“Count Bricks” (Know a bit about Construction, part 2)

No, this is not about some obscure British royalty or the big dogs among developing countries. It is about the importance to be able to equate quantity to time and cost on your building project. That sounded really impressive even if I have to admit that myself and I actually understand what it means.

If you know how many bricks goes into a m2  of wall and how many bricks must an average bricklayer lay in a single day, it becomes very difficult for the builder to b-shit you. BTW the answer is 120 for a double course wall and 1000 per day. You can then check how long the bricklaying should take and how many bricklayers and labour is required on site to achieve the time frame you want. OK, you should do a little bit of math, but it is an easier math solution than most  Sudocu puzzles, especially if you know to put on formula's on EXCEL. You would also be very surprised to find out how few builders know this and can put it in practise. That is why building houses in South Africa takes forever.

Another little secret. This will help you to know how many bricks, cement, etc should go into you house and not end up in the three other houses and his own lapa, your  builder is busy with. An added bonus is when you know how to determine whether your walls are square, It is called "Pythagoras' Theorem" and can be written in one short equation:
                                                            a2 + b2 = c2

Note:
    •c is the longest side of the triangle
    •a and b are the other two sides

For simple people like me:
Example: A "3,4,5" triangle has a right angle in it.

You will also scare the hell out of your builder and impress the living daylight out the “brickies“  working on your site. I guarantee the quality of work will skyrocket, the time wasting nosedive, I can go on...
“I've been a bricklayer for 15 years now.
Surely there must be mortar life. “

(To be continued...)

* Note - If you find the Blog interesting, it makes more sense to read the Blog entries chronologically from the start.

“Have A Solid Foundation” (Know a bit about construction, part 1)

It really helps you as homeowner if you understand some of the basics of construction.

Even in Bible times the importance of a good foundation was recognized, you remember the story about building "on rocks and sand". Well it still applies today as the structure has to stand on something solid.So it is not a bad idea that before you start building you know what is under the ground of your stand and hopefully for you and your wallet, it is not “air blown drift sand from West Africa” (Yep happened to me), old sand dune, underground river (also happened to me) or solid rocks the size of caravans.

It is good to know this before you get a costing from your builder. They normally don’t find out before they quote and it is an exclusion in the contract and costing. Also if there is something funny under there, most builders don’t know how to deal with it and they start compromising and get innovative. That is when you have to start getting VERY scared, unless you know the basics and this is the time to consult your engineer and get the real Professionals involved.

By this time you should have formally appointed a formally qualified and registered engineer for your project, one that actually does the site visits you pay him for.  It is not good to brag that your engineer does not give you hassles on site and never visits and do the required inspections before signing off on stuff.  It is going to bite you on the backside later.

One thing you have, that was not available in the Bible time is GOOGLE, use it, it is quick and cheap. All the basics is there, that is if you can read. But then if you cannot read you should not be building  your own house or anyone else for that matter. A good rule of thumb for foundations is that the bottom is solid, the sides square and the excavated area deep enough and clean. A real professional should by law sign off on it.

This is a good foundation but there are other issues!

It will help you if you know what to look for on your site visit and ask informed clever questions, not many questions. If you ask really uninformed, dumb, lets just  call it “stupid” questions to try and look clever, (things which you heard about around the dinner table or from your DAD or colleagues), you will just annoy the builder.

To be continued...

* Note - If you find the Blog interesting, it makes more sense to read the Blog entries chronologically from the start.