Foundations | Marsh Flatts Farm Self Build Diary

Week 4, Day 2:

More progress removing soil from around the foundations, down to the level required for the concrete ‘oversite’.
Connecting the GSHP collector pipes together at the manifold chamber.
Digging a trench for the GSHP pipe tails to cross under the house and running them from the manifold to a location under the utility room.

Week 4, Day 2

GSHP collector pipes connecting at manhole

32mm GSHP collector pipes connecting to the manifold enclosure which contains filling connectors and balancing valves. The upper collector pipes are the ones which run straight along the inside edge of each trench and carry the flow to the house; the lower ones are the slinky loops. All pipe joints outside the manifold chamber are made using electrofusion connectors.

Close-up of electrofusion connectors on GSHP collector pipes

Inside the manifold chamber, before installation (from the other side)

Week 3, Day 1 – Foundation concrete:

On some days, the team focus their energies on things that aren’t particularly visible: researching options for improving the design, comparing prices from different suppliers, arranging deliveries or completing intricate preparations for later steps. On other days the progress is a lot more apparent; today was one of those other days…
Following all of the preparation of the foundation trenches the concrete got poured today, using some big bits of plant:
- A concrete boom pump for easy access to the trenches at the south of the house, over 15m from the driveway.
  - The thing I found most impressive was the degree of control the operator had over the position of the delivery pipe, using the remote control. He was able to manoeuvre the pipe through the network of trenches, barely touching the sides. I suspect that was as much to do with the skill of the operator as with the capability of the hydraulic control system.
- A total of 7 concrete deliveries, roughly 55 cubic metres in all.

One of the hourly snapshots from the time-lapse camera caught the first concrete delivery.