Monday starts early with a lorry turning up at 7:30 full of what appeared to me to be soil – it was reclaimed hardcode for making concrete!  This is dumped on the drive at 8 when Martin turns up.  The piling crew turn up about 8:30, together with the surveyor and his daughter .  The surveyor and Martin set about remarking the different piling points.  No piles however get started on Monday

On Tues Martin realises that the piling positions on the Prospect Road side of the house are not quite right – it turns out that they are 200mm out and a result of taking the measurements off the drawings and not the house – all goes back to Ralph not getting the line of the wall on the Prospect side of the house exectly right.  Anyway the surveyor chaps comes back and togehter they work out the problem and remark 3 of the 19 pile positions.

Piling then starts with some problems encountered on those under the drive and patio being obstructed so they move on and do the easier ones.  It seems like a slow process as they guys knock off at about 3pm!  They even ran out of diesel on day!  A lorry load of steel, a skip, carboard tubes and other bits and bobs arrive.

By the end of the week we have done all but 5 piles and the decision made to add an additional 6 – 6m – piles for the patio and walkway is made as it would be easier than digging foundations (and I think while maybe not cheaper not much more) and certainly more stable.

The piles vary in depth between 7 and 10m typically and are lined with a cardboard sleeve for the top 3-4m and then filled with concrete and 2 steel reinforcing rods.

While there is a constant background noise it is not so bad as to affect working from home.

The 5 remaining piles are the 2 nearest the house on the Prospect Road boundary – these need some more rubble from the kitchen to be removed and a digger to dig out some more material so the piling rig can dig a hole.  The other 3 are the front of the garage all of which seem to be obstructed below ground level by something.