A very soggy Week 15

Given the heavy rain all week it hasn't been very easy to check on progress of the house without getting drenched and caked in mud. So there are not many new photos but I have managed to retrieve more from my dodgy phone so here are the main bathroom ones from the other week.

Shower with simple feature tile and
storage niche

Awaiting quartz benchtop, basin, mirror,
powerpoint, lighting, bath, taps...........

Bath Hob in a dark charcoal to match the floor.

We figured the last of the minor plasterboard jobs had been completed as we received our fixing stage invoice yesterday. It really feels like we are on the home stretch now. 

Today during a break in the rain I headed out to see what I could see in the way of progress. The painters had wisely used some waste materials to make some stepping stones up to the garage so I tiptoed in to meet them and see how it was all going. 

They have finished preparing all of the surfaces, covered all of the windows, cabinetry and shelving with plastic and sheets and have done one coat on most of the walls. They expect to be finished by next Friday. That includes the last of the outside painting too, which is minimal. Hopefully they get a dry day to work on that. 

Painting underway.

The wall colour looks great so far, although it will be easier to gauge it more accurately once the other coats are on. Hopefully the painters got the variation we did a few weeks ago to add in a second internal feature wall. They have done a great job of the outside painting so far.

Outside rear - our lovely cladding over the alfresco in Dulux Stony Creek.

We've got an appointment with a fencing contractor on Sunday morning to start getting some quotes. Hopefully they are in the ball park of what we are anticipating. 

I also started getting some removalist quotes this week. Whilst I wouldn't say they are cheap by any stretch of the imagination, they are certainly better than the price of my recent interstate move - thankfully!

Tiling Photos from last week

After some remote guidance from our IT guy in Melbourne I have managed to restore my phone (for now). That means my tiling photos have been saved. We love how the tiles have turned out. They look fantastic. I can't wait to see them all clean and sparkly. Sorry about the poor quality photos! I'll take the proper camera next time.

Main Bathroom floor with Bermuda Tile Insert Drains

Powder Room with 450mm x 450mm Belga Charcoal porcelain tiles

Laundry - same tiles as the powder room which is next door.

Kitchen splashback tiles around splashback window will be
installed once benchtop has been installed.

Stacker stone is coming up a treat!

Feature tile in ensuite shower.

Storage niche above the end of the bath.

Storage niche in the shower

I'll try and get some photos of the main bathroom on our next visit. 

Andy and I spent Sunday evening sorting through our light fittings and working out what height our pendants should hang at. We have done some research on this and have come up with our preferred heights. We just hope they look good once all the furniture is in place. 

Hopefully the painters made a start on Monday. I might have to pop around tomorrow and see if I can see any colour on the walls.

Apart from the painting, the next couple of weeks will see the plumbing and electrical fit offs. Bring on our lovely freestanding bath. I have no doubt it will get a workout on the first day we move in. Mmmmm lovely! 

A Friday update

Given the stress that has been going on at work, its nice to have something exciting to focus on at home. This morning we had another meeting with our SS and got to check out the finished tiling in the bathroom, ensuite, laundry and powder room plus the stacker stone on the front facade. The kitchen splashback tiling around the window will be done once the stone bench top is in place.

The benchtop has been measured for the Quantum Quartz. It takes about 7 working days to arrive. The kitchen sink has been delivered and a few other boxes of unidentified bits and pieces are sitting in the fridge cavity. I didn't get a chance to take a close look at them but am guessing they are either tapware or door handles etc from the sizes of the boxes.

The tiler has done a fantastic job. We are really impressed with his finishes. I can't wait to see everything all clean and shiny. It's going to be beautiful!

The painters are due to start on the internals on Monday and will take about a week and a half and then all of the fit offs begin. We have been given the heads up that we'll need to supply all of our light fittings in about a fortnight. The spare room is full of boxes of lights. We might reclaim some of the bigger boxes for packing once the lights are installed.

