Well, it’s been a couple of months since our last page and, sadly, very little progress on the actual house. We were hoping this phase would be full of exciting to us anyway!) photos of the physical structure growing from the empty section. Unfortunately – as everyone in the world is now aware – Covid-19 took off. Yes, even in this distant outpost of civilization we have been feeling the impact. We send our best wishes to all of you and hope sincerely that you and your family and friends are not, and do not, get impacted by this virus.
The actual groundbreaking of the house took place on 25th February 2020. This phase involved the removal of the topsoil and the infill of 1000 m3 of fresh pumice (matching the native material) to raise the house platform by 1 meter to level it and give an improved view. All this was carried out by one-man-and-his-dog: the ever cheerful Gary and Katy (Katy supervised Gary’s work from the comfort of the truck cab with the occasional break to chase a ball around).
This was the actual moment the ground was broken to start the physical build…after all that waiting it suddenly felt real.
One of the 30 double-truck loads of pumice brought in from a local quarry. It only took Gary 10 days to get all the work done and to compact and level the pumice. The dog didn’t help one bit!
The topsoil layer is about 30cm thick over a seemingly bottomless layer of pumice.
The entire region is predominantly pumice and other volcanic materials from the Taupo eruption of 25,000 years ago. It is estimated that our site sits on a layer about 400 meters thick. One benefit is that it is very free draining!
Speaking of draining, the local requirements mean we need a stormwater retention pit to slow the amount of stormwater making its way into stream beds. The volume of the pit is calculated from the area of roof and concrete of the construction. The pit is then lined (seen here) and filled with scoria – another local volcanic material. All the rainwater drains go to this pit which slows the rate of seepage into the surrounding soil.
The next step was to peg and string the layout of the house and put the drainage pipes in place. This was all completed on 17th March. The concrete slab was due to be poured the week of the 23rd. Unfortunately, Covid got in first and the NZ government put the country into lockdown. Non-essential construction was stopped immediately. Now we are waiting like everybody else for the restrictions to be lifted.
As of today – 9th April – we are still in Level 4 lockdown, the daily number of new Covid cases has been falling for three days now so the precautions and controls appear to be working well. We hope for the best!
Hello Vosper’s!!! I finally got around to opening up “The Blog”!! Nice going. Sorry to hear/see construction has been halted for you guys. I know how excited you are to get the place built. Good things take time so some patience will enhance the pleasure once it’s complete.
All good and healthy here. Miss you guys!! I look forward to the next update.
Until then be well, safe and healthy!!!