Sunday, September 27, 2009

Week Two - the next problem...

Well, we did always knew it was a possibility, we'd just hoped that it wouldn't turn out to be the case... Our foundation design is not suitable for the ground conditions on our section. After this piece of news came from the builders, and the engineers were called in, we've had to splash out on driven piles

Here is the lovely pile driver!

So the original plan was for the builders to auger holes for the piles down to 1.2 metres, and then concrete them in place. None of that now! This delightful little Toyota has now pounded MUCH longer piles down to 3.6 metres! We knew that the foundations on the old house were dodgy - that's why it was sinking on the sides (but not in the middle...), so it wasn't a huge surprise.
So here we are at the end of week two - some long bits of wood pounded into the ground. The new house won't be going anywhere!


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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 1, 2009 at 7:55 AM

    Funny that they're wooden - I think over here everyone seems to replace with concrete piles?

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  2. AndrewOctober 1, 2009 at 3:38 PM

    I think its cheaper to use wooden ones when you have to "drive" the piles - i.e. its quite difficult to pound them into the ground if they're made out of concrete... You'd have to drill a giant hole then fill it up with concrete.

    You people in Aussie have to deal with nasty insects like termites too, which we don't have!

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