30 arrived back in Maseru (after a slow stroll through the border, rules have changed in the last week) and rushed straight into a QEII hospital meeting.

It was not possible to decide much, as many members were absent, but al least now all the tyres and tiles are ready to be used and the tools to do it sorted out.

We arrived so late partly thanks to the still ongoing chaos of renting a car. Once again thanks Avis for such a lousy service that I never received!

But also because, last minute, the meeting in Maputo was pushed forward a couple of hours. So by the time we left Maputo (15:00, yesterday) the delay was inevitable.

That meeting however went well and we go got verbal confirmation that it was ok to build on this plot of land (a formal letter will follow next week) and now the guys back in London can start preparing for the next stages.

So all went well and when we arrived back here in Maseru, I was told that progress on site has been good. Can’t wait to go and confirm this tomorrow!

Strangely familiar

After a great weekend up in Tofo, we now drove down to Maputo for the work part of this trip.

Like Inhambane (closest town to Tofo), Maputo is an ex-portuguese colonial town of stunning beauty. It is strange to have travelled half way around the world and to come across cities that look vaguely like home.

It’s not exactly the layout or the setting but something does bring back memories of Porto, Setúbal or Lisbon. But unlike their European counterparts these two cities now have nature taking over. Here green is green, and is slowly creeping up on the entire city. This gives these places however a certain charm that is hard to explain…

Back to the reason of the trip, “Meninos the Moçambique” a Mozambican counterpart of street child Africa.

In early 2006 A4A got involved with them to design a new childcare unit and training centre for younger mothers and children. This new centre will be in the Bairro Luis Cabral, one of the most impoverished neighbourhoods of the city.

Since that date both organizations have been waiting for a “parecer favorável” (authorization) for construction on the site from the Urbanization Department.

Due to my knowledge of Portuguese and willingness to visit the country it was agreed that on my trip I would stop by and meet with both Sr. Abdul Faquir (Menino’s Director) and the Director of “Urbanização”.

So today I met Sr. Abdul Faquir, and from him I discovered not only that Menino’s have been trying to pull some strings so that the process can move faster and that it now seems to be paying off. I also learnt more about the organization and their plans to expand.

We then visited the site and some alternatives, close to the original one. Although the Bairro is in quite bad state, one of the materials used, reed, gives it a much nicer look. This reed is available all over the country and is used in many different ways , from walls to roofs. A good example of it, in the same neighbourhood, is an abandoned school. If I had know before I might have thought of trying to import some to Lesotho, as we are having a bit of difficulty in finding some.

After this we went to a builder’s merchant, the available materials are much better than what we can find in Lesotho. Here the industry is divided between what is imported from South Africa, the natural (local materials) and the materials that remained in the Portuguese tradition (the factories are still the same only the ownership changed). The array of materials is therefore “huge” and A4A should be able to find a bouquet of materials that will suit the projects needs.

The last meeting of the day, and probably the most important of the day, had to be re-scheduled for tomorrow as the responsible architect was unavailable.

I hope to meet him tomorrow and to know from him something new (it’s been a year and a half so far and no progress), to see if his 3 week long promise for a “Despacho” (decision/document) will come through.

more photos of mozambique click here

Hands-a cultural thing

Camille arrived yesterday, and thanks to Baba’s help it was possible to meet her at the airport.

Now I will have an extra pair of hands to help me on whatever I might need, on site, office, mixing concrete or playing with clay…

But before this starts I will now have a well deserved break. We started by a short visit to Kruger (and profiting from the fact I need to go to Maputo) will continue in Mozambique..

Kruger was great, the changes in landscape are amazing, no worse than the animals…

The only reason why I mention it is the traditional inspired architecture of the rest camps. “Skukuza” (where we stayed) was nice and modern with thatch being the key to this success, but at “Lower Sabie” this was taken even further and I saw something that can be a good alternative in case we cannot find Spanish reed… simple wood!

Instructions

Last Wednesday was chaotic. Sorry for only posting now…

The day kicked off with a few visits to sort out some of the materials for the playground, then a visit to site for a final inspection.

I will be away for 1 week (half leisure half work) on a visit to Mozambique. So for this period I have left a list of work that I would like to see carried out on site until I get back. Baba will also keep an eye on the site and let me know if anything looks out of place.

But after that it all went hectic! Avis had promised me a car but a last minute phone call to the manager changed the whole scenario but not without charging me first…

This adventure would only finish next morning at Johannesburg airport.

A day of tests…

After spending the morning collecting tyres for the QEII playground and digging for clay I spent the rest of day doing some tests with the material.

Yesterday I had already bought some wood and mesh to make some test panels. I’ve now made one reusable wood form that will be used for the panels.

I made tests using pure clay (found in Lesotho, and just remixed until it got soft again) on a mesh backing, one with 10% cement and one with 30% cement.

Until now the results were not very successful, but I will have to wait and see when they are completely dry. The pure one seems to be the one that is having a better chance of survival although when I mixed it in it was not the one with the best consistency.

I guess that I will have to go back to my original idea of going to see how it is really done.

The other test was more successful though! I went to the QEII and since I was the first to arrive I decided to make a test with the tyres to see if we had enough?

We had 33 tyres, big ones and small ones, and with this number it is now possible to close the playground! All the ones that we’ll get donated will be used for toys. With the test I also managed to convince them of the use of concrete.

We will then pour a thin slab that will be possible to break (with a sledge hammer) in case we need to dismantle the playground… however rumour has it that will not happen before 2009, so one more reason to use the concrete!

The meeting then went on as usual, and in the end we all agreed that it is likely that we will start on site in the next 2 weeks.

Need to place the orders for material and try and sort out all those bits that are still missing tomorrow morning.

Claim it,

The first builder's claim was given to me last Thursday. I checked it and found only two minor discrepancies. That changed (and allowing him to receive the full amount for the extra work, as an incentive), I today delivered the claim to the bank.

The work on site restarted today, and the major developments are that the two toilet compartments are now up, and showers are at 1/3. The storm water pipes are also nearly ready and we now await only the arrival of the geotextil.

With that “mesh” I hope that we will also receive the poles for the roof and the bituminous paint so that we can finish the work of waterproofing the WC.

Today I also found on site the electrician. I showed him the drawing and asked him where he saw the sub-distribution board?? No answer! I explained to him why I didn’t want it there and clearly told him not to do anything (again) that was not on the plans without my previous approval! I hope I was not too hard but I’m not used to this role!

A stay-away has been declared for Thursday… I hope that will not affect us too much! I spoke to Ntate Sello and he said that since we are using our own transport it should be okay for them to go to work, but in reality anything can happen, let’s wait and see…

But I’d like to finish this post on a positive note. I had to give up, and ask Tau to buy the battery himself! I had been promising him I’d buy a battery for the site camera for nearly a month now… But everyday I forgot! Today I just gave up and asked him to buy it if he didn’t mind! Like that tomorrow, we will be able to take pictures with flash again!

More promising…

The site is now looking a bit more promising…

Not that you’d be amazed (yet) if you went there but at least the word construction can now be used in reference to the site.

The walls for the house mother’s room are finished (blockwork that is) and the cubicles for the toilets are already being put up. On block B the water drainage is being installed and I was pleased to see the steels for the ring beam already being prepared.

Looking at the site deserted as it was this weekend and seeing the amount of work that we still have to do was not easy. I do hope that the next couple of weeks (although part of the time I will not be around) will be the weeks of change!