Building projects | Eastern Highlander

Tadpole after plastering the outside

View from the septic tank

Routes were chipped out of the brickwork for the electrical conduits prior to plastering the interior. (No nice cavity walls here)

Routes of electrical conduits

The electricians covered in brick-dust

Brick-dust

Next Mr Patrick 2 ‘plasters’ (with cement) the exterior and interior. Chicken wire was used to add strength to the outside of the existing round rondavel.

Mr Patrick 2 plastering

Mr Tadoka and Mr Paul the plumbers chipped out the shower

Place for the shower

And finally the most important part of any building and the one you have been waiting for … the septic tank.

Here being inspected by ‘Mr Huckle’

‘Mr Huckle’ at the septic tank

Mr Farai plastering the septic tank

The plumbers had to spend a couple of extra days burning a route through the stones for the pipe connecting waste pipe

Burning rocks in the trench

Mr Tendai looking safer than usual!

Mr Tendai in hard hat

This is our first building project! We are refurbishing the fire damaged rondavel below our house to make a study centre for the children. It started out as a single round room and will be steadily transformed into a two story building with an added ‘tail’ (below) containing the new entrance and bathroom downstairs.

Tadpole tail under construction

Here is what we started with – the burnt out shell of a small circular building (rondavel). You can obviously see the lack of roof, and the electrics were burnt out and there are cracks in the walls …

burnt out rondavel

burnt out rondavel door

burnt out rondavel interior

Our builders are Mr Samhembere and team. Somewhat amazingly his uncle, Mr Patrick 1 – also working on this project (below) – helped to build the main house here in 1975 …and swore he would never come back!

Mr Patrick 1 forming the special tadpole curve

A highly complex methodology was used to calculate the shape of the curves you can see being formed here in stone and brick by Mr Samhembere senior (Patrick 1). Later you will see what a great outcome this unique shape produced in our building