@achiuseful, the span of the ground floor is 19m X 9.5m and provision has been made for expansion joints between the units though for this length of span its really not necessary.

We are done with backfilling and compacting also, we used a compacting machine for this process which is faster and less tedious.

@twinskenny, thanks for the compliment.

Laying of the damp proof membrane (DPM) after back-filling and compacting was completed.

Reinforcement laying commenced on Friday 13th of March and was concluded by Sunday 15th of March. 12mm iron reinforcement of Tiger TMT brand was used and 200mm spacing between bars.

Conduit pipe laying for electrical and plumbing was also done.

Reinforcement laying commenced on Friday 13th of March and was concluded by Sunday 15th of March. 12mm iron reinforcement of Tiger TMT brand was used and 200mm spacing was used between bars.

Conduit pipe laying for electrical and plumbing was also done.

Casting of the german floor was done yesterday 18th of March. The casting team contracted got to the site at about 8am and started casting at 10am after having breakfast and checking their mixing machine.

Bags of cement were brought out from the storage room and the ratio mix we are using is 1:2:3 meaning we will be using 1 bag of cement, 4 headpans of sand and 6 headpans of granite. This is a very strong mix ratio that is cement consuming but we aim at quality for our client and don't take short cuts when it comes to construction.

The casting team used a total of 14 people, 1 man handling the machine, 1 water handler, and the rest distributed across sand, granite and cement carry and spreaders. They actually only do concrete work and are quite efficient.

The casting took a total of 8 hours plus and the team put the mixing machine on the ground beam reinforcement and pour directly on it. Once they are done with a sector, they shifted the mixer backward.

3 people had the task of spreading it out and after it is vibrated, the man with the wooden trough leveled it evenly and took levels with a plumb at intervals for accuracy( I actually insisted on them using a plumb because they claimed it was not neccesary).

We used a total of 178 bags of cement( budget was 180 bags), 3 trips of 15 ton granite and 2 trips of 20 ton sharp sand(Ogun sharp sand).

We actually had some leftover of sharp sand from the ground beam casting so we used this as supplement for the 2 trips bought. Its important not to buy excess material which might not be useful for subsequent phase of the project.

The total iron used for the reinforcement was 3 tons of 12mm Tiger TMT.

Block work started on Monday 23rd of March, blocks were delivered late to site and not much was achieved that day but we were able to do the floor layout design.

We will be using 9inch block all through the structure except for the demarcation walls between units where we will be using dual 6inch blocks to create privacy and a sound barrier.

Full blockwork started on Tuesday morning and by the end of the day, much had been achieved. We are working with a team of 4 highly experienced bricklayers and 2 labours.

Work is moving on at a steady pace today and its all beginning to make sense to the project owners, before it seems to them they were burying money under the ground.

BITSWORKS:
Reinforcement laying commenced on Friday 13th of March and was concluded by Sunday 15th of March. 12mm iron reinforcement of Tiger TMT brand was used and 200mm spacing between bars.

Conduit pipe laying for electrical and plumbing was also done.

Will water be able to pass the part not covered by the tampolin?

@tsiriman, no. We have treated the exposed part with damp proof course before casting the german floor.

Blockwork has been done to lintel level for the 3 units and 11 course where there are no windows or door.

Marine board for the lintel and columns formwork was delivered to site on Tuesday 31st of March and formwork started on Wednesday.

A total of 36nos of 8ft X 4ft board was purchased and splitted to 12inches, 6inches and 8inches.

Columns and lintels have been casted, work has been a bit hectic hence the reason I haven't updated the thread in a while.

@BITSWORKS


Welldone so far,
the cost of setting out a foundation in the swampy areas of Lagos is scary.

@Youngbrain Yes it is, thanks for the remark.

Formwork and reinforcement work for the first floor suspended slab has commenced and we are looking at casting before the end ofthe month.

More reinforcement and wood formwork pictures. We are aiming to do the casting by Friday.

We casted the first floor suspended slab on Friday May 1st 2015 as scheduled.

The casting crew comprised of a team of 32 people mostly made of headpan carrying aboki's.

We used a total of 251 bags of Dangote cement (42.5 grade), 3 trips of 20 tons sharp sand (ogun) and 4 trips of 15 tons granite (3/4 down).

Mix ratio used was 1:3:4.

Casting started a bit late by 10am but we were able to finish up quite late in the night.

thanks BIT, I am encouraged by the step-by-step procedures duly explained in this post. Please can i have your email, we need to talk...

This is so so lovely...Nice Step by step

Thanks for the compliments all, much appreciated. Our aim to provide the most basic step by step processes for erecting a structure.

My email is seyisodiya@gmail.com, will be looking forward to your mail @seuner.

More casting pictures of the first floor suspended slab.

Blockwork started today, a week after casting. We will leave the bamboo decking support in place for a minimum of 3 weeks (21 days) for the concrete slab to cure and gain strength.

Blockwork should hopefully take us between 4-5 days and we can start the formwork for colums and lintels.

Columns and lintels work on the first floor blockwork started on Wednesday and was concluded today.

One more coach of blockwork and we will start the formwork for the second floor suspended slab.

Welldone, is the building construction going on now?
If yes. Then show the pictures of the stage you are now.
Good job so far.

Sorry for the slow pace of project update and pictures, we also have new projects in the pipeline that has been taking more of our free time.

We are done with the columns and lintels and are getting ready for the second floor suspended slab. We will be using marine board (8ft x 4ft) for the formwork floor and 1x12 plank for the side board and others.

Great work sir. I will shoot you a mail soon

I will be looking forward to your mail @Jazes.

Formwork for the 2nd floor suspended slab started yesterday and so far, work is going on at a good pace. All the beam side boards are in place and the 2x3 wood runners have been fixed for the first terrace unit with the bamboo bracing in place also.

Iron reinforcement work for the beams will start tomorrow.

BITSWORKS:
More reinforcement and wood formwork pictures. We are aiming to do the casting by Friday.

weldone boss

Wood formwork in full gear, the platform should be ready by tomorrow, Saturday and the iron reinforcement work can commence on it.

Staircase formwork will start on Monday and hopefully should be done by Wednesday.

We decided to use marine board for this suspended slab to hasten the process of formwork and also do a neater job while we can also still reuse the boards for our next project.

Brilliant! Well done.