Gyprock done in a day!

Yesterday afternoon I did my usual visit to the block expecting to see quite a bit more brickwork completed. They had certainly done a lot across the front, and in fact I think the facade is now finished and ready for render. 

Once my focus shifted from the brickwork I notice a big pile of Gyprock off-cuts in the skip. That could only mean one thing, so I scrambled inside to find that the whole place had been Gyprocked, top and bottom floors. It looks fantastic!

Family room on the left, dining on the right, alfresco outside the two stacker sliding doors.

Current stairwell design is basic to say the least!
I can't wait to see the timber stairs go in but I think that's a few weeks away.

I took heaps of photos but had a problem (user error) with the camera so only a handful are usable. A great excuse to go back tonight and take some more!

As you can see in the top photo the cornice has arrived, so maybe we will find that some of that has been installed today. I am looking forward to going and having a look.

Tickled Pink

On Monday the scaffolding was erected for the upper level brickwork. The guys were still there at 4:30 so I didn't try and go in.

Yesterday's visit to the block held low expectations for me. I had walked past at around 7:30am and there was no one working, which is unusual. I still called around in the late afternoon (can't help myself) only to find that the following changes had taken place:

- Safety mesh installed on scaffolding.
- Blue wrap completed on upper level.

- 4 more pallets of bricks delivered (we were wondering if there were enough to finish the job)
- wall insulation installed

- ceiling insulation delivered and sitting in roof cavity ready to be installed.

The house sounds so different with the insulation in. It's really quiet! 

We're hoping that the brickies are back today to finish off. Also, now that the blue wrap is finished we are officially "watertight" so they can start installing gyprock. We expect that to arrive in the next day or so. 

Our SS also said that rendering of the front facade would start this week. Maybe that will be on Friday since the brickwork isn't completed yet.

Week 11 off and running

On the weekend we caught up with our lovely neighbours on the left hand side to discuss fencing and retaining wall options, so now we need to move forward with getting some quotes so that we can budget for the cost and also ensure the fences can be done as quickly as possible after handover. We have also obtained the contact details for our rear neighbours from Council, as we're hoping to be able to do both fences at the same time. Let's see how easy it is to get that happening!

I just called around to the block and can see that the brickies have finished the last of the lower level brickwork and the scaffolders were there assembling the scaffolding ready for the upper level brickwork and the cladding to be installed in the next few days.

So for a Monday its - so far, so good!

I wonder if we will be celebrating Andy's birthday in our new house. It will be close!

Brickwork continues

We had a great meeting with our site supervisor this morning. We arrived just after 7am and the brickies were already there and well underway. We had a good look around and raised a couple of queries with the SS which he is going to investigate for us. 

Much to our excitement he gave the following update on the next steps: 

• Brickwork to be completed on all sides up to the level of foil wrap by tomorrow . (See photos on previous post).
• Next Monday the scaffold will arrive.
• Remainder of foil wrap to be done shortly thereafter.
• Brickies back next Tuesday and Wednesday to finish off upper level. 
• Cladding over garage and alfresco to be installed mid to late next week. (This will prompt the issuing of the "enclosed stage" invoice which is a whopper!) and may also signal the end of us being able to get in and look around after hours.
• Gyprock to be delivered and installation to commence late next week.
• Front rendering due to start next Friday 28th Feb.

SS is confident we are still on track for an 18 week build (plus 3 weeks Christmas break) which is a lot shorter than their original estimate, but consistent with what the SS estimated it would take. That puts us at mid to late May providing there are no material delays or freaky weather events. Fingers crossed!

We're on a fortnightly lease from the end of March so that will make things easier when it comes to working out moving dates etc. I'm getting very excited!!!!!

Week 10 - Brickwork

We're still seeing a steady stream of progress on the build, which is helping to keep our impatience at bay. 

Last Thursday the bricks were delivered. Then on Friday the stacker sliding doors were installed, all of the windows were coated in protective "Goop", one layer of bricks was laid, and the "Termimesh" was installed.

The Goop protects the windows but will make it hard for us to see the internal progress once we are locked out at lock up stage. :(

Stacker sliding doors installed.

Layer of Termimesh on the pillar in the alfresco area.

We have wet weather predicted all week which we thought might slow things down, but yesterday they made a huge start on the brickwork at the front and down the left hand side of the house, and then today they did some more at the front. The rain kindly came overnight instead.

This brickwork at the front will be rendered and some of it will have stone cladding so I'm surprised they used the same bricks and not some cheapy ones.

Left hand side with laundry door currently a lovely shade of builder's green. The bricks will remain visible here, at the back, and on the right hand side. 

More brickwork completed on the front facade today. The most forward part of the elevation (the area that highlights the location of the front door) will be clad in stacker stone. I can't wait to see how that looks next to the dark render! you can just see the wiring for our front lights poking out on each side of the front section.

