Days 45-55 - I've been a bit lazy

As you may have noticed, I've been a bit slack with the updates. Surprisingly there were quite a few people that continued to check for a week or so even without me spamming facebook and homeone(I use Google Analytics to check traffic), so to those people, thank you.
Anyway, onto the update. There has been a bit happen, basically the roof frame is pretty much complete as of today, all that remains is the horizontal pieces of timber that the colourbond is attached to which are all positioned around the house ready to be put up, the colourbond was delivered today, the garage ceiling was done today and the eaves and flashing around the house were done last week, also the walls were chased for the powerpoints and light switches today and both gables are done. I think that's about where we're up to at the moment.
Now that the gables are up I'm starting to doubt our colour choice for them. They are yet to be painted so I don't think it would be a problem to change them, but I'm just uncertain, it's really hard to visualise. As it stands, the hardiplank(the biggest section of the gable) is squirrel brown, which is a brown with a hint of red, we chose it to match the bricks as closely as possible. The border of the gable, finial(spikey thing) and the gutters are all classic cream. We did go and do a visualisation thing with midland brick when we chose the colours, but I'm just having doubts as to whether they are going to work. I might put a post on the designer part of the homeone forum and ask for some feedback.
On to the photos for now:


Day 45

These are the two main beams in the house, the long run ones through the kitchen/lounge area and the shorter one runs diagonally through the gararge.


This is the crane lifting the beams onto the roof.


Day 48

Panorama from the lounge room.


Front of the house, they just did some more of the roof this day.


Day 49

Front of the house, they started on the top part of the roof.


Our roof form inside.


Day 52

The gabel above the master bedroom. The planks will be a brown colour and the rest will be cream.


Our roof mostly done.


Eaves!


Day 55 - Today

Some of the colourbond for our roof.


We have a ceiling in our garage!


These are the pieces of timber that go horizontally across the existing beams and the colourbond screws into them.


Walls have been chased for all light switches and GPOs.


That's it for today, I'll try to keep the updates a bit more regular.

Day 43 and 44 - The roof is on.

I didn't get a chance to do a post yesterday so I'll do it along with today's.

Day 43
I drove past the house in the morning to find a huge pile of wood in my parking spot, no brickies though. When we went back in the afternoon, we were surprised to see that the roof had begun, I really expected a week or so before the roof started, especially considering RedInk is due payment after plate height. I also managed to book in an inspection for the following day, which is convenient seeing as, at this rate, the roof will probably be finished if it's left much longer than that.


The house behind us very thoughtfully erected some scaffolding for me to climb to take photos from so I was able to get some good shot of the roof from above.


Here is the wood that is to become the roof.


Here is the eaves.


This is the theatre, they've just sat the wood in it's place here and throughout the house.


This is the living area, the roof is sagging quite a bit due to it's length and weight, it makes the room feel quite small. Obviously this is only because the wood is not attached to the house yet.

That's about all for Day 43.


Day 44
Quite a bit more progress today and also our first 3rd party building inspection. The wood that was positioned yesterday has been today attached to the house, and it gives a good idea of the size of the rooms with the ceilings now. It makes a big difference when the wood is straight and not sagging down like yesterday.
We had the house inspection done by Houspec after work today and it was a pretty good result really. There were a couple of things, the main ones being the floor waste drains in the bathrooms. The powder room and toilet both share one drain, even though there is a door between them, the drain is in the toilet room just inside the door. It seems a bit silly placement really, but I don't suppose there is much that can be done about it now. Also the drain in the ensuite toilet doesn't exist, there is a drain in the ensuite and the toilet is joining the ensuite, I suppose it's not absolutely necessary, but as the inspector said, for the sake of $6 worth of pipe, you'd think they could add it in. Those were the main things, there were a couple of minor things which won't really make any difference in the end.
Apparently I was supposed to notify RedInk that there would be an inspector on site, but I didn't realise. The inspector suggested I let them know that there was an inspection and that he'll be returning periodically at times that will be advised. He also said to tell RedInk in writing that the mortar is not correct, we're willing to live with it but we would like a contract variation done to reflect the change and acknowledge the mistake. I have to say I'm very happy with the inspection, I learnt quite a lot despite there being nothing much wrong, so a win win really.
On to the photos:


Panorama from the living area with the ceiling beams in.


Panorama from the scaffolding. It screwed up a bit at the corner of the wall when the photos were merged, our wall doesn't go like that :P


This is the drain for the toilet and powder room.


This is our fire blanket, it's required because this wall is a "zero lot wall" which basically means it's right on the fence line. The blanket will be folded back up over and will be invisible from everywhere except the roof space.

That's it for today, everything just keeps powering along so we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Day 42 - Brickwork Finished

We went down to the block this afternoon and the brick work was finished. All the bricks from inside and around the house have been removed, aside from a quarter of a pallette of bricks out the back which hopefully we can keep.
The bricks still need to be cleaned and there's a huge pile of rubbish our the front, but other than that, it's all done. We assume the cleaning will be completed today.
I called RedInk yesterday to clear up the payment process, apparently they'll send a letter to us telling us we've reached a payment stage and then we just need to send a letter to our bank giving authorisation for the payment to be taken out. Whilst I was on the phone to Hayley I asked what the scheduled completion time for the bricks was and she said today or tomorrow and also that a roof carpenter is booked for this week also. That was quite a surprise because every other house we've watched go up has had the wood for the roof delivered a little bit after the bricks are finished and then a few weeks after that the roof is started.
Given this small time frame, we're going to have to get the 3rd party inspection done quick, so I gave them a call and got the pricing for different stages emailed to me and they also told me they just require about 2 days notice once the house is at plate height. So basically I need to call them first thing tomorrow morning and book the inspection in.
That's about it for today, here are some pictures:


Here's a panorama from the living room, every room looks so much bigger without piles of bricks in them.


