Garage Roof and Wall Batts Part 2.

I arrived back at the house just after 3pm to find the gates open and no one on site. I grabbed the camera and took a few pics of the newly installed garage roof trusses. The chippies had to knock out a line of bricks in order to install the trusses, and the 11 'whole' bricks I could find (many were smashed) are now safely in the back of the car! Shhhh!



Not quite sure what to make of the crooked one, but will shoot off an email to my CSA Sunday night with this pic attached:



Impressed to see the trusses were made from MGP12 (Machine Grade Pine 12). The remainder of the house is a mix of F5 and MGP10. I haven't been close enough to the house roof trusses to see if they were MGP12...they could well be!



The guttering for the garage was also delivered today:



I walked around the side, peering into the dirty windows and discovered the walls covered in batts! I was greeted with this huge pile sitting in the alfresco:



I shouldn't have bothered to take photos through the dirty windows as the stacker door had been left ajar. So much for lock-up! Couldn't resist and had to go in for a look! The batts in the family room:



Batts in the lounge room:



And soundscreen batts around the stairs:



It has made all the difference, and it feels so cosy and not 'echoey' as it had previously. All the internal sound screen batts appear to be in the correct place around the ground floor. I was running out of time to go and look upstairs, but should get a chance sometime over the weekend. The job is not completed, though.

When my Husband checked on the way home from work, the garage internal door AND the front door where left unlocked!

Not looking as boxy anymore:

Garage Roof and Wall Batts.

Yesterday, the plasterers still had not commenced, but I was excited to see the garage roof trusses had arrived!







Doesn't she look beautiful! :-)



This morning when I drove past (without my camera...) at 10am, the trusses were up AND there was a truck in the driveway full of insulation batts!! I can't wait to have a snoop through the windows a little later this afternoon!

Photos to follow...

Locked Out!!

As of yesterday, we are officially locked out. The windows are all shut and locked, and the temp doors have temp locks on them...which are locked. I'll be peering through the downstairs windows taking pics for a while!







Last I heard, the plastering was due to begin today, but we are still missing the wall batts and sound screen batts to go in before the plaster. At least something happened though! The site was cleaned again with a bobcat moving leftover brickies sand about the place (unfortunately adding to my already very sandy soils...), and on peering through the windows, the whole interior has been swept clean. I would love to have a walk around, but unable too.

Several times in previous posts, I have mentioned "The House Down The Road". It was demolished the same time as ours, and 2 units built in it's place. One unit is now sold and the other I had the chance to walk through a few weekends ago.



I discovered that it has a Laminex Alabaster 2 pac kitchen...the same colour as mine. It was wonderful to see it 'in the flesh' on a large scale, having chosen it from the tiny chips! It certainly doesn't look pink at all, but is just a nice warm very slightly off white colour, and not as 'cool' as the polar white. I think it will blend in with all my colour choices.



This unit is a classic example of why we went down the path of demolishing and rebuilding.

"Featuring 3 good sized bedrooms master with ensuite and huge walk in robe, large family and kitchen meals area and separate lounge. The courtyard is north facing and low maintenance. The property was built using the best quality materials such as: Daniel Robertson bricks and terracotta tiles, granite bench tops and 9 foot ceilings. Featuring reverse cycle air-conditioning, alarm system and ducted vacuuming. Located on a corner block on it's own separate title."

Not to mention a custom build by a renowned local builder, and, of course, the glossy 2 pac kitchen. It could be yours for a measly $800,000!! Another one of two double storey townhouse on a corner block (with separate title) sold a few weeks ago for $1.2M.

Mad, I tell you!!

Lock up invoice received and scaffold dismantled.

I drove past after the school run this morning and was pleasantly surprised to see half of the scaffold had already been dismantled! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera, but I made a return journey a little later and bumped into my SS on site. We had a good chat about things, and discussed the issue of the 'possible possum' in the roof. He will get the heating guys to come out and check the ducts for any 'intruders'! It's actually not an uncommon thing to happen, but I'd prefer not to have a live possum plastered in my new home! While I was there, I was able to take a few pics of the cleaned top section of bricks, and the facade for the first time without scaff.








