DumbStick 13 Posted May 21, 2013 Author Share Posted May 21, 2013 Sounds familiar! How were the neighbours, first time meeting them wasn't it? Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Sounds familiar! How were the neighbours, first time meeting them wasn't it? They seemed fine actually, friendly and already one house has said as soon as we move in they can give us various info on childrens clubs, etc. Most are either families or elderly couples. But actually the day of our ceremony our immediate next door neighbours on both sides were not in so was not able to chat to them. But as I will be popping over often from now onwards to see the progress of the house I guess I will get to see them sooner or later. Once we move in I guess we will know what they are really like, but first impressions were good. Link to post Share on other sites
Metabo Oyaji 71 Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 We are actually really thinking of the house thing ourselves now. Thanks for the thread guys! Shopping around the base of Mt. Granview, I suppose? Or have those plots all been snapped up already? Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Haha, just an idea at the moment. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Though actually we do know someone who has been lucky enough to find a place in that area.... Link to post Share on other sites
klingon 10 Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 How far awar are you from the new place, snowdude? Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 How far awar are you from the new place, snowdude? About 50 k Link to post Share on other sites
Error404 0 Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Would be cool to set up a webcam to take a photo every 5 mins and do timelapses. Perhaps not practical!!! Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Good idea! Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted May 22, 2013 Author Share Posted May 22, 2013 snowdude, do they need to do any foundation reinforcement at all before doing the foundations proper? Apparently they are going to dig down in about 5 places on our land. I thought it was the whole thing they needed to do, but no - just 5 places. Will be interesting to see it in action. Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 snowdude, do they need to do any foundation reinforcement at all before doing the foundations proper? Apparently they are going to dig down in about 5 places on our land. I thought it was the whole thing they needed to do, but no - just 5 places. Will be interesting to see it in action. Yes. We opted to have it reinforced as the soil test readings althogh ok were softer than expected at some points. They are going to bore 30 plus holes 5mtr deep and then fill them with shingle which will be forced in under pressure to take up any air pockets and loose soil etc. They keep forcing them in until each bore hole is solid then they make the concrete foundation on this. They use shingle and not concrete for the supports so that they can flex with an earthquake. If they are made from solid concrete they could crack and give way during a quake. Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted May 22, 2013 Author Share Posted May 22, 2013 Wow that's quite a lot isn't it. Makes ours sound like almost nothing. I believe our 5 holes only need to be about 1.5m each. I saw the report, and that's what it seemed to be recommending from my understanding, so I'm sure it'll be fine! Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Wow that's quite a lot isn't it. Makes ours sound like almost nothing. I believe our 5 holes only need to be about 1.5m each. I saw the report, and that's what it seemed to be recommending from my understanding, so I'm sure it'll be fine! Yes, it is, it is actually more than required, but I thought that better to go over the top with the foundations than not enough, even if it is a bit of an over kill. Our builder did recommend reinforcement, although not necessarily as many as we have used. Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted May 22, 2013 Author Share Posted May 22, 2013 How did you make that call snowdude? What did they recommend? We weren't actually required to do our reinforcement, i dont think, but the report did recommend what we are having done. I didn't see any reason to insist on more, and without knowing anything about it either. When i asked they just basically said that any further wasn't needed at all and basically implied it would be a waste of my money. Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 Venturing just below the surface of snowdude's land: Just joshing. All the best with it all. Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted May 23, 2013 Author Share Posted May 23, 2013 OK it seems that I misunderstood what is happening with ours. I just called our guy up to clarify. And I may still be. But my new understanding is that it will be 1.2m of concrete (or something including concrete) for the entire base of the building. I suppose I'll find out in a few days when they actually do it! Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted May 23, 2013 Author Share Posted May 23, 2013 I also asked him about safety and if this is "enough". He said the pros recommended this and there's some guarantee associated with the numbers. So basically if the house sinks, they have to cough up. So it's in their interest to get it right. I asked if doing it further down would make the house any stronger, and he said no - it would just be a waste of money digging further and filling it in again. In our situation, of course. Interesting. Yet another bit of learning. Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 How did you make that call snowdude? What did they recommend? We weren't actually required to do our reinforcement, i dont think, but the report did recommend what we are having done. I didn't see any reason to insist on more, and without knowing anything about it either. When i asked they just basically said that any further wasn't needed at all and basically implied it would be a waste of my money. Well because of the variation in the readings we were recommended this. I think actually something like 20 supports were the minimum requirement in which we would actually get insurnce for that in case anything happened such as land sinking. But our builder said we could go a bit more and stick in 30 plus I forget how many now supports which will more than guarantee the strength, so I decided on more. That is how we came to do this. Without the proper strenthning work we would not be able to get insurance against any problems arising in future, so we went for it. I am sure what you have been recommended for your situation is fine, as your land must be all over more evenly strong than ours so that is why you dont need the extra work. Next Monday they start doing this so I will be going to see how it is all done. This is all new to me so will be interesting to watch. Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted May 23, 2013 Author Share Posted May 23, 2013 Well, we do actually need the reinforcement - over 1m all over the whole of the footprint - but perhaps a different kind by the sounds. Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 Well if the dudes who take the readings and make the report take responsibility for any future problems due to the foundations, I think you can all feel satisfied that it's all good. Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 Well if the dudes who take the readings and make the report take responsibility for any future problems due to the foundations, I think you can all feel satisfied that it's all good. Exactly, each situation is different so the builders build according to the land situation. Link to post Share on other sites
scouser 4 Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 Must be exciting for you guys. At what stage do you need to decide on things like the kitchen, bathroom, outside tiling etc? That already done when you start? Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 Must be exciting for you guys. At what stage do you need to decide on things like the kitchen, bathroom, outside tiling etc? That already done when you start? Yes already decided by the time the building starts. Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted May 24, 2013 Author Share Posted May 24, 2013 Actually we still haven't 100% confirmed most things yet, and building is starting now. We are still deciding on the position of a window actually as well. Hopefully within the next week or so, though, we'll get all of our details sorted. The small company we have been using have been extremely patient with us. We're certainly not "easy" customers, that's for sure! Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted May 24, 2013 Author Share Posted May 24, 2013 In future I'm not going to post without knowing what is actually happening. Shows how much I understand about it all. Turns out that on our land what they are doing is just this: 表層改良 (surface improvement) And it looks something like this Fairly simple, only take 2 days. Link to post Share on other sites
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