A finished wardrobe.


A whole in the wall appeared today as well, I assume it's for the circuit breakers and RCDs, but I'm only guessing. It would be a pretty silly spot for it really, bery child accessible.


Our finished walk in robes, looking at the pictures now, I was thinking they were supposed to have doors...I'll have to check the plans. The full height openings make them look quite tall though.


Our front entrance way.

That's all for today, by the sounds of things, there won't be much of a break after the bricks, so there'll probably be an update soon.

Day 41 - Not quite there yet

Well, it's not quite finished yet. I really thought it would be, but it has to be done tomorrow because there's hardly anything left now. They finished the last of the external bricks including the garage today. As far as we can tell, all that's left now is one walk in wardrobe and the bricks for the wardrobes in the other bedrooms.
I've got to try and remember to call the company we're getting to inspect the house because the first inspection will need to be done soon.
Anyway, onto the pictures:


The last of the external brick work done.


The garage finished.


They cleaned up some of the corners that were strange angles with mortar.


This is the other side of the wall in the previous photo. Because of the walls don't meet at 90 degrees the bricks don't match up exactly and the steps need to be filled in with mortar.


One of the walk in robes is completed to full height and the other one is one of the few things remaining to be done.

That's all for today, everything should be complete tomorrow!

Day 38 - Almost done!

Like the title says, it's almost done. I believe the brickies work half a day on Saturday normally, they did last week. Assuming they do so this week I think the brick work will be finished either tomorrow or Monday.
As you will see in the photos, just about everything is done. There are a couple of small sections of internal walls which are only at door height, the second walk in robe is to be done, a small section of external bricks and half of the garage, that's all that is left though.
Check out the photos:


I mastered the art of panoramas for this one, or I found the panorama option in photoshop, depends which way you look at it. This is standing against the middle of the wall in the lounge room.


The front entrance.


Ash in our passage!


Looking from the living room towards the master bedroom and front door.


Looking at the walk in robes and ensuite in the master bedroom.


I finally remembered to take a photo of the new section of slab. You can notice the join of course, but it's a nice finish and it will be covered with tiles, as long as it doesn't move I'm happy.

That's all for today, I'm not sure what happens once the brick work is finished so I'll update as I find out.

Day 35, 36, 37 - Walls almost done

I've been unable to find the time to update the blog the last few days so I thought I'd do a quick update before work this morning to cover the last 3 days.

Day 35 - Tuesday
The new section of slab was layed today, it looks quite neat and I'd say once the concrete dries it will blend in quite nicely. The brickies started the walls around that corner as well, all the external walls have been started now. There's not too much more to say, I made a dodgy panorama in photoshop, it's not very good, but you get the idea.


This was taken standing in the lounge room, the games room is to the right, dining room straight ahead and unfinished rooms to the left, that door way is to the garage.


This is our front door and theatre window. There will be a porch over half of this alcove.


The new section of slab.


Day 36 - Wednesday
The living area walls are all full height today and some of the other walls here and there were added to. I don't think there were any new walls today, the existing ones were mostly bought to full height.


As you can see, the living area internal walls are now full height, everything looks a lot bigger when the walls go all the way up.


Even our back yard looks bigger now.


Day 37 - Thursday
Quite a bit went up today, our bedroom, half of the passage, laundry, bathroom, bedroom 2 and 3. The external bricks are just about finished and most of the rooms that are started are full height. I'd say there are only a couple of days left until the bricks are done. I forgot yesterday and today to check the new section of slab now that it's dried, all the new walls distracted me, I'll try and remember to take a photo on Friday.


The passage down to bedrooms 2, 3 and 4.


Master bedroom with toilet started.


Standing in the games room.

That's all for today, won't be long until it's all done!

Day 34 - Wow

I continue to be amazed at the speed the bricks are laid. I think probably about a third of the house is done now. Some of the walls are up to full height, we now have bedroom 4 complete, bedroom 3 half done, games room done, ensuite half done and walk in robes started. They aren't all up to full height, but high enough to feel like a room.
The slab has been cleanly separated now and has lots of re-inforcement bars in place, I imagine it will be poured tomorrow.
Ash suggested that one of the reasons it's going up so quickly is because RedInk don't get any money from us until the walls are done(Plate height). That sounds like a reasonable assumption to me and not one that I hold against RedInk, I'd do the same thing.
Anyway, onto the pictures...


The sun is in a rather unfortunate position at 5.15pm in regards to taking photos of the front of our house, I've adjusted it so you can actually see something, but the colours are a bit funny. As you can see, we have bricks all the way up and over the window, not to mention a front door frame!


You can see the edge of the concrete is nice and clean now with some nice thick reinforcement bars stuck in it to hold onto the new part of the slab.


This is taken from the master bedroom at the front of the house looking at our ensuite and walk in robes.


This is standing in the lounge room looking into the games room, sized to fit our pool table with optimum space for pool cue movement(I hope).


This is from the back yard looking at bedrooms 3 and 4, you can see the internal wall between bed4 and the games room goes all the way up, I'm not sure what the 4 courses of single course bricks are for, but our friends Mark and Rachael's house has the same thing, I'll have to look into it.


Our meter box! I don't know why that's exciting, but for some reason it is.


That's it for today, at this rate the bricks will be finished before the end of next week so I'll probably have an update just about every day due to things changing so rapidly. Stay tuned!