Frame just about complete!

The framers have put the top floor walls up -






then the roof trusses were craned up to the top (unbudgetted expense of $150 :-( ), in this picture you can see the trusses lying on top waiting to be erected -




The roof trusses went up in less than a day and the frame was pretty much finished -




Meanwhile the brickie had started the retaining walls that are going to prevent the yard falling under the house -




and I spent a happy day in the rain yesterday core filling all the blocks



Here are the finished core-filled retaining walls -



Today Miss Moneypenny and the Bond Girls came to the block and tested out some colours for the exterior rendering -



We also carefully took the Bond Girls up the ladder to the top floor to have a look round -

The Rumpus Room



The void protection for the entrance hall void -



The master bedroom suite -



I am really hoping the rain holds off this week and we can get the final twiddly bits of the frame finished and get the roof on!!!

JB

Floors and walls!

The build has moved on pretty quickly this week. The red tongue floorboards took a day to put down on the ground floor trusses. Note the piles of walls waiting to be put up in the background -




Then the walls started to go up very quickly indeed -

By the end of the day all the ground floor walls were up except for a few minor ones. This is the view looking into the front door -





The house from the back garden -





The living room -





The dining room, with it's great view of the site toilet and the water tank! -




Grandad's downstairs bedroom suite -





The last two days the top floor trusses have been put on top of the walls. Note the floorboards for the top floor which were craned up today -




Next week - the top floor!

JB

Installing the sub-floor plumbing, heating and insulation

The sub floor has been completed, and the sewer, storm water charged system and underfloor insulation have been installed.

A busy day on site -

Heating and Cooling ducts, sewer and charged system installed -





Miss Moneypenny taping the foilboard sub-floor insulation -





The completed insulation, ready for the structural particleboard to go on top. The parts without foilboard are exterior decks -




JB

The start of the steel

We've had a week of subfloor installing and structural steel.

Here's the subfloor starting to be laid -



and here is the subfloor and structural steel almost finished. -







Just a small amount to finish off next week, then the plumber will be back to start roughing in the ground floor sewer.

Digging Holes (2) and concrete

We've had a week of excavation and concrete. The order of events ran like this -

Monday - excavate strip footings. There were several of these to excavate and the process wasn't helped by the discovery of the water table between the natural ground level and the top of the footings! At least we, unlike much of Melbourne, should not have to worry about running out of water for the garden.



Tuesday - pour concrete in the strip footings. This was done with a concrete pump and about 7 concrete trucks, totalling 40.4m3 of concrete. The neighbours remarked they had never seen so many concrete trucks!



Wednesday - form up the garage slab.



Thursday - pour the garage slab.



Friday - remove the formwork.



So we're off to a great start although this will be immediately followed by a rather quiet period due to me not ordering the structural steel in time.....

JB

Set out

We were set out on Friday. The surveyors spent several hours hopefully getting everything right -



and by mid afternoon there were hurdles all round the block -



Also the rebar was delivered by crane truck -



Later in the afternoon there was a surprise visit from the excavator / concreter who dropped in to begin running string lines and marking out the excavation so his digger operator can begin immediately on Monday morning. If all the tradies are as
proactive as him we'll be finished in no time!

JB

Digging holes (1)

The plumber started on site today. The borers did the most amazing piece of engineering and bored right under the road.

In this picture, the two guys holding the borer are physically pushing the drill bit right under the road to where the water main is on the other side. Incredible!



The plumbers then connected the storm water outlet, mains water in, tapped off the mains. Then they started to excavate for the sewer. We found it eventually, some distance away from where it was supposed to be.

They then dug the trench for the sewer and left it open ready for the sewer line inspection tomorrow.