Visit 1:This building is mainly made of timber and bricks. It also has some steel parts.

Dead loads acts vertically downward on a structure, comprising the self weight of the structure and the weight of the building elements. This shows how forces go from the top to the bottom.

When a large, column-free space is required, long-spanning plate girders or trusses can be used to carry the rim army beam, which in turn support a layer of secondary beams.( according to Ching 4.15)The steel strongly hold the two timbers to gather so it could be more stable.

The depth of the floor construction could be sound and fire resistance.

There is also wires and tubes for water and electricity \.

The beams and the walls support the closely space open web joists so that the wood plank has relatively short spans.

There are more posts at the corner because there is more loads here.

This is a foundation wall and also a concrete masonry foundation wall. It uses small bricks and do not require formwork.(according to Ching 3.12)

Angel bracing: There is a timber and a steel stick in 45 degrees to connect the posts to make them stable. Once the bricks are put in and the wall is built they will be removed.

There's some spare space between the window and the structure in case that if the window is bigger than measured.

There is a much thicker and stronger beam above the window because the window couldn’t take much load.

They will build the stairs at the end because is more convenient to built other stuff first.

Reference:

Ching, Frank. (2008):‘floor systems’ Building construction illustrated (4th ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Visit 2Things didn’t change a lot by this week. The builders were busy so that we took some pictures around by ourselves and then asked them a bit questions.

The roof of garage is leaning so that the rain would not stay on it.

They used some silver paper inside on the wall of the ground to prevent water getting inside.

There are holes on the wall to let the water came out.

They used these green waterproof clothes to protect the timber from soaking. The timbers expose to the air would be painted later.

There is no brick wall on the second floor. They use beams span on the walls and slabs put on beams.

A steel frame is built around the building so that builder could easily work outside on first floor. This would be removed once the work is done.

There are some bricks be put on the ground with a water proof cloth covering them.The builder said they are going to put them on this part shows below (red circle).Because there will be a terrace upon this so this part need to be stronger.And the reason why they use different color of bricks the answer is they are same material the only reason is the architect thought different colors look nice.

Visit 3There is some ribbed roof decking on the ground which is going to be used as part of roof.

The doors and windows are finally installed. They connect well with the structure. Builders filled the gaps around the windows.

Almost all the timbers are covered with these green waterproof clothes.

The tubes and meters for electricity and water have been set up and but not connected yet.

The grey brick wall has finally been built. The color is different from the red ones however the characters are same.

This green staff is foam. They will be used as insulation of heat.

Visit 4More insulation foam has been installed. They will be painted later. Once it is painted,They will be look like this wall on the right.

Last time there was waterproof cloth on the woods and now they take it off because they put some waterproof paint on the timbers.

These huge tubes are for a central air conditioning which does both heat and cold.

The machine is located between first floor and the terrace. Actually is just under the roof but the terrace is above the roof.

There is insulation foam around the terrace to prevent the heat caused by sunshine.The windows are in shapes which fit the structure so they could be more stable.

There are some joists on the guardrail of the terrace so that people could put barbecue plate or other staff on it.

The cables and wires have been installed.

They are mainly between joists under the ceiling.

.These places are for the installation of toilets.

There is also insulation between the floors

The angle bracings hold the timber strongly. They will be removed when the wall is totally built.

Visit 5Just a few things changed during this week.

There is some horizontal beams be put on the wall. The builder said their will be more horizontal ones to make them compact. Just like those vertical ones in the right picture.

Here is the ribbed roof decking. It is installed like the picture shows below.

We find some steel joints which weren't there last week. These steel joists make the structure more stable.

The windows on first and second floor are all awning & hopper ones or sealed ones. These windows saved space but could just let little sunlight to get in. This building is close to the sea it windy here. These windows are strong while facing wind.