23-4-08 Gutters and Fascias

The Gutters and Fascias have now been
attached and we're very happy with the colours.

The timber for the roof tiles has been delivered...

...and so have the tiles :-)

I assume the bricks and sand should be arriving any minute now....

22-4-08 Plumbing & Scaffolding

Lou has been able to get out quite often to the site with the cherubs to help keep me and the Blog updated which is fantastic!

The scaffolding has now been erected to allow the guys to install the guttering, fascias and roof tiles. (we just need the tiles)

Our water meter has been installed, but by the looks of it not yet connected. South East Water still need to come out for that.

The plumber has also connected up all the pipes to the required locations.

This is where the kitchen island bench goes with the sink. They feed the hot and cold pipes through the slab using the PVC pipes which lead to the outside wall.

This is how the house looks now.

21-4-08 Frame Complete

Went passed this afternoon with the family and they were still going - YES, at 5:45! These guys are guns. The roof trusses were complete, door frames in, and they were just fitting the last couple of windows.




We spoke with the chippies briefly and they mentioned that this was the fastest house they had built. All their work is now done and they wont return until they are ready for the garage roof frame to go on. Next step: bricks and roof tiles.

18-4-08 Roof Trusses

We drove out on Saturday afternoon to see what further progress had been made. The roof trusses were almost complete.






'F' rang this morning. He said that the frame would be completed today (Mon) and they would then start on the roof tiles. The sand and bricks would also be delivered this week and the Brickies were lined up to start next week. Nice to get an update :-)

16-4-08 Second storey frame

During the week the guys were hard at it again!
The second storey flooring has been laid....

...and our windows and sliding doors have been delivered.

We've chosen Coloubond 'Paperbark' for all the windows and sliding doors (along with the Fascia).

We also decided to get double glazing for all of the windows (not sliding doors) along with wall and ceiling insulation. We thought we'll probably only ever build once, and we wanted to get the most out of our budget. With all of the obvious benefits of double glazing, we hope to be rewarded in our future heating and cooling bills too.

The place looks so big from this angle!

And yet so small from this one?

The speed at which these guys have been going is just fantastic - All smiles here :-)

12-4-08 Framed!

From what we had heard from others building with PD, we were expecting to see some of the frame go up in say around 6-8 days after the slab went down. On Sat we took a drive up to the block to see the completed slab. We were driving toward the estate and saw a frame in the distance and were saying "is that our block? No surely not....OMG it is!" and low and behold we already have the first storey frame!! woohoo!! We couldn't believe it - I didn't think two grown ups could get so excited over bits of timber.

Here's some of the pics...the Front...

...the rear...


...side.


Here's me planning the garage set-up (as you do). "Mmmm..... - is it big enough?"


Here's the two cherubs just sitting enjoying the views.


We decided we would duck up to the local shops and buy some fish 'n' chips and have an early dinner in the 'new' house. While we were sitting in the 'family room' a couple turned up at our temporary fence calling out to us. Turns out they are our new neighbours, also buiding with PD (Hamilton 34) just around the corner.

Apparently they travel past the area at least once a day and had seen our frame go up on Thursday, 2 days after the slab was poured! How happy are we?

9-4-08 Slab laid

We have a Slab! Lou went out with the Cherubs yesterday and grabbed a few pics of the guys laying the slab. When she arrived they had already used up seven truck loads and were waiting for some more to arrive.




This pic shows the balcony footings from the last post now filled to the brim.


The boys hanging around waiting.....


....and waiting....


They have to allow for it to set for 48hrs so there probably won't be much action for a couple of days. No doubt we will soon receive payment advice from PD to cough up the first installment of the 5. The framing should start on Thursday 'maybe'.

8-4-08 Formwork complete

The Formwork is DONE - Yippee.


This shot shows the 'chairs' used to support the reo mesh on top of the waffle pods. It also shows the step that gets formed as part of the slab for which the bricks sit on around the perimeter of the slab.


You can see here how deep the footings go under for the balcony at the front of the house. There is a lot of set up required to get this right.

Here you can see the trench that has been dug for the footings for the Alfresco area at the rear. The footings in this area do not support any structure but prevent the slab from shifting and also link the pier that supports the corner of the roof line.


As daylight savings has now ended, it's going to be increasingly difficult to make it out to the block after work before dusk. I think Lou will need to go instead of me.

I just had to post this last shot, the sunset was awesome.

SO hopefully tomorrow we should be able to show pics of the Slab being poured!!

5-04-08 Waffle pods and reo mesh

Went out on the weekend and the slab was FAR from complete. The temporary fence has been erected and the Reo Mesh delivered.


… the waffle pods have been dropped off… (FYI – waffle pods are large sections of foam. These are laid as part of the slab and the concrete is poured over and around them. Saves the builder using a heap of unnecessary concrete to achieve the same thickness)… The cherubs loved picking the foam to pieces :-)




….and the footings and piers have been dug. The image below shows the footing for the Balcony.

Our Site Super 'F' rang and introduced himself today. Seems like a nice bloke. He said the slab is being poured on Tuesday - bring it on.

1-4-08 Retaining Wall and Pipes

Visited the block on Tuesday and they had completed the retaining wall and laid all the plumbing. So much for our nice flattened and sculptured block - it is now been dug up and driven all over!


Our Meter box has been installed too.

This is looking from the rear of the block - looks like giant grey worms coming out of the ground.


They have also installed all the Silt Pits for drainage due to the shape of the block and slope of the land. These will need to be lifted to the ground level once we add the pathways as part of the landscaping.


Also spoke to our CSC yesterday as I realised that our external tap was located near the laundry door on the side of the house -not a great location I thought (apparently South East Water determine the position of our front external tap). I would have preferred it to be closer to the rear of the house. She has agreed to raise a building variation to shift the location which is good news.

Well it seems they are on track to pour the slab on Friday - stay tuned.