(Final Stage: Nesting Plank & Sound System Installation and Site Cleaning)
After 3.5 months in construction, my BH project in Selekoh, Perak is finally completed and now waiting for the official opening at the end of this month.
This BH was scheduled to be "activated" on 18/1/2012 but was slightly delayed due to some part of the internal building needs modification as instructed by the consultant before the nesting planks can be installed. The BH contractor and the consultant were very honest and be responsible in this regards as other people who has no experience might not even aware of it and it seems nothing wrong with it. I am glad to have worked with those guys.
They notified me that the contractor needs to do some ractification works but didn't explain further (certainly not with bad intention, I think they might think that it is quite hard for me to underatand the reason behind the rectification works).
But I have noticed the area that need to be modified even they didn't tell me where was it. Can you spot it from the picture below?
There was an approx. 75mm brickwall offset under the concrete beam due to the width of the beam is lesser than the double brick cavity wall (approx. 230mm). Structurally the beam is strong enough to support the load from the brickwall.
However this offset area might create other potential issues as this can become a very good spot for those predators (cockroaches, lizards, spiders, snakes, etc) to stay and yet be able to reach the nesting plank so easily.
The modifed works turned out was what as I expected. They have flushed the wall right up to the underside of the slab above for all floors. I was quite sure that the contractor was trying to fix tis therefore I didn't interfere more. Few days later they washed the entire area to reduce the cement smell and dry off before nesting plank installation take place. Since I have ordered the meranti nesting plank, we have to hold the plank deilvery for few more days as we only want the plank to be there after all these modification works were completed and cleaned. This is crucial in order to avoid any contamination to the plank.
I am glad this project has successfully completed despite I am currently in overseas. I will be back again in April to inspect the BH and also doing a site survey on another plot of land in Raub, Pahang for my next BH project.
Being a building designer and project manager in my career I really enjoyed coordinating and liaising with those guys (the contractor and the consultant) in venturing the world of swiftlet farming.
In my next post i will talk about works that I have done and prepared to the site (well i would say from A to M) before finding a right consultant and contractor to physically build the BH (from N to Z).
Happy Swiftlet Farming Venture
