Walls Capped

Not sure yet if we we reuse the old fencing

Concrete all 13m3 of it

Concrete lorries were due in the afternoon so while the builders were waiting they built the new retaining wall.

  

A bit of a squeeze to get the pump lorry down the drive.

  

The pump lorry was soon joined by the second.

 

 The second lorry feed the pump.

 

And the concrete pumped onto the first terrace, 8m3.

 

 When second lorry was empty the pump lorry dropped another 5m3 on the second terrace. They were about 4 wheelbarrow loads short which was soon mixed up and thrown on by hand

 Both terraces were smoothed out with the required 5cm slope over 5m.

The lorry drivers spent as much time cleaning the lorries as they did pumping the concrete

Now we wait for it to harden enough for the block wall to be built on the edge of the terrace.

We have to make a decision now on how high to make that terrace wall. Initial thoughts were to be the same height as the retaining wall on the left then capped. With a wire balustrade behind to prevent kids or idiots falling off the terrace.

Shuttering

Both terraces now prepared for the concrete pour which should happen tomorrow. I hope to be here to see it. In order to achieve a 5cm slope (1cm per meter from the house to the garden and to have sufficient depth of concrete at the garden edge the new concrete will be at a level about quarter of the way up the existing steps and the tiles will therefore be half way up. Not ideal but the alternative is to take up the whole concrete base.

Cement surface layer removal

For the cost of a few beers they have taken all the old tiles away too.

Foundations

Foundations for the new bit of wall laid. Horizontal reinforcements in that concrete as well as the vertical supports for the block wall.

Having removed the tiles the builders agree that they will remove the top layer of cement which, in their opinion is the cause of a lot of the movement. they will replace with reinforced concrete. This will result in the terrace being raised by an or so but will give a far more secure surface.

Day 5 & 6

All the tiles gone now and the trellis is down too.

 

Having removed the trellis and raised bed from the end of the terrace I can see a little of how the sub base has be laid. The black polythene is under about 2" concrete. I reckon that 2" layer will have to come up. How secure and how deep the concrete under the polythene is I cannot tell. 

There were 3 hibernating newts under that polythene 

The steps are a bit of a worry as they are holding back ground water with no visible means of drainage. A steady trickle of water seeped out from around the breeze blocks while I was removing the tiles and they are still wet 2 days later.

The green fence surrounding the concrete terrace is now down. This terrace will be relaid with 100mm of re-enforced concrete and sloped towards the garden. As much of the water run off from this terrace will end up going down the steps I think we need to look at possible drainage options.

A view from the drive. That wall will be continued to the steps, capped and rendered to match the house

The wall to the left of the steps will be raised to match the terrace wall and extended to meet the fence, capped and rendered.

Terrace Day 4

Cracking progress today in a little over 1.5 hours removed 11 rows. An indication of how bad they were.

Another indication of bad the base is.