Quick update

Had a call from my SS last night to say electrician had been in and completed his work and that the brick work was half done.

Lock up has been moved to next week as all this rain has slowed the brickie down. The lock up carpenter is coming in on Friday to put the external doors on and he thinks lock up will be middle of next week with plaster work starting at the end of the week.

This weekend will probably be the last time I get into the site as after lock up I will be looking through windows unless I make an appointment to see my SS (SS in pretty fussy about going on site without permission).

Will post some photos Sunday.

Brick Work Begun

Today is officially day 53 of the build and around 1/3 or the brickwork is complete.

I must say (although I don't know too much about bricking) that the brickie does a very neat job compared to some I have seen although he has left a lot of broken bricks around the yard. I'm not complaining as he's the one that has to work in the mess.

One half of the back of the house, and all the whole of the south facing side has been done up to about 5 feet. There is very little brickwork to be done at the front, just below the windows and the pillars of the front porch along with the front of the Garage.

The progress chart on myMetricon says that they expect lock-up on 28 August which is next Saturday. This is too good to be true, at this rate I could really be in before Christmas. I just don't want to get too excited as I don't want to jinx myself.

Rob my SS works on two week blocks and says he does not look ahead any further than that. This is not good for a Sagittarius who likes to be organised and organise everyone else - heck I'm organising next Christmas before this Christmas arrives. I've just got to take a step back and have patience.

I have 9 weeks before I have to be out of the house I am living in at the moment. I am surrounded by packing boxes and garbage bags sorting through what I'm taking with me and what I will throw away (fun times).

Anyway below are some photos for you to look over.

There are now quite a few houses springing up in my street and looking around I think there is one couple who have moved into the Estate and another who are just about ready too.

This photo is just for Janine, Amanda, Leanne and Barbi. This is the scrap booking room - lot of late nights to be had in here girls and plenty of room for guest scrappers lol, oh and it is a kid and husband free zone...how good is that?!?!

Heating installed

Took an early drive down to the block this morning to see what has been happening.

The roof is finished and is looking great. Seems to change colour depending on the time of day, as you can see below it is not looking as dark as it did the other day.

I now have a wirliebird, a solar panel and an antenna. Inside the heating unit has been installed as has the gas and water.

Rob my SS has been true to his word and called me on Monday night to let me know what was going on. The house will be wrapped on Monday 17th, bricking will start Tuesday and if you can believe 'myMetricon' it is due for completion 23rd August. Things just seem to be flying. Rob said he is going to do all he can to have me in before the Christmas break which is December 10.

I checked all of the points that appeared on my independent inspection and from what I can see they seem to have been attended to.

Hopefully next week I will have some brickwork to show you.

Solar panel and antenna now up. The roof is looking a lighter grey than it was when I photographed it last weekend. I can't wait to see how it all comes together when the brick work goes up

I was thinking that the Alfresco dining area was looking rather small but now that I can see it in real life it's looking good.

Internal fittings, the yellow pipes are the gas, purple is the re-cycled water and black is normal water, electrical still to be done.

Plumbing in main bathroom. Shower on left, bath on right. Vanity will be in between.

Roofing Started

Popped down to the block after work today to see if there had been any progress with the house. To my surprise there were two guys there working on the roof. As you can see by the photos below the gutters and fascia are on and the roof is almost there. I said a quick hello to one of the guys but didn't want to go on site while they were working. From what I could see outside it seems that the things that appeared on my building inspection have been attended to. Yet again I received no phone call from my SS on Thursday confirming this, I'm not going to call him next week, I will just wait and see how long it takes him to contact me.

Also noticed that the bricks have been delivered which means we can't be too far away from the brickwork starting. The bricks seem to be a little darker than the sample bricks I have at home but I guess that is to be expected as my sample brick is probably a couple of years old and comes form a different batch.

I noticed that some trees have been planted along the main boulevard to the estate during the last week. These trees are the same type of tree planted in the area I live in now and are a great shade tree. I hope that they plant these trees right through the estate as a nice leafy street adds great value to the house.

I dropped into the Land Office while I was down there as I had spoken to them some time ago about getting the cross over to my block changed. I had accepted that it would be my responsibility however the ladies in there told me that it may be possible to get the developer to do it when they were doing the cross overs and pathways for release 10. I was told to bring in all my paperwork and they will put it into the developer. Looks like they will be doing this stage in about two months time which would be great timing for me. Will see how things go.

Hopefully next week I will have some brickwork to show you.

Back of the house, rumpus room in the back right corner.

Front veranda and garage are all that is left to be completed of the roofing. I can't believe that somewhere in that front yard I am expected to plant a tree that will grow to over 4 metres in height. I will have to start doing my research to find a tree that doesn't have roots that travel too far. I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any ideas.

Austral Mushroom bricks. I just hope I have made the right choice. Choosing the brick was a very hard thing to do. I disliked most of the choices on offer at the entry level. Every brick I liked was quite a few thousand more and just didn't fit into my budget. I guess I will have an idea by this time next week.

Frame Update

Spoke to my Site Supervisor this afternoon to see if he had received my Private inspection report and he said he was meeting with the Carpenter tomorrow morning at 7:30am to go over it and also to look at a few other things which he had found himself.

Maybe I am gullible but I do like my SS. He seems to be quite honest and makes himself freely available. I will forgive him for not contacting me for the first couple of weeks given that he was off work with a slipped disc and just hope that he does the right thing by me.

He said he would call me later in the week to update me on things.

