Most of the work still concentrated on the ground floor especially the kitchen. The side balcony is to be extended to that it is at the same with with the kitchen. The extended space will be an open air space. My new home has quite a strong wind flow either in the morning or afternoon. Thus, the open space will take advantage of this wind condition. My wife plan, the open space will be the 2nd place for dining.
Viewing from 45 degrees angle
From side view
The side view of the kitchen
Looking to the front from the back area
My neighbor at the front of my house is also undergoing extensive renovation. The house to be extended by about ten feet from front to the back of the house, ground and top floor. He is a Chinese. He hope to be able to move in before Chinese New Year.
The pole idea is from my contractor.
Meanwhile, I don't want to wait for the renovation to be completed before I do something more to my new home. So, I decided to plant banana trees: lemak manis, emas and kapas. As per expected, when I dug the soil, there were many small stones which must be eliminated. The holes were refilled with better soil before the banana trees can be planted. I enjoyed plating trees. It is good for both mental and physical. In addition, the fruits can be consumed without any chemical additive.
During this week, my contractor had also prepared to build the top floor. They are using the stagings to support the woods which will contain the concrete. The process is not easy as it seems. A careful craftsmanship will ensure there will be no damage to the structure to be built and existing structure.
The woods must be arranged tightly so that the concrete will not sip through the woods. The woods must be supported with enough strength from the staging to ensure the woods will not break. All the woods must be carefully nailed to ensure sufficient strength.
Beams were constructed to strengthen the floor. The beams at the back of the first floor at the boarder to my neighbor house. There are two beams because there will be a special space at the back of the new room.
The new room at the top floor is not connected to the existing balcony. This is to ensure the existing room can still have a window. Originally the existing room have two windows. One of the windows will be sealed with the new room's wall.
The existing side balcony will be extended to be at the same width of the new room.
Steel rods about 1 cm diameter is used to strengthen the concrete. These steel rods will be arranged in parallel at about 1 feet distance to each other. The most critical part is some of the rods' tip must be connected to the steel rod in the existing building. Thus, they have to carefully find the steel rod in the existing building by poking several holes. The new rod will be clipped to the found steel rods. This is very important to ensure the floor to be built must have a strong support from the existing building.
The clipping or rods is critical especially where the beam will be built. The poked holes will be cemented by the concrete later on.
The beam at the edge of the new balcony
The work in progress is getting exciting. I often visit the site to learn more about the development process.
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