- BRICKS, BRICKS, & MORE BRICKS....

9th August, 2009

A few more photos of the house from the outside. Bricks are yet to be cleaned to remove excess mortar etc. This may also be the last weekend we are able to get inside. We are really happy with the way the bricks have turned out. They have given the exterior of the house a rustic heritage "old style" feel with the uneveness of the bricks and the texture also.

Just below is a Photoshop render I did some time ago of what I thought the house would come out like. It's getting closer to this each week.

pic1. brick step below front window before the timber cladding goes on

pic2. Section of bricks near garage

pic3. front of house

pic4. wall outside leading to front door

pic5. Alfreso at the rear

pic6. front again

pic7. How big is this block again?

- PLASTERING COMPLETE
8th August, 2009

Well another weekend arrives and we enter a new phase. The house is pretty much at lock-up stage once the door lock is put in place in the entry and the garage door.

Wall cutouts in the living room have given the living room a nice view through to the back of the block also.

And so the pictures....

pic1. feature wall corner niche
pic2. looking from kids TV room toward's front two bedrooms
pic3. study and entry way
pic4. family room looking towards living room - feature wall cutouts
pic5. feature wall cutouts in study

- NIGHT UPDATE

5th August, 2009

Tonight another drive down to the block and amazing changes yet again. First course of brickwork is done. Termimesh external perimeter is complete. Bricking to almost one side of the home is complete and all of the gyrock is now complete also.

Photos below were taken tonight. Not a real lot of light around :)

pic1. looking from kitchen out to dining, family and alfresco

pic2. looking in towards living room with feature wall cutouts

pic3. looking from main bedroom into ensuite

pic4. bricking of the front western corner bedroom

pic5. first brick course, with termimesh in place and wall insulation

pic6. first brick course and termimesh on main bedroom sliding door

- ANOTHER LATE NIGHT
3rd August, 2009

Tonight I headed down to the house again to install an extra couple of bags of glasswool insulation. This time I took down our camping light, which lost power half way into my job. It's very dark out there and I had to do the remainder with a torch. :) This batch of insulation was added to the main bedroom and WIR area. Now all of the main rooms are now done which will help with heating and cooling the house dramatically. Gyprock is scheduled to start tomorrow with bricking on Wednesday.

The white sand has also been delivered today in readiness for the brickwork. Damp proof membrane and galintel's were also now on site.

Also met our neighbour tonight on lot 1024 who now has a frame. Exciting for them also!

- INSULATION AND ELECTRICAL
2nd August, 2009

External Wall wrap foil has pretty much all been done now. Of surprise was the fact one of the front bedroom's had fat batts insulation in the walls, so I decided to head to Bunnings and buy some extra bags and do some extra rooms myself. Hope this is okay! Really only had the weekend to do it as gyprock is there and mention of it starting Monday.

All of the electrical has been run.

pic1. House from front with some pallets of bricks ready to go.
pic2. Living room and family room windows and now external wall insulation.
pic3. Bedroom 3 with glasswool fat batts
pic4. Family room with glasswool fat batts. Opening is for the fireplace
pic5. Living room cabling. Speaker, Quad power, Foxtel, FTA and Dual Data network points
pic6. All TV/Foxtel/Telephone and Data cabling terminates in the store room.

House is coming along really well and we are very happy with the progress and finish of the home.

- WINDOWS AND DOORS

1st August, 2009

Our sliding doors and windows are all in place. Most of the windows are awning and will have flyscreens from the inside. The sliding doors in the dining room and main bedroom are stackers.

The windows have GOOP! on them at the moment to protect from scratches etc. This made it tricky taking photos inside as the sun magnified plenty inside.

- PLUMBING

31st July, 2009

Gyprock and cornices have turned up on site. Plumbing fit off is now all in place. External garden taps are on and working. Water even tastes good.

pic1. Water pipes running through roof space

pic2. Ensuite plumbing

pic3. Main bathroom plumbing

pic4. Cold water outlet for possible ice maker in fridge

pic5. drain vent pipe exiting through roof from laundry

pic6. laundry plumbing tap fitoffs

- UPDATE
30th July, 2009

A drive down tonight after dinner and we have noted the following changes:

1. - Internal plumbing fit off's for water and also gas are in for the kitchen, laundry and bathrooms.
2. - We have the external taps :)
3. - Electrical rough in is all complete
4. - Plumbing return lines into water tank are complete
5. - Our Seaforth bricks have arrived. This is exciting... 15 pallets worth
6. - All windows and sliding doors are installed.

Can't wait now till the weekend to grab some pictures... Be back Soon !!

- MID-WEEK UPDATE
29th July, 2009

We have taken it easy this week and so far haven't been down to the block. I had a chat with our great CS on Tuesday and the following week sounds exciting. Weather has been wonderful over the last three weeks which has helped also.

- GUTTERS, FASCIAS AND A ROOF
25th July, 2009

Today another visit and the Colorbond Jasper gutters and Colorbond Paperbark fascia's have been installed. Boral Windsor Walnut Roof tiles have also been installed. Ridge capping is lined up ready to be mortared in place. Gas line is also ready for the fireplace and stove. Things are going along really well and the quality and workmanship so far is great.

- FRAMING AND MORE DELIVERIES
21st July, 2009

Tonight we headed down to the site again. The frame including the most of the roofing is all pretty much complete bar some tie down's and a few little niche sections here and there. The windows and sliding doors have been delivered to site along with the gutters and fascias.

The 31,500 litre concrete water tank is now in the ground also. It will just need some backfill around it and then it will be approx 400mm out of the ground.

- FRAMING
16th July, 2009

Another day and another exciting addition. Today we notice that a fair chunk of the framing was up. The weather over the past week has been classic Queensland winter. Cool to cold mornings and perfect starts to sunny days with hardly a cloud in the sky.

This weekend we headed down to the block to have a good look around.

- SLAB IS DONE

15th July, 2009

The moment we had been waiting for was the slab. The first real piece of the building puzzle. It was exciting as from this point it gave us an idea exactly where the house would sit and the surroundings could then be planned.

- MARKING OUT
11th July, 2009

Next up was the set out for the slab. The house boundary pegs were hammered in ground and all main corner sections spray marked onto the soil.

- CUT N FILL !
8th July, 2009

The ground finally dried out enough to continue on. Winter's here are never wet !

The site scrape appeared more like a mini cut and fill so when the final cut was done it was a little more dramatic. It has however created a nice slope which will allow us to be more creative with our landscaping. The rear of the house, due to the fill, will be be elevated and this will give us a nice outlook across the rear of the block and the future summertime pool.

- GO, GO, GO !!
21st June, 2009

Site scrape came as a surprise as it was only a day after our Construction Supervisor received the building file. This was very exciting. What came after the scrape was almost a week of solid rain (50mm +) which turned the site into a massive mud pool.