I am finally getting around to updating the blog.  Since my last post in May 2012 building has progressed at a reasonable pace although my motivation for blogging flagged.  

Let's see if I can pick up the traces of the tale and provide a chronology of milestones ... 

After the jambs and sills were installed for the windows, the next major tasks were:  packing all external walls with bulk insulation; covering all the insulated external walls with sarking (providing waterproofing and further insulation); and sheeting the external walls.  In other words making the frame into a proper shelter.  


 

Once again we had the invaluable contribution of Nick and his son Tony to teach us, by example, how to do the external cladding.  My decision to clad, predominantly, in fibre cement sheeting was, like my decision to build in steel frame, based on bushfire risk and termite hazard considerations.  However, I wanted some wood incorporated into the exterior to soften and animate the overall look of the building.  Thus, one portion of the building, is finished in a plywood product on both the south and north sides.  That portion is Paul's hobby room.

 

While Paul and Nick finished off the sheeting, I was finally coming to the end of preparing the windows - sanding, puttying in all the new glass and, finally, painting them in Taubman's Black Flame (which looks more like a midnight blue). 

 

I also painted the window jambs in the same colour prior to the installation of the windows....here they look more blue than they actually are.  I have yet to paint the edges on the outside - the pink is the pre-prime.  







In go the windows - that was exciting.    

 

Once the windows and doors were installed we had achieved the magical milestone of "lock up stage"!   Well, it was lock up in principle as we had yet to put handles and locks on any of the windows and doors.  That little bit of pink bracing sheet in the photo below is a space waiting for louvre galleries to arrive. 

While we had "secured" our shelter from the elements, there was still a long way to go....  

Next was the task of 'strapping' all the joins in the external sheets, which involved Paul and Nick screwing numerous vertical and horizontal primed and treated pine strips over all the joins in the fibre cement sheets and cedar strips over the joins in the plywood.

I'm particularly pleased with the look of the plywood section, which Nick has aptly named the "tea chest".   I sealed the plywood and cedar strips with Flood Spa-n-Deck, which was highly recommended to me by a couple of people.  

A very tricky problem that Nick resolved beautifully was how to seal the roof given I did not want soffits and the roof battens were an odd triangular, hollow shape rather than solid and rectangular.  It did involve Nick and Paul in many tedious hours of cutting out small fibre cement inserts to go in and between each batten and then placing foam corrugated infills under the roofing sheets. 





You might notice that the battens are painted in the same Black Flame as the window openings.  That job is ongoing actually as is painting the outside of the window jambs.   You might also notice that the building is undercoated - that's my doing as chief painter.  

Back to the inside of the building ....

The next exciting milestone was the lining of the interior.  We had a plastering gang from Brisbane do the work and we were very satisfied with the result.   They installed the bulk insulation in the ceiling as well saving us a very difficult and tedious job.  

Suddenly, we had ceilings and walls!   




While the excitement of it all was still fresh, I decided to start painting the interior of the building.  For colour, I chose Lacewing (3/4 strength) for the ceilings and a combination of both Sublime and Oberon Purple for the walls.  The end result is a very restful effect. 

  
In amongst all this, Paul and Nick made architraves for window and door openings, installed internal doors and fixed handles and locks on all openings.  













Meanwhile, Paul had built a small 'power shed' on to the building which would house the all important inverter and batteries for the solar power unit.   As well, he was steadily working his way through building the three decks.   This one is the upper deck (off my studio) with the beginning of the frame for the balustrade. 

 

 
It was important to me that we achieved power and water on by Christmas, as it would be exactly twelve months since we had broken ground on the build.   Fortunately, our plumber, wet sealer/tiler and electrician (all local tradesmen) were available and happy to help us achieve our deadline.   To plumb in the toilet we had to get an excavator in to dig the hole for the septic tank, the trench lines for the pipes and a 20mx2mx450mm transpiration pit.  

