Groundworks and civil works
Excavation pit, spoil, trenches, backfill and everything below finished ground level.
Master craftsman firm for shell construction
Shell construction in Bedburg. From subsoil to ring beam.
We build the load bearing shell of your house, layer by layer: excavation, foundations, floor slab, walls, floors, stairs and a clean connection to the roof. One firm for everything that cannot be changed afterwards.
Call02165 171 666- Groundworks and shell construction from one hand
- Led by Viktor Knop, master bricklayer and concrete constructor
- Bedburg and the Rhein-Erft district
- Base town
- Bedburg
- District
- Rhein-Erft-Kreis
- Scope
- Excavation to roof connection
- Management
- Master bricklayer and concrete constructor
Subsoil
The shell begins below the floor slab
Bedburg sits in the Erft valley, and the ground changes from plot to plot. What lies a metre down is told to you by the soil survey, not by the house next door. We read it before the first cubic metre is moved, and set the excavation, the foundation type and the backfill accordingly.
Excavation pit, foundations and floor slab come from the same hands as the walls above them. Anyone who separates groundworks from shell construction ends up negotiating over every centimetre that one trade pushes onto the other.
A shell begins below zero, not at the floor slab.
- Soil survey
- read before the excavator arrives
- Foundation
- follows what is actually in the ground
- Groundworks and shell
- one contact, one responsibility
Section
A structural shell, read as a section
Six layers stand between undisturbed ground and the roof connection. Choose a layer to see what is built there and where it can go wrong.
Formation level and blinding
The pit is levelled and the formation is checked. A thin blinding layer goes on top so that reinforcement and formwork stand on an even, load bearing surface instead of on loose spoil.
Level
evenness
bearing capacity
Foundations and floor slab
Strip footings or a continuous slab, depending on the chosen foundation. Reinforcement to drawing, cover secured with spacers, and the starter bars for the walls above are already set here.
Reinforcement
cover
starter bars
Basement walls and tanking
Walls in concrete or masonry, with the penetrations and recesses the building services will need later. The junction with the waterproofing is planned before anything is formed, not chased in afterwards.
Recesses
penetrations
junctions
Floor slab and downstand beams
Slab formwork, beams and props are erected and kept propped until the floor carries itself. Downstand beams and bearings are poured together with the floor so that no cold joint appears.
Propping
bearings
one pour
Rising masonry
External and internal walls are built up, lintels set, openings left out to drawing. This is where it is decided whether windows and doors will fit later without anyone reworking them.
Dimensions
openings
lintels
Ring beam and roof connection
The ring beam closes off the rising masonry and takes the loads of the roof. After that the shell is ready to hand over and the carpenter can set the roof structure.
Loading
anchorage
handover
Not every shell has a basement. Without one the third layer falls away and the floor slab carries the ground floor directly.
Discuss your stageExecution
What we take on at your site
Complete or as a single trade. If a developer keeps the shell in house and lets only the formwork, that is an ordinary job for us.
Formwork
Panel, slab and purpose made formwork. Erected, aligned, tied and secured against the pressure of fresh concrete.
Reinforcement
Mesh, bar and prefabricated cages to the reinforcement drawing, with laps and splice lengths as specified.
Concrete work
Foundations, floor slabs, walls, columns, downstand beams and floors. Placed, compacted, levelled and cured.
Masonry
Basement masonry, external and internal walls, lintels and junctions with the existing structure.
Stairs
Solid flights and landings, formed, reinforced and cast together with the element they connect to.
Conversion and refurbishment
Extensions, garages, openings, new walls and repairs in existing buildings, agreed with the structural engineer.
Cranes and vehicles
Our own lifting and haulage equipment, so the rhythm on site does not depend on somebody else’s calendar.
Enquiry
Tell us what is to be built
One sentence about the project, where the site is, and a number we can reach you on. Everything else we settle in conversation.
Before you write
- A person replies, not a ticket system.
- For a reliable quote it helps to know the project, the place, the timing and any drawings you have.
- Single trades are possible: groundworks only, formwork only, concrete only.
- No soil survey to hand? Ask anyway, we will tell you what is missing.
Received
Your enquiry has reached us. We will come back to you on the number you gave.
