The Brickies Have Started.

This is the side wall from the Laundry down to the Kitchen , the top half has not had the motar joints raked (I think thats what it is called, but if I have got that wrong don't shoot me down in flames). The bottom half has been done, the guys are so quick & they put two rows up whilst I was there, what amazed me was how they worked from the outside in and the last brick just fitted in perfectly. If that was me I would have had to move them all out to fit the last one in, I am certainly not known for straight lines. It looks like the scafolding will go up in the middle of next week and then they can start on the top floor. Hopefully all the colour choices will look good if not it will be Moroka finish for all of the dodgy bits!!!!
I was at work this morning & down came that clear stuff from the sky, luckily it has cleared up & those great bunch of guys kept going through all of it but hopefully it will stay away now. I thought that they would have packed up & gone home but when our SS called me to give me our usual update he said that they were working I could have jumped down that phone & done a happy dance. Now that would be a sight for sore eyes, anyway we have indoor cricket & swimming tonight so I will pop over tomorrow for a bit of a sticky......

The Back of the House.

This is the Alfresco area and a lounge room out the back. It will have to have a privacy screen on the side so that we can't look into the neighbours yards.
We had our staircase boys come over this morning & we have pretty much worked out what we can have, out the back will be a combination of Stainless Wire, stainless posts & Timber toprail. The staircase inside will be stainless posts & handrail, timber stairs & glass.
We will then fill it in underneath as we need somewhere for Harry to sleep when he comes to stay (Only joking,(for all of you that don't read Harry Potter he lives in a cupboard under the stairs, edited for my Father) its going to be the kids school bag storage)

The Roof Is On......

At 10.30am they had about an hour left until it was all finished, we have made a mistake with 2 of the windows but after talking to Wisdom it can be fixed, which is great news as last night it was really doing my head in. Windows on plans just have numbers on them & they don't really mean that much until you see them up. We will have to make the windows in question translucent & while we are at it I will have a good look at the powder room window & maybe do that one as well. After speaking with our SS he said that the plumber needs to come back and then the Brickies can come in, hopefully the weather will be kind to us so that we can keep up this pace.
Bit Of Breaking News..........Just spoke to the SS & the Brickies are booked for Thursday.......

Thursday's Work Finished

 We got there  this afternoon as the guys were locking up & we were greeted with all the top floor finished and to our surprise all the windows are in. Not just the front windows but all of them, we found a window that we didn't think was there so out came the plans and sure enough there is a window on them!!!!! The guys told me that the roof  would be up tomorrow & then their work was done at our house & they move on. Well what more can I say other than bring on those Brickies.........

Lunchtime Update

A quick driveby before my hairdressers appointment found a second story up with only the back walls & one front wall done, then after my appointment back I go to find all the outside walls up, the roof at the back nearly finished, the side ones done. Now I know what you are thinking her hair took hours to get all those greys out.....wrong!!!! one I don't have any greys (well I call the one that the hairdresser pulled out an albino strand) so in the 40minutes that I was gone this is what I came back to.
The roof trusses are in the front of the photo with a massive crane in the driveway, the way it is going I would think that they will be up sometime today. Could be wrong, I have been known to be wrong once or maybe twice in my life.......

Wednesday's Work Finished.

Wednesday finished up like this, steel beams in, ground floor done & delivery of the second story due for this morning. The kids couldn't believe it whan they saw it, we have all waited so long for this that we really never thought it would happen. The neighbour also couldn't get his head around the fact that he had gone to work in the morning & come home to a house with a frame. Thanks for all your messages of support & also to our CSR nothing is ever too much trouble for you & even at this very late stage, when I feel that terrible need to change something you do it without any fuss.

Bottom Frame Goes In.

