Saintee2009:

Sorry sir, i "think" there was a minor mistake in the calculation. (1050 + 300 = 1350) thereby making it 12m(length of reinforcement in m) divided by 1350mm(1.35m) = 8.888nos.
On other hand, i guess you used 1.5m so as to get accurate figure ( right? Just a little clarification needed. Thank you sir.

The reason I use 1.5m instead of 1.35m is personal. I always like to use want to get some whole number answer

More updates

More updates of the reinforcement work

Well done Engr

twinskenny:
Well done Engr

Thanks sir

More slab reinforcement updates

We are rounding up the slab work

We rounded up the reinforcement work today. Tomorrow, we will go round to check and make sure that all bar are bend in accordance to the structural design

going on well.. well done sir

Hey abdulwastecx,

Nice work, sorry can we not put pic with boys on professional worksite(child labour).

Your work deserve a gold star.

That child is my electrician's son.... I had querel him about bringing him the deck already, I will remove the pics as soon as possible

abdulwastecx:
That child is my electrician's son.... I had querel him about bringing him the deck already, I will remove the pics as soon as possible

Learning from the father I guess

Finally, we are ready for casting.

Check out the slab details and compare it with the iron work

Summary of slab work: activities to be carried out here are divided into
1. Formwork
2. Iron bending work
3. Plumbing work (waste pipe)
4. Electrical conduit pipes.
5. Casting of slab and beam.

Formwork: The Formwork or decking of the house was carried out by 6 able men for a period of one week. The materials used include the following.
1. 530 planks ( 25mm x 300mm x 3300mm)
2. 400 soft runner wood ( 50mm x 100mm x 3300mm)
3. 600 short bamboo ( height of 3600mm).
4. 4bags of 2'',3'' and 4'' nail.

NOTE: all these materials were supplied by the client through his relatives.
We also have left over of 2 x 4 wood which will be put into use in future.
We have left over bamboo which will used for external scaffold

Duration of job : one week.
Budget ( Workmanship for the carpentry work) = N220,000
Note : before the commencement of job we agreed on N270,000 but the owner representative removed N50,000 after much deliberation and complain about going over budget.

Good job engineer Abdulwastecx. I have reserved my comment till this critical time. I designed this project and as such have its interest at heart. Oversite concrete was mixed manually now its time for the first floor slab which is a highly structural component, are you mixing manually?

darchiplanhomes:
Good job engineer Abdulwastecx. I have reserved my comment till this critical time. I designed this project and as such have its interest at heart. Oversite concrete was mixed manually now its time for the first floor slab which is a highly structural component, are you mixing manually?

Nope sir... We are bringing in a concrete mixer. We already have that on site, it came late today so we prospone the work to on Monday

Good to know the machine is on site. Hope the machine was used for the columns and lintel? These are structural components and since you are adhering to the structural design in bar bending it will be wise to adhere to the standard mixing method for such structural members. Please how was the concrete for columns mixed? #just caring for my baby(the design)

darchiplanhomes:
Good to know the machine is on site. Hope the machine was used for the columns and lintel? These are structural components and since you are adhering to the structural design in bar bending it will be wise to adhere to the standard mixing method for such structural members. Please how was the concrete for columns mixed? #just caring for my baby(the design)

They were mixed manually.. You can go through the thread for more clarification

The site plan was not detailed as in indication of building set backs from fence because there was no survey plan at the time of design.

abdulwastecx:
day one
setting out: in a simple man language, setting out is just the transfer of what we have in our drawing to the ground. for a frame building of one floor and above, we normally use the structural drawing (foundation layout of column bases, strip footings and foundation column point).

these are the step taking
1. we set out the building line: the building line is the front face of the building in this case. this line is gotten by offsetting from the fence as prescribed by the architectural site plan but because the site plan was not detail, we have to use our site experience to get this line

GOOD TO KNOW THAT

abdulwastecx:
we have to be very careful while making reinforcement and try my best to follow BS codes for bending and scheduling. according to the codes, all vertical member links must have anchorage of greater than 90 degree, it must be between 135 degree to 180 degree and that is why we bend our links in this fashion.
our starter bar or foundation column 2.4m in other to have an anchorage of 300mm at the base and have a lapping of >600mm into the next column going up.
these are very simple but vital information that most builder neglect but having a good knowledge of reinforced concrete design help us to allways follow standard no matter how hard it is

darchiplanhomes:
The site plan was not detailed as in indication of building set backs from fence because there was no survey plan at the time of design.

