Concrete pouring for basement floor

Next day, concrete was poured for basement floor. It took about three hours to complete the floor. Make sure steel mesh is risen well above ground so it comes between concrete layer. Steel reinforcement gives concrete the required tensile strength.

Preparation for concrete flooring of basement

The most costly item in construction work is Sariya (Deformed Steel Bars). There are many companies preparing sariya like model steel, nazir sons, ittefaq steel etc. We got Nazir Sons steel 1 ton of 3/8 inch and 1 ton of 4/8 inch for about 73 Rs per Kg. Steel mesh was formed for concrete flooring and for concrete wall.

Margala Bajri Truck arrived

Bajir truck arrived at about 5.30 in the morning. It was a chilly morning. Our contractor had arranged it and it came all the way from taxila at rate of 59 per sq foot. It was a big Hino truck we were expecting about 600 sq feet but when we measured it was 925 sq feet. These guys only take cash payments. So be ready with extra bucks !!

Margala bajri is considered best. Sargodha bajri is between 50-55 per sq feet, however its quality is quite lower.

Filling of Basement Floor

Next day, basement floor was filled with rhorhi and afterwards covered with mixture of sand and cement. We got trolley of broken bricks(rhorha) for about 12k which had about 450 sq feet stuff. afterwards this rhorha was converted in rhorhi. A trolley of sand costed us 5.3k.

    You can see we have started excavation of remaining foundation walls as well.

Termite Proofing for Basement

Termite proofing was done for basement wall and floor. Its more effective on bare soil as compared to when applied on floor full of rhorhi. Well it took about 1 gallon of chemical in a drum of water of about 100 liters. There are many brands available from many companies like biflex, fmc, 4brothers, Ali Akbar, Stadec etc.

Excavation for basement

Finally excavation work for basement started. Excavators can be hard to find at times but luckily we were able to find one working in valencia society.
These people charge you heavily if the excavated soil is left at the site but if they take it with them then huge discounts are available. Problem is that nearly all socities have banned transportation of soil from within their premises to outside.
Manual digging can be costly and time consuming. Excavator took nearly 2 hrs for digging 450 sq foot. Really a life saver !!
Excavation team charged us 15k which included smoothning of floor and walls soil.Working space for excavator is very important. Overhead wapda lines can get very close to its elbow at certain angles . Make sure you have ample space.

Construction of store room

After two days, construction work for the store started. It was my first experience in the field of civil works so was very much excited. I got in contact with a contractor through my brick supplier. At first he was reluctant to work with pre-casted concrete roof as he preferred TI girders roof with tile bricks but then agreed. Three labourers and one mason (raj) came with contractor to start the work. Room is 10 feet in depth,15 feet in width with 9 inch walls included.

                      I bought a ready made iron door and window from Green Town. Door is 3.5 feet in width.Construction of walls is straightforward but placement and positioning of door, windows and concrete girders was little tricky as we didnt want girder's full load to be on the window.

Carefully all concrete girders were placed and afterwards slabs were placed one by one. Special care should be taken while placing girders, if they hit the wall they can easily damage the wall specially one made from gara.
                 After all the slabs were placed, cement (mortar) was applied in the spaces between the slabs. Plastic sheet was placed above it and then Gara+Turi mixture was applied all over it. Roof's surface level was adjusted for drainage and plastic pipe was fitted to complete the work.

               COST ANALYSIS                                                                              Rs.
1) 4000 Bricks                                                                                                 29000
2) Izhar Concrete roof                                                                                      12000
3) Iron Door                                                                                                      4500
4) Iron Window                                                                                                 1200
5) Labour cost                                                                                                 10000
6) Cement 1 Bag+2 sq feet Bajri + 1 sq feet Sand                                                530
7) Iron Girder (Used above Door)                                                                        500
8) Trolley of Mud                                                                                               2000
                                                                                               TOTAL             59730

Bricks for store room

Bricks arrived after three days of ordering. I ordered four thousand bricks. Transportation of bricks can be a hectic process specially with the rush of traffic at Thokar Niaz Baig, traffic police stops heavy traffic from entering in the city. Wise drivers opt for raiwind road. Most of the bhattas are in Raiwind or Bhai Phairu areas. Bricks from Bhai Phairu are considered better. One should keep a margin of at least two days for delivery.

           Price of bricks can be very variable. Nowadays most of the bhattas are closed due to rainy season in September. Normally they remain close for two to three months. Due to this closure prices are quite high with normal range of First class (Awal) brick in between Rs 6500 to 7500 per thousand. One tractor trolley has around 5k bricks.

Beginning

10 October,2012

Finally we have started construction on our plot in NFC Phase-1. First of all store/shelter for cement and chowkidar (guard) has been constructed. This room is made from "Gara" (mud and water mixture). We have used Izhar concrete slabs and girders for making roof.  Rate of one trolley of good quality mud is around Rs.2k.