Maybe?

“Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t! Maybe you’ll have children maybe you won’t!” Maybe will save the building maybe we won’t!

The fact that the bricks bellow the DPC are actually concrete might give us the option that by building a retaining, “L” shaped, wall (using the existing as lost shuttering) will save what has been done up to now… It would mean big costs and time savings.

I’m going to discuss this with the engineer (Unfortunately his only available on Sunday) and see what can be done…

But in the mean time, maybe “We’ll build a playground, maybe we won’t!”

The Sketch design for the QEII playground has been drafted and tomorrow I’ll show it to the Clinton Foundation but also to the QEII Superintendent! So if he is a man of his word, soon we might be putting this playground up!

Keep your fingers cross for both these projects!

A bit of good news…

A deal for the installation of a playpump has been agreed provided that the water and the borehole test positive for clean drinkable water and for a plausible depth.

Trevor Field, from Playpumps came out today to see the site and also to meet with Sentebale in order to partner up with them to try and install 100 of these pumps in the country. As explained before in earlier posts the pumps work by children going round on a roundabout that then pumps water up into the tank, providing them with clean drinking water.

He was very pleased with the site and promised to install it even before we get a deal on the other 99 pumps. Good news for a change!

The only issue he brought up was that he believes that the borehole might not be sufficient to provide running water for all the facilities in the house… This might mean that we’ll need a second system or have to ration the water once the building is in use.

The other piece of good news, yet to be confirmed to what extent that changes things, is that there actually is a DPC installed in that retaining wall and that below it the blocks used are concrete and not sand. I was determined to have it rechecked today in proper light, and a quick inspection proved me right. It’s a bit of hope but not a certainty that it will mean it’s salvageable… Something will happen but maybe a sandwiched concrete retaining wall might do the trick? Sunday I’ll meet the engineer and try and see what we can do about it.

In the mean time I think I will just advise the builder to start knocking out the slabs… As for me I’ll just try and think out various solutions for the various scenarios.

$#!7 hit the fan!

Must start by apologizing for the language but to be honest it’s really how it seems today…

I’d been trying to avoid giving an engineer have a look at the building but the structural problems were so many that it was really a necessity… The reason why I didn’t really want them to have a look at it is that whilst you are ignorant you can cope with it, now that I know the extent of the problem I really don’t know what to do!

In less than 5 minutes he was saying that the only responsible thing was to pull it down and restart! Honest! He said that everywhere that we had retaining walls that they needed to be done properly otherwise we couldn’t guarantee that they would last more than 10 years… Sue the previous builder? Yes that should happen!

He met me on site today and although it was already really dark this was his immediate opinion. Imagine if there had been plenty of light??? He said that the concrete blocks 150mm, being made of river sand would not be stable if they started being contaminated by water… now since there are no DPMs or DPCs in place that is not an if but a when…

I’m really not feeling happy with the whole situation but we are already trying to sort it out the best possible way… Let you know tomorrow how we are going to tackle this… the builder has already claimed that he might try to absorb some of the costs in his social responsibility policy but what really concerns me now is the time to complete it!

Recharge

The first 3 weeks here have been quite a lot of work and the next ones I believe will be even worst. The slab problem needs a resolution, and all the rest will follow after that, so this weekend I took a trip to Durban, to surf and recharge my batteries…

Durban is quite a special place, Segregation would have to be the word I’d chose to define it. Founded on the Indian Ocean it became one of the biggest melting pots of Africa. Zulus, Brits, Afrikaners and Indians all came to live here. However they never quite mixed with each other.

The city has parts for some and parts for others. It’s difficult to feel welcome in all parts of the city. I was fortunate to meet people at the hostel and at the beach that made my stay more interesting and multicultural, if not for these I might have felt that the city was a quite unwelcoming place.

The city has a mix of colonial style architecture, skyscrapers, villas and shacks… The mix makes it quite a strange place to visit… Being a costal city it has also that added fascination of the sea, and all that it brings. Being the biggest Port of Africa it’s also quite an attraction and movement in and out of the city is huge.

The waves were great and I’m now ready for whatever the next few months might have in stall.

Bonk, Bonk, Bonk!

We spent the morning knocking about with a sledge hammer to test for the resistance of the slabs and also checking for any space under them.

The results were not comforting. It seems that 75% of the slabs are either week or sitting on air. Monday with and engineer we’ll try and understand the true extent of the problem and its possible solution.

It seems to me at the moment that there are 2 main options. Take all the slabs away and fill properly casting then a slab on what would be a stable ground. Or creating columns and beams on which we would then cast our new slab, this one not ground bearing thus not being exposed to any problems of terrain settlements.

In the mean time we are proceeding with work on other sectors of the building in order not to slow down too much the site.

Please call Tau…

Tau, is the second in command on site. Last weekend when I went on site I engraved my phone number on the wall and told me to call me if he found any problems.

Today at 10:20am I received the message that is now the title of this post: Please call Tau… The problem was not a small one. The slab in one of the rooms that was to be replaced did not have a mesh, or a DPM for that matter.

Fearing that it was not just a slip, but that it might have been a common practice of the previous builder, I asked them to open up the other big slab. We found a weak spot and at the end of the day I received another phone call saying that it also lacked a mesh and a DPM.

Tomorrow I’ll go on site first thing in the morning and try and decide what to do. I can’t really guarantee that the rest is not the same. Neither can I guarantee by what I’ve seen that the terrain is properly compacted, the slab well cast (and using an appropriate mix) so that we could leave it as it is. As far as I can predict with the next rains the soil on which the slabs are laid might wash away and the problem worsen…

I’ve asked Baba to see if an engineer can come with me on site tomorrow. Let’s do a few tests and see what we can do… But it’s not looking good!

May Day

Work on site seems to be progressing well. The preparation for the ring beam is almost over and the holes for the new slabs are nearly finished.

Today was dedicated to surveying Lydia’s house’s site. I can’t say it went all that well but it was sufficient to allow me to draw up an existing plan.

The students have another presentation so in order to advance some work I decided to do the existing plans myself. Now with plans made I’ll give them to them and then try and coordinate the results. I have sketched out a solution for a non-extension proposal. But what I hear from Lydia and what I hear from others doesn’t match… So I really don’t know if in the end we’ll be building and extension or not.