More frame

Frame for the roof is coming along. This is where it stands as of Christmas. The builders finished up on the 23rd and will be back on the 6th January. When they get back, the priority is to finish the frame and get the roof on and to finish the internal block work walls. Once the walls are done, then the first grind of the slab will happen. I can't wait to see what it's going to look like.

Most of these photo's speak for themselves.

This is one of the few "issues" we have had so far, but it hardly counts really. Originally the window above the wall here was not going to be supported by a frame, but they realised this wouldn't work and so have added the frame you see. However it doesn't line up with the lower post...but that's OK as they will either remove the lower post (not needed structurally) or hide it.

And this is a repair job they've done on the upper slab. When they removed some of the "boxing" around the slab in the dining room they removed some of the slab, but they've patched it up when they poured the lower slab and hopefully it won't be noticeable when the slab is polished and with the window frame there as well.

More views

One of my favourite things to do lately is to go up to the house and stand where our bed will be and just take in the view. I've told Tom that he's got Buckley's getting me out of bed on a wintry Saturday morning to take the kids to soccer. I'll stay in bed and look out at the view thanks. This opening in the frame will be all glass (windows and sliding door) and we're not planning on any window dressings at this stage, so this view will always be visible.


And this is the view from the lounge room. Again this "wall" will be mostly windows.

View from the entrance hallway.

Framed...well, almost (7th December)

Frame for some of the internal walls and the roof has started. And they have also started the internal brick walls. It's great to start to get a feel for the rooms...although one of my girls keeps complaining that her room's so small (it is small, but that was the compromise...their own room...but a small one).

Looking down the hallway from the back door through to the kitchen/dining. The wall on the left closest to us is the wall between our bedroom and the stair well. The walls in the background are between the hall and family room.


Looking into the family room from the timber deck.

And looking from the dining room into the family room. The wood heater will be located in the nook created by the wall closest to us.

These walls will be full height when finished.

Lower Slab (11th December)

So, once the top slab was poured, things slowed down again, but we finally got some more action in early December. They are actually working on the upper frame at the same time as preparing the slab for downstairs, so it's good to have a few things happening at once.

Reo in the entrance hall (1st December). The pipes you can see are for the downstairs bathroom.

And now we have the slab...in the entrance

the rumpus,

and the garage.

We've decided to go with polished concrete for all of downstairs as well (except the garage) including the bathroom and shower. We can always put a rug down in the rumpus if the kids need it. We've also decided to change the wall between the rumpus and utility room into bi-fold doors, so that we can open that whole space up if we need to for kids parties and the like. We'll use translucent glass so the utility room still gets some natural light.

Timber Deck started

As well as the concrete deck on the western side (which is more of a private deck) we are having a timber deck on the eastern side off the living areas for entertaining. The joists for this have been done. They are not going to put in any more joists in the bottom corner of the deck as this is where we want to build our bbq and wood fired pizza oven. The plan is to use the existing footing, build the walls for the oven and put some concrete sheeting down in the front and then tile it to form a hearth. Very sketchy plans at the moment, but AE is very accommodating.


The joists from the under side...showing the quality of the workmanship. When we see the attention to detail like this we understand why things that seem simple that a bit longer than we expect.

And our water view. After completing the joists they put down some temporary wood sheeting and so we finally got to see what our view is like from the deck. It's not so much a water view as a water glimpse, but it's still nice looking out to the Eastern shore. We'll definitely be watching the New Year's fireworks from our deck this year!

A Slab...Finally (5th November)

Well the slab was finally poured on November 5th. I was up at 6:30 as usual for my walk and saw this massive concrete pump driving up the road. I wasn't sure that it would be able to make it up the driveway, but it obviously did...without too much damage to the driveway. We could see the pump from up at the reserve where I walk...almost 1 km away!


And this is what we had by the time we got home from work.

From the east...

From the West. You can see the lower area of the slab in the foreground for the deck. The recessed area a little further in is for our ensuite which will be tiled.

This shows the blue gold recycled glass that we have used. After the slab was poured they seeded it with this glass as well as clear glass, which will become visible once the slab is polished. I can't wait to see this!!!

The day after the slab was poured, someone came up (on a Saturday) and saw cut the slab to prevent cracking. These cuts will obviously be filled with something down the track.

Everything looks really good, we've had no cracking at all. There is only a slight problem with water pooling in 2 spots on the deck. The first is near the back door. AE has suggested that they put a drain in here so nothing to worry about.

