Sunday, July 5, 2009

Render and painting begins.

I've been away for a few days and was astonished to see the render on the front portico on my return! Even more so due to it happening during one of Melbourne's wettest weeks for some months! It changes the facade quite considerably, but should look fabulous once the final colour is on (I hope!).





The painters were due to begin last Friday, and there was evidence that they have begun! Through dirty windows I could see the stair balusters have all been nicely wrapped in newspaper to protect them, and there were a few paint tins about the place. All good progress!



The plaster patch up was done after I had been in for our site meeting, as the stairs have since been filled in, and there was evidence of a few bits of cornice and mess on the floor in the kitchen. The correct pot drawers, hopefully, have been re ordered, but I'd expect them to take a few weeks to complete. We also noticed that the hallway doors have been hung correctly, according to our plans.



I received a call from my SS on Friday wondering if I had 'collected' any spare bricks lying around prior to a site clean. Hehe...yes, I had about 40! After my disappointment at all those bricks (including opened pallets) being whisked away, I scrounged around every nook and cranny and grabbed what I could! I even replaced all the 'door propers' from whole bricks to half bricks! I intended on using them for the footings for the brick fence. Anyway... the reason for the request, is they are a course short in the alfresco, so the cornice cannot be installed. All he wanted was about 8 bricks, so I happily dropped them off around the back for them!



Good to also see the infill above the stacker doors installed. That was one of my "Why didn't I do that?" moments and have it bricked...but with everything else to think of it was overlooked. No biggy, just a little annoying.

With all the rain we've had in the last week, and the absence of downpipes, all the water runoff from the gutters is dripping onto the ground. It almost looks as though our castle is surrounded by a moat!

Our newly created swimming pool which we didn't have to pay for...



...our lap pool down the side of the house...



...and it even comes with a spa!!



We do actually have a roof leaking problem in the alfresco and the garage. The garage one is pretty self explanatory, as there is a tile missing from when the flashing was installed, and the rain drips down straight onto the inside of the eave in that corner. The underside of the North west corner of the alfresco eaves also has water in it, but not sure why. With the painters there, I hope this gets fixed and dried out before any painting, as I'd hate to see water marks through the paint, or worse...mould.



We have no idea if the rest of the roof is water tight, as we can't get in to see it. Fingers crossed it is, otherwise there will be some replacing of batts and plaster in order.

Looking forward to seeing what unfolds this week!

7 comments:

John,Tarin and The Kids said...

Looks awesome! You must be sooo happy. I love the alfresco and the brick colours, it looks so fresh and neat.
Looks like we have the same model lap pool and spa LOL.
Hugs,
John & Tarin.

Asmail said...

Good to see some update. I had big drams of CSA leaving, bad siting, no soil test report yet and tender tomorrow.
We are taking bit of risk in doing rendering of whole from other company later. The guys did grate job on Boss house and quite cheaper than when Henley would cost me. So we came back to standard bricks and deleted some rendering.
Will keep you posted.Still not getting time to start a blog.

The House That A-M Built said...

Could render be more beautiful! It's moving along so fast and looking just fabulous! I am so jealous that your guys are taking so much care.... wrapping the stairs!.... you lucky thing.... water?.... that ain't a water problem.... trust me! A-M xx

stormygirl said...

Thanks John and Tarin, yes we are really happy...just want to move in now! Good luck with your spa and pool! Ours will be sticking around until they fix the agi pipes sitting underneath it!

Hi Ismail, Sorry to hear your CSA left, and I hope your issues are sorted soon. Good luck for your tender tomorrow! If you can get the rendering done later, cheaper, than why not! Best wishes with your blog, I'm looking forward to it!

Hi A-M, The render is beautiful, and should look better once it's the correct colour to match everything else. The tradies are doing a great job, and I hope it continues that way! Oh don't worry, I remember water problems very well. I still have a box of clothes sitting here in the hallway that wouldn't go back into storage after everything was flooded and unpacked and repacked back in March. Oh the joys of that experience! But, yes, nothing compares to your water 'issues', such a heartbreaking time for you all.

Asmail said...

More drama, Tender will be rescheduled. Spoke to Tender guy tender not ready at 5:30 pm, I had that feeling. No soil report cannot give the actual site cost, then what is tender for. Hmm...wait now.

stormygirl said...

Sorry to hear that, Ismail, and I hope your appointment is booked again shortly...and the soil report is completed this time.

Asmail said...

Hi Stormy's
Just wanted to share some update.
We sort hit the wall with Henley. From past 4 days we had sleepless nights and frustrating days. The siting which they should have done properly a long time to make sure the house fits, they did now and Building Surveyor restricting us to move house one side,so we have to leave 4 m on secondary street and front setback to porch 3m. Kind of stuck talking to Council, Vicurban, Building commission. Tender wont progress without resolving this issue. Anyhow sad story of us.
Good luck!