Unfortunately there are no photos today because my phone has been having a conniption this week and wont let me access anything on it. It might be visiting a Telstra Shop on the weekend. What fun that will be!

Week 14 - Tiling underway

On Sunday night after arriving home from several days in Melbourne we went around to the house - of course! After peering in windows for several minutes Andy found that a door was unlocked so we snuck inside for a peek. It was getting dark, and with no torch we could barely make out the outlines of things but could see that some of the cabinetry had been installed in the kitchen and the waterproofing had been done in the wet areas. 

Kitchen minus stone bench tops and appliances, which will be installed closer to handover.
(Bench tops will be Quantum Quartz in New Diamond White).

The builders have also done a big cleanup and everything looks much neater all around the outside of the house. The scaffolding has also been removed (along with all of the spare sections which seemed to be lying about everywhere), which now makes everything look a lot better.

On Monday afternoon I received a call from the tiler and arranged to go around and go through all of our selections to check that everything was in order.

All of the correct tiles have been delivered and as we went through everything the tiler diligently placed sample tiles in each of their correct locations and scribbled markings and notes on the wall to clarify the location of our feature tiles and the areas where cut tiles would be placed so they were least obvious.

He had already laid the shower recess in the main bathroom and it has come up a treat. I'm relieved that I really like our tile selections after all of these months have gone by. We selected them back in September, and they still look great to me!

Main Bathroom Shower Recess - 400 x 400 Lifestyle Charcoal.
These will be on the floor in the upstairs wet areas and also on two walls in the ensuite.

Our upgraded Bermuda waste drains were in place (they are the little square ones that have a tile insert in them) and our dark coloured grout selections were there, so it looks like everything is on track for the tiler to work away for the next couple of days without issue.
While I was there on Monday, I noticed that the remainder of the cabinetry, the mirror backings and the timber capping on the nib wall around the staircase void had also been installed.

Ensuite Vanity Unit. Shower recess is to the right.
Photo is taken from where the freestanding bath will sit.
Loo is to the left in its own little room with a door.

Our lovely freestanding bath will look like this.

Timber Capping will be stained clear - my desk will sit on the other side of this half wall.

We've asked for a meeting with our Site Supervisor for later this week so that we can check it all out and find out what to expect next. I know....its the boring PPP - (paint preparation period)!

A start on the interior fittings

Our lovely timber staircase was installed yesterday as scheduled. The locks were placed on all external doors on Monday but I was lucky enough to arrive at the site when a worker was there and he kindly let me in to take some photos.

We upgraded to a stain-grade timber staircase from the standard which would have been covered in carpet. It currently has protective boards on the treads but we can already see that once it is stained to match our timber laminate flooring it will be lovely!

Landing is half way up. The area to the right will be boarded up and have
storage in it. The cupboard will be accessed from a door to the right of this photo. 

The guy who let me in to take photos was actually delivering the cabinetry, so I got to have a sneek peek at our kitchen etc. I love the silk finish Laminex. It is lovely and shiny without being too glossy, and it was a standard inclusion so didn't add to our costs at all. I will get some better photos when I am not trying to stay out of the way of the delivery guys.

Kitchen cabinets - either side of the oven. The Laminex colour is Parchment
and the handles have a brushed chrome finish.
The overhead cupboards will have no handles, just an overhang.

Week 13 - Officially Enclosed

We are officially 'enclosed' and have moved into the 'fixing' stage. Quite a few things were completed last Thursday, Friday and Saturday and since I can't remember exactly what happened when, here's a general summary of those three days.

• External cladding above garage and alfresco completed.
• Front door delivered and hung.

• Internal doors delivered and hung.
• Cornice, architraves and some skirting board completed.

Storage, storage and more storage!

• Infills over upstairs windows installed.
• Outside of upper level windows cleaned and protective coating removed.

• Cladding, eaves, downpipes and upper level render painted - we are really happy with the colour - phew!

Cladding is hiding under the scaffold.

