Thursday 28 May 2009

Kitchen renovation progress

Here are some progress for the past week on my dear beloved kitchen's renovation works.

Remember how previously they dug 3 grave holes at my backyard?
Well, they quickly filled it up with concrete the very next day, and upon coming back from work, this is what we saw.

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My wife looked at me and asked "Erm, why only filled half only?"
I had no idea, but i tried to tembak the answer "Cos they ran out of cement mah"

Of course, that has got to be the stupidest answer ever, since earlier in the morning i saw the contractor with the concrete mixer truck, so it is impossible for them to run out of cement.

So i called the contractor and he told me "No worries Mr. Wong. That one is just the footing, as the base foundation. The other half will be filled up later"

Ok lo, since i know nuts about construction, better leave it to the experts.

A few days later, once the footing concrete has dried up, they proceeded to the next step.
I came home and saw this.

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Wah, good progress *clap clap*

Looks like they have all the steel bars tied up and ready. These bars will act as the foundation to strengthens the concrete structure from the inside.

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Another closer shot to see how they all come together.

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The new steel bars are connected back to the steel bars in the existing structure for added strength. The whole house's foundation will support the new area from this, preventing the kitchen from sinking.

Yes, my house's backyard actually is on soft ground, so it is actually sinking slowly. Some people said we should not touch this area until it settles, which takes around 5-10 years. It has barely been 3 years, so we are actually risking the whole kitchen sinking into the abyss.

Even some of the neighbours' renovation works have resulted in cracks appearing due to the sinkage. Only time before their kitchen (the extended area) will be ripped off from the whole house.

But of course our contractor promised us the Sun and the Moon and gave us a lifetime guarantee that it will not sink.

Well, either he is that good, or he has a short life span. hahahahah

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Ok, everything looks set with the steel bars structure.

The next day, the concrete mixer truck came again and filled up the area.

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Everything that needs to be done to make the foundation strong has been done.
Now only time will tell if it could withstand the sinkage.

As they say, the foundation is the most important in any structure. If it fails, there goes the kitchen.

With this in mind, every night before i go to bed, i pray that my contractor may live up to 99 years old.

His lifetime guarantee better be good. He better not die on me dammit!

5 comments:

molly said...

I had my kitchen renovated recently and that 1st and 2nd pictures look very familiar.
Just a small renovation it took the contractor 3 months to complete and I had to bear with the dust cleaning again and again.
At least the iron rods they used are thicker than the one used by my contractor. I did tell him that the rod is too thin, but he said that is the normal size they used. See, that is why I have sleepless nights too.

BlurryLeo said...

LOL, have you check with your contractor on how old is he now? And if he has kids, make sure u know them .. so that next time you can "Remember me, uncle Cal .. ur dad was the contractor for my kitchen .." LOL :)

Anonymous said...

LOL ask him about his insurance premium. Then can guess his health condition XD

HAha yup. girls cant be hairy man... Can't stand XD

Marvin Lee said...

Haha.. time to get to know his kids :)

Janee Martin said...

A great post dude. I appreciate the insight. I think that home renovations may be an actual growth area in the future.

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