Category: Infrastructure

Poured the concrete for the house retaining wall on Wednesday – went reasonably smoothly, except for the operator not really getting the concept of “a bit more concrete slowly, please” and throwing concrete around with complete abandon. So we ended up with some largish blobs of concrete not inside the form. Spent today removing the formwork. I’d expected this to be a bit easier than it was, but the plywood was tightly wedged between the concrete and the sides of the trench in a lot…Continue Reading “House retaining wall – pour and un-forming” →

Some very unseasonal weather today – made a quick trip to the block armed with a laser level, a string line and a measuring stick, to see how far short of the required depth my trench was. Nice warm, sunny day quickly went south as a summer thunderstorm went over, sending me scurrying for the shed. Thankfully I’d just finished the measuring part and was just mucking about with a fat masonry bit in my drill, tidying up the trench walls. Got home to do…Continue Reading “Magical sky-water” →

With the excavator still around thanks to the long weekend, I figured it’d be a good chance to get the sand pad prepped for my main water tank. Coincidentally, my sister had made a wild claim that she really wanted to learn to use a compactor – and I wasn’t going to pass up a willing helper or two. Me, K and dad gathered up the exxy, a compactor and the pile of sand I had delivered last week, and we had a right old…Continue Reading “Water tank prep” →