more rain

it seems like it hasn't stopped raining for the whole month of June. However M has begged and pleaded with the guys to keep going and his persistance has paid off.Retaining walls have now been backfilled with A-grade soil ready for planting -good job too as the place is so barren. Gone are all the beautiful flowerbeds and roses :( Backyard has also been levelled ready for the BBQ area.

Was very glad to see a portaloo in the front garden - yes honestly - it now means no more muddy boots tramping through our 'new' bathroom!

Bricks

Rather a large amount of bricks have been delivered to the house this week.

And even though it has been raining on and off all week,the guys got to work at once. They were at head height after 2 days and have all but finished the two main walls (sides).

The courtyard is also poured and bricked (above), complete with fish pond (apparently!)

Windows upstairs were measured today and air conditioning guy came to inspect. Slight problem with space in ceiling of ground floor so we will probably have to duct the airout via the floor rather than high level. Apparently this is no big deal especially considering the kitchen and the large expanses of glass.

flooring and roofing

It appears the timber floor guys have talked us out of getting the chestnut we had originally decided upon. And so we are opting for spotted gum instead. Apparently going with a non native Aussie wood would cause problems and require a lot of adjusting time where timber has to lie in the house and get used to the humidity.

This picture shows insulation which means roof is on the backpart of the house now.

Washout

Everyone was there and rearing to go on Monday morning this week but the the weather had other ideas. So all we could do is sit back and wait.

However, the gyprocker was able to get the stud walls underway and the window guy came and measured up for the downstairs windows. He gave us some advice about having a serving hatch through the kitchen window to the back. The advice was 'don't do it'. Because there is no planned (at this stage) roof structure for the back patio, the window will be open to the elements and there would undoubtedly be leakage. Fair enough. So three weeks today he'll be ready to install. But will the walls be built? If the rain keeps up, then no! He'll be back next week, or when we have some flooring to measure upstairs.

On Thursday the rain finally cleared so a last minute decision was made to dig extra footings, so that brickie can work all the way around the house. The driveway is also compacted with gravel to allow deliveries and work etc. Next week we'll be getting 20,000 bricks!

We also have both floors laid now (basic boards, not finished ones). which means the structure finally looks like a house! The top picture is the second storey, covered in plastic.

Hoping to get the roof on over this weekend but the weatehr forecast doesn't look good. More rain apparently.

Steel done

Summary of steel:
14 tonne in total
26 x columns
46 x beams
6 x rafters
139 x floor joists
52 x roof purlins

Roofer measured yesterday and should have wire, insulation, gutter (etc) including roof cladding and some high level wall cladding complete by Wed next week. The plumber has started today, laying pipework and drains etc. Brickie to start Monday and Wall linings on Tuesday next week.

Connecting Pieces

Well the photos speak for themselves. We finally have a framework tostart building walls and floors. Tomorrow they have to come back and drill a few more holes as some of the detailing wasn't quite right and some pices arestill missing (top level of stairs). Other than that, looking good.

Steel Arrives

Finally the steel is ready top be errected. After some initial hiccups with the crane driver not happy about lifting over power cables, the steel started to be dropped off (all 14 tonne of it) and work begun on assembling the beams. There was also some problem with the depth of the trenches but this was overcome with a few choice words.

We had to utilise the neighbours garden as storage for some of the members as there just isn't the room in our backyard to put it all. What with the pool, the actual green garden space is rather small. Good - less mowing to do ;)

Next step is to lay pipe work ready for flooring to go down and to put on the steel part of the roof.

Tidying up

This week, the benefits of the concrete and tidy up of the back yard could be seen. Unfortunately, when they came to fit the holding down bolts in preperation for erecting the steel, they couldn't drill with a normal drill because there is too much reo in the way. Need to get core driller in - another delay plus more money.

Footings

Footings didnt get poured on weekend cause pump was too small and could not setup on street and boom over house. Re scheduled for lunchtime today.
Fence went in ok on Friday. Looks great. also, waterproofing behind retaining walls has been done ready for filling with soil for plants. This week aiming to level site, take away footing spoil and tidy up for steel erection. Also, drill and epoxy the column holding down bolts.
On the fitout side, been thinking more about colour of the floor to ceiling bookcase in the family room. Will put a laminate finish on it so pretty much skys the limit in terms of colour selection. Originally thought white but thinking may be a bit stark. Maybe browny colour? Thinking bottom section to have cupboards with doors and above incl over doorway to be open book case.
Also, want to change window colour back to white. As well as louvres (etc). Want to go back to our original idea of similar to locaql development. Looked at roof tiles, going to run with a flat profiled, shingle looking concrete tile.

