Decision on Piling

I am back on track. This really is being written on the day in question.

Today we decided that the best course of action is to forget the piling and beam for the area under the patio arches and just proceed with the house extension. This was the major component of the queries emailed on 19th October and seems to have caused a major holdup. It is unlikely that the arches and raised patio will be built as part of "phase 1" anyway, and it is quite likely that putting in foundations for it will just obstruct site access. We can always do them later.

We cannot afford any more delays so Jan has written to the piling company and the structural engineer, respectively asking them for a requote and potential start date, and for submission to the local authority for Building Regs approval. Both letters have been posted and also emailed.

We still need answers to a couple of the other points (e.g. the exact position of the piles) but we can iron these out once we have got their attention again.

In the intervening weeks, the rain has caused a bit of a collapse to the sides of the excavation. We will therefore need the groundworks contractor to come in and do some site preparation before the piling can be done. We will probably also ask him to mark out the site with the drilling positions. I guess the council inspector will need to be invited to come and inspect these before any site work commences.

Let's hope we can get this project moving again, as we have allowed it to grind to a halt.