₦airaland Forum

We had a little setback today. The truck delivering sharp sand to the project site got stucked. I guess the rain that fell yesternight and the day before had quickly turned the ground to mush. The mush would obviously make our driveway unsafe to use for now. We need to quickly fix that and also make alternative arrangement for the delivery of materials to site

Pic 47: Sand dropped on the driveway to make the truck lighter.
Pic 48: Struggling to climb the hill.
Pic 49: Helpless truck boy thinking outside the box

Why the whole Paparazzi?

You may want to ask when is the main work is gonna start. What so special about clearing that its taking forever? AND many other mind-boggling question may be crossing your mind about this stage.

Here's our reason:

The excavation of the foundation, trenching of the plumbing pipes, and other related works on the proposed development are 100% likely to run into the roots of many trees (mature trees in this case) in the area. A particular tree on the site has its roots extending as far as 2.3m from the tree. Such trees are often the cause of structural problems like cracking and movement of the building.

Isn't it wise to take care of it now before it causes a major foundation failure in the future.

mufutau55: Nice clearing of those bush/jungle (photo 39&40), very clean compare to when you started.

Hajji Mufutau

If I had my way, I'd have use an excavator or something to turn it into a football pitch. Anyway, we'll do our best the manual way (the Naija way)

kopell: Wa oh this tree big oh. I mean tall

Yes! However, the roots are bigger than what SCUD can take care. Abi no be so, Chekitaut?

From the Trial Hole

Pic 46: Soil Sample from the trial hole.

More Pics

Pic 44: Sliced Wood
Pic 45: Boatload of logs to get rid off. Anyone want some?

No Site Without Its Challenges

Here are the stubborn roots that won't go and requires extra effort.

Pic 41: Deeply rooted in the ground is a Mango tree.
Pic 42: Another tree sitting in the dining area of our proposed development
Pic 43: A tree with aerial and tap root combined.

We're back!

It’s been a while since I update this thread, but it's for a good reason. I had to visit another Chateau in Ibadan to carry out preliminary assessment and costing for remedial works and also tidy up logistics for the ground breaking of The Chateau in Ile-Oluji.

Today, the bush-whackers and the uprooters are at work again. The house site and the surroundings are now in good condition, but some of the grounds are still littered with roots and other brush. Now that clearing is nearly done, and we can get a better idea of what our site will look like. Isn't it time to break ground? Yes, it is but there's more to do.

Today, we achieved another milestone. What? We dug a trial hole and guess what we found. It's Sandy Gravel! I think its wise to check soil bearing capacity and how it impacts foundations before we carry the digger and spade.

Anyway, here are a TON of pics (forgive my major excitement) of our site as it stands now. It's so exciting to see progress and I believe we're in the fast lane now! Construction crew will arrive site on Thursday 4th July, 2013 and we break ground the next day. Meanwhile, the iron benders are already on ground to commence work on the reinforcement detailing.

More updates as it come.

Pic 39: The house is going to be built on this portion of the land
Pic 40: Cleared site

kopell: @Chekeitaut waiting the SCUD chemical go do for the root of the tree explain more.

Its an herbicide, a non-selective chemical which is used to kill a tree or plant from its roots. Some invasive tree species have the ability to sprout again and other species may regrow from the ground stump or remaining roots left in the ground. The best control method is to apply herbicides to kill the tree from the roots.

Chekitaut: Bros buy SCUD chemical apply on the roots of the trees you cut without mixing it.

Thanks. I'll do just that.

The Last Tree Standing

Pic 39: These tree is standing on the perimeter wall and is more than 23m high. It must go before we move from paper to dirt next week.

Unloading the roots continue

Almost all the roots shown above sitting in the building area have been unloaded.

Pic 36: Another tree unloaded
Pic 37: Tree fellers at work
Pic 38: The building area (most of the roots standing in the way are gone)

Just the way I want it

I really want to see the ground. Packing of the dirts in progress.

Pic 34: View from the shed down the road
Pic 35: Cleared portion

Inspiration

I've never designed or built a house without secretly stalking the fabulous ideas of other houses within the locality of the proposed development. It took a lot of driving around Ile Oluji in November 2012 to get the requisite amount of inspiration to build The Chateau from scratch. In this regards, I think it's fair to share the picture of the development that inspired me most. Here's another Chateau in Ile Oluji.
I love this house because of the way the yard was landscaped. It's so beautiful viewing a golf-course-like landscape from the front of the porch. Ile-Oluji has got some good taste, so do we.

Pic 32: Another Chateau in the neighbourhood
Pic 33: Parked in the driveway to take a shot of the beautiful landscape.

This is what the house will look like when we are done. Here are the elevation plans. Our plot slopes towards the stream, so we’re going to have a grande entry.


Pic 28: Front Elevation
Pic 29: Back Elevation
Pic 30: Right Side Elevation
Pic 31: Left Side Elevation

Yesterday we cleared more of our plot! I'm pretty sure we're 65% done clearing it now and might take a little more off in the backyard and the frontyard close to the stream. Two other beacons were spotted, the building area has been carved out, the roots and trees within the building area are been grubbed, the shed has been installed, the driveway has been tested and now it seems to me that we're good to go.

