Nearing completion

Well, it's been a hectic few months and the next few promises to be just as busy. I can now see the light of the end of the tunnel. At least a glimmer ! As of date the overall building is complete. The electrical wires ard drawn through the conduits and the first coat of paint (only on the inside of the house) is near complete. Yesterday, the floor tiles arrived from Aathangudi and the no-nonsense team is well on the task with one of the rooms nearly finished as of this afternoon.

For those of you who don't know, Aathangudi is the name of a village near Karaikudi in Tamil Nadu where encaustic cement tiles (probably brought down by the British) are still made as a cottage industry. These are hand made on a sheet of glass with patterned moulds and oxides to give rather brilliant designs. Previously made popular by the wealthy merchant Chettiars of Karaikudi, these heritage tiles are since called by the village they are made in. Aathangudi tiles. Google it !

The electric power condition is still precarious with the fuses blowing every hour. The line fault is yest to be sorted out by the developer and he has promised to do so this weekend (among many other such promises). Considering getting some PV panels to charge my inverter and be less dependent on the grid power. But alas the funds don't yet permit.

Check out my new pictures.

Construction underway

Been a busy period getting started on our home. First things first. We wanted to build a home on a limited budget and at the same time make it as environmentally friendly as possible. After much research and consideration, we zeroed in on stabilized mud blocks. Took a while getting our plans all together and finding the right contractor. We got the father of mud block technology, Dr. Yogananda on board. He runs Mrinmayee, an NGO to promote this technology. As a structural engineer and an expert in this area, Dr. Yogananda is a gentle and unassuming man, who is genuinely interested to help people build their houses cost effectively and in a sustainable manner. Some contractors we talked to subsequently did not find it viable to take up our low cost project and their suggestions did not optimise Dr. Yoganada's technologies and kept going back to more conventional methods. This did not suit us. Fortunately, Vikram our architect found a contractor, Amarnath who not only had fifteen years of experience in this domain but also came across as one who is decent and willing to take up our project with a real interest to meet our needs.

Construction started mid December with the customary delays in mobilizing people. But all things said, the job is well underway and as of writing this, we are very near casting the ground floor roof. Our target is to complete our 1800 sft home before the onset of monsoons which is mid June. Hopefully we should make it. I have posted some pictures to show how it looks now.

Most importantly, in this post, I should like to add that for those who want to start construction, do get in touch with Mr. Srinivas who is the site engineer for this layout for all your infrastructure needs such as water and electricity connections. Eeach site owner must apply for a temporary connection for construction from the local Sarjapur BESCOM office which ended up costing us 7k (and a monthly fee of Rs. 630/- for usage charges billed on commercial rates). The problem lies with the employees of the layout who control the water (valves) and electricity line maintenance. They practically held us to ransom demanding we pay Rs. 100 per week for water and more money for putting on the street lights which is anyway the responsibility of the layout. Remember we paid for all of us by buying into a BMRDA approved layout. Fortunately, Mr. Srinivas is a very proactive and honest man who sorted out the blackmailing attitute of the staff at least for now. Feel free to contact me for any other informaiton you may need when you start to build.