Limping Along

22nd December, 2011 - steel bars for concrete columns of 1st floor up and ready

Just when I thought things were smoothly moving along, the holiday season descended upon us. Holidays are socially accepted and morally sanctioned times to overindulge, whether at play or at rest. A joy most of the time. But too much of a good thing is precisely that - too much. The 5 holidays over the past month and a half meant in this case, a loss of the ability to work normally. And so, since the 2011 Christmas holidays, work has been limping along, slowly and painfully. This is going to be a tough race to win.

28th December, 2011 - 1st floor columns casting complete

1st January, 2012 - Ground floor form-work supports removed, beginning form-work for 2nd floor beams and slab

4th January, 2012 - ready for casting

9th January, 2012 - 2nd floor slab completed

16th January, 2012 - 2nd floor columns ready for casting

19th January, 2012 - beginning form-work for flat roof

Hoping It Was Priscilla

20th December, 2011

sitting pretty in pink

Lip-synching stiletto-ed dancing-queens were - disappointingly - not what I encountered behind the flaming pink monster truck parked INSIDE my house on this particular site visit. Instead, was something a little more elegant albeit more austere: It was a jaw-droppingly gargantuan CRANE!

The pink cement truck and a crane parked behind. There was just about enough space for me to stand and pivot around.

Ewe Hong the contractor, was ecstatic that he managed to squeeze (barely!!) these 2 pieces of growling mega-machinery into the site. Because he could do this, the floor slabs of the 1st & 2nd floors and the roof-garden could now be poured more easily and quickly using the machines. But, this was only to be done for the back 1/3 of the building (until grid-line#6 on the plan).

Building of the middle section would continue laboriously without the help of heavy machinery after the roof of the back section is completed.

Grunting efficiently away, the pink cement truck spews its unctuous contents into the awaiting crucible

The crucible - filled with grade 35 concrete - is then precariously lifted over the roof-tops ...

... to elegantly arrive at its destination, where its precious cargo ultimately becomes an indiscernible part of a floor slab!