Evap cooling and Brivis heating unit installed

Today we had our Evap cooler and Brivis heating unit installed. All vents have been fitted and the controller is in place. The cooler itself on the roof is in a great spot. It's not noticeable from the front of the house and it sits quite low on the roof. There's heating and cooling to all rooms except for the main bathroom, toilet and laundry. The ensuite has a heater vent and the study has a heater and cooling vent. It's zonal so rooms can be turned off when not in use.

I went to National tiles yesterday and had a look at some porcelain tiles for our floor. Straight away I found the tile I want for the main areas of the house. The grout colour will be antique white which is the same colour as the kitchen cupboards so it should match nicely.

More work done to the front porch.

A drop down ceiling frame has been built into the porch/verandah ceiling today. I thought it would look a bit too low but it actually doesn't look too bad.

They've finished the eaves all around the house and have changed the pier height which looks much better and is easier to walk past now. The piers also don't block the view standing in some areas of the porch and exposes more wood post which will be sanded and stained. It cost a variation but i'm glad it was done. I'm enjoying seeing more progress of late.

Painting complete

The painting is complete and it's starting to feel like a home. All doors have been painted white gloss. I was looking at a porcelain tile range today and have almost decided on the tile. It's a bit dearer than ceramic tiles but, like bricks, it's something that we're unlikely going to change in the future so we're better off choosing wisely now.

We have chosen Hog Bristle Half as our wall colour. The paint colour looks great in the bedrooms during the afternoon sun.

The waterproofing was done today with the tiling to start tomorrow (Wednesday). The garage door has been ordered and electrical fit-off within a week. The change to pier height at the porch has also been done. Check out the new height. One of the brickies said he didn't like the height or that it would looks silly. I don't think so. I think the area was too 'busy' in the first place. It's much better now and there is more wood post exposed.

We have a new Customer Service rep and have had a new Construction Supervisor for about 2 weeks now and I have only just been informed. Thanks for letting me know! One thing noticeable about these guys is their lack of communication. They have a very high turnover of staff also.

We have quite a few defects, fairly minor though. One problem are cracks appearing next to window architraves. I have been watching closely to certain areas and i'm a bit suspect to whether the builder closed the gap (reveal) enough between the window frame and plaster and just put the architrave over the top perhaps without using packers. It's only the windows with large gaps that we're having a problem with.

During the inspection, the CS said they won't be taking off the architraves. He said the the gaps 'should' have been filled correctly. How do I know that it's been done properly? It wasn't so when they fitted one architrave as I could see a small gap at the edge of the wood. Just goes to show the size of the reveal and is evident by the problem we're having with it.

Thankfully the CS now knows about the uncapped gas line behind the fireplace wall (that's been plastered over and painted by the way). Glad he found that out! I was the one who told him!

Hopefully these small issues will be sorted out in the coming weeks and we'll be at handover. The CS says that we'll be in ' 2 months at the most' which is promising.

Fixing out.......

It's been about 3 weeks since my last post and the house is coming along really well. I recently got back from the US after travelling to LA, San Francisco, Seattle, Canada, Las Vegas and New York. We are now engaged after proposing at the Grand Canyon!

Since fixing out the house with kitchen/laundry and bathroom cabinets, plaster has been sanded and inspections in progress. The front door has been fitted but is yet to be stained and chosen door handle fitted. Painting is due on the 20th July after plaster inspections complete.

The initial render (at least I think it's the initial layer because it's not the colour we signed for) on the front facade is complete with the pier height change still yet to be done.

The French doors have been fitted but the wrong way around.....obviously a temp thing and the bricks have been cleaned showing a fabulous brick texture. The French doors are yet to be stained along with the window frames. The colour: a rich red/brown mahogany.

I plan to use some left over brick to build a letterbox that will stand at the front of the driveway. It'd be great to have a matching letterbox. Leftovers will also help with landscaping etc.

At this stage, if current progress continues, my estimate of handover is September but could be later obviously. We've got painting, tiling and electrical fit off to go along with inspections etc. Hopefully it'll be 2 months.