{"id":145,"date":"2022-03-09T14:36:33","date_gmt":"2022-03-09T14:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/?p=145"},"modified":"2024-12-23T21:35:58","modified_gmt":"2024-12-23T21:35:58","slug":"preparing-the-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/en\/preparing-the-site\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparing the site"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The decision to build with containers was taken. The basic layout was defined. I just needed to make it happen.<br \/>\nIn my absence between 2014\/2015 I agreed with Ramon that he would build back part of the building, saving as much building material as possible:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>wooden posts<\/li>\n<li>corrugated metal roofing<\/li>\n<li>roofing tiles<\/li>\n<li>bricks<\/li>\n<li>doors<\/li>\n<li>windows<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Once on site in Oct 2015 it was time to prepare the site:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>take down the rest of the buildings<\/li>\n<li>mark out and prepare the foundations<\/li>\n<li>preparing the septic system<\/li>\n<li>finding 4 40 feet HC containers<\/li>\n<li>installing the containers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Take down the rest of the buildings<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Everybody seemed to have some fun tearing down a building. Even my neighbour was eager to take down a wall with his truck:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 480px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('video');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-145-1\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"http:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/VIDEO0055.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/VIDEO0055.mp4\">http:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/VIDEO0055.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p>We had a lot of debris, which partially was collected by villagers to used it at their construction site to fill in house slabs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mark out and prepare the foundations<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I was happy to have some laser level although I had to wait for the dark to be able to use it. also the rotary part was damaged but it wasn&#8217;t too difficult to get some custom repair part done on a local lathe shop.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-154 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0869-180x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0869-180x300.jpg 180w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0869-613x1024.jpg 613w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0869-768x1283.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0869-920x1536.jpg 920w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0869-1226x2048.jpg 1226w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0869-scaled.jpg 1533w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A positive coincidence was to find out my columns I had build in regards tot he original plan of house extension would perfectly align with my new containers. I &#8216;cut&#8217; down the outer 2 columns and concert them into foundations.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-156 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0923-180x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0923-180x300.jpg 180w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0923-613x1024.jpg 613w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0923-768x1283.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0923-920x1536.jpg 920w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0923-1226x2048.jpg 1226w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0923-scaled.jpg 1533w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\" \/>As the terrain has a slight slop and in my design was most back container was around 18m into the lot, I had to prepare corner foundations coming about 1m over ground level. We got creative and used old tires as formwork<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-152 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG-20151122-WA0000-300x180.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG-20151122-WA0000-300x180.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG-20151122-WA0000-1024x613.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG-20151122-WA0000-768x460.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG-20151122-WA0000-1536x920.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG-20151122-WA0000-2048x1226.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Septic chamber<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On the country side here is no canalisation available. You have to build your own septic system to treat your black water. The common way to do it is to build 2 chamber:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\u00a0the water proof septic chamber where the solids will settle and decompose over time. If build big enough, you shouldn&#8217;t have to pump it out ever, so the theory<\/li>\n<li>a leach chamber; liquid overflow from the septic chamber flows into here and leaches into the soil. the theory says that the soil acts as an active filter and after 8 meters the water is cleaned eg safe.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>I plan to avoid having black water all together by planning to used composting toilets. But I also wasn&#8217;t ready yet to omit a septic system all together.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-159\" style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-weight: inherit;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0973-180x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0973-180x300.jpg 180w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0973-613x1024.jpg 613w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0973-768x1283.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0973-920x1536.jpg 920w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0973-1226x2048.jpg 1226w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0973-scaled.jpg 1533w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-158\" style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-weight: inherit;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0980-300x180.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0980-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0980-1024x613.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0980-768x460.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0980-1536x920.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0980-2048x1226.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-157\" style=\"font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0989-300x180.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0989-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0989-1024x613.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0989-768x460.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0989-1536x920.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0989-2048x1226.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The rain turned our construction site almost into a pool \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p><strong>Finding 4 40 feet HC containers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In 2015 container weren&#8217;t as fashionable in Paraguay as construction elements as they are today. I found an import company who would buy container in Germany, import theirs goods and then sell the containers. I was lucky enough that they had some incoming containers right when I was looking for some.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-162 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0995-300x180.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0995-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0995-1024x613.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0995-768x460.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0995-1536x920.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0995-2048x1226.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It was a done deal and I also got hold of a company doing the transportation to sapucai with a pal-finger. Unfortunately on the day of the transportation heavy rains started and we couldn&#8217;t place the containers at their designated place; the terrain was getting too soft. We had to leave the 4 containers on the street. The rain actually continued about a week. As a result the container stayed around on the street for over a week, starting some interesting rumours about what I might be building\/doing with them<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-161\" src=\"http:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0999-PANO-1024x176.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"176\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0999-PANO-1024x176.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0999-PANO-300x51.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0999-PANO-768x132.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0999-PANO-1536x264.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0999-PANO-2048x351.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Installing the containers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After a week the weather turned nicer again and I had organised another pal-finger to finish the work.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 1280px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-145-2\" width=\"1280\" height=\"1040\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"http:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/RD_00003.mp4?_=2\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/RD_00003.mp4\">http:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/RD_00003.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p>This was one those magic moments when after days\/weeks\/months of tearing things down, working in dust and debris&#8230; within a very short time period the energy and atmosphere of your construction site changes dramatically and your vision really becomes visible.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The decision to build with containers was taken. The basic layout was defined. I just needed to make it happen. In my absence between 2014\/2015 I agreed with Ramon that he would build back part of the building, saving as much building material as possible: wooden posts corrugated metal roofing roofing tiles bricks doors windows [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-containers"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMAG0962-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":229,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145\/revisions\/229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraterra.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}