Hello and welcome to my construction journal!

We are starting another exciting journey of building a multi-family home in a slum in the heart of Ajao Estate, off Airport road, in Isolo Local Government, Lagos state.

Our journey starts now and this is going to be a pleasure ride!

Join us on our journey as we transform our slum from drab to fab!

If this is your first time visiting, please check out our recently completed project, and click here (From Paper to Brick: A Journal of Construction Activities) to link up! We hope to see you soon!

Finished House Picture Below

The Land and the Neighbourhood

I just visited the site for the first time yesterday and here's a sneak peek into the environment we are building. More exciting pictures to follow as soon as I discover a vantage point.

The House

We’re building a custom 5-bedroom duplex with attached units of 2 bedroom and 3 bedroom house. Commencement is expected sometimes next week, depending on how fast we can tidy up the pre-works. We're creating the access road, storage, tidying up paper works and making all the necessary preparation for a complete take-over.

The Design

I love designing homes, so this was a great opportunity. After checking out the architectural designs, I made few comments about the layout and suggested a layout principles I liked and we've managed to shoehorn it into the design and made it work even better.

Two good heads are better than one.

Live from the construction site.

Pic 1. The land
Pic 2. Another view of the land
Pic 3. Laterite filling sand delivered
Pic 4. Tearing down the fence for temporary site gate.

Let the game begin.

I'm following U̶̲̥̅̊ U̶̲̥̅̊p....keep it coming

Site preparation ongoing

Foundation Type: Pile Foundation

The ground condition here is such that good bearing ground are found at impracticable levels; therefore making the use of traditional foundations impossible.

Piles will be bored into the ground to provide support for the groundbeam which will then bear our load from pile to pile.


Good morning!

Yesterday...

- Site Preparation continues
- Woods and planks for the site store and temporary site gate were delivered.

Update:

The carpenters have put up the site store and a temporary gate for the site.

We intend to break ground on Tuesday but we're having a very serious issue with the type of foundation. The architect said there's no need for piling, the structural engineer said we should do piling.

I'm neutral here because I wasn't involved in the design but if you ask me "who's right and what should be done?" I'll go with the Structural Engineer. He knows more about foundation and structural loading than an architect provided he knew exactly what he's doing o.

However, I've suggested to the client to allow us do trial holes.

Progress Pix

Better still approach it in a professional manner. It takes less than 200k to carry out soil test& invesigation...Go for it! to be on safe side

segcy.moor:
Better still approach it in a professional manner. It takes less than 200k to carry out soil test& invesigation...Go for it! to be on safe side

Gbam! The oracle have spoken.

Meetings: a good way to kill productivity!

Many traditional clients love meetings. And for the most part, I’m not sure why. I had a meeting yesterday with the architect, the client and the supplier and for the most part of it, I can't figure out why the meeting was needed. The architect hasn't finish his job, the laptop battery is flat, the drawings needs amendment and we're there sitting together to fix what wasn't broken.

A good team needs to be agile enough to make most decisions on their own after initial planning phases. Of course, one of the reason why I like the guys at 'MastersTouch Studio'.

If you can’t trust your architect, designers, engineers or team members to make most decisions on your behalf, I think it’s time to get a new team.

Stop eating into hours where real productive work gets done.

Project Officially Declared Open.

Preparing the land has consisted of taking out unwanted plants and shrubs, lots and lots of dirt as this plot seems to be the dumping site in the neighbourhood, and just taking a look at the prepared land - I am not too disappointed.

Progress pictures are soon to come. Watch this space!

Progress pics

Soil Sample at 6m depth

Happening Now

Constructions of buildings and other engineering structures on soft (weak) soils usually posses a lot of problems such as excessive/differential settlement, deformation and stability problem.

To avoid such problem in our project, we have decided to use soil improvement and stabilization method using pile/column like elements.

The Technique

Our technique is very simple and one of the basic principle of the technique is to relieve the load on the soft soils without altering the soil structure. This is achieved by installing column- or pile-type structures in a grid pattern into a bearing layer.

On top of the columns, we are going to install a load transfer mat or pile cap so that the compressibility of the ground can be reduced and the bearing capacity and shear strength increased.

To minimise the settlement of the shallow foundation of our building, we've installed 34 stabilizing-columns in a grid system of 3 x 3 m. Our columns have a diameter of 30 cm and a length of 4m each.

brabus: Constructions of buildings and other engineering structures on soft (weak) soils usually posses a lot of problems such as excessive/differential settlement, deformation and stability problem.

To avoid such problem in our project, we have decided to use soil improvement and stabilization method using pile/column like elements.

The Technique

Our technique is very simple and one of the basic principle of the technique is to relieve the load on the soft soils without altering the soil structure. This is achieved by installing column- or pile-type structures in a grid pattern into a bearing layer.

On top of the columns, we are going to install a load transfer mat or pile cap so that the compressibility of the ground can be reduced and the bearing capacity and shear strength increased.

To minimise the settlement of the shallow foundation of our building, we've installed 34 stabilizing-columns in a grid system of 3 x 3 m. Our columns have a diameter of 30 cm and a length of 4m each.

I can see you are truly a guru in this field,keep it up men!

tundysho:


I can see you are truly a guru in this field,keep it up men!

The Gospel of Solid Foundation according to the Book of Matthew

Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock. The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it didn't fall, for it was founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine, and doesn't do them will be like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.

— Matthew 7:24–27

I want to believe we all agree, when it comes to building a house, the place to start is with a firm foundation.

A single storey house sitting on thirty-four, 15-foot pile, is as substantial as any building founded on solid rock.

Today in pictures | Pile Caps

More

Brabus
Can you please help answer the question I just asked on the aluminum cladding in your thread about the two houses in Lekki.
Thanks

omoabike: Brabus
Can you please help answer the question I just asked on the aluminum cladding in your thread about the two houses in Lekki.
Thanks

I've answered your question here.

Progress pics.

Happening Now

It has been a while since my last update on this thread the project is moving according to schedule and a lot have happened lately.

We've poured the ground beam and right now we are sand filling the foundation.

Pictures to be updated soon.

Filling Works

And this

Filling the void

Progress Pic.