Good to know that, I taught as much overall good design

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podosci:

Manual mixing is the wrong word, the proper donation is hand mixing as specified by BS 1881 :125 on mixing and sampling of concrete.
There two ways of mixing concrete, preferably by machine or alternatively using a hand tool, in such a manner as to avoid loss of water or other materials ( BS 1881)
In Nigeria like all developing countries, hand mixing which involves turning over the mixture of the concrete materials from one end of the mixing tray or platform to the other is a popular method (James Isiwu AGUWA)
James Isiwu Aguwa of the Federal univeristy of technology gave the compressive strength of handmixed concrete after 28days at 20.28N/mm2 which is quite impressive for a volume based concrete mix. I believe a machine mix based on volumetric mixing would gave a slightly higher concrete comprehensive strength.
The best mixing form certified to give a higher 28days comprehensive strength is mixing by weight which is done by expensive batching plants.
In summary, Machine mix is preferable but in absense of machine mix due to the remote nature of some sites in Nigeria and the logistics involved, handmix is a good alternative under good supervision.

Add to the fact that the budget of all concrete work for the phase of the job was pegged at N90,000. This amount was used for all the concrete work from dpc to first floor level ( columns and lintel, with the formwork pattern where the client refuse to buy all the wood ones, we have to do form and remove to do other areas. Bringing in concrete mixer that will cost about N23,000 to get to site and daily rate of N15,000 for another three days ( because the work took us 4days to execute) that is around ( 24 + 45 = 69k), about 76% of the total budget on machine alone, not to talk of labour and other logistics. manually batch concrete if properly supervised will do the job

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Have not had time to go tru the thread page by page. I will express my observations and appraisal when i go tru page by page.Secondly its personal but i hope there is no friction between you guys and the project financier because the tune of some of your updates suggests that? Also i know about the lecture you have just given. I used the term "highly" to emphasize the importance of that component and the need to employ best practice irrespective of cost. Good to know the machine is available in Enugu and thats what matters. Logistics and cost does not justify the use of hand mixing where machine is available. Try your best bro. God bless.

darchiplanhomes:
Have not had time to go tru the thread page by page. I will express my observations and appraisal when i go tru page by page.Secondly its personal but i hope there is no friction between you guys and the project financier because the tune of some of your updates suggests that? Also i know about the lecture you have just given. I used the term "highly" to emphasize the importance of that component and the need to employ best practice irrespective of cost. Good to know the machine is available in Enugu and thats what matters. Logistics and cost does not justify the use of hand mixing where machine is available. Try your best bro. God bless.

Their is no friction but your questions suggest incompetence on our own part, that is why my partner have to explain everything things in detail to you. We operate in a simple way but this project has been complicated unnecessarily for us.

Mixing with manually operated mixer doesn't signify best practices, best practices is when you mixed with automated batching plant by weight, where you can control all your variable better. . The volume of concrete and budget available to us suggest we use hand mixing which is quite effective.

Guys this is great, I'm loving it. Everyone of you that are involved in this project, are protecting the integrity of your professions. Checking on one another's job and making sure that proper procedures are followed, and this makes it even better for the owner. Just explain to each other politely no cutting cornes. Good Job! Keep it up!

podosci:

The clients supervisors incharge of material and equipment procurement adamantly refused to purchase sufficient wood for the formwork of the colunm and lintel. This lead to a delay in the concrete work as my carpenter's had to split the formwork placement into 4 unit, where by after the previous day casting, the formwork is removed and reused for the next unit. This dalay made it impossible to use a machine for the concrete work of the colunm and lintel as the overal cost of leasing the machine for 4days would be more than the total amount paid by the client for the lintel and colunm concrete work.
Financialy speaking
Unit leasing cost of a mixer = N15,000
Cost of transportation = N8000( expensive due to the remote nature of the site and very bad roads)
Cost of transporting the operator = N1000 (Due to the report nature of the site)
After four days... The total cost of the mixer would be 72,000.
Total amount paid by the client for the ground floor concrete work = N80,000
After subtracting the cost of the mixer from the amount, we would have left N8000 which wont be sufficient to pay the labourers and masons for one day concrete work.
But B.S 1881 : 125 specifies handmix as an alternative to machine mix.
Some of the client supervisors colluded cement was being "wasted" and suggested we employ an inferior concrete mix ratio which did not conform with B. S specifications. We stood our ground and insisted on following the appropriate mix ratio of 1:2:4 for RC and 1:3:6 for PC.
We employed handmix with proper supervision and appropriate mix ratio.
Mr darchiplanhomes, Be rest assured because your baby is in good hands.

I love this. Keep it up guys. I personally love and applaud you guys for the bolded. It's not easy standing your ground when the pressures are mounted.

ihebrooke:


I love this. Keep it up guys. I personally love and applaud you guys for the bolded. It's not easy standing your ground when the pressures are mounted.

We don't really want to talk about some of these stuff.. we just want to finish our job to the best of our ability and move on

abdulwastecx:


We don't really want to talk about some of these stuff.. we just want to finish our job to the best of our ability and move on

I understand, Brother. Having gotten this far, I believe that you will pull through. Well done.

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