On this project we had to erect a new steel frame building, construct new insulated block work walls, install a a concrete flooring with underfloor heating, install waste treatment tank & build new offices.
The existing site was used as a round bale store. We removed 7 skips of bale wrap to clear the site before we could mark out for the new steel framed building.
The site for the new kennel building had previously been excavated into the hillside. This excavated pit made the location ideal, as the area experiences high winds. The sunken store pit made the ideal shelter for the new kennel building.
The kennel building will house up to 50 dogs at anyone time. The building was specified to a very high standard. This was to include under floor heating, cavity insulation & composite roof panels.
Once the site area had been cleared of the old debris for the farm, the location of the steel frame building was marked out onto the floor. We had no problems with ground conditions as the site was already 3 meters below ground level. Also there is a quarry on the farm located around 1/4 of a mile away.
Once the exact location of the building was located. we excavated the foundation for the steel frame building. We used a 5 ton excavator to dig the footings of the steel building, a tractor and tipping trailer was used to move the spoil. Our builders used around 30 cu meter of concrete for the building foundations.
The Steel Frame Building was then resin anchored to the concrete footings. The building was designed to industrial specification & also galvanised the steel frame for longevity.
As you can see the weather did not help with the erection of the steel frame building. We used a teleporter and a cherry picker to erect the main building.
Our builders used 4″ concrete blocks to build out of the footings to floor level. The cavity at this level was filled with concrete. We used steel Z perlins for the roof area, these will later take the composite roofing sheets. Our building contractors used a standard sand cement mortar for laying the block-work.
Next came the Installation of the composite roofing sheets. These sheets have a 100mm insulation sandwiched between the top corrugation and smooth under layer. We had to erect the roofing panels so that the floor of the kennel building could be concreted.
Once all the perimeter block-work has been laid by our builders, we filled the centre will a strong concrete mix. This will stop the block-work collapsing. We then graded the floor area and installed a crushed hardcore sub base. This was laid and compacted in layers.
We then blinded the sub base hardcore with sand to protect the visqueen membrane form being punctured. 2 drainage channels were installed down the length of the building. These channels are to be used draining away waste. At a later stage in the project we piped up the drainage channel to the waste treatment tank.
The drainage channels were installed on a bed of concrete and levelled with a laser level. This had to be done due to prevent the channels from floating when we cast the concrete floors.
We used a local volumetric concrete supplier for the concrete floors. The floors were concreted in 3 sections between the drainage channels.
The centre channel was cast level. The two side floors had a 30mm fall to the centre drainage channels. The concrete had to be left 20mm low of the channels to allow for the floor tiles.
The floors have 100mm of PIR insulation below the concrete. At a later stage electric under floor heating will be installed.
The concrete floor was allowed to harden for 10 days before we added weight.
Once the concrete floor had hardened, we used the teleporter to load packs of 4″ concrete block.
Our builders spent 3 weeks laying the 4″ concrete block. The builders built up the internal walls first, before starting on the external walls. The construction of the wall is two 4″ concrete block with a 50mm cavity & 50mm cavity slab insulation. The block-work had to be neat & tidy as all the block-work will be on show. So all the joints of the block-work had to be filled & jointed.
Our building contractors used wooden profiles to form the openings of the outside dog runs. A pre-cast concrete lintel was installed over the opening.
