Carpentry & Painting

Finally got a carpenter to start on the doors this week. After finding that we had mistakenly ordered outside doors and were going to have to start again, we were told that they could infact hang them. First the jams and then the doors were hung and then the architrave around. Almost done. We still need them to do the skirting boards upstairs so painters can finish off and carpet can go down.

The painters did a great job on the outside of the house. Once the contrasting dark colour is on that'll finish it nicely.

kitchen installed

The kitchen was finished today. we had to raise it higher than usual to be inline with the windowsill, and also to accomodate the kicker for the aircon. The overhead cupboards are interesting - we no I will need a step ladder to get into them! NOw we have to wait for the stone benchtops to be measured. And the glass splashback. We are also missing some downlights in that area too.

Nice features of the kitchen is the sliding, internal bin and the self closing drawers (with no handles).

kitchen started

The kitchen was delivered today and work started on instalation. Luckily the aircon guys were there because there was a problem. We had intended to have vents in the kickboards of the kitchen but the vent size and the kickboard size didn't match....a compromise was found. The plumbing for the island bench also wasn't quite right so there has to be mods there too.

Talking of aircon, we had to find a place to istall a return air vent - which is rather large and the only place that was central enough was in the downstairs linen cupboard next to the bathroom. This is ok, but it means there will be a large vent in the door. Hopefully will look ok.

kids bathroom

The basin was installed this week and the hole behind the cistern was patched. Still need the tilers to come back and finish grouting, plus silicon the corners and behind the cistern so the toilet can be fitted. Then this room will finally be finished.

Floors and carpentry

This week we reached another major milestone in that the floorboards were started. They had to raise the level of the old part of the house with batons, as the two parts are not level (surprise surprise). Then they started to unload the wood into the house and lay the planks. The apprentice told us this was the longest single length he had laid since he started work (but he's only been working for a few months!) Anyway the spotted gum with secret nails looks good so far.

The tilers have finished the bathrooms but still need to finish grouting. One serious problem in the kids bathroom is that the toilet cistern has been plumbed wrongly (bottom fed rather than wall fed). So we asked him to re plumb it and he smashed the tiles with a sledge hammer (by the looks of it). So now we need to get the plasterer to redo the wall, then the tiler and then the plumber again. On a positive note, the kids bath looks great.

The carpenter started work on Wednesday. We gave up waiting for the wood and went to buy it piecemeal as the doors were still not available. He lined the stairs with ply ready for the carpet, and also built the small flight of stairs to the garage. We are thinking we may line these stairs with the spotted gum rather than tiles.

Mark also did a huge cleanup operation at the weekend- why are subbies so messy and why can't they clean up ttheir own crap?

Driveway

Today the driveway concrete was poured. We decided on black which looks great against the house. The garage roller shutter door was also fitted last week so the front is almost finished now. They also lay concrete down the two sides of the house (paths) and the screening louvers were fitted at the side of the house too. This series of photos shows the stages to completion and the final one of the concrete pump, explains why the guys refused to do the work last week when they turned up and we said they could use a barrow to move the cement round the sides. They had bigger ideas!

We lost a lot of time this week because of the public holiday on Monday. No-one was back to work till wed. and then the wood for the carpenter was delayed so he couldn't begin. Still waiting for it.

Ensuite

The bathrooms were (supposedly) finished today because the grout was done. But when we went to look, the tiling isn't actually complete. There is lots of fiddley cutting in that still needs to be done. So still messy stuff plus more plumbing too. This pic is the feature wall tile and shower in our ensuite. (This is the shower I wanted for our downstairs bathroom and I couldn't have...Everything comes to she who waits :)

Picture of our spa bath. It's a double, and still needs the panel and step fitting to the side. As you can see, it doesn't quite fit (bit short)...but still, at least it made it into the bathroom in one piece. The bath taps/spout is also the one that took an extra month (on top of the 4 months) to source and deliver.

Bathroom tiles

A sneak peek at the floor and wall tiles for our bathrooms. Still need grouting and then bathroom furniture fitting. Hopefully finished by end of the week.

Once this is done then the 'messy' trades are over and we can think about putting the carpets in upstairs and the floorboards in downstairs.

Had a quote for curtains for our bedroom today, with a matching fabric bedhead for our bed. At $4,000, will be looking around!

Render

The first stage of the render was applied on the 29th Sept. This had to be hosed down daily ready for the finish coat. One week later and the boundry walls were finished. Now just needs painting.

The next major milestone outside is to concrete the drivelway and the side paths. This was supposed to happen this week but there was a delay because they didn't have the right pump and now it will be end of next week before they can come back. This obviously puts us back because no one can walk on the driveway till it's dry. Other set backs this weeks include the national holiday, so no one coming until at least Wed. But on the bright side, we finally found a carpenter who starts on Tuesday and needs 6 days to finish all the skirting, door jams and stairs.