more of a floor
new lightweight concrete pour
The next layer of concrete was poured yesterday. This was to cover the pipes and tubes for the plumbing and electricity that had woven a spider’s web over the entire foundation.
Early yesterday morning we went to site to discuss any possible changes or modifications to the fixtures before the point of no return…when they would be buried under another 15cm of concrete. Then a few hours later I returned again as the truck arrived ready to pump out enough square meters to cover the entire footprint of the house.
This concrete is a lightweight type which is filled with tiny foam balls incorporated into the mixture. Then to save concrete and save costs, even more space was filled with large foam planks which also give excellent insulation as well.
They quickly (as this is a job which requires a bit of speed) spread the mixture over each room of the house, including the studio on the second level. I left before it was fully complete, as I love to show up the next day and see a big step having been completed.
Today it was dry enough to walk on and we met in the morning to receive the controtelai (counter frames) of the windows which will be fitted into place as a type of frame for the block work. Not until a few steps more in the future will the actual visible window frames arrive, but this step will really start to tie up any lose ends of the block work. Up until this point most of the window openings had been left quick rough around the edges and larger than the actual window as it was best to wait for the actual frames then build the block work around that.
We went window by window checking the measurements and placements on the wall, centimeter by centimeter. And then they got to work finishing up this step in the process. I think next week once it’s all complete the shape of the house and proportions will really start to show.
The ‘serramentista’ (window maker) told us that this is the time where each step starts to feel like it’s really getting closer to the end. Although I look around now and it seems that there is so much still to do - and in some ways there is - the jobs that do need to be done can be organized into just a few final categories.
At the end of the month the land around the house will start to be reorganized, sorting out the large entrance wall which will be a sort of retaining wall along the driveway as it slopes down towards the garage, and creating the actual grade of the drive itself. Then we’ll be able to fill in any additional space with better quality soil, create the terraces, and hopefully plant at least the small olive grove in the front of the property next month.
view from the field
The ‘paesaggista’ (landscape designer) said that December was a good time to plant the trees, and although this is usually done at the end of a project, I thought it would give them a heads-up on growth time and then I could buy them a little smaller to save a bit on the budget. (And these days, every little bit helps!)