First floor slab

Last minute preparations before the in transit mixer arrives.

Coupled up like two insects involved in a courting ritual. Ready to pump.


It's not working. Nothings coming out.

Nothing. Maybe he forget the concrete. The driver does not appreciate the comment.


Only one thing to do. Russian technology, French technology, all the same....made in Taiwan. Bang!And again!
Here it comes.
Putting the rubber trunk back on.

We're away.

First floor formwork and other stuff

Electron microscope image of spiraling subatomic particle entering a slab of silicon? No, it's a little spring that gets cast into the concrete to hold the insulation on the underside.
The formwork for the textured stair wall - this time on the right side of the wall!
Dark matter in the back yard
First floor formwork

What's holding it all up until the concrete hardens

Chaos and dark matter

When you look up at the night sky 80% of what’s out there doesn’t shine. Astronomers and scientists around the world are hot on the trail of that missing 80%. There are multiple theories on what makes up the hidden mass of the universe. The missing bit has been christened ‘dark matter’.

In order to solve the riddle of what makes up this ‘dark matter’ you need a pretty big telescope and a particle accelerator. Particle accelerators are amongst the largest human constructions on earth (for the moment that is, rumours are that Sony are bringing out a pocket sized one next year). They consist of a huge ring tunnel, burrowing under the countryside, packed full of electromagnets and sensitive equipment for investigating the sub atomic bits and pieces that make up the world. It takes a lot of money, and a long time, to build a particle accelerator. Huge open ended budgets and some pretty frightening electricity bills are involved.
It strikes me that the scientists would have saved themselves an awful lot of money and time, if they’d have visited the site whilst the particle accelerator was under construction. Anyone that has ever demolished a wall will know where the unseen dark matter in the universe comes from.
The Builders trial and error method of pouring concrete is having a ‘dark matter’ style effect on the rear garden. Careful measurement involving buckets and weighing apparatus will undoubtedly show a correlation between evidence on site and astronomical data from observations of the universe.

For every 20% of what’s being built, there’s a corresponding 80% of mayhem in the back yard.

If god was an architect then ‘dark matter’ is builders rubble. And no, I’m not a creationist.

'Don't close the formwork until I've inspected it'

So of course they built and closed the formwork and poured the concrete for the stair wall without me seeing it first.

The textured concrete was perfect, the grain of the timber in sharp relief, the narrow slit opening in exactly the right position. It must have been vibrated to within an inch of its life there was not an air bubble to be seen. Perfect concrete. Perfect

The only problem?

The texture was on the wrong side of the wall.

In his head The Architect was curled up in the corner of the garage, sobbing and gnawing at his clenched fist. Not even a post disaster cup of tea from The English Neighbour could stop the pain.

No photos please.

Sample panel

Sample panel poured this evening. Just like cake mix in a tin, or as I'm expected to say being a Brit living in France, like jelly in a mould.

Textured concrete stair wall

The ground floor walls are practically complete awaiting the formwork for the first floor slab. Whilst that gets underway there will be time to attack the main stair wall that unites each floor of the house. The wall will be cast insitu concrete with an exposed timber plank texture. Given the recent disastrous pouring of the ground floor walls (one panel has been demolished twice) The Architect is just a wee bit apprehensive and has asked for a sample panel to be poured for approval before giving the go ahead.

The inside of the formwork, for the wall, will be built up of roughly sawn 10cm wide planks which will imprint their texture onto the concrete surface.

The main stair wall will be a physical witness to the birth pains of the project. The two known major flood levels of the nearby river will be forever marked by horizontal hollow joints. At some future unknown but inevitable date, someone will watch the murky waters rising up the stairwell and comment on the foresightedness of The Architect in providing such a handy benchmark, ‘look darling, we’re almost at the same level as in 1910!’.


The Client has not passed comment on this element of the project. In her opinion all of the British, and especially the English, are eccentric at least once a day. She is reserving her judgement for the finished work.

Concrete coco pops

The true extent of the disaster is revealed the following morning. The worst will be demolished and rebuilt. At least the demolition is not too difficult when the concrete is still 'green'.

The in situ tailor made timber formwork was no match for the speed and pressure of the in transit mixer and pump.

A report from the scene of the disaster

The Architect arrived on site as the builders were clearing up. Large quantities of unused and still liquid concrete were being scraped of the ground floor slab and into the garden.
Apparently the pressure from the concrete pump combined with a neglected corner of the timber formwork had proved disastrous for the middle wall. The form had ruptured at the base spilling its contents into the gulley between the site hut and the façade. Hasty repairs had followed and a second attempt to pour the concrete had been successful.

Such an event will obviously have repercussions on the quality of the concrete. The ground floor walls are all to be left with the concrete exposed, so the quality of the surface is paramount. With all the efforts to mitigate the disaster it is certain that some of the essential tasks like vibrating the concrete to ensure there are no air pockets, will have been neglected. The formwork will be taken down to expose the finished walls in one or two days. The true extent of the disaster will only then be visible. The Architect is holding his breath.