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Our home in Holland suffers from a bad foundation: the timber piles have partly rotten away because ground water levels have
fallen. The cause of that is faulty sewage pipes in the street, that have sucked the ground water away. The piles at the
backside of the house are in prime condition, but the streetside piles have turned into mush. As a result, the house has
tilted almost 45 centimeters to the front and side. The municipality, responsible for the sewage pipes, is trying every trick in
the legal book to avoid liability, and the owners of the houses have to put an average of 50.000 euro's into the ground
to save their property, and since not everyone can afford this, the whole operation has been stalled for the past 3 years.
Now, finally, work is commencing. The ground floor has been removed, and a small rammer will be installed that will ram
steel piles of 3 meters each, 6 or 7 welded on top of each other to get the required length of 18 to 20 meters. These
piles will be filled with reinforced concrete, and a concrete floor will be poored on top to carry the weight of the house.
On this page we will maintain a photo diary of the works, with the aid of our neighbours Margreet and Rene who will
make pictures and mail them to us while we are in Eilat. The proceedings have also been followed with a simple webcam that
made pictures every 30 seconds. Unfortunately it broke down the very last week.
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The floor has been removed, and a mini-shovel is busy leveling the underground. |
It is pretty strange to find all radiators, doorhandles and light switches 30 cm higher than usual. |
The foundation of the chimney crumbles and collapses. Our neighbour to the left has a similar chimney, and the state of
the walls probably explain why our house fills with smoke when she lights her open fire. No use to complain however,
as her living room is filled with smoke so badly you can hardly see the opposite wall. For added poisoning, she mainly burns
painted wood...... |
Looking down from the ceiling, the webcam keeps us up to date.
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The original plan was to keep all the walls intact, but we finally decide to clear the entire ground floor except for the
staircase. Not a bad decision for the toilet, since the walls are completely cracked. |
Oops: the sewage pipe was accidentally removed, and the turds were piling up on the ground. Open in-house sewage..... |
Clean sweeping: the kitchen, toilet and walls have gone. |
One spot in the cupboard was always damp, and now we can see the effect on the wall: the wood at the bottom has completely rotten away.
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Neighbor Rene is looking for the water meter. The building constructor has hidden the piping under a thick layer of sand to protect
from the ramming that will start shortly. |
Another surprise: in the kitchen a decorated ceiling appears. Underneath is a board ceiling, then wood, and finally the modern tile ceiling.
Four layers on top of each other. |
The ramming is done, all 18 piles are in. The cellar underneath the former storeroom has been filled, and 3 piles have been
rammed in. Now the sewer must be remade, and then it is time to pour the concrete. |
Another pile underneath the stairs, and 2 more alongside the stairs. |
Removing the walls makes the room very airy and light.... |
...but the current inhabitants are not very good in wiping their feet. |
Margreet has inspected the upper floor, and no damage is visible. Only the kitchen could not be inspected, since the
door could not be opened anymore. The house must have been dancing quite a lot! |
The privvy is currently outside, and does not offer much privacy. The windows-frame has been sagging so much that it has
become very hard to shut the door. |
A temporary door seals the upper floors, since anybody could simply walk in. |
Even the stairs have been swept. |
And this is where the toilet will be. Just keep it up for a while.... |
The building constructor has connected the sewage pipes for the whole ground floor, including those from the upper floors
and a drainage pipe that appeared not to be connected at all: rain water simply dumped into the basement. All this
work of art will shortly disappear under a layer of concrete. |
The steel piles have been filled with concrete, and reinforcement steel has been inserted to connect the piles with the
floor. On top of this, a thin layer of concrete forms the first layer of the floor. |
The ground floor is starting to resemble a house. The sand has gone, and the drainage pipes stick out of the floor. |
Outside, the place looks like a building site: both parking lots have been taken to store the steel matting. |
But first holes are made in the walls, that will fill with concrete when the floor is poured. The fingers in the holes will
carry the weight of the walls. |
Also a happy Easter Margreet.... The webcam showed some extra ventilation holes in the front, and indeed: this hole got a bit
overzealous. The hole looks huge from the inside, but is not so bad outside. |
When ready, the floor will be 20cm higher, whereas the old floor was below street level. A hefty bit of rain, and the floor would
have been flooded.
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The chimney had some cracks, and partly collapsed when making the hole underneath it. Highest quality! |
A look under the floor of our neighbor Louis. Water and gas pipes are visible. We share just a single wall, so the notion that his
house is completely separate is rubbish.
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These hives will be shifted through the walls, to connect our floor with that of the neighbors. |
As the floor is rather high, the constructor does not dare to break holes in this wall, for fear of ending up in the neighbors living room.
He drills 110 small holes to just put the
steel through to the other side. We are not very happy with this, because there will be no concrete in this wall, making us very
dependent on the works at our neighbors house.
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Two holes in the other wall are filled with hives. Different one, since Louis does not join in the foundation repairs and no concrete will
be poured on his side.
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Barend made some heavy duty lace work.
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This is the reason the kitchen door would not open anymore: last year's small crack has found some fertilizer and turned into a big crack.
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Creative solution by constructor Frank: he bought a nifte little machine that drilled almost, but not completely, through the wall.
A sliver of stone remains on our neighbors side, but enough stone has been removed to have concrete under this wall as well.
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Early morning, the concrete mixer is in the street.
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Daddies gone fishing......
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The webcam is out of order, but Margreet has given her camera to Frank to make some pictures while the concrete is being poured.
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Clay modelling for grown-ups....
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Slowly by steadily, the slush moves towards to front door.
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Take five: it is awfully hot today in Holland, 29 C in April, hotter than Eilat!
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The final result: a nice floor or reinforced concrete, build on concrete piles. This house is not going to be blown away anytime soon.
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Just a bit of cleaning left to do....
Well, no, we will replace this wall covering this summer, when we also will rebuild the inner walls.
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