I've just been advised that I have to be out of the house I am living in by the end of October. There is no way my house will be finished by then so I may have to pitch a tent in the back yard of my block until the house is ready lol - then I could really keep an eye on things.

Keep you updated

Frame Inspection - Things not looking good

Well I just received a copy of my Frame Inspection from Alex at Urban Inspections and I guess after hearing from Jay about his experience I really should not have been surprised.

I guess I should think myself lucky, I only had 11 things come up on the report but it still is not good enough. My suggestion to anyone building a house no matter what builder you are with - get an independent inspection.

I've sent the report to my SS and asked that the matters be fixed as a matter of urgency and before the building goes any further. We will see what he has to say.

Here are the things he had to say I have omitted the photos

1. As per AS 1684.4 for timber framing, external corners, internal corners and wall junctions are to be installed with a minimum of three corner blocks which are to be 200 mm long and spaced and a maximum of 800 mm spacing. This is also indicated as a requirement on the structural engineer

drawings. there are a number of external corners and wall junctions around the property where this has not been completed. Further to this, although a full-length stud is installed on the corner of the frame, blocking is still required, this requirement is also detailed in th Asutralian standard

and on the supplied engineering documents.

2. The BR2 brace installed on the entry / bedroom one wall is the single angle brace option. The engineers details require that stud straps be installed at the both ends of the angle brace on the top and bottom of the studs. This has not been completed.

3. Sheet brace BR4 is required on the rear left hand corner of the rumpus room as detailed by the engineers documents. This has not been installed.

4. The Jack studs installed under the the opening in the family room/rumpus room wall have been spaced at centers greater than 600 mm and are installed out of vertical alignment. The studs will need to be installed plumb and at centers no greater than 600 mm, as required by AS1684.4 for

timber framing and also to allow sufficient fixing to plaster wall lining.

5. As per the Australian standard for timber framing, internal non-load bearing walls with openings which extend further 1.2 m are required to be installed with timber lintels. This has not been completed in areas such as the opening in the sitting room facing the entry area and the bedroom

robe openings.

6. The engineers documents require that hoop iron be placed down the front porch posts P1, and strapped over the top of the beam. The hoop iron strapping is not placed over the beam and is not 12 courses long as required by the engineers documents.

Also required by the engineer is that sufficient hoop iron remain available for the bricklayers to triple bend into the mortar beds. This has also not been completed.

7. The engineers documents indicate that steal lintel L17 be supported by double studs with additional jamb stud and that all the double studs are to be nail laminated. Only one stud has been installed under the end of L17 at the front end of the beam.

8. Engineers documents also indicate that one M10 bolts to be installed at each end of L17 through the top plates and along the beam at 1 metre centers. This has not been completed.

9. The engineers documents indicate that the double studs supporting the front garage little L1 be wrapped with a hoop iron and triple bent into the brickwork. There is no hoop iron installed to allow the bricklayers to complete this requirement.

10. As per the Australian standard for timber framing AS 1684.4, concentrated loads, such as roof trusses, are to be located within 1.5 times the plate thickness away from a stud. As the top plates are 70 mm thick, trusses must be a maximum of 105 mm away from studs. This has not occurred

in the following areas:

a. The garage/sitting room wall.

b. The garage/bedroom two wall.

c. The kitchen/bedroom two wall.

As a result, top plate stiffening is require under the top plates spanning between the studs.

11. As per the Mi - Tech gang nail installation guidelines, the installation of saddle trusses must contain 75 x 25 mm battens installed in between and parallel to saddle trusses when they are spaced further apart than the roof cover battens. This has not been completed.

SUMMARY

The items listen in this report are of significant importance. Some of the items will need to be completed prior to proceeding to avoid the access being concealed.

Windows in and more Frame Photos

Early start today and down to the block before 9:00am to see what has been going on over the last couple of days. I now have windows and door frames and most of the roof trusses have been put up.

Got a chance to walk through the construction and have a closer look at things and take a few photos.

Although I am not a chippy and know very little about construction I was a little disappointed with the workmanship. Maybe I am just anal about things and like everything to be perfect (perhaps I just look a little too closely or expect too much) I was just commenting to a friend who is a builder about it a few minutes ago and he says a lot of tradies on project homes think that their slap happy work will slip by as it gets covered in plaster and no-one will see it. What happened to taking pride in your work?

I was just a little unhappy with the quality of the wood used as some lengths were split noggings not straight and nails being either above or below the noggings and not in them at all. Hope that this will be fixed.

Major thing I noted was that the sitting room, which I am closing in has not been closed in at all. Will have to mention this to the 'Elusive' Site Supervisor' if I ever hear from him and will send an email to my CSC tonight just so I have put it in writing.

I have taken Jay's advice and am getting an independent Building Inspector in to check over the frame before plastering starts.

Anyway enjoy the photos below

Rumpus room looking out to the back yard and the Alfresco room on the right.

Family room looking from the kitchen, rumpus room on the right. It looks so much smaller to the display home. Hope it will look larger once plaster is up and furniture in.

Dining room off the kitchen with my beautiful Bi-part timber doors onto the Alfresco room. The rumpus room to the left and hallway and bedrooms off to the right.

Looking from the South side of the house. Garage at front, Bedrooms, main bathroom and laundry at the back.

Looking from the main entrance down the hallway. Master is to the left, Sitting room (which will be a study come craft room on right.

Hope by next weekend I will have a roof and be wrapped. We seem to be making good time. Keep your fingers crossed that this will continue as I can't keep paying the rent that I am as well as pay of a loan.

Until the next update, have a great week and to all of you who are building - hope it's a productive one on the building front.