My Dream House Construction Experience

[KVS Setty]

Hello Guys,

I am starting this thread to share all my experience with the construction of my house.
well the construction has started about 15 to 20 days back not remember the exact date.

the plan is designed by an Architect and i paid hefty fee and i had a very bad experience with the Architect ,which i will share in my next posts.
But as far as plan is concerned,it is satisfactory to us and we are implementing it ,though we said good bye to the Architect once for all.

Now , the construction is done by a construction firm managed by well qualified and experienced three civil engineers and a host of supporting staff. The main engineer who is looking after my project is a masters in structural engg. But my worry is that since the project is with material contract they may compromise in many things to make a hefty margin.
So ,I told him clearly that you charge me 100 to 200 more per sft but don't exploit us, don't compromise on quantity and quality of material,and don't take us for a ride, don't cheat us at any cost, because
that gives us more pain than loosing few bucks more.And he has agreed and promised to give a quality construction and make all efforts to build to our satisfaction.

with this intro , i will start posting my experience regularly in this topic
as the construction progresses so that members will know the pros and cons of going with complete material contract in constructing a house and also help me when I am in fix with some issues.
That's it for the time being.

[KVS Setty]

So far the construction is going smooth with out any issues except one, which i already posted in a different thread and it is resolved now.That topic is here:
http://www.mybdasites.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=5454

[KVS Setty]

Hello,

Since two three days sump work is going on.
builders said they will do sump with bricks and i requested to do RCC sump after reading some of the topics in this forum, and they agreed for it ,though with little resistance as it will cost more to them.
Now I thought for RCC sump they will make a steel structure similar to pillar but to my surprise it is slightly different , what they made is U shaped bends length wise and width wise and joined them in the pit ,they are 6'' apart in both length wise and width wise directions so in the bottom it looked like a square matte and I would like to ask experienced members is it ok with what they did ?
one of the worker calling it as retaining wall type of sump.I am not sure what he means by that.
the planned capacity for the sump is 6000lts, and the dimensions appx is 8.5ft x 6.5ft x 4.5ft.

I attaching a photo of the steel structure and unfortunately they already filled with concrete in the bottom ( appx 6" thick) ,so you can not see the bottom structure.
Please share your thoughts on the strength of the steel structure they have put up for the sump.
And also any precautions I should take at this stage before completing the sump, things like avoiding water leakage, opening size for maintenance,thickness of the sump walls etc,etc
Thanks in advance for any inputs.

[KVS Setty]

Hello,

As per the contract they are supposed to use APCO blocks of 8",6" 4".
First lot of blocks arrived , blocks looks good and neat but how to know that they are of APCO make? no markings on the blocks to identify them like we see in bricks ?
Any ways to find it's maa and bapp ?

[jackalbda]

I was in the same dilemma and I shared it with my architect. He insisted on asking for a bill from APCO in my name which I got.

[KVS Setty]

@jackalbda Thank you very much for the hint, I will do that to get satisfied myself that they are using the brand which we agreed upon.

[KVS Setty]

Hello to all,

today let me tell you how they are doing our sump which is RCC type.

#1. they excavated the soil to a size slightly bigger than the required size,on one side of width and length it has already excavated for column so they just extended the digging to the required sump size.

#2.mason laid a bed of PCC with 40mm jelly to a thickness of about 6".

#3. Bar bender made a steel structure with 10mm steel bars ,it consists of U shaped bars spaced about 6" apart both on length and width sides so that the bottom looked like a grill with 6x6 squares. I felt they could have made the structure with a spacing of 4" instead of 6" for a better strength. your comments on this please.

#4.Today the centering guy did the shuttering, he made a box like shuttering on two sides pit, where he had sufficient space to do but on the other two sides only the inner side of the pit and no shuttering on the other side, it is just the earth/soil
I was not happy with the thing , he said , he can not do it as no space to and also it can not be removed later, I called the JE and showed the thing, he says its ok we can pour the concrete between the earth and one side shutter itself nothing will happen.
I am not sure, this is the right way of doing things, your comments here are welcome.

if things are not clear please see the below pics: you can clearly see, no shutter on the left side,just they dropped a blue plastic tarple to cover the earth to avoid the direct contact of concrete with the earth/soil,it seems the plastic thing is buried in the earth permanently and excess thing of it( which you see in the pics) will be cutoff .

I am not sure, the standard norms followed in sump construction, please pass on your comments and opinions on this ,so that it will help others and me also.

that's it for the day.

[vmuralictr]

1. They must have the shuttering in other side also . If they are not doing it , then they want to save the Excavation Cost & Shuttering Cost .
Technical Reasons :
1. The other side soil is there . So Soil surface may touch the Reinforcement at the time of concrete . In result it will reduce the Strength of the Concrete .
2. If the reinforcement got rusted because of the Touching of the Soil surface this rust may spread to the water in to the Tank Because of this water will get Spoiled and we will be in Dangerous Situation.
3. If they are not providing the Shuttering on the other side they Water proofing can not be done from the Out side .
4. For Tanks water proofing for Both side is Mandatory .

I personally feel that they Dont have the Quality Conscious towards the work . I Suggest you to please deploy any one Technical person from your end to Take care of this kind of Issues

Regards

Murali

[KVS Setty]

Hello Guys,

Yesterday they poured the concrete to the sump walls it was around 6 pm when they completed and used around 13 bags of cement .

And today when I reached the site around 10.30 AM,they already removed the shuttering structure and filling the surrounding area with the soil. the sump looked good as whole, a snap of it attached here and i have also marked the sides on which shuttering is only on one side.
But when I looked closely on the sides where shuttering is one side only i could see some cracks.

I don't understand how and why such cracks developed and will it have any effect on strength and leakage issues, i am seeking your comments and opinions here

[vmuralictr]

1. In the Pic you attached it is clearly visible the Rods are touching the Soil surface which is not acceptable .
2. You must do the water proofing for the other side .
3. remove the Soil and Curing has to be done for it properly for minimum of 7 to 10 days ...

Regards

Murali