Progress of the construction

The initial days of the construction gives you a really nice feeling.
You can see the building coming up as you pay. Once the structure is complete, you feel that the construction is at snail's speed. You can see that the money is flowing out but you feel nothing is happening,

But yes there are many things that happening at that stage, the plastering work which can take more than a month, then the plumbing, electrical wiring, after that flooring.......

One thing that I realised during the construction is that, its always better for you to be present during the key days, like the days of concreting.

While the concreting is happening you need to take care of a few things.

1) if the casting is going on for an exposed slab, make sure that water proof solution is mixed. They normally mix it in the water that they use during mixing
2) Make sure that the sand is clean, any foreign decay-able things like wood piece cloth piece etc can cause leak if they get in to the mixture, they normally get in to the mixture from the sand.
3) Make sure that the labors are using vibrators properly to get the concrete in to all corners. the vibrator should touch the steel rods so that the concrete gets below them
4) Make sure that proper curing is done.

Its an un-written rule that you should  provide food for the labors on that day. The supervisor normally collect some money towards that (around 2500/-) Or if you are comfortable you can very well arrange for the food. You never know what %ge of the money goes to the actual food expenses.

So my house is now slowly getting it's shape.

Week 2

You can see that the sump is the fist thing to be built (or rather dug) it is because you need water, a lot of water during construction so you got to keep the sump filled always.

Week 4

 During the walls are built, if you are using clay bricks, make sure that they are soaked well before they are taken by the mason, if you can get a big concrete tub to immerse the bricks the best, or at least make sure that you spray plenty of water on to them before they are picked. This is very important for proper grip and it will avoid cracks in the future

Week 6 - ready for first slab casting

Better to use the steel sheets instead of wooden planks for centering work. This will help in saving on plastering cost.

Ready for Second slab casting

Final slab casting done

Curing is a very important factor in construction. Make sure that curing is done at least twice a day. once in the morning and once in the evening.

Elevation work in progress

 

Elevation work getting completed

Even though its the responsibility of the contractor to make sure that the labors are safe. Its always better you too check the scaffolding's are strong and proper. The last thing you want to happen during your construction is to see some one getting hurt during that. And there is a payment that you need to make to the labor board during the plan approval process. That goes towards to the welfare of the labors.

Plastering done and ready for the painting

Never rush during plastering, let the labors take their own time and pace. And yes make sure proper curing is done here as well.

After plastering they give rough finish for the exterior walls and walls on which any types of cladding or tiles are to be applied.

The interior walls are finished with lime (a calcium mixture). it is better to get this finishing work is done in the night, when the work is done with a strong artificial light source kept in a corner, it will give a better understanding of the finish and smoothness of the wall. With the putty applied on the wall this will give satin smoothness even with normal wall paints.

The final product

Selection of the paint is a big challenge, I got the free paint guide from asian paints. That really gave some ideas.