Upper Render Colour is a pale warmish grey. It will be easier to distinguish once the lower
left section is painted darker and the front section is clad in stacker stone. 

• Received 'enclosed stage' invoice and passed it on to the bank.

This week we're due to see the scaffolding removed, staircase installed, waterproofing of wet areas and commencement of cabinetry installations. I imagine they will also finish the last of the skirting boards and perhaps do the plastering in the area of the staircase which currently holds the temporary platform and ladder.

Our SS warned us that the next step 'pre paint' is pretty slow and tedious. It takes about a week for them to prep for the painting, filling gaps, sanding etc. So after a busy couple of weeks seeing significant progress I can see some thumb-twiddling for us on the near horizon.

Colour me happy!

This morning we met with our Site Supervisor to clarify our requirements regarding the retaining wall at the rear of the house and the location of the definition lines between our two render colours. It looks like they can accommodate our preferences on both fronts, so that's comforting.

Our SS also gave us an update on what we can expect to see over the next fortnight.

Remainder of this week:

• Finish installation of cladding - this has taken a bit longer than we expected because of the rain over the last week.
• External painting including render - prioritising the upper level if rain interrupts them. They will work over this weekend to get as much done as they can as the scaffold will be removed next week.

Next week:

• Cleaning of outside of upper level windows
• Removal of scaffolding
• Installation of skirting architraves and cornice
• Installation of staircase - we'll be very excited to see our lovely timber staircase.
• Commence kitchen installation - beyond excited!!!
• Waterproof wet areas in preparation for tiling
• A much needed site clean!

On Monday 17th March we will meet with the tiler to confirm tiles supplied are correct, and clarify locations of feature tiles. He will start laying them that day!

We are steadily selling some of the furniture that we won't need in the new house on eBay, and I may even start some packing in the next few weeks!

Week 12 - nearly enclosed

Last Friday was the first day where the rain impacted our build. The brickies were due to finish that day but a drizzly morning saw them spending their day elsewhere. Luckily for us they came back on Saturday and finished everything off! 

The rain cleared on Friday afternoon and that was obviously enough for the renderers to get cracking. The front facade is now completely rendered and it looks amazing!  It looked a bit green while it was drying but it's now quite a lot lighter than it appears in this photo. We can't wait to see it painted. (Dark on the bottom and light on the top).

The un-rendered section in the photo above is where the feature stacker stone will be.

The plasterers also made a start on smoothing all of the joins in the lower level plaster on Friday, and we were lucky to receive confirmation that one of the "services voids" which took up a bit of space in our WIR wasn't needed and has now been removed. It wasn't huge, but removing it will make a massive difference to the wardrobe layout options available to us. After considering Ikea PAX wardrobes for ages, we have now also engaged another company to quote on this job and will weigh up the options when we see the price.

Looking towards kitchen. Front door down the corridor on the left. 
Fridge space in the centre. Walk in pantry in the corner. 
Kitchen window splashback on the right.

On the weekend we went to the Home Show, but nothing new really jumped out and said "buy me".  On the way home, past the block of course, we noticed that the cladding and some other timber had been delivered. Once the cladding is done we are officially at the enclosed stage and will receive an invoice for the biggest of our progress payments.

Cladding waiting to be installed.

Yesterday it drizzled on and off all day so we weren't expecting any work to be done outside. I didn't get a chance to go around for a look and figured it would be pretty muddy anyway. Andy called past on his way home and noticed that they had started on the timber framework for the eaves so the rain obviously didn't bother them. 

They've made a start on the eave timbers.

One section of eave board up on the right hand side of the upper level.

We had more rain overnight. Hopefully it hasn't damaged any of the plaster, especially where the roof tiles on the garage are still dislodged because of the scaffolding. 

We've got a progress meeting with our site supervisor on Thursday morning. We have some requests from our decking contractor that we need to discuss with him but we also hope to get an update on the next steps. He's a nice guy and has been very helpful and accommodating so far. 

I think that's well and truly enough from me for now. Until next time...... :-)