Access portals

This week, I saw the site supervisor for the lock-up stage review. He was a little late, but being a busy Monday morning the only surprise was that he tried to fit me in at all.

When we were there on Saturday, there was a big mud splatter on the bedroom wall that we were going to ask about. But by the Monday the brick cleaner had been through and done his thing (by all accounts he was very happy with the brick layer)... one less thing to bug the SS about.

I was right, the bricks were to fill in the gable (pictured above), 400 is the minimum order. I don't think they forgot so much as changed the standards, but either way I'm happy, bricks all the way up and plenty left over for a letterbox.

The plasterers finished on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday saw the carpenters come and start their work. Not sure when the brickie returned to do the gable, but it was done by Saturday. Here's the progress in pictures:

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Here are the doors and other bits and pieces that were delivered on Monday.

More stuff for the carpenters - taking up space in the hallway.

The shower has it's vilaboard... as far as I know it's still waiting for the waterproofing. The downpipes should be happening shortly too.

The en-suite toilet has it's door and architraves.

Now the doors have been hung in the bedrooms (this is Bed4)

This is the main bedroom looking towards the WIR... doors but not much else.

So does the door to the en-suite - and to the left you can see they also started the skirting boards.

We also have the external door to the en-suite! (Don't worry we plan to put some sort of frosting / curtain on it!)

We also have an internal access door from the garage... they had fully plastered over it for lock-up stage! 8-)

And last but not least - the front door! Yay - looks so much better than the temporary one!

All in all, we are very happy with the progress.
Carpentry continues for another week or so, then painting and tiles, little by little every day...

Totally plastered - almost

This week we had a site clean... bye bye to most of the rubble from the frame and bricking stages. More importantly, the plastering continued and the patching and cornices are almost all done (just a few rooms to go). One way or another the plaster in the alfresco was put up - the SS mentioned something about the business owner coming in to do the finishing off. No mention of a variation... my wife says I'm a worrying fuss-pot.

Another curious thing, a new delivery of bricks arrived, which was a surprise... though I think it has something to do with the bricks above the front bedroom window. If I'm reading the plans right the bricks need to go all the way up (as the background in the gable), and they either forgot it, or ran out of decent bricks to use... Either way there should now be plenty left over to build a letterbox with. We are meeting with the SS tomorrow so I might provide an update to this story then.

Oh yeah, and I bumped into Lou and Neen at their house as I was wandering past - nice to meet them and nice to know which name goes with which face. Shouldn't be long before they make the Avenue their home.

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Just a few photos this week as we had to take them through the windows that didn't have the protective plastic covering them. Here's the main bedroom, en-suite on the left, WIR on the right.

And the family room - the cornice in here is a feature one; "Classic", it's got a kind of compound curve to it that is really nice - no real sharp edges or shadow lines either.

Ok, my descriptions suck... so here's a picture or the feature cornice instead!

And the view down the hallway from the entry window. The entry bulkheads are in and looking good.

Bricks and Rocks (Gyprock that is)

We are pleased to announce that great progress has been made this week. Despite the rain, the last of the bricks have been laid. And inside, laughing at the rain, the plaster has been hung on the roof and the walls. What a difference it all makes! The biggest difference is you can get a real feel for the size of the place, and I couldn't be happier. Slight delay with the plastering as the insulating team had forgotten a couple of internal walls... no matter, it gave us a chance to add some in a couple of other walls we should have put it in as well. Enough rambling, on with the pictures!

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The front of the house has all it's bricks, window sills and all. I am eager to see the roof gables filled in, then it might start to look liveable. (Though the builders rubble might have to go as well.)

Family room / verandah brickwork. Slight drama here... the plasterer wont put the plaster on the roof as it is over safe working height without proper scaffolding (and no concrete floor)... not sure what the builder is going to do.

Back brickwork all done... on a roll!

And down the blind side back to the garage.... All bricks done! Yay! Of course the downside is that I am sure we will get the invoice for lock-up stage this week, but it had to happen sooner or later, and in one way, sooner is better; yes?

Here is our main bedroom. Nice and light. Any suggestions for window coverings to make sure the light doesn't get into the over-bed window until we want it to?

Here's the plaster in the family room - the alcove where the TV will go, looking out the window to where the deck will go.

Looking back from the window to the other alcove in the family room - we made this bigger than the one in the display, can you tell?

Looking down the family room. You can see (from left to right), the fridge alcove, the door to the rumpus, door to the walk in pantry, the two openings for the study nook (through which you can see the opening to bedroom 4), bedroom hallway entry (and through that the laundry entry), and the family room alcove... phew.

The rumpus, where we plan for our little girls to play... of course where they actually do play will most likely be an entirely different matter... has anyone had a three year old do what they were told?

And the laundry, ok not the most glamorous, but I like the sliding door, should make being in the laundry as nice as possible.

From little things...

House progress is ticking over slowly. Friday saw the electrical rough-in being done (phone, and tv wiring as well). Saturday added the pipes and wiring for the ducted vacuum. Some time during the week the poly-marble shower bases were installed. The enclosures for the cavity sliding doors were installed and the walls were prepared for plaster (shaved and packed). Looking around you don't notice much has happened other than a whole lot of wood shavings on the floor, but there has definitely been progress. I'm still hanging out for the windows to be hung.

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Shower bases... We could have had tiled shower bases, but our feet prefer the feel of the old-fashioned polymarble. Hope those woodchips won't block anything up.

One of the inlets for the ducted vacuum. I think the extra noggin I put in for hanging a towel rail might have gotten in the way a little (not that the installer complained).

This is probably one of the lamest pics ever, but it shows the Masonite packing on the frame, and some of the electrical work.

On the left is the cage for the sliding door to our ensuite. Don't worry the pipe doesn't go around the stud, it's just the bit that goes to the shower head.