Thursday, 26 June 2008
26-06-08 Getting ahead of themselves
I may sound sceptical but somehow I think not. Considering they had only installed a few pre-fabricated corners up till last weekend, I would be surprised if they complete the entire house in 5 days
BTW, For those of you who are asking “what is PD 24/7” and “why is he logging on to it”, it’s an online webpage set up for each PD customer. You access it via the Porter Davis website. Once logged in you can view all of the documents relating to your house including your tender, contract, post contract variations, interior colour selections etc. It’s also a repository for all of the emails you send to and from your CSC so you can track all the info about your construction and the queries you raise.
As per the image above it also gives you a diagram of a thermometer to see where you are in the building process and a summary of each stage. It would appear that sometimes they nudge it up a little sooner than later.
You can also view the stages of the build and the dates that each one is completed. According to the screen below, our Plastering is finished tomorrow. Hmmm... we’ll have to see about that on Sat…. maybe they'll surprise me ;-)
Saturday, 21 June 2008
20-06-08 Not Again?
Nothing...No plastering had been done since Tuesday :-(
The only noticeable item was that the plumber had been back to position the pipes for the washing machine. You may remember that when 'K' did his inspection he noted that the washing machine pipes had been positioned too closely in the studs and therefore 'F' had got them back in to replace the studs and re-do the pipes but had forgotten to make sure they re-located them so the washing machine taps sit inside the lower cabinet. Well the boys had been back out again and re-positioned them lower. Lower down the wall Yes - But NOT inside the cabinet - DOH!!
Now they are gonna have to come out and do it again.
The other item we noticed was that someone seems to have scuffed the wiring in 2 places.
Hopefully next week brings some joy...
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
17-06-08 Bulkhead installation
Today the plasterers had been out and started on the pre-baricated bulkheads and wall corners. You can see here the 300mm entry bulkhead which we have included.
Here is another angle of the entry/corridor...
This is the fridge and kitchen bench cavity...
And here is the laundry upper floor waste void...
...and finally the Master WIR.
Monday, 16 June 2008
15-6-08 Garage tiles and problem fixes
You can see in this picture that they have had to rebate the gutter in line with the wall as we have built right on the fence line.
All the external wiring has been installed across the front and sides
They still need to knock out the timber block to allow the fumes to escape.
The pile of studs laying here is the timber they had to replace as the water pipe holes had been drilled too closely according to the building code and could weaken them as they are load bearing walls.
The problem with the picture below is that Yes they have replaced all of the studs and spaced out all of the hoses appropriately but they have located the Washing machine taps in the ‘old’ location high on the wall rather than within the cupboard space as we had asked ‘F’ a few weeks ago. I spoke to ‘F about this, this morning and the plumbers were coming back out today to move them again!
Plasterers are due out tomorrow to commence installing the pre-fabricated bulk heads. I have also finally organised a time with ‘F’ to catch up tomorrow arvo and go over ‘Ks’ report and what has been done based on the issues. Not much else has been done but I expect a fair bit to start rolling this week with the plastering.
Sunday, 8 June 2008
8-06-08 Scaffolding removed and new addition
(Looking at our temporary fencing, we often wonder what purpose it serves if it's constantly OPEN!!).
We are having the balcony rendered so the finish on it was not as tidy as the rest of the house.
The pic below shows the additional beam that has been added (the centre one). This was an item that 'K' picked up as being 'missing'. 'K' had been out to another Cremorne the week before and picked up the same missing beam(this is not just a noggin, its an entire load bearing structural beam!!) . Something that BSS didn't pick up.
The Steel bracket that you see it bolted to was a part of the original 'I' beam but nothing was attached to it. The 'I' beam is purpose-made and no one had picked up that it didn't have anything bolted to it - scary.
The chippy was out on Saturday and on top of rectifying some of the issues 'K' had picked up around the place, he has also erected the garage roof trusses...
... and installed the frame for the balcony deck. We have asked for the level of the deck to be raised a little, as we felt the step down would have been too big for the cherubs (and us after a few drinks). There is now only a 40mm step down to the deck.
The decking timber has also been delivered
I also took the opportunity to take home some of the remaining bricks so they don't get removed. We hope to get Brian the 'brickie' back to build us a matching letter box after handover.
All in all it's been a really great week with the unveiling of the house now that the scaffolding has been removed. Our week became even better than great by weeks-end though, because on a more personal note we were very excited to welcome into the world a new Little addition to the family, our niece, Lola Eve - Born Thursday 5/6/08 at 11.40pm Yippee!!
Just adorable - and here she is, less than 12hrs old.
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
31-05-08 Pre-plaster inspection and insulation
On Sat morning 'K' arrived for his inspection (a very nice bloke BTW). He did a thorough check of the place and was 'reasonably' happy with the work to date. He said most of the things he found were common across a lot of homes.
I have included a brief (but not complete) list of items:
- various missing noggings
- double studs on the end of the openings to doorways should be tied together to prevent movement
- Selected walls out of plumb
- The Bathroom window has been installed and trimmed around externally up to 12mm out of level
- The brick vent which has been installed in the side wall for the Powder room exhaust fan has not been placed in the correct location and will need to be relocated
- Some of the articulation joints around this house and garage have been constructed without any foam backing in them and as a result are now full of mortar
- Flashing needs to be finished off where the rumpus rm roof meets the back of the second storey
- the sewerage vent is located too close to the Evaporative Cooler on the roof (2.5m) Needs to be min of 5m.
- excessive mortar build up over the pipework along the side wall which will hinder drainage
- corners on the Garage slab have broken away resulting in the bottom corner bricks being partially unsupported
Overall I don't believe these items to be significant to what I have seen and read about from other new home owners, nor do I believe that it would take long for 'F' to get them rectified. I will be organising a catch up with him later this week hopefully to see how he has addressed these.
Oh... and BTW... we are now at Lock up Stage and the invoice has arrived to prove it! $$$ :-(
No pics this time, but I will make sure I get some next post as the scaffolding should have been dismantled by then - woohoo.