Too much rain

Can't believe Sydney has had worst rain in 77 years! Our poor back garden looks like something from World War II. The trenches that were dug for the footings have collapsed and we now needto get the machine back to redig, pump out the waterand wait for them to dry out. Maybe next week?

Starting to wonder whether knocking down the remaining back walls was a good idea or not...

Thinking about kitchen splashback window. It was to be long and narrow abouve the benchtop. Want to delete it as it faces west and concerned with sun / heat. We can always get similar affect with colorback glass splashback.

Underpinning

We had a quote this week to do the underpinning of the back of the house along the side so we can excavate for the garage and laundry. At $16,000 we made the decision to knock down those remaining two outer walls and start again. Much cheaper and won't impact on the timeline.

At the moment waiting for the steel detailing to be finished so steel can be fabricated. Latest estimate is to erect on May 5th.

Demo finished

The front awning has been removed and the internal walls removed. Also the side walls that used to be the kitchen and will become the internal courtyard. Tarp up to keep out the rain and well we now own a house that has just three rooms.

Demolition

This is how the back of the house looks now. Have removed the roof and stripped down the internal and external etc.

Pool poured

The cement was poured into the pool today and now we have to wait for it to set and then will think about whether to tile or to wait till steel is erected and construction at back of house is finished.

According to the Canada Bay online DA tracking tool, it looks like all is complete for senior officer to sign off. Need to call to understand next step & timing. Locked away construction certificate (CC) guy.

Pool begins

The pool was pegged out on Friday and dug out on Monday. Tuesday saw the formwork complete but then the rain started again!

Steel

Met engineer this week. Structural steel framing coming together. Next step is meeting steel detailer to walk him through and get him to produce workshop drawings for fabricator. Sounds like such a long winded process but the way it is designed, the steel bones should go up in 4-5 days. From then, brickie, structural carpenter, roofer, windows and then lock up. Hoping lock up will be early May.

Steel framing plan came back from engineer. Will need to put another column at back of house. If not the beam is way to deep 360mm. Will not get that sexy exposed steel look trying to achieve. Ok, means need to rethink glazing. Bifolds that stack into column, sliders etc. Sort of leaning towards sliders for practicality with kids and user friendly. Only double sliders.

Baths and water

This week we have been discussing plans for the two upstairs bathrooms. We want to have a double spa bath in the ensuite and a big a bath as possible for the kids bathroom too. Going with the Duravit brand and a bath with a wenge coloured panel for us. However got told there is minimum 12 week lead times for some items as must be ordered from Italy! There goes our project deadline sliding along again. Jury still out on tile colours.

Also discussed carpets for upstairs and whether or not to carpet the staircase or leave wooden. I think carpet.

Still waiting for stormwater drawings to submit to council.

Trying to get to window contractor this week to discuss and negotiate. Even though most windows need be site measured hoping he can order framing material, powdercoat etc so when ready he can hit it.

More rain

Big push between now and Easter to get design sorted, materials ordered and steel erected. Weathered has put us further back this week. Forecast is for rain all week. The back yard is like a bad day in Beirut. Dirt has washed down driveway and onto street. Waiting for it to stop so it can be shoveled out.
Demo bloke came out last nite. Will lock him in for end of month. Need more talks with the architect. Need details drawn and more dimensions for window and steel guy.

retaining wall

Finally the rain to dryed out and the concrete was poured to create the base for the retaining wall. We chose bricks by taking a photo of some we like in the nearby Breakfast Point development and sending it to the Bricklayer. He told us that they were the most expensive bricks on the market. So we requested something cheaper that looked similar but he has convinced us to stay with them. So the order is in.

Unfortunately a part of the neighbours fence has fallen down because of the earthworks and the rain so we will have to erect a temporary fix.

Heavy Rain

As luck would have it, although the garden has been levelled and the trenches dug for the retaining wall, it has rained non stop ever since so we have to wait to pour concrete and reassess later this week. Further delay therefore to digging the pool.

Council has approved one of the two alternatives we put forward after their initial rejection, so now we are having the drawings altered and hoping to resubmit this Friday.