LOCK-UP

As of Tuesday 19-1-10, we have been locked up and locked out. I have photos of the temporary doors and a new tap at the front of the house, but apart from that I have not been able to take pics of anything else new. From my understanding, the 1st Fix internal plumbing is now complete and the air conditioning is soon to follow. We received our variation today for all the Electrical work, so will spend some time Australia Day going through it with a fine tooth comb. Hopefully is it finally all sorted so we can sign and get that ball rolling. Will post a photo of our 'lovely' doors soon. In the meantime HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!

Day 100

We have officially reached Day 100 (as of 13-1-10) of our build (only 265 days to go hehe...).

The upstairs render is now complete and ready to be painted (Paperbark).

The 1st Fix plumbing started on 14-1-10.

We noticed they have put the back external tap in the wrong position, so hopefully they will respond to our email and relocate it. Should be an easy enough fix.

The next stage is LOCK-UP.

Nothing New

Well it seems that since last Thursday, the Christmas break started. Nothing new has been done.

I spoke to our CSA today, who said lock up won't occur till the New Year (even though the lock up carpenter was nearly complete 2 weeks ago - 'what the?')

We are also still waiting for the revised quotes from our 3rd party Electrician.

As I don't expect any further news or progress until 2010...

Merry Christmas and a
Happy (80's) New Year to all.

Lots of updates...now rendering!

I have been extremely busy this past week, so haven't had time for updating. This now means, there is lots to share. YAY!

• Roof Tiles Complete

From Inside

From outside (West View)

• 
  
  Eaves Complete
  
  
  
• 
  
  Timber Look Infill on Roof Complete
  
  
  

• 
  
  3 phase power connected
  
  
  

The big box is ours

• 
  
  Rendering Begun
  
  
  

 Look closely as side wall

Closer view of side wall

From Back

I spoke to the renderers today (yes, they were busy at it in 40 degree weather). They said they are almost complete on the upper level, which means the painters then have to come in. That will be followed by the scaffolding getting removed and the lower level being rendered.

An update on the electrical front... after further errors being found, I had a meeting with Henley, followed by a meeting with the electrician. To cut a long story short, we now have a 3rd party coming on board who will take over just over half the work. This has been supported by our first electrician, so now Henley have come to the party and agreed to contract work out to the 3rd party. In the end, (although we are now waiting for revised quotes), everyone ends up happy, AND we end up with a much superior system. Now who can complain about that!

Roof Tiles Sent Up

East Facing

West Facing

Max and Molly visit their new house!

During the week the gutters and fascias were installed and the tiles for the roof were delivered.

Monument Gutters and Fascias

Boral Ebony Roof Tiles

Max and Molly joined D and I for our Friday drink at the house, and they got to see their new room (the Laundry). They also said hello to their new neighbour who introduced himself with some bigger woofs than they can produce. They were excited.

'The Carlton Dry Stand'...lol

We now have about 45 empty pallets, with a house that is extremely close to being completely bricked. So what is left?

• the top third of half of the western facing wall
• above the windows of what will be our gym at the front of the house
• the top third of the front pillars.

The tradies were ever so kind to have accidently left the interior ladder open (saving me the nervousness of climbing the really big outer one on the scaffolding). What a beautiful sunset. The framing for the baths/spa are in now too. One tradie thought that we might like to know that Mike loves Tim hehe...

We had a drink to celebrate this viewing and typical of D, and brothers D and M, they decided to each (at exactly the same time) drop their empties into the yet to be finished front pillars. None of the bottles smashed, so now our future balcony has been nicknamed 'The Carlton Dry Stand'

Rain on Friday and Saturday has created a swimming pool in our Family Room. Anyone care for a swim?

Two Thirds of Bricking Complete

The scaffolding has moved up yet again. We counted 30 empty pallets on the block, and it seems as though they will still need more bricks for the last 1/3rd. I'm a bit fearful of going up on that scaffolding (height), but D. of course mentioned he would love to go up and have a look. Wonder what the end of week will bring, given such great progress up 'till now.

Front View

Empty Pallets

Side View (non garage side)

Back View

Scaffolding

The next level of bricking started through the week, with all the scaffolding put up on Tuesday 17/11.

Front View

View from Scaffolding over Garage

Rear View

Grand Entry - Framework

The framework for the Grand Entry was installed today.

It's beginning to look Grand :-)

(No more bricking done today though)

Solar Panels

Went Solar shopping this morning. So many different systems to choose from. We think we will probably go with the following 33x60w Kaneka Solar Panels and SMA SB-1700 Inverter, through the Solar Shop. Although the panels take up a lot of space, they are very highly energy efficient and should in theory reduce our electricity bills to $0. We will connect it back to the grid, providing us with .44c credit per k/w extra produced. We will put them on the West facing roof as there is plenty of space there, and also will hardly be seen (not that that is an issue).

A single panel

View of a full system

The Inverter (converts DC to AC)

More Bricks

Nat, these ones are for you. You said you keep looking to see when the pics are updated. So here they are!

Front Balcony Pillars

Pillars without Scaffolding

Front View

Windows and door frame delivered for Grand Entry

Gas Pipes installed

Garage (from back)

Rear View

It seems like we are about 1/3 of the way through bricking, which is great given our current heat wave of temperatures between 37 and 40 degrees all week.

Doors, Windows, Bricks PICS

Dining Room Sliding Door

Rear View

Second Floor

Bricking

Windows, Doors and Bricks

On Thursday we arrived at our house to find the windows and glass sliding doors had been installed. It gives the house such a different feel about it. Brother D just had to do his customary blowfish on one of the doors to christen the place. The house is nowhere near completion and he has already created my first cleaning job! We were lucky that day, because the contractors left the ladder open and unlocked, so we were able to go to the second floor and have a sticky beak (and take lots of photos). D and friend R pretended to play pool in what we will be our games room.

On Friday, we arrived for our (what is now a 3 week tradition) end of week drink to find the bricking had started and on one side wall was almost to the second floor.

What an exciting couple of days. I will post pics as soon as I'm able.

Not sure what this coming week will bring given the weather is forecast between 36 and 38 degrees everyday. Hopefully they will work at least until lunch time so we can see some progress.

Moving on Up!

Now it really looks like we are building a mansion!

Front right hand side

Left Front Side (showing entry)

Back View

They should finish all the carpentry work early next week :-)

We already have bricks delivered too!