Week 10 - A Roof!!

Week Ten 19 - 23 Nov

Day 43 - 47.  This week I discovered the advantage of the once a week peek.  I was away with work all week so rather than seeing each days progress I came back a whole weeks work and it was stunning as we now have a roof!  

It looks stunning and makes such a difference to the inside of the house as I can now see exactly how big the rooms are going to look - and must admit I am in love with the space we have created from the kitchen through to the lounge-room, it is exactly that large open space I wanted.  I measured the ceiling heights and its stunning.  The bulkhead over the kitchen is at 2.55m.  The lowest level of the cathedral ceiling is in the meals area and is 3m high and the height at the highest point is 4.2m high which is actually higher than I thought it was.  One of my friends said they hope I don't have to change the light bulbs too often and they are right!  Thank goodness the lights are LEDs that don't need changing often, they are also the sort that put out more light than standard downlights or the room would be too dark or need more lights.

Tip - If you have a cathedral ceiling get some expert advice on how many light outlets you will need and what sort of light fittings will give you sufficient light.

The house has also started being wrapped in the wall waterproofing, it looks like a giant present - all it needs is a bow :-)! 

 

 
The framing errors have not been corrected yet.  The upstairs WIR and ensuite do need to be changed or I am going to have a lovely light airy WIR and the darkest ensuite you have ever seen.  The site manager has told me the new frame pieces are being made up now and it should be fixed by the end of next week.

  

I am not too worried about the laundry window as I needed to change the style of that cupboard anyway.  It was originally just a full height cupboard 1m wide however we discovered that the space to the right of the window is actually less than 1m wide.  So we are now making the cupboard half high and half low with a bench on top.  This is probably not a bad thing as it will be a space where the laundry basket can be put when loading and unloading.  

Week 9 - Batons and Bracing

Week Nine 12 - 16 Nov

 

Day 38.  Today the deck construction was finished.  The two wooden roof supports have been put in place and they look really nice.  They have also put the roof tresses up above it so now the frame is basically totally finished with the exception of one roof panel over T's bedroom at the front and the correction to the wall frames.  I am not sure what bit happens next I think it might be the window frames and the colourbond on the roof - exciting! 

Day 39 - 40.  The builders started putting in ceiling batons.  These batons are what the ceiling panels will be attached to.  Apparently if the panels are attached directly to the frame the rivets in the frame show through the panels "Princess and the Pea" style.  My site manager was saying that apparently they used to fit the panels without them, and a fair number of builders still do.  

Tip - If you are building with a metal frame and you want a smooth ceiling make sure your builder puts in batons between the frame and the ceiling panels. 

With the batons I also got the builder to ensure that the spacing between two of the batons and the roof frames lined up so we could get a flue for the fireplace out where we will eventually put a fireplace.   The windows have been delivered so they must be coming up soon.

Day 41 - 42.  The supports for the frame are starting to be removed now and replaced with cross bracing.  They have put the braces on many of the upper walls as well as under the floor.  

We have another house starting in the street too, two houses up from our place had their cut done at the end of the week.  They have dug into their block the same as we did and we have found out our other neighbour who have not started yet will also be doing this too.  They are putting in a lovely four level split level house and it looks like the height difference between their place and ours will not be significant although I have not seen the contour plan yet so this assumption is based on the rough plan they showed me.  It will be good if its not too big as that will reduce the retaining wall on that side although for us its the utility side of the house so not really a big issue either way. 

Week 8 - Roof Frames

Week Eight 5 - 9 Nov

Day 33.  The roof framing has started over the rooms with the standard height ceilings and the high frames to support the exposed ceilings are almost all in.    The high ceilings in the meals and loungeroom are going to look stunning.

Also had confirmation the builder is on the couple of mistakes.  The frames are being replaced which is good or it would have been a very dark room!  The pipes are fine too thankfully, the pipe I thought was a drain isn't so its not a drama.

I am loving the views we are going to have from our bedroom and the loungeroom.  J will also have a great view from his bedroom.

Day 34.  We now have floor struts on the deck and they have put in the last support under the end of the deck supporting beam. 

Some more of the roof frame has gone up too and its really taking shape.

Day 35.  The deck floor is finished and more of the roof has been put on.

The uprights to hold the roof over the deck have also been delivered.  They are wooden and look really nice.  Its a bit of a surprise actually I thought they were just going to be steel so the mix of the wooden uprights and the glass balcony should look really classy out there.

Day 36.  The roof frame is nearly finished and I am really pleased with the height we are going to end up with in the living and dining room.  

Day 37.  The windows and door frames are due in next week.  

Today they started to prepare the frame for the doors to be fitted by removing part of the bottom plate of the frame where the doors will go.

The rest of the estate is going well too.  On our side our neighbours on the uphill side are due to put their plans into council soon.  I have seen their design and it is lovely.  The downside of us have their frame going up.  The one next to them has had its bricks delivered so the externals on that one will probably start next week.  The lot at the end of the street still hasn't been sold.

 

On the other side I have met the people in the house on the top corner.  They have two boys similar ages to ours and are due to move in in Jan.  The house next to them is slightly ahead of ours.  The white roofed house in the middle of that side is pretty close to finished, they just seem to be putting the final touches on it.  The metricon next to that one has most of the exteriors completed and I think they have started inside.