The lock up invoice had been delivered by the time I left for school pick up, and yes, it's HUGE!! More interest to pay now, unfortunately.

I returned to the house to see all of the scaff gone, but still sitting in piles across the front. She's looking lovely now! Despite the lock up invoice, the front doors were still wide open! The locks should go on within the next days I'd imagine, ready for the plaster.







Can't wait for the plaster to begin, but due to being 'locked out' many of my photos will be through windows...

Top storey bricks cleaned.

Just a short post tonight with a few pics taken this morning of our freshly cleaned bricks! It's difficult to see properly with all the scaffolding, and impossible to get around either side of the house, but you get the 'idea'! They were still a little damp, but once dried out, they'll look even better!!!

New bricks ordered.

As the title suggests, yesterday I spent the morning chasing up my missing bricks. The Gentleman at Daniel Robertson's, who looks after the Henley houses/orders, spent a while with me discussing how many bricks I would roughly need for the 'proposed' fence for our property. He then placed an order for me for 1,360 bricks. It's going to cost me a little over $1,350. Not sure how much the labour to build the fence will cost, but we'll cross that bridge when the time comes along!

It was paramount that I act quickly on getting the bricks, as there is now a significant colour difference between batches. As suspected, my bricks are the 'old', more colourful batch (thankfully), and there is not nearly the vibrant colour variations in the 'new' batch. The new batch would look disgustingly obvious next to the house!!

Now that that has been taken care of, I can rest a little easier, especially since scouring the site yesterday for any brick remotely salvageable, and ending up with at least 30. They will be perfect for the footings.

Also yesterday on site, I noticed the powder room toilet plumbing had been removed and was sitting in the rubbish cage:



Upon further investigation, the outlet has been amended, and there is no longer a 'shelf' in it!





Here is how she looked in the fog yesterday morning:



Complete with freshly painted eaves:



I also noticed the cornice which has been sitting across the garage entrance door for over a week has been damaged:



It happens, I guess, and hopefully it will be easily patched (or better still, not used at all) on my walls!

This morning on my 'drive-by', there wasn't anyone there, but on my return journey this afternoon, the top storey of bricks had been cleaned! It was too dark to take any pics (and I didn't have my camera), so I will take some tomorrow morning after they have dried somewhat. They look fabulous though...but I always knew they would!

Still not officially at lock-up, but hopefully that will happen next week. The invoice will be a killer! We worked out that it will be MORE than what our first mortgage for the original house was!

Brick saga continues.....

After too-ing and fro-ing with phone messages today, I was finally able to talk to my CSA about my utter disappointment at my missing bricks. I was lead to believe that ALL the bricks could be mine, but in actual fact, only the opened pallets were supposed to stay. In the end, they ended up taking the lot, which they shouldn't have. So my CSA has apologised profusely. Still leaves me very disappointed having asked on several occasions to keep the bricks.

I decided I would then scour the site for any odd left overs this afternoon, but by the time I got there, the rubbish cage had been emptied and the site had been completely cleared, leaving NOT ONE brick in the front of the property. I was, again, bitterly disappointed...should have done it over the weekend. But then again, I thought I was doing the right thing by going through the right channels and gaining permission to do so. In future I'll just do it, like I did with the 6 roof and capping tiles I have here in the garage...

Anyway, I have attempted to get in contact with the Rep from Daniel Robertson who looks after all the Henley bricks, but have not been able to. I have decided to go to their showroom in Nunawading tomorrow and organise to have those 6 pallets of bricks reserved for me (and any more they might have) so I can have the matching brick fence I so desire. Unfortunately, I will have to pay for them, and they won't be able to deliver them until after handover...that is, IF they have them and they haven't been taken elsewhere, or worse still, binned. Now that would be an absolute tragedy, and an utter waste of such gorgeous bricks - my bricks.

Still no lock-up, but the eaves have been painted.

6 pallets of unused bricks GONE...

