The preparation for casting the house roof in-situ has been a long steady process. With the fitting of a couple of supporting pillars in the main room the shuttering for the roof could be completed.
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| Final touches are made to the shuttering around the metal pillars. |
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| Ready for pouring the in-situ concrete roof. |
One morning, after breakfast, I happened to look across from the patio of our temporary accommodation to discover the concrete pump on the site. I hastily set off across the valley (10km) to check what was happening. It seems the concrete was booked for 1000hrs but the drivers decided to make an early start and turned up at 0800hrs!! Such is life in Crete.
When I arrived on site, having passed a concrete lorry returning down the track up to the site, I discovered work was well underway with pumping. consolidating and finishing the concrete.
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| Steady progress in pumping, spreading, vibrating and finishing the concrete roof. |
It was important to lay the whole roof in one continuous slab and to keep the surface damped down to slow the initial drying process and avoid any breaks or surface cracking. Having completed the roof by late morning, therefore, the team spent the rest of the day damping down the roof using water delivered by gravity from the old spring water storage tank further up the site. In anticipation of this I had avoided my usual process of using this stored water for irrigation purposes and had ensured there was a full tank available for the building works. I was pleased to note that the water pressure was sufficient for the purpose and should therefore prove adequate for household needs.
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| Almost there with damping down ensuring a slower surface drying rate. |
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| The roof is completed. |
