The work on the farmhouse at our 7 acre farm is proceeding as planned. The important task is to raise the foundation pillars… what the locals call as ‘dummy pillars’. Since the land is at a low lying area (its about 3 feet below the road level), we first had to raise the base section. We decided to raise it by 5 feet just to be safe.
This work increases the cost substantially, not to mention extra effort and days spent. But we felt its worth it especially considering that our land is close to a very large lake which tends to overflow during the rainy seasons.
Here are the pics when the pillar work was done.
The mason laying the iron skeletal work in the pit that was dug a few days ago.
A look at the basement of the pillar.
A hollow channel is created around the metal structure using bricks. This is let to settle for a day.
The next day, the rest of the pit is filled in with mud leaving the hollow section inside the bricks area. Concrete is poured into the hollow section which binds very well with the metal structure forming a strong pillar. Once this is done for all the 11 pillars, a curing time of 3 days is given. While this is allowed to wait, the masons turn their attention to the septic tank where they work on laying the inside walls. That’s for a separate post!