Process
From the first call to handover
Five steps, each of which makes clear who delivers what, and how the next trade knows it can start.
Call and site visit
You describe the project, we look at the plot. After that both sides know whether it fits.
Drawings and quote
We work through the construction and reinforcement drawings and price the scope you actually want to let.
Setting up the site
Access, storage areas, crane and material calls are agreed before the first vehicle arrives.
The shell, in rhythm
Layer by layer to the programme. Anything that slips we say as soon as we can see it, not on the day itself.
Inspection and handover
A walk round together, dimensions checked, open points noted and worked off. Then the next trade takes over.
Arrange a site visit
You reach us on the same number for the whole of the build.
Sites
Photographs from our own sites
Groundworks, concrete, masonry and the connection to the roof, photographed on KNOP Bauunternehmen sites. Tap an image to see it large.
All photographs come from the picture archive of KNOP Bauunternehmen.
Before the pour
We check while something can still be changed
Concrete forgives nothing that was overlooked beforehand. We go through these four points before every pour, because afterwards they are only expensive to correct.
- Plumb and line
- Every formwork bay is aligned, tied and propped. Concrete is ordered only once level, plumb and line are right.
- Reinforcement
- Bars, mesh, laps and splice lengths to drawing, cover secured with spacers and inspected before the pour.
- Recesses
- Openings and conduits for building services are placed before concreting. Chasing them in afterwards weakens the element.
- Curing
- Fresh concrete is protected against drying out too fast and against frost. Striking follows strength, not the calendar.
Area covered
Bedburg and the Rhein-Erft district
Bedburg is the reference point of this page. We travel across the Rhein-Erft district and into the neighbouring municipalities whenever the journey suits the project.
Regularly on site in
- Bedburg
- Bergheim
- Elsdorf
- Grevenbroich
- Rommerskirchen
- Jüchen
- Titz
- Kerpen
- Erftstadt
Your town is not on the list? Ask anyway. What decides it is the project, not the postcode.
Questions
What clients in Bedburg ask first
Where does the shell stop?
At the roof connection. The shell covers the foundation, the floor slab, load bearing and space forming walls, columns, downstand beams, floors, stairs and the ring beam. Roof covering, windows, building services, plaster and screed are not part of it.
Do you also take on single trades?
Yes. Groundworks, formwork, reinforcement, concrete and masonry are let individually as well. With developers that is the normal case, when the rest of the shell stays in house.
The registered office is in Monheim am Rhein. Do you build in Bedburg?
Yes. The registered office is Monheim am Rhein and the work goes well beyond it. Bedburg and the Rhein-Erft district are within the usual area we cover.
Do I need a soil survey before I enquire?
Not for the enquiry. For a reliable quote and for the foundation design, yes, because otherwise nothing can be said about what the building sits on. If you do not have one, we will tell you in the first conversation what to commission.
When can the formwork be struck?
When the concrete has reached the strength needed for it. That depends on the element, on the concrete class, on the temperature and on the curing, and it is decided on site.
How do I best start?
Call, or write a short note about what it is. Useful details are the project, the place, the planned period and the drawings, if they already exist.
Your shell starts with a conversation
Tell us what is to be built on the plot. We will look at the documents and come back with what you need in order to decide.
Shell construction in Bedburg
Anyone building in Bedburg settles everything that follows when they build the shell. Wall thicknesses, openings, floor heights and junctions are created once and can only be corrected later at real cost. KNOP Bauunternehmen builds complete structural shells in Bedburg from the excavation pit to the ring beam, and takes on groundworks, formwork, reinforcement, concrete and masonry as one package.
The firm was founded in 2008 by Viktor Knop, master bricklayer and concrete constructor, and he leads it to this day. We build for private clients, for developers and for architects, on new sites as well as in existing buildings: extensions, garages, openings, new walls and refurbishment belong to the programme just as much as a complete new build. Detached houses, apartment buildings, office buildings and industrial buildings have passed through our hands.
Beyond Bedburg we work across the Rhein-Erft district and the neighbouring municipalities, among them Bergheim, Elsdorf, Grevenbroich, Rommerskirchen and Kerpen. For a first quote the project, the place and the drawings, if they exist, are enough.