 

 







I love the bathroom - the end result of many hours of trawling through the multitude of tile shops at Underwood, Springwood and Slacks Creek.  
















It was fun shopping for the lights and fans... 
 



and the kitchen.  I went the flat pack path as it is a very simple kitchen - one long bench!  The front panels of the cupboards and drawers will be oak veneer.  

It was so gratifying to flick light switches and power points and have energy flowing along all that cabling without a single hitch - and all from our totally stand alone power generating system.   No main grid as back up here. 



It was good to celebrate the new year in the house shared with my brother Dan and his partner Jen.  The four of us to our beginning orchard by planting four old variety grape vines which Dan and Jen had brought with them.   


Then it was back to work ....

Nick and Paul built the frame for a second entry porch 

.... while deck expert, Paul, finished the boards and then installed the front and back entry steps.   

The next major challenge, and one we had been building up to for some time, was the installation of the internal staircase.  For all stairs (internal and external), we had the metal stringers made up in Brisbane and bought the treads separately.   Building regulations are very clear on what is permissible with stairs and balustrades (e.g. in terms of risings, goings and spacings) so we had to get it right.  

Great job Paul - what a talent.  While the design was for a 'floating' staircase and the wall frame was designed to support the cantilevered landing we've decided to put in a couple of posts under the lower flight to counter a tiny bit of flex.  I am in the process of designing an open shelving system under the stairs to disguise the support posts.  
 







I've bought all the timber for the balustrades for this staircase and the upper deck.  Nick is working on making my design a reality.  But that's the subject of the next post.... 

Progress seems to be crawling at a snail's pace over the last six weeks or so.   I seem to have been caught up in a never ending cycle of window and door preparation while Paul and Nick have been working on building the opening frames.   I guess that's the consequences of deciding to go with recycled timber windows and doors - save on money while doing our bit for recycling but expect to put in many hours of labour.  

 

Nick and Paul have been working on making all the frames for the openings. 

The idea was to fix the windows and doors into the frames and then instal the whole unit as one.  However, it's taking me so long to get the sashes, hoppers and doors ready that we've decided to go ahead and instal the frames and fit in the windows and doors as I complete the sanding, puttying and painting.   Doing it this way means Nick and Paul can get a start on the external cladding.  I've set a time frame for having all external cladding on with doors and windows fitted, in other words achieved lock-up, by the end of June. 

Today, Nick and Paul finished making the last of the frames - the one for the front door!  Then it was time to start fixing the frames permanently in place....

 

 





 

Feels good to get the beginning of the entry door in place.

 
 
Paul will follow up by waterproofing the frames around their edges with silicone and damp-proof material.  

I am making some headway with my job to get the windows and doors ready.  About a week ago, I finished chipping out all old putty that needed to be removed from windows and doors and am now almost half way through re-puttying same.  As the glass in some of the windows and all the doors needs to be replaced to meet current glazing regulations, I have spent many hours throughout April measuring and ordering glass.  I'm multi-tasking at the moment, mainly to ward off frustration, by alternating between puttying, sanding, fitting glass and, hopefully, starting this weekend, painting. 
 



Other significant trades' progress in April included the installation of all the sub-floor pipework.....












.... and all the electrical cabling for lights, fans and power points (which has involved hundreds of metres of cable).







 
 

Paul and I had some fun developing a smooth teamworking method for getting stuck into the decking.

It was nice to have our friend Tim come up and stay for a couple of nights and do some  volunteering on the job .... and chat over a bottle of red or two.













I have been fitting in some other very important jobs such as....


 



getting the edible gardens started with herbs.... 









 





and more herbs and the all important chilli bush...










 


and building a rock retaining wall around the water tanks.  









And not to forget we did our first stint of entertaining in our house at Easter.  Our dear friends Jenny and Al from Warwick and Paul's daughter Gabe and her partner Nathan came up for a long leisurely lunch on the Friday.  It was such a pleasure and one we hope to have over and over again in this house.  

