TERRAIN LAYOUT QUIZ for 20 June 04

[Ralph Jones]

Good Evening Friends,
Building sites on steep slopes or rough terrain should be _____________________ before the building is laid out.

Respectfully,

[bitingmidge]

Nuked

[RETIRED]

Upgraded?

[journeyman Mick]

Building sites on steep slopes or rough terrain should be benched or benched and filled before the building is laid out using either:
a) a D9 dozer
b) a 30 tonne excavator
c) a small thermonuclear device :eek:
d) all of the above.

Seriously though, around here even if zoning permits it I reckon you'd have to be nuts to build on some of the steeper sites, benched or left "au naturel" and built on with a relatively low impact building like a pole home. There's a lot of relatively high density development happening now on the hillslopes with people building large houses on small blocks. Large boulder retaining walls are built with an excavator, often close to the boundaries of the block and a large concrete masonry block house (often multiple stories) on a raft slab is erected. Then just next to this another huge retaining wall goes up and another similar monument to consumerism goes up. It will be interesting to see what happens when we start getting some decent wet seasons and a few cyclones. Mudslides all round !

Mick

[Ralph Jones]

Hi Mick,
I have often wondered about construction as you mentioned myself, no matter where you live weather can play heck with most of any construction.

The mud slides in some of the other countries have devastated several homes , villages and even a whole community of late.

Isn't it funny when greed runs the situation?

Respectfully,

[bitingmidge]

I'm not sure that it's always greed Ralph.

Almost every house client I have had has comprised one partner or the other who had unrealistic or inappropriate requirements.

Typically, a client with a steep site where as Mick has suggested an appropriate solution would be to touch it "lightly" on poles or stumps leaving the slope in it's natural state, will want a tennis court. (One of my clients went elsewhere after I refused to incorporate a Tennis court which would require a 6 metre high retaining wall on one side.)

Often in dealing with small sites, the client would simply request "cover the maximum allowable", and would get offended when I suggested that they go and find a larger block of land. (Hard to believe I know; I HAVE offended a few people in my time!! :eek

Anyway, if it's not greed what is it? Stupidity? Ego?

That's my quiz question for today!!

Cheers,

P

Oh and Ralph, thanks for your patience!

[Ralph Jones]

Hey Bitingmidge,
I know exactually where you are coming from because I myself have made people upset when they want me to design something in their blueprints that won't be allowed for the size of their lot.
I tell them you have room to go up but, not out. They still will ask, "why not?" Bluntly I tell them that the building codes will not permit it. So they cancel the job, and leave me with several sheets of expensive wasted paper.

I don't know what vellum cost down there but, here it is $3,00 per sheet and that doesn't count the layout paper that I use @ 1.00 per sheet. Now muiliply that by at least seven sheets per set and then 5 sets of prints.

That is just material and not counting labor time, for doing the drawings in the first place.

Some people sure have their gull.

Respectfully,

[Ralph Jones]

Good Morning Friends,
Hope today gets you started off to a good week.
Now for the quiz, the answer is to bring the terrain to a rough grade before laying out the building lines.

Thank you for your comments and support.

Respectfully,

[ozwinner]

(Hard to believe I know; I HAVE offended a few people in my time!! :eek

NO!!!!!
I find that hard to beleive.

Al

[RETIRED]

So do I.