I'm a bit annoyed at the moment. On several occasions I had asked my SS that I keep the left over bricks from the house so I could use them for our front fence. It was only last Friday afternoon, I rang my CSA and asked if I could have permission to move the pallets to the back of the property over the weekend. She said she would get back to me. Well, she hasn't yet, and now the bricks have gone back to the manufacturer. I will be ringing her tomorrow to try and get them back. If that fails I will have to go directly through Daniel Robertson and pay for them myself and get them to somehow hold them for me, at least until the scaff comes down and I can have access to the back of the properly and move them there myself. Not happy, Jan, not happy at all.

Apart from that bitter disappointment, things have been moving along nicely. The eaves have been finished on the top storey, including the linea bands which will be rendered and painted Paperbark to match the fascias, gutters, windows and downpipes:







We also have our 'Jasper' weatherboards!





I'm really happy with the way they have turned out. I was a little concerned that the Jasper would be too dark, but I always knew to have Paperbark boards was going to look wrong. At least this way they blend in with the bricks well, and certainly don't stand out. Best of all, they will never need painting!

Grrrrrr at the bricks...

Eaves and Wiring.

I was able to have a little walk around (Shhhh....) on Saturday and check out all the wiring and position of the cooling vents. I've had such a busy weekend, and updating the blog was the last thing on my mind! Here are some pics of our little trip through...where I also noticed a few more noggins specifically for the towel rails and toilet roll holders. Fantastic! I didn't even have to ask for them! ;-)

The mess of wiring, cables and water pipes in the wall between the study and the laundry:



Power, HDMI and TV point all in the alfresco. Great for Grand Final/Bathurst/storm chasing BBQ's:



The solar panel for the hot water and the evap cooling unit now on the roof:



The cooling unit in the roof:



This is how she looked Saturday morning:



And this is what has been happening today!:





I just hope the 'eaves guy' remembers to put the window back together again! Could be a little draughty ;-). By the looks of it, he could be finished tomorrow. Not sure what the next course of action is. Possibly the weatherboards out the back, painting the eaves, or acid washing the bricks, which I am eagerly waiting for! Then my beautiful Daniel Robertson's come to life!!

Completely off topic, I stocked up on incandescent light globes today, and will need to buy more at some stage this week (now that I found a shop that has them!). I refuse to have fluros in my beautiful chandelier! It just won't look right...

Bricking Finished!

The brickies have finished, packed up their stuff and gone home! The rest of the portico went up yesterday (they were still finishing it off at nearly 5pm), and the lintel was sitting in it's place for the brickwork above the garage. This morning when I went past, the last bricks were being put in place above the garage and the trailer was being packed up ready for the next job. We have approximately 6 pallets of bricks left, and I'm just waiting on confirmation from my CSA that we are able to move them to the back of the property this weekend so they won't be cleaned up with the next site clean due shortly! I really want the left over bricks for our front fence.

This afternoon when I drove past, the 'Cable Guy' was finishing up putting in an HDMI cable from the main TV area to the TV point in the Alfresco so we are able to watch DVD's out there as well. We also have some more plaster (although it's now sitting out in the rain...) and more tiles for the garage roof and wooden 'tile supports' to sit on the roof trusses for the tiles. Just no sign of the trusses, but they won't be able to be installed until the scaff comes down, and there are still a few jobs to tick off the list before they can do that. I also believe we have our evaporative cooling unit on the roof too, but I missed it, and I'll take some pics of it tomorrow!

These pics are from yesterday of the portico and garage door lintel:







And these are all I had time to take today before it started raining!

The portico all finished, and a glimpse of the 4 courses of bricks above the garage door:



The leftover pallets of bricks:



And the plaster out in the rain:



It's all happening!

An update from my CSA yesterday also confirmed that wall batts are due for around the 21st, and the plaster on the 27th! Lock-up (and the rather large invoice of a massive 35%) will be next week!!!

EDIT: On closer inspection of the supposed plaster out in the rain...it's actually the cement sheeting for the eaves! Oooops!! ;-)