Almost plastered

Been a good 6 weeks since I last blogged - we have been flat out!

The outside of the house has been clad in polystyrene panels and rendered in the chosen colours, lots of people, including other trades, have commented on the quality of the rendering job -





We plastered the void so that the stairs will be able to go in - it's an incredible space, with 5.1 metre high ceilings -




We've installed insulation in the ceilings and every external and internal wall -



We decided to install velux skylights in the end of the living room to bring more light into it -



And installed a skytube in the kitchen ceiling which goes all the way to the roof of the house. Here is the rather unusual view looking straight up it -



Next - plastering!

Flashing, Vaccing and Cladding.....

Latest update.....

I installed the flashing round the perimeter of the house for the cladding to sit on. My number one concern is keeping water out of the house, so there was a lot of flashing (oo-er missus) -



The front door and other exterior doors are in -



and everything was ready for the cladders to start work. Soon the garage was filled with cladding panels -



and the scaffolding went up and the cladders started work



They flashed off round all the exterior windows and doors, and the detail round the windows is pretty good, with a fall for drainage -



Meanwhile on the inside of the house I was busy fitting the ducted vac. This takes one day, it's pretty easy but you are up and down stepladders 1 million times -



The cladders completed the whole house within 1 week, and we were at that point pretty much watertight.









I also cut a hole for the cat flap. Please note this is not an actual cat looking through the hole, it is the picture on the cat flap box



Next job - rendering!

Roof on! Windows in!

The roof is on - here is a picture of the fall protection for the roof before it went on -



The roof on our house is invisible from the ground - here's Miss Moneypenny taking a look before the fall protection came down and the opportunity was lost!




Meanwhile I got on with fitting the window frames. These have to be exactly square, plumb and level otherwise the windows won't open -





After I had fitted the frames the window manufacturers came to glaze them. Here's the view from the rear of the house of the glazed windows -




And here's a picture of the living room with it's fantastic sliding doors out on to the alfresco -



I've also been doing a number of other jobs needed before the cladders can start, I've learned how to sheet a balcony floor, how to do flashing and how to install blue board.

Next week - exterior doors!

JB

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.