Mini Update

Well not much has happened since the last time. Our bricks have been washed, the plasterers have pretty much finished, the skirting boards are in, as are the door frames. The handles have been installed on our French doors and the hole has been made for our front door lock. We've been told by our SS that the cabinet-makers are in this week and the painters will be in on Thursday. YAY!! Piccies soon!

Plastered!!

We met SS on site yesterday for an inspection of our abode. We were there to get a tour of the house and to see the repairs/corrections that have been made as per the report given by our independent inspector.

Everything has pretty much been done; there's a few things that still need doing, but they can be done after the plaster - it doesnt affect it at all. We are a little bit worried that the plaster started so soon after we'd done then inspection as there was a section of the sisalation in the master bedroom and the ensuite which badly needed patching due to excess mortar shredding it to pieces. We dont want rising damp/moisture to ruin our vanity and walls in a few years.

So Kir was informed by a friend that drove past our place today that the plasterers were in and working hard. I dont know.. it seems too soon after the inspection to have plastering start as there didnt seem enough time to repair the sisalation etc, but I'm not a builder. What I am is excited!! We have plaster! In one day!!! So here are the pictures!!

Looking from across the street.. all the bricks complete!

The garage.. plastered!!

The Master BR and retreat.

Looking down the hallway all the way to the rumpus window.

Standing in the doorway of the kitchen/living area.

The meals area.. Check out our awesome sets of French doors!

Stage Two: (Pretty Much) Complete!

Well! I'm BACK! And finally we have something to update! I havent had access to the internet for 2 weeks so havent been able to update. It's been terrible Muriel! But anyways, on with the update!

After all the excitement of getting our roof done just before Christmas, it was a little bit sad to see them stop working for 2 weeks. But the tradies deserve a rest. They work hard!

So, during the 2 week Christmas break, we had our bricks delivered in New Year's week and work pretty much began on the next Monday back. We kept going back every couple of days during Xmas to see if they'd kept working, but alas, they actually were on holiday.

Two weeks ago, we had our independant inspector go through the house for a pre-plaster inspection to look at the framing, roofing, the slab.. pretty much everything that had been done so far before the plasterboard goes on the walls. OOOOOHHHHHH BOY.. was that the best couple of hundred bucks we ever spent! There were things we were worried about which he picked up on; the slab falling short, the plumber's hack job on the frame etc, and also things that we, as lay-people, had no idea about, and things we just plain missed (the ducted heating unit was put in the wrong place!!) We received an 8 page report on the defects which we promptly forwarded on to our CSC, who then forwarded it to SS to take care of.

That was just over a week ago. SS has contacted Kir today to say that he'd like to do a walk through the house on Monday, to let us have a look at the repairs etc that have been carried out as per the report before he books the plasterers in. We'll have to see how that goes. Hopefully everything mentioned has been taken care of and fixed to building code standards.

CSC has also contacted us to inform us that the colour we've picked for our kitchen cupboards is no longer being used for the style that we want, so we have to pick a new colour!! *sigh* All that hard work going to waste. So we went back to Hopetouns on the weekend to pick another colour, emailed CSC for a quote on Monday. We'll see how that goes too..

So the last two weeks has seen the following done:

- bricking finished

- electrics wired

- bath has been delivered

- plasterboard has been delivered

- all external doors have been hung which means.. WE'RE AT LOCK UP!!

Stage Two - (pretty much) Complete! YAY!!

Our bricks on the palate.

Our bricking... half done.

Our bricks close up.

So, next up plastering! Or what I like to call Stage 3. I'll put more pics up of the outside when I can so you can see what the bricks look like.

The Roof.. The Roof.. The Roof Has Tiles!!!

Well boys and girls.. more progress! I'm really starting to like our SS even though I havent met him yet, but he has been pretty straight up with what's been happening with our house. He said that we'd have roof tiles by Christmas, and there they were, nearly finished on Christmas Eve. We've also had all our plumbing finished, our bi-fold doors installed, and the outer wall insulation put in as well. YAY!

Our bifolds.. from the inside..

and from the outside..

You can see some of our roof tiles here in front. You can also see the green, outer wall insulation which has been wrapped around the house.

And the same angle but with something different.. our tiles are up! Well, most of them.

Sortta close up of the roof tiles.. we chose "Gunmetal" cuz it was the closest colour to the one we wanted to upgrade to, but that cost too much!! Also, it matched our guttering and window frames.

Picture from across the road just to see the whole effect.. looks pretty good huh!?? There's a pile of sand in our driveway.. that means that they're gonna hopefully start bricking when they start back again in mid January. Yay!

Minor Update

Kir went to check out the site as we have recieved the second invoice from PD which means our frame is totally complete!! Woo hoo!! But there has been more progress...


They've started the plumbing and electricals and put up the guttering as well as the safety rails for the roof tilers, which definately means roof tiles by Christmas!! I'm hoping they can finish it in a week and a half.

Our plumbing? Or is that electricals.. LoL

Our bi-fold frame.

We Have Been Framed!

Ladies and gentlemen.. we have a frame and some windows!! YAY!! It took them an entire week to put up a house.. the mind boggles!

It's a little bit flooded.. haha.. the ground was so soft! But we had a look anyways! Everything seems to be in its place.. the only thing we're worried about is the fridge space. It doesnt look like it's the right size so we'll have to do some measuring, but it probably is.. no harm in checking.

Anyways.. roof tiles next!! More excitement to come!!

Progress!! Stage One Complete!

Well.. things are certainly happening quickly. Just two weeks ago we had nothing but a scraped site, a port-a-loo and some temp fencing. Last weekend, some friends drove past and said that they saw our pipes and electricals had been done. Kir went to check out what was happening on Thursday night and they had put up all the forms for our slab!

We were told by our Site Supervisor (SS) that the slab would be poured on Saturday, so come Saturday afternoon, we were driving up to see what was going on. On arrival, the concreters were still there and had just about finished the job. A cement truck came tearing up the road with the last of the cement needed to finish off. And voila! We had a slab!

Yes people.. a slab! All nice and freshly laid. This was taken on Sunday afternoon. I cant believe we're standing on concrete laid just the day before! So it's all progressing nicely so far.

We went again today to have a look as SS said the frame should be starting on Monday. Again.. SURPRISE! We had half the frame up for the house already! In one day!

So the time marches on. Progress reports as we visit the site.. hopefully at least once a week!