Saturday, January 31, 2009

HOT? ... DAMN HOT!!

How hot???? DAMN HOT!!!! Wow, was it hot this week or what? We expected very little work this week because Tuesday was an RDO for the building industry and Wednesday, Thursday, Friday it was around 45 degrees out at the house. However, we must have super chippies who are able to withstand immense heat as most of our roof frame is now on and the alfresco has also been framed.

On Wednesday they had the alfresco frame up..

And the back of the house had the start of the roof frame as well.

After seeing that they had been working on Wednesday, I dropped out there on Thursday about lunch time with some coldies but they had already gone.

This is the front of the house, almost all the roofing done.
Alfresco has the start of it's roof done.

The house from the side showing how far the roofing has been done.I went out again on Friday about 11.30 with the beer again, but nothing further had been done, so I assumed that they must have melted on Thursday. I got a call from our SS and he told me that the chippies had decided it was too hot to work on Friday (???) and would finish the framing on Monday. He said we are a little behind because of the heat. I told him I was amazed that they had done anything at all!!!
Gutters are booked in for this week it seems and roofing to commence the week after that. So, it seems that things are certainly moving along at a cracking pace.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Honestly Officer, We've been framed

At the request of my DH, for Aunty T and Uncle W, this post is titled "Honestly Officer, We've been framed". And since it was his birthday this week.



This week has been really hot in Melbourne, most days have been about 30-34 and Tuesday was 43 out at the house. Monday they started putting the frame up, and they got about half of the house done by the time they knocked off. Amazing work in the heat.

From the front

this picture shows how much of the house was left to go on Monday night.


Tuesday, in the 43 degree heat, they finished it off. This is from the garage looking across the house. I can't imagine working in the sun in that heat.

The back now framed. Side view.


Other side from our back corner, showing alfresco area. Looks like we will have a big enough area there when it is finished.
After Tuesday not much happened. Windows were delivered Wednesday and the roof trusses were delivered on Thursday. Quite a few trusses were delivered onto the top of the frame and the rest were left on our block and next doors block as well. Can I also mention at this point that chippies are pigs!!

Interestingly we have a very small bathroom window that has been dropped off with our windows for a court address in Melton, I hope those people are not waiting for it!!

On that note, our timber frames for the doors and a timber window were delivered when the framing timber was delivered. Since then we are minus a timber window, it appears to have "grown legs and walked"!!

Have a great week everyone!

Friday, January 16, 2009

Framing has begun..

Little bits have been happening most days this week. A couple of hours, at most, most days, but at least there has been progress. Today there was excellent progress!

On Monday, a great big delivery of timber arrived at the block. The timber for the frame and posts had been delivered. Excitement!!

On Tuesday, they started cutting bits of timber. We know this because there were piles of sawdust everywhere! They just seemed to be cutting to specific predetermined lengths in piles? Boring!

On Wednesday, they had put chalk lines on the slab showing where the walls were to go. Wow, now the rooms look very small. Panic stations, what have we done!!!!

On Thursday, the finished the retaining wall down the right hand side of the block. This was the smaller retaining wall. Hmm, perhaps they had a better offer somewhere else?

Today, they finished off the left hand retaining wall (32m) and they have laid out most of the outside walls of the frame on the slab and started to put the frame together. Now, the rooms look bigger again, Phew!! I must say the frames are very neat and I could not even see any stray nails on the noggins. To my untrained eyes, they looked very good.

From reading other blogs (Hi WBH!), it seems that it takes about a week to get the frame up. So, hopefully by the end of next week, we will have a completed frame. They question is, of course, will it be panic stations again, or Phew, it looks an ok size.

Some pictures of the slab, with the frame laid out on it. As you can see, there is still a fairly large amount of timber waiting. I imagine it is for the internal wall frames.


This is taken from about half way down the slab looking across to the back. The large hole in the frame in the foreground is the window for bed 4. They have not finished the bottom of the frame for the window yet.

From the front looking towards the back.

Have a great week everyone!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Slab Par-tay!!

Whoo Hoo our very own slab party!!!

Yes, the slab was poured today. With big apologies to T&L next door because they started at 6.30am this morning. Which was a bit of a rude way to wake up I think!
So, DH and the girls got there just after 8 and they finished pumping around 11.

They started at the front of the house...

Looking from garage at the front of the house across the front of the block almost half way now..
From the side of the block, getting towards the back end of the house..

Almost at the end now, just the back corner and the water tank pad to go...

Finished levelling off. This is from the rumpus room looking across the slab...


And a final picture of the slab this evening, with the boxing removed. It's pretty big! And the best bit, no slab invoice yet!!! but I am sure that PD will send the bill pretty soon and it will be big too no doubt!
No further word from the SS as yet, so hope to hear soon what will happen next, in the thrilling saga of the Chateau de BelleBeau.....

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Slab Preparation - We're Boxed

Well the boxing has been done and boy, it's going to be huge!
This is from the front of the block, we'll have 6.3 metres from the footpath.


As you can see in the picture below, we'll have 6.2 metres from the back of the house to the fence. That "bit" hanging off the end is the slab for the rainwater tank.

This is from the front corner looking towards the back, it was the only way we could get it all in.
We met our building inspector, Peter today on site. He seems a very nice bloke and was able to explain a few things to us. He was very approachable and knowledgeable too. Really happy and would recommend him to anyone else considering an inspector along the way.

Tomorrow, they pour the slab! Most of the family is going to watch, but I have to work, someone has to pay for this after all. So, tomorrow for your viewing pleasure, slab photos (we hope!!!)

Monday, January 5, 2009

Preparation for the slab

Could not resist... Just a quick update today, we went to the block tonight and yes, they have started to prepare for the slab! The site has been levelled again and there are stones down across the block. There are also really, really, deep trenches where the footings will go as well as the three piers across the back where there is fill.

There were no piers along the side of the garage on the boundary, so hopefully that means that the test results said that we can have a normal slab with out the piers. This was the only possible item we could be hit with additional costs for. PD did say, if we need them, then they would be charged by variation and it would be "a couple of thousand". So fingers crossed, a win for us!

There has been no further action on the retaining walls, so all we have to date is the uprights, but I expect that they let the concrete dry right out before putting in the treated pine.

Tomorrow they "box" the slab and it is due to be poured on Wednesday. Will get pics tomorrow when we can see how big it is.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Can you believe it?

From the back - left hand side of the block - 17m of retaining wall
From the back along the right hand side - 33m of retaining wall

Perfectly straight, hard to imagine after Christmas and New Year drinkies!


Can you believe that it is Saturday, 3rd of January 2009 and there were guys at our block this morning starting on putting up the retaining walls??????

Although our SS had said that the slab was due to be boxed on the 5th (Monday) and poured on the 7th (wednesday) I thought that nothing would happen until then. If, in fact, anything did happen then, given that it is Christmas/New Year's holidays etc. I expected most tradies to be off until the end of January Post Australia Day, anyway.