First blocks laid for house itself

Today has been a big day, as the first blocks are laid which will form the house slab.

After a few hours marking out all the key positions on-site, with the usual 'high tech' builder's string, tape measure and spirit level, the first concrete block was laid onto the foundation this morning.

Followed, not long after, with the second one. These two blocks mark the ends of the outer skin of the rear wall.

Slab construction

The overall construction of the house, will consist of an outer skin of 100mm wide concrete blocks and an inner skin of 140mm wide blocks. There will be a cavity between of 100mm, of which 50mm will be foam insulation attached to the blockwork.

At this stage, these blocks being laid will form the perimiter of the slab, which will basically form the footprint of the house. It will contain the drainage pipes from the bathrooms and kitchen... piping for the incoming water supply and mains electric cables... as well as a layer of insulation.

Day 1

By the end of today, you can see the blocks laid so far, show the full length of the rear wall, the spare bedroom, hall cupboard, front door and kitchen side wall.

I couldn't resist testing out where my new office will be located to get a feeling of size.