Ok so it's 11.00am & I get a call from my parents, goes something like this.....Hello Darling the bottom floor is 1/2 finished, I grab the camera & race over to find the bottom floor finished & the beams going on top (fast, I knew it would be but that was really quick). The floor for the next level is there waiting to be installed and a guy arrives with 5 huge metal beams, the crane has been ordered for the lift to take place. They said that the frame for the second story will arrive in the morning so that they can put it up and then the roof will go on. Had a quick look inside it's starting to look like a house & I even went inside my walk in pantry, looks like a good place to hide when the kids are annoying me, I will put all my cookbooks in there & I will have a chill out space. I can hear it now "wheres Mum? Oh she's hiding in her pantry!!!!! My husband just told me that he had an idea for the pantry cut it in 1/2 and put a sauna in on one side.......Ha like he is going to get 1/2 of my Walk in pantry!!!! Nice try......

Drop Edge Beams

Here is a close up of the DEB at the back of the house, it is around 1.7mtrs off the ground. All I can say is it's lucky that I'm not a builder as the way I read the plans I thought that it was going to be 600mm off the ground, that's one heck of a difference!!!! We will need stairs if we want to use the yard at all ( I don't think our old dog would be able to get up on that balcony) and our staircase people will be putting them in, yesterday was the first time that I had got down to the backyard since the slab was poured, we had chucked the youngest son over the edge to see how high it was (ok well I didn't really chuck him, so no calling DOC's) and it was way over his head. The electricals are going in today and the frame may be there this afternoon, so we are off and running at a great rate, just keep those fingers crossed for none of that clear wet stuff that falls from the sky.

Backyard

This photo is taken looking from the backyard up to the slab. You can see how high off the ground it is as it comes up to the top of the fence. When you stand on the slab you can see Illawong to the right, we don't have any windows on that side so as soon as the house is built that view will go.

The Work Continues........

Whats been happenning? Heaps...... Slab is finished, sewer has been connected, taps are in, new water meter has been put into the correct place (away from the driveway) water tank plumbing and the overflow pit out to the street has been installed. I dropped my youngest son at Tennis yesterday afternoon & thought I will take a drive past to see if the plumber had been, well much to my surprise he was still there and so was the digger man (that's a new technical term) much to my horror the digger was hanging off the end of the slab & I thought that the guy next door was going to get a big visitor in his backyard. Luckily it didn't happen but the plumber took me through everything that had been done, next thing my husband turns up & then our SS arrives it was a great big get together. Knew that we should have had a slab party, but my eldest thought that it was a silly idea (that's teenagers for you). Our SS had made a special trip over to see that everything had been done, it's things like this that make's us very happy, had I not been there we wouldn't have know that this had happened but we appriciate the level of service that has been given to our build. It has been a difficult slab and you will see when I post the photo's of the Drop Edge Beams why.

Our Slab being poured.

Well we have great news today, our slab is being poured. This is a photo of the garage & the front porch.
When I went over this morning a truck had just finished & another one had pulled up.
7 trucks were ordered but it looked like they may need some more.
The sides had all been poured and the Alfresco area out the back had been done as well.
The guys said that it would be dry enough this afternoon to walk on but it takes 28 days to fully dry out.

Pods have been installed

The black plastic was installed on Friday and the Pods & Rio (I think that is what it is called) went down on Saturday. The guys worked really hard to get it all done. Then they were to come back today & put the timbers around the back of the house where the drop edge beams are going, and sure enough on Sunday night as we went to bed the rain started.
So the site is wet again and the guys aren't working, it is so frustrating we take a step forward & when we think we are on our way again the rain starts. I know what I should do, I will put a proposal to K. Rudd to employ me to build house's in all the driest areas of Australia and then guaranteed it will rain. New name for ones self.......Rainmaker....(when I was a kid I think the first bet I had on a Melbourne Cup was for a horse called Rain Lover, now that was a long time ago, & that will show my age.)
So the plan was to put the timbers up & pour the slab on either Tuesday or Wednesday, but we will have to keep our fingers crossed yet again for some good weather.