We've requested a progress meeting with our site supervisor for early this Thursday morning. I'm keen to find out if they are still within the anticipated build time he indicated a month ago.

Feeling Blue - Week 9 "Wrap" Up

We've continued to see steady progress this week. We've been partially wrapped, which gives us much more of a sense of light from the windows. I was there at 4pm in the afternoon and am already really glad that we flipped the design so that there are less windows on the West side. The living room was shady and quite cool considering it's still only partially constructed and it was in the middle of the afternoon heat. 

West Side - hardly any windows on this side is already proving to be a good idea. If the side fence doesn't shade the kitchen splashback window we will look at putting an awning or pergola there.

A view without a portaloo for a change!

When Andy called in on his way home last night he saw that the bricks had been delivered so we are on track for brickwork next week. Yay! I'll definitely need to sneak over for a peek this afternoon.

We've been pretty impressed with how regularly they tidy the site. Hopefully that continues as I'm sure that makes things safer and easier for all of the tradies.

Stay tuned for some brickwork action next week!

Week 9 - We have windows!

Late yesterday afternoon I headed around to the block for a peek. I was really hoping to see some bricks or windows delivered. Much to our delight all of the windows have been delivered AND installed and the stacker sliding doors are there, waiting to go in.

The laundry door and internal door between the garage and the house have also been hung and a mock front door has been put in place for now.

I love the colour of our windows - Woodland Grey. In bright light they look really pale, and in the shade they look really dark. I think they will complement our other colour selections and the bricks beautifully.

What a shame the porta-loo has such a prominent position in all of our photos. I'd love to move it over to the left a bit. Do you think they'd notice? He he.

Week 9 Underway

Last Thursday the ducting and in-roof part of the air conditioning unit was installed. The ceiling and wall cavities are a mass of spaghetti wires, plumbing and duct work, although it all seems to make sense thankfully. The change that the electrician suggested upstairs looks to be a good one, so we are pleased we took his advice.

On Friday the scaffolding was removed from the top level and moved to the garage roof, and the tiles on the garage were done. It's much easier to see the roof tile colour and profile now. It will be even better once the scaffolding is removed completely.

Our TV wall mount brackets have arrived and they seem to make sense. Phew! They are universal, so should be fairly straightforward to install. Famous last words! 

I can't wait to see the TV's on the wall and the speakers in the ceiling. It will create a nice clean uncluttered look. Andy has done a great job keeping our current connections neat and tidy, but it will be great when we can't see them at all.

Last weekend we took the opportunity to clean out the "Spare Cable Drawer". We had to work up to it! Can you imagine two households worth of decades old "spare" cables in a tangled pile. Half of them were completely unidentifiable, and others looked like they belonged in the 80's. Those ones very quickly found themselves in the bin. The bulk of the time was spent sorting the ones that still look modern and useful. We have achieved a significant reduction in cables, and some labeling so that we can easily find what we need when we move. I do however believe that aerial cables left together multiply! We seem to have heaps of them - ironic really, since we don't need one at all at the moment due to our pay tv connection.

On my morning walk today I noticed a lone chippy working away near the stairwell. We might need to head over tonight and see if there have been any windows or bricks delivered. I'm enjoying seeing all of the internal work taking place but I'm getting a bit impatient about the externals. 

Week 8 - General Update

Last Friday the plumbing rough in was completed so there are now pipes everywhere. 

Some of the upstairs plumbing as viewed from the ground floor.

Hot Water Service Location

Then on Monday we met the electrician bright and early to confirm our lighting requirements and pendant installation details.The sparky was really helpful, and suggested one light switch upstairs be relocated based on past experience. We took his advice and are confident the change is a good idea for the upstairs office setup. We left him to get on with it and Andy called past on his way home on Monday to find wires going everywhere! We really did go a bit bananas with our electrical plan but it will be fantastic! I can't wait to see it all come together. No electrical photos yet though.

On Tuesday the fascia and guttering was installed on the garage roof section, and this morning we met with the home theatre guy to confirm the location of our wall and ceiling speakers in the two living rooms so that he can do the prewire. Since the speakers have directional tweeters we have decided to put them all in the ceiling to keep things tidy. The guy will come back at fit off stage and test it all to make sure it all sounds perfect. 

Whilst we were there this morning we noticed that all of the aircon ducting had been delivered so they will probably get that done today or tomorrow. 

And lastly, we were a bit naughty and snuck upstairs last weekend.

View from Master Bedroom - although the angle of the photo was hampered by the scaffolding.

Andy is leaning on the half wall at the top of the staircase. The area in the foreground is the office. We have a window in this area (on the left) but when I am working I will also be able to see across the stairwell and out a horizontal window that you can almost make out just above and to the left of Andy's head.

I think that's more than enough for one post, so until next time.......