My Dream House Construction Experience

[KVS Setty]

Few more pics here

[KVS Setty]

Hello ,

Plinth beam work is completed in just three days,
day one: the bar bending guys did their work
day two: shuttering guys made the forming boxes
day three: masons poured the concrete and they used vibrator for compaction and mixing of concrete is manual.

Next day the shuttering guys removed the shutters and we could see the so called plinth beams.But to my surprise at few places the concrete is not formed properly ,it had some defects , I don't know what it is called technically.
I am attaching some pics where you can see the defective parts of the beam ( is it really defective? ,I am not sure).

I asked the mason what went wrong, he says it is quite common nothing serious and with mortar he covered all such portions ( in fact, it was there in many areas, it took almost half a day of one mason to complete the job)

Guys can you throw some light on this issue, and tell me why it happens and is it very common?
Near my house another construction is coming up and there i could see the plinth beams are very neatly done compared to ours and i felt very sad

[KVS Setty]

@murali, thanks for the responses and feed back.I do understand the civil work is not up to the mark and not satisfactory to me, this I told to the JE, writer (materials in charge), mastery and finally to the Senior Engineer.

Senior engineer said he will look in to it and instruct the mastery accordingly.
( he is little bit busy because of his daughters wedding).Let me see the next few steps of construction then I will have to take some suitable steps to set right the things.

Thanks a lot for the advice and feedback.

[sun]

I have seen this issue too, my engineer told me that this type of issue occurs if mason doesn't use "Vibrator" during concrete filling process. After mortor is filled vibrator need to be used which will make empty spaces to fill with the concrete.

[vmuralictr]

The Technical word is Honeycomb:
Reasons for This is :
1. Vibration may not be done Properly.
2. Shuttering May not done Properly . Cement slurry leaked at the time of concrete .
3. Quality of Shuttering material May not be Good .
4. Concrete mixing is may not be properly done . Aggregate contents may be more than the Requirement .

I have not seen any PCC below the Plinth beam in the Photo .
Having PCC below the Plinth beam is mandatory . Plinth beam shuttering side will rest on the Plinth beam only .
In the attached photo it is clearly visible that , cement slurry came out from the concrete .

Few More observations You have to Do ..
1. Have they checked the Plinth beam Bottom level ..?
2. Have they Checked the Plinth beam top level After the Concrete ?
3. They are using Gunny Bags or not for the Curing ?


I think there is no proper supervision is happening in the site . So Before commencing any concrete let the senior person visit the place and check the work properly .
Ask them to use the Chemical ( Emaco S 48 ) to cover the Honeycombs.

Since the column concrete is going to be start call the senior person and ask him to maintain the proper Quality Standards . Checking the work twice and thrice is better than the Rectification .

Regards
Murali

[saisuraksha]

Hi KVS Shetty,

All the best for your Construction, you have long way to travel. i appreciate you for talking lots of Photos and posting it on the site and discussing it.
But tell me how long you get this support and help ?

Please talk to the Engineers and ask for correct procedures before executing. Please bring right people on board to do the correct job.

As for as Sump building is concerned.
1. Shulttering should be done all 4 sides with Soild iron rods sandwiched.
2. While concreting itself you have to put steel rods for making steps to get in to the Sump.
3. One corner down sloping with 1 foot depth should be given for water cleaning purpose.
4. Use 16 mm jelly and 8 mm jelly in the concrete for a good packing (when vibrator is used)
5. Once concreting is done Use water proofing solutions to cover the concrete. Inside is Ok.
6. If you feel to go for tiles in Sump, go to some shop and get some pattern Mismatch tiles and tile it. (its your wish )

-Saisuraksha

[KVS Setty]

Hello to all,

Thanks a lot Murali and Saisuraksha and Sun for the feed back and advice.

Yes,at last, to day we had a meeting with all the core members involved ,that is senior engineer,writer (materials in charge) and Mastery (construction in charge) and JE ( supervision in charge) and I explained my plight and my dissatisfaction with the quality of construction and showed some of the pics I had taken.senior engineer took all of them to task and advised the mastery properly to ensure Quality construction and to change the labour group if needed so that no more complaints from the client ( that is me) in future. Of course mastery was little bit upset with all this development and now i am worried about this, for putting him in a position like this....

Let us hope for the best ...

I am of the opinion that whether you give labour contract or with material contract, no one is bothered about the quality of construction except the owner,so we have to take care of quality of construction and ensure that we build our dream house which lasts long, which I am doing to the best of my knowledge and with the help and advice from the experienced members here, so I thank them again and again from deep of my heart.

I am doing all this writing and discussion not only to take help from experienced and knowledgeable members in this forum ,but also to help some other new members who can take some cues from this discussion.Hope I am doing the right thing.

[vmuralictr]

You are 100% right . No one will bother about the Quality except the Owner .
Instead of thinking the material contract or not .. First you must deploy a Technical person who can able to monitor all the works .
There is a check list for every item in the building construction . All the points will be mentioned in that check list . He has to go through the check list and follow that .
So the Technical person should maintain all the Quality Issues .
Once the contractor came to know that other person is monitoring , his approach will be completely change . And you must clear him that , if you and your Engineer is not happy with the construction it will effect his payment . And every week you people should meet and Discuss the Progress and Quality .

The Following Points Should be the Agenda ..

1. What are all activities happened in this week .
2. Quality of the Activities Acceptable or not .
3. If the Quality Issues arises ... Why it happen . What Should be done to avoid Further .
4. About the Workman ship and the the material proportions.

Normally the contractors wont take the small constructions very seriously . But we should tell them what we want .

It is really nice that you are sharing your experience to help other also . Thats why are also sharing our Knowledge ..
Nobody is master in civil engineering . By reading all this we will also come to know the expectations of the Clients .

Regards

Murali

[KVS Setty]

Hello to All,

@Thanks Murali, all your feed backs are eye opener to me and pleasure to read and follow it, yes thinking of some technical guy from my end to oversee the quality of construction , if you know someone let know his contact number, please PM me.

Just now i am coming from the site they are removing the shutters of columns which were done before the said meeting above.To me the columns looked so so.. but better than plinth beam ,and they were doing some cosmetic surgery by putting some pure cement paste to finish it.

A very close up photo of a pillar is here ( which is not good among all the pillars) before any cosmetic surgery for comments from the members,and I will post another pic of same pillar after finishing it.

[KVS Setty]

Hello to All,

Today they have done Rain water harvesting well and soil filling to level the site to lay the PCC flooring bed.

Here are some pics of the site showing the sump,rainwater harvesting well,pillars, one BHK layout at the back of the site and car parking area in the front and the overall look of the site as on today.

In one BHK house area , after filling with soil they filled with water up to the plinth beam level to make the soil settle down .

two pics are top view taken from the balcony of the neighbor's house and one the front view from the road.

In the next post I will write in detail how they constructed rain water harvesting well, as i am tired today and not in a mood to write.