Milestones Achieved

1. Accommodation secured for the full-time crew
2. Driveway/Accessibility established
3. Site Cleared
4. Shed Installed
5. Suppliers identified
6. Water source established and 2000l water tank purchased
7. Beacons established
8. Building area staked out

Pic 24: The long driveway into the site seriously eroded by the time we got in.
Pic 25: Cleared portion of the site
Pic 26: Water from the stream
Pic 27: Beacon found near the stream

Will your new home still be standing in 50 years?

I do hear people say that houses aren't built the way they used to be, that true craftsmanship is a thing of the past. Is it true? I asked my team members — a bricklayer, an engineer and a soil scientists — if new homes today match up to those built by our grandfathers. Their answers were surprising. Share your view

Pic 23: A House with a Pent built by more than 40 years ago. (Who says our forefathers are not stylish back then? Who's copying who?)

Pic 22: The trees in the picture attached needs to be unloaded prior to setting out to avoid collateral damage in the future. They're sitting on the boundary wall of the property and stands at 23m high which is very dangerous for the proposed development.

Roots to be unloaded and their position

Unloading the roots and shrubs continues...

Pic 18: Work in progress
Pic 19: Checking the roots
Pic 20: Setting at the corner is a massive deep-rooted kolanut wood. To be unloaded soon

And then, the roots of the trees are grubbed

Sixty-nine trees, including two large oaks and "who-knows-its-name" wood, on the 43000sqft land will be cut down to make way for our multi-million naira building project.

Pic 17: Uprooting the trees
Pic 18: Getting them out of the way

mufutau55: What happended to your Hummer? You need a rough terain, all wheels drive vehicle.
Heh! Fhemmmy, where are you.. you have a rich client here.

Hajji Mufutau

We're still testing the waters. If my small ride can make it, then my ... will do stunts on the football stadia. Oh sorry, on the land.

Site Store Construction Completed

The construction of the site store started today has been completed. Another major preliminary task hurled out of the way. It drenched a bit today but we were under the shed while it was raining.

Pic 15: Very solid woods fro Ile Oluji used for the site construction. Ile Oluji got nice wood and the price is c l
Pic 16: Shed construction in progress

If I can make it, You can make it

Another major hurdle scaled. The site is now accessible to all. What that means to us is that the suppliers can now deliver materials to the site - no excuse whatsoever can be given.

Pic 13: My small ride on the driveway
Pic 14: A mini bus delivering planks on the site and a block delivery truck leaving the site.

Update

Clearing is almost done and now we can get a rough idea of what our plot will look like and mark out the building area. As you can see the ground is still littered with roots and other brush. We intend to grub this to make it nice and even.

Pic 11: Site Clearing work in progress
Pic 12: Site Store Construction (from afar)

kopell: Brabus can you ship me that fresh pineapple by fedex, Do they have snail there too.

Pineapple already in transit before I got your snail. However, you can have the snail here!

Picture updates later tonight. I've got some last minute preparations to make

K114: Can I join
your work force? Not necesarily interested in pay, but d experience.

You can start here. Keep following the thread. So many student have
graduated from Oga Spyder's class without being to the field. We call it
'class without wall'

@all

Class in session and Work in progress. Pls post only topic related
comments. Further enquiries should be sent to the OP's email address (ckenneths@yahoo.co.uk).

Thank you

MORE PICTURES

Pic 8: Survey Pillar Rear LHS
Pic 9: Scenic view of a beautiful landscape (our closest neighbour)
Pic 10: Site clearing in progress

When we start out to build a house the first thing we do is to undertake a full site assessment. Today, we're standing on the block of land and discussing the possible challenges we will experience and what solutions can be implemented.

The most difficult part of this construction project is getting the building out of the ground. Site clearing has been started and it seems we are clearing the site for a stadium. 43,000sqft is such a big land and it desperately needed a good machete-whacking in this case.

Today, we were able to establish the following:

1. The set backs
2. Distance of the main building (the front, side and rear part of the building) from the boundary
3. Position of trees and roots on the land
4. Site Accessibility (a nissan pathfinder was able to make it to the far end of the site)
5. Site Identification: Survey Pillars
6. Visible Topsoil Quality

Below are a few pictures from our day today activities. The pineapple, the farm trap and survey pillar are my favorite picture so far. It's so good to be here in the first place.

Pic 4: Site clearing in progress
Pic 5: The red arrow is showing the boundary.
Pic 6: Farm Trap found in the bush. So, lucky no one was injured.
Pic 7: Lovely Pineapple. We got about 8 of them

^^^ Oga basil, please kindly send a private mail to Spyder880. He'll attend to your request at the right time.

Oga Spyder! The art of being wise is knowing what one needs to overlook.

I know you can make it. Just do it. We'll be waiting for your success story

kopell: It's your time just be careful this time, because experience is the best teacher as they say. Good luck God will be with you.

Thanks bro. Your points well noted.

Of course, the PH experience has taught me to put my house in order cos everything is all about me. Heads have rolled, roles have been redefined and structures have been put in place to prevent pilfrage. We are doing our best not to let you down.

Thanks once again.