On the 14th of April 1996, 44 holes were drilled in our land. Each hole is
about 400 mm in diameter and about a meter apart in and around the perimeter of the house.
These holes are called piers and have depths ranging from 1.2 to 1.8 meters.
The land is drilled until the hard crust of the earth is reached.
Then a round metal plate is dropped in place to serve as the base.
We have been advised by our culturally challenged (PC term for superstitious) relatives to drop some coins into these piers for good luck. We learned that some over zealous home owners would pour as much as $50 worth of coins in each pier. I would have opted not to drop a coin, as I have no belief whatsoever to such frivolity but I did not took chances with the spirits :-)
The Blacktown Council inspects these piers, presumably to confirm that the holes are deep enough. However, the inspector simply walked around ceromoniously, siting some holes in the process. Then the cement is poured, some time after 11:00 a.m. on the 15th of April 1996. On each pier, an iron anchor is set which will later be used to attached to the slab.
There was a considerable delay after the piers were set and the
formwork. We questioned Beechwood Homes because they moved the house by as much as
1.6 meters closer to the front. We sent angry letters to them and halted any further work.
In the end, we decided to accept the current position as re-working the soil fill will only
compromise the strength of the foundation. The formwork was completed on the 23rd of April 1996.
Note that a black plastic is used to cover the dirt. Much have been said about the purpose
of this. Manong Jun of Melbourne said, it is used to keep the concrete from
being dirty underneath :-). Sa tagalog ... para h'wag madumihan. Another, says that
it is to prevent termite from digging underneath.
My guess is that the plastic is used to prevent the soil from acting like a sponge - absorbing the water from a freshly poured concrete, making it weak.
Several frustrating weeks followed. The concrete slab was not poured until the
18th of May 1996 due to poor weather condition and red tapes in the Blacktown
Council. During the first week of May, Sydney had the highest recorded rainfall.
Then the Blacktown Council decided to throw the book on Beechwood for not informing
them on the change in the position of the house. By law, the council should advertise
to our neighbours for two weeks if there are any changes to the:
The need to advertise can be likened to a wedding when the priest calls out to
anyone who might have objections before they forever hold their peace.
Well, we were able to slightly shorten the two-week advertisement by asking our neighbours to sign a "No Objection" clause. Even this did not pass without drama with the council. By the time they arrived to a decision, a week had passed. Anyway, it was an opportunity to introduce myself to our future neighbours who were very hospitable and friendly.