I can't sign off without acknowledging my little shadow who never leaves my side, which does make it difficult for the tradies when they come as he's very protective of me.  He surprised Paul, Tim and I the week before last when he caught quite a sizeable brown snake!  I doubt he could get away with that stunt too often.  








 

It's now two and a half months since the foundations were laid and, all in all, we are very happy with the progress of the build.  Apart from plumbing and electricity, much of the build is now up to us (Paul and I) with the help of Nick (our mentor and retired builder) and his son Anthony, a builder (when available).  

This week has been very busy on site notwithstanding we have had rain on most days - when I say week I mean Wednesday through Sunday as Paul and I both work at our paid jobs on Monday and Tuesday and, for me, every second Friday.

The first job we got underway was the connection of the four main tanks so that water runs into all of them at the same time.  Paul is a wizard at this kind of thing while I'm best being the TA and doing the grunt work - under the watchful eye of Woolly the poodle of course!   

Connecting these main four tanks to the smaller tank on the northern side of the house can wait wait until Josh the excavator operator comes up to do the trenching for the septic tank and transpiration pit.  In other words, I'm not digging the trench the extra 20 metres or so!  

The end result looks pretty good and, even better, not one leak.  Great job Paul - as always.   Most of this job was done in the rain - we were like drowned rats by the end of the job.  

 

Then Paul decided to cover the eastern side of the building on the upper floor with plastic.  The rain has come from this direction much of the time and Paul was tired of sweeping out the water that was coming in.  He's a fusspot that one.   

The next two big jobs involved Paul and the roof - he had to finish putting screws into some of the roof sheeting and, the big challenge, get the solar hot water tank and collector panels on the roof.  The first job was easy but the second was a challenge as both items are really, really heavy.  Needless to say, being the incredibly practical and talented person he is, Paul rigged up an overhead block and tackle system and managed, after a few hours, to get the lot up on the northern roof section.  It was very hard work and I admire Paul's stamina for sticking at a really difficult task.  I did play a minor part, as directed, to help balance the last lift over the roof overhang.   What an effort - we could stop holding our breaths when that job was complete.  

We had one day that was mostly fine with a good breeze and decided to make hay while the ..... or in our case slash the grass which was going crazy with all this rain.   I'm still a learner driver.  I think the tractor is as old as I am and (like moi?) hard to handle because it's soooo heavy.  When I had my first drive of it last year I couldn't figure out how to stop it and ran over the fence.  I'm happy for the tractor to be Paul's precinct and I stick to the ride-on and push mowers.  

 While Paul was doing his roof tasks I started on my next big job - preparing the recycled windows and doors.  My sister Stancia had kindly helped me do all the preliminary sanding late last year.  Now it was the yukky bit - checking which ones need the old putty taken out and new putty put in.  But first I had to wash them all to see how they shaped up after the sanding.  

Then, it's no escaping the tedium of gently but firmly chipping away at old hardened putty without breaking the glass panes that we can keep as per the current regulations on glazing.  

  

It's going to take me some time to get through the lot but it's worth doing properly as I don't want to have to do running repairs on windows over the next few years.  Once the job of re-puttying is complete then I will get on with painting all windows and doors while Paul (with Nick's guidance) will start building the frames.  

We also had our first meeting with our electrician Alex.  We feel very comfortable with him and work can start pretty much straight away.  Once we get that done and the window frames in we can then start on the external cladding and.....can't wait....achieve lock up stage!  

This coming week I will be organising the glass for the windows that need to be reglazed and continuing with my chip chip chipping while Paul will be liaising with the electrician and organising the hardware as well as ordering our solar power system.  We are going with a 5kw system (9 panels), which should provide power comfortably for our needs.  So exciting.  

I said to Paul today that I'm really enjoying this whole process - while the rain has played havoc with my time frames we are only two and and a half months in and we seem to have come a long way to creating this incredible building.  I find it amazing, almost magical, that you can conjure up this house in such a short period of time.  We are impatient to be living in it.