We have Insulation, Bricks and Plaster

I can finally announce that the brickwork has started. So far they have bricked up most of the entry, some of the garage, along the side of the house nearest to the neighbour and half the back wall. I'm quite happy with the job so far.

They have lined the walls with insulation so it was a mad dash to finish off the noggings etc before the plaster went on. I was told the plaster would arrive on Friday and would go on the week after. But I arrived at the house on Saturday to find 4 hardworking plasterers at work and they'd just about finished the whole job. I wasn't happy though because I don't think the chippy got around to making the frame for the gas fireplace when he installed the noggings so that's going to have to be done later on. At least we can make this a feature wall after we install the fireplace. We plan to use the darkest Hogs Bristle colour just for this wall. It should look great! (Hogs Bristle is in the colour selections below)

Bedroom 4 or study room with highlight window facing the west.

Casual room looking from kitchen toward the fireplace wall with TV room behind the left wall. Colour selection showing feature wall (fireplace) paint colour circled. Hog's Bristle colour. The main paint colour is the middle colour selection (Hog's Bristle Half).

Garage looking toward the internal door. Just before bricking and plaster.

More progress

I happened to run into the supervisor today whilst I was at Doreen. I thought i'd buy him a coffee as he was at the house making sure the frame is ready for plaster. He mentioned the plaster arrives on Friday and will start next week. Bricks are due to start on Wednesday (tomorrow). The SS mentioned that the DR bricks are very hard to lay because of the undulations (bannana bent) of the brick. But they are a feature brick and will look fabulous. He says has a good brickie to do the job.

I have the chippy arriving tomorrow to add cavity sliding doors/noggins/fireplace frame and the plumber to add an extra rainwater pipe to the laundry for the washing machine which will be a fantastic water saver.

The guy fitting the insulation was on the job today. He had enough left over to almost fill the wall between the theatre room and casual for added sound suppression. I bought some extra from Bunnings for $40 to fit in wall between the master and the ensuite/toilet. The SS is pretty easy about doing a few things ourselves which is really helpful. I've already siliconed and tied the water pipes to prevent noise behind the walls.



I've been searching for a rainwater tank to add to the rear of the house. I'm intending to get a slimline tank (as above) to match the colour of the roof. They're only half a metre wide! This way we can water the veggie patch and provide water to the toilets and laundry.

Can't wait to see the bricks done! Photos tomorrow.

We have Ducts (not ducks) in the roof!

We have ducts in the house!


Zoned heating and evap cooler ducts

It has been really wet today. Good weather for the ducts (I mean ducks). It cleaned the roof of all the dirt and the rain would also be good for the water tank which is non existent at this stage.


I went around there at midday today to talk to the carpenter about a few things and I noticed all the ducts have been installed in the roof. Sorry I couldn't resist with the ducks thing! Some of you might understand my sense of humor.
Note: puddle in centre is not for bathing in.

The chippy also had temp doors attached to the internal garage and front door. I asked him to add a few noggins to the frame in the TV room for a future wall mounted tv and in the laundry where dryer is to go. The fireplace frame needs to be measured and cut so he's going to come back and do this at a later time before plaster.

The bricks haven't started yet and I'm not sure when this is going to happen. It's probably one of the last things to do prior to lockup to ensure ease of access to tradies. I was chatting to the guy fitting the ducts. I asked if he could run a pipe (as he's a plumber) from the rainwater line to the laundry for future connection to the washing machine. It's not a hard job but will be difficult after plaster. I think a good filter is required prior to use in a washing machine.

That's all for now folks!

The house is wired!!

The electricians were in on Friday and have wired the house. They've done this prior to the bricks being layed. The solar panel is also installed.

I asked the electrician to add 5 extra downlights and have a powerpoint moved. They charged $40 less per light than the builder. I should have asked for all downlights from them!

I decided to get a downlight in the casual room just above the gas fireplace wall as it will look great if we put a painting on the wall here. I requested the other 4 downlights to go outside on the alfresco. Now we have downlights on the verandah at the front and downlights at the rear of the house. I also moved a powerpoint in the garage as I'm going to use this to supply the PSU for the home network system.

I have organised to have a subcontracter wire the house with data points, TV coax cables (Inc HDMI cable in wall behind tv room) and a phone line. We plan to go wireless for internet but we're going to have 4 data points, including one in the garage and one in the tv room for future internet TV.

The lockup carpenter will be on site this week and hopefully there will be some progress with the bricks. I doubt the bricks will take long. We'll be at lockup stage before we know it.

Rest of roof goes on.....It's beginning to look like a house!

The rest of the roof is on!! Can't see the stars at night up through the kitchen now. It's great to feel the house all enclosed. I'm looking forward to seeing the house bricked up. That's begins next week. Before we know it, we'll be locked out.

Half roof covered and water/gas pipes installed

Colourbond 'Monument'

Western side of house roof complete


Only half the roof the went on yesterday. Today was too wet to have the contractors on the roof. So far, we have the western side of the roof and the rear covered.


The guys have also installed the water pipes and gas line through the walls. I believe the electricals will be next week after the roof has been completed.

Rear of house BBQ alfresco



The gas line and water pipes were connected to the frame. Its amazing that they can run the mains water via plastic pipes from the garage through the frame and into the roof. I have followed the end of the mains water line to the back of the house where the water tank will be. From here, we're going to have a rainbank water system for the toilets where the tank can be replenished by either rainwater from the roof or mains supply. Nothing worse than using mains drinking water for flushing toilets.

The house is wrapped and so am I!.........bricks arrive!

The bricks have turned up today. Current progress shows the house wrapped in green stuff! The roof railing is up and metal roof structure to hold the metal sheeting is in place.

I had a site meeting today with the supervisor.......he's a good fella. We had a chat about things like the installation of noggins for future laundry appliance installations and TV's on the wall. He was surprised that I didn't ask when it will be ready. He said that's the first question everyone asks. There were about 3 guys working on the roof this morning getting it prepared for the colourbond sheeting which I reckon will go on tomorrow. Should look a bit different this time tomorrow.

NICE!!!!!!!! BRICK (DANIEL ROBERTSON RED)

The supervisor mentioned that by next week (weather dependant), we'll have the roof on, bricks started and electricals done! Geez don't these guys sleep!?

photo showing roof sheeting in driveway and house without wrap

We have gutters and rear doors!

These builders are like ghosts in the night. We never see them! I reckon i've been up to the house every day and was up there yesterday afternoon and nothing was done. I decided to go up there today at about 1pm and the gutters have been installed. They look good too!!

The gutter and facia colour is called 'monument' which is also the same colour as the roof. I reckon they'll start on the roof by the end of the week!

Rear alfresco slider doors