The second spot is in front of our bedroom. They did put an additional drain in here (not originally on the plans) but the fall isn't quite right and so it pools in the corner. Not sure what we are going to do here, but again we're not too worried.

Upper Slab - electrical and reo (3rd November)

Upper slab with reo. Expansion joint for slab also visible


Electrical conduit in slab

Wires for lighting carport done before slab pour. Wiring for lighting in the garage has also been done.

Possible Slab date?

I ran into AE this morning. He was onsite retrieving some equipment, so we had a bit of a chat. He said he has booked the slab pour for the last week in October. He was thinking about a week earlier, but didn't trust the weather. I still don't trust the weather, but we'll cross our fingers, toes and what ever else we can!!


Meanwhile, here's a pic of the view from the kitchen. There will be windows above the beam as well, so we'll see most of this while standing at the (future) kitchen sink. Soooo much nicer than the neighbour's brick wall we look at now!

Slab Insulation

Well the insulation arrived sometime last week and builders got to spend a bit of time out of the wet weather and in the workshop cutting up the insulation. Tom spoke to AE who said that we need about 2 weeks fine weather so they can do the slab as apparently the insulation can absorb water and the if the slab gets water on it, it can lead to some discolouration. The BOM have predicted 20+ days of rain for October, so we figured that we'll never get a slab.

So we were quite surprised when we went up to the house at the beginning of the week to find that they had started installing the insulation. They finished it Thursday, and you can see the sort of weather they had to work through. Not only was it wet, but for most of the day they would have been lucky if it got to double figures!!! I'm amazed at the weather these guys will work in. And as much as the weather is frustrating for us...at least we don't have to work out in it.

Not sure what the time frame for the slab is from here...but between the weather and waiting for the concretor to fit us in...well I won't hold my breath.

Slab Postponed again!!!

25th September
Well this time it's the slab insulation we are waiting on...apparently there's a three week wait on this (it has to come from Adelaide). So to keep themselves busy, AE has decided to continue on with the frame for the timber deck which wraps around the north eastern side of the house.

Deck frame from driveway.

Looking down from beind the house to give a better idea of the shape of the deck. They have also started some of the frames for the windows/doors between the house and the deck.

And from the east

Our front entrance. The frame shown here is for the portico, which is meant to be glass. The front hallway leads to the stairs to the first floor and so will be a void. Above the portico, on the first floor, will be a large inclined window, between the columns shown here. Should look pretty special once it's done. We were a little unsure about the glass portico, as I really don't want to have to clean it all the time...but looking at this now, I think it would look strange if it was solid.

Frame started, lower slab postponed!

So with the bricking finished for the time being, they decided to start on the framing. I say "decided" as according to the schedule the builder gave us the lower slab was meant to happen soon after the walls were up. But the crushed blue glass which is meant to be scattered through the slab is not available for 3 weeks, so they will get on with the frame and do the lower slab after they do the upper slab. AE has said that they often do this, and it will actually protect the slab from the scaffolding...so no biggy I suppose.

Beginning of the frame. Frame showing the inclined columns.

Condeck for upper slab.And the view from the western side.
I was a bit nervous at first, but I ventured out onto the condeck to see what the view is like....AND we have a water view. OK so it's more of a water glimpse, but it's still pretty!! This is the view from our dining/family rooms. The deck will extend out further so we may get a better view from there. As it is, I know we can see the New Years fireworks from here as we watched them last year (I made everyone race up the driveway last year at midnight to watch them) so bring on New Years 2010...we might be in by then. Condeck completed.And from the front. On the right is the deck on the western side of the house. This extends around to in front of o0ur bedroom, and forms the roof for the carport.

Bricking, July and August

Construction of the back walls of the house begins...
New footing for another retaining wall. this one is for the carport and fire truck turning circle.

Upper wall water proofed.

More bricking on the ground floor walls and the beginnings of a doorway (on the right). Doorway is from garage to entry hall.

Maddie wanted to take a photo of Tom and me!

We have a fuse box!!

Full height walls...I think?

Walls filled with concrete.

Evidence of furry friends visiting...lucky it's not in the slab.

First of the footings for the inclined columns.

Plumbing for ground floor!

Behind the upper walls needed to be back filled with crushed rock, but because the site is sooo steep the builders weren't about to push wheelbarrows full of rock up the slope....So we got a crane for a few days...$$$ :(

Our first power point!

Yet more footings...this time for the western deck and side entrance.