MY ADVENTURE INTO THE WORLD OF BUILDERS!!!

Hi guys!! I trust we are all doing fine? Today is definitely one to remember for me probably till I die! Lol. I actually woke up a bit moody (we all feel like this once in a while, right?), but soon as I got some Vitamin D, I was good to go for the day ;) (Yeah, Vitamin D helps to lighten the mood! You can give it a trial if you want, but try not to bake yourself in the sun though.. lol! ) Hence, my day actually started at 9:15 a.m!

First off, you ought to know that I am a Pharmaceutical Chemist and you’d be surprised that I actually spent today doing something i literally knew nothing about; BUILDING!!!

Yeah, I am that adventurous, lol! We all know that every country has imposed some sort of lockdown to curb the spread and flatten the curve for Covid-19. My dear country Nigeria is also not left out. I’ve spent over 1440 hours at home ever since the virus entered my country. This time has been spent mostly on blogging, researching on my dissertation project, taking the children in the house holiday classes, and some other boring stuffs like sleeping, etc.

So what made today different?
Well, my uncle whom I currently stay with decided to do some renovations in the house which is constructed on a plot of land in a nice and quiet area here in Kaduna, Nigeria. Yesterday, he sorted out any problems that had to do with plumbing, and today he launched a new project of demarcating the compound since the current building on the land occupies less than half of the plot. He has future plans for the unused half plot of land, hence the demarcation

This morning the builder he gave the contract to, arrived at around the time I decided to have some sunlight. Funny thing is; soon as they settled to get to work, I decided I’d join them and see if I could learn a few things about building construction. My oh my! Turned out I had a lot to learn! And I can confidently say I’m no longer a novice when it comes to Building..haahaaa. I actually took it as a challenge to see what I could learn and also have a different experience from my usual day to day activities.

Before I continue, I must say my experience today has made me realize that I have to respect every profession! Earning an honest pay is truly not easy! Big ups to everyone out there hustling to make a living and a difference the right way!

Another interesting part of the whole thing is that I also got to see the practical use of all the Mathematics, Physics and Technical Drawing I learnt back in the days in Secondary School! Angles and measurements are very vital when it comes to building construction.

Back to the main gist, I joined the Builder and his Labour right after they had excavated the ground for the foundation of the wall. The excavation had a length of 15m, a width of 0.5m and a depth of 0.3m. This was measured with a measuring tape of course!

Next we prepared Casting Mortar which is a mixture of Sharp Sand, Stones, Cement and of course water! Trust me mixing this was not a joking matterz! Lol. At this point, I got to realize how very heavy sand is!

This mixture was then poured into the excavated land to form the Foundation’s base (a uniform layer of mortar) with a height of 3 inches. To ensure the layer of Mortar was leveled all through, we made use of a blinding rope (colored orange), Plumb a.k.a Spirit Level (because the bubble in it is actually caused by a spirit in the liquid in the green colored zone) and also a Tapping range (pictured second below is used to remove air molecules and compact the concrete mixture).

Note: The builder in charge also emphasized the need to retie the blinding rope as the concrete was being poured due to the Law of Expansivity because the water from the concrete in contact with the rope will make the rope sag ;) That is some physics right there uhm?!

We made another concrete mixture of Sand, Cement and Water next. This mixture was used to make a mortar bed along the length of the excavated space right on top of the level concrete base soon as it got firm a bit. The 6 inches concrete blocks were then laid in a straight line using the a builder line (a rope just like the one above) and a Plumb occasionally as guides.

The white line is the Builder Line

The two set of blocks laid in a vertical-ish direction are called Pillar blocks which not only serve aesthetic purpose but also give the wall support and strength to prevent total collapse of wall should in case any seismic activity occurs.

With the first course of blocks in place, the spaces were filled with concrete a.k.a Mortar joints, using two types of hand trowel; (a pointing trowel for scooping and pouring in the space, and a Rectangular trowel for smoothing of the mortar joints pictured below). This process is called Chalking. And soon as all blocks in the first course were joined together, a fresh layer of mortar was placed along the top of the course, and blocks were then laid on top.

Chalking

This process was repeated 3 times and at the end of the day, we had 4 courses of block. Backfilling was then carried out to make just 3 courses of blocks visible.

After the day’s work, I was so exhausted, but I was glad I took part in the activities because it kept me occupied all day long. It was quite demanding and tiring! Some of my body joints still ache me as I type this article, but I was told all I need is some sound sleep, and I have decided not to take any analgesics! Those drugs all have side effects anyway!

I also got to bond with the builder and I definitely can contribute one or two things in a discussion that involves building of walls and related things. I feel the knowledge gained will also be useful and applicable for me when I eventually set out to build a house for myself in the nearest future possible!

Tomorrow is another day to continue the work as we were not able to complete the wall today. But before then, below is a picture of the work we covered today. I had to take it in the night lol!. I was just too tired to do anything after we closed work for the day.

Well, that’s about all for now on this article. I hope you enjoyed reading through as much as I enjoyed sharing this memorable experience of mine with you all!

To make sure you learn something also, I have a question for you; Did you know that building concrete blocks have a top and bottom? Well, be sure to check it out and tell me the importance of these different sides when laying blocks in the comment section below!.

Thanks for reading through and I look forward to your views and comments on my post. Cheers all!!

AS COMPOSED BY QUE