Week 7 - More Frames

Week Seven 29 Oct - 2 Nov

Day 28.  The ant matting has been fixed and the last of the floor joists are now in place.  Its slow going at this stage.  My site manager says the company who make the steel frames are the best ones he has used but he is less than impressed with their work ethic.  

 

Day 29.  Some sad excitement in the street today.  My son and I did a "drive by" this morning on the way to his school.   When we got down to the end of the street there were a mass of cops who advised we had to reverse out as one of the houses down there was a crime scene.  There were way too many police for a simple theft so we thought perhaps it was arson or drugs or something. 

When I went back that afternoon to see if any work had been done on our place - not much but about 2m across the width of the suspended floor had been laid - one of the workmen said it had been a suicide, a young bloke who had hung himself from the scaffolding.  Very sad for all concerned, a tragic waste of life and an awful thing for the poor workers on that site to find when they got to work.  The workmen were telling me that all the guys working the sites in the area were shocked.  They did not know specifically who he was but there was some speculation he might have been from one of the work teams.

Day 30.  More frames delivered today.  They have also put up the scaffolding around the top of the existing frame so hopefully that will speed the framers up.

 

The issue from yesterday seems to have created a whole heap of workplace safety concerns too.  Until yesterday our place was the only one with a fence around it but now every other house has a safety fence too.

I did some more planning on the front garden so I can arrange to get the walls built, this is what we have come up with based on the design concept shown on last week's blog.  The yard area to be dealt with is 14m long and 3.5m wide.  The areas out the front will be made into 4 key zones.  The zone outside Bed 3 is a sitting area and will have a raised wooden (or mock wood) platform that will hide the binds underneath.  The zone outside the bathroom is a privacy zone.  We will build out a raised L shaped garden bed from the feature post and place a feature privacy panel across the side of it that faces the road then make like a little fernery in the garden bed to give the bathroom a nice outlook.  The area outside the Family and Bed 4 is a feature entry area marked by decked flooring, feature gardens and a couple of large fancy pots.  The last area leads around to the side of the house and the front door and will be like the picture shown in the previous blog with raised garden beds and the miniature clumping bamboo.  The area outside the porch will be decked and we might put a small water feature in that area.  We want to use natural looking materials such as stone and wood etc although that said I am happy to substitute for more durable options such as wood look.  This company does what I want but I need to find someone local.

Day 31.  Today we have a floor with lines drawn on it, its amazing to walk out onto the floor.  We are going to have a fantastic view out of the loungeroom window and our bedroom window and it can't be built out.  Its a bit hard to tell what the view off the patio will be like yet as the neighbour's house will be two story.

Front (from far to near Bed 3, Bth, Family & Bed 4)

Entry side of house

Day 32.  They did a heap of work today.  All the upper wall frames are up today though it appears they have made two mistakes which I have emailed to the builder - although knowing my very switched on site supervisor he probably already knows - one was obvious, the plumbing pipes don't line up with the frame for the kids toilet and the frame for the outerwall to the ensuite and WIR have been swapped with each other.  There also seems to be a glitch in one of the frames downstairs in the laundry area.  The window space should have been placed centrally in the frame but has been put closer to one side than the other.  This is not a big issue but will mean I will need to redesign one of the cupboards downstairs.

Other than that frame looks great, its a good feeling being able to walk through the house and being able to see where all the rooms are and how big they are.  I love the space through the kitchen, dining and loungeroom and out onto the deck/patio.

View from Pantry across kitchen, means & lounge.