The Build - Wk 42-44

The deck has been completed and looks fabulous! The warm colour of the timber has really lifted the building. The rock wall for the fire place continues to be built, however as the concrete needs to dry in layers, the progress is relatively slow. The wardrobes have been fitted and look really professional.
 
Jobs for next week include the tiler coming out to commence waterproofing the floor and hopefully lay the slate in the sunroom. Other floor coverings have been ordered, but take two weeks to come from the mainland, but at least the choices have been made!

The Build - Wk 41

A lot has happened whilst we have been away: rendering finished – outside render dry and inside render drying. The start of the lime wash coat has been done on the north facing wall and looks lovely.  The rock fireplace and wall has commenced and the entire living area is covered in rocks collected from the property. Preparation for working on the deck has been done. More internal painting and quotes from tilers, wardrobe makers, bathroom joiners and kitchen fitter!

The Build - Wk 37

More work this week on internal rendering and by weeks end it is all but done.  Work was also done on the underside of the veranda to finish off the plaster.  Our feeder water tank arrived and the plumber was busy installing.

The Build - Wk 36

Toby has been busy all week rendering the final coat on the interior walls and it really finishes the rooms off. 

The Build - Wk 35

The rough cut timber hallway wall is all but done and looks fabulous.  It adds another rustic feature to the house.  The carport has now also been skinned and painted.

The Build - Wk 34

Preparation for the hallway wall commenced with lots of noggins added ready to attach the rough cut timber, cut from timber on our property.  The exterior sunroom walls have now been clad and look really smart.  The sunroom understandably is becoming a popular spot for the builders to have lunch J

The Build - Wk 33

This week the posts were lacquered and they look great – all the rich colours of the wood have now come through.  Toby did some tests on the outside render with the final lime render.  So far so good, so now we just need to wait until the rest of the render dries out.

The Build - Wk 32

Final work was completed in the loft area with final plastering being added. During the week, Phil worked on the architraves for all the internal doors and they look great in place. As all the doors had been dipped to remove the many layers of paint, some of the chemicals used are still leaching from the doors, so Phil recommended that we paint the doors in vinegar to hasten this process and thus allowing us to sand and seal the doors with tung oil.

The Build - Wk 31

Sealing and painting the plaster has commenced.  There is a rush on to complete all the ‘high’ jobs so that the scaffholding can be returned, this included sanding and lacquering the celery top posts.

The Build - Wk 30

The plastering is now all but finished.  Giant heaters are being used to dry the place out so that it will be ready for sealing, sanding and painting.  More framework is being completed, including the framework for the four window seats.

The Build - Wk29

More walls and ceiling being plastered, more windows going in, more estapoling… more of the same really.  Just so much to do!  But each day, it is taking shape and looking more and more like a dwelling. One pleasing thing has been the extra amount of light coming in now that there is plaster on the high ceiling – even before it is painted. The clerestory window works!

The Build - Wk 28

The plasterers arrived this week and made good progress in just a few days. Most of the ceiling insulation is up and the walls are going in quick. The double glazed windows also arrived and were delivered to the shed…now is the boring job of estapoling the internal wood on the windows. And let me tell you that double glazed windows are heavy.

The Build - Wk 27

The house is now FULL of plaster sheets and ceiling insulation.  Funny that an empty house could get so full!  Also arrived was the lovely porthole and gothic picture windows for stained glass and the gothic style door.  Both being put in place as I write and lots of render being put around them. 

Also, since we had some bright spark on site a few weeks ago who wanted to know what we were doing with the void above the bedrooms…this is now being floored and walled to house the ancestral train set (!)  A pull down ladder also arrived to allow access into this latest room.

I finally sourced some lovely old (1880) doors from the wonderful Stef at Red Shed.  They are going to look great in the house.

The Build - Wk 26

Even more rendering…..with the outside first coat complete, more work is being done inside.  Also any timber that is being featured, such as lintels, window seats, window frames is receiving a couple of coats of satin finish polyurethane. 

Thinking about getting a few horses on site to clean up all the leftover straw…save sweeping, wouldn’t it?!

The Build - Wk 25

More rendering… And some work to prepare the inside of the roof for ceiling plaster has been  undertaken.  There have been some really bitterly cold days on site this week.

The Build - Wk 24

This week more rendering happened all around the house, with around half of the outside receiving it’s first coat of cob and an extra helper was recruited to assist us, our neighbour Matt.  Graeme and Phil set to work skinning the carport ceiling and verandah ceiling with cement sheeting, whilst Toby worked on more internal framing.

On Saturday we were very happy to welcome around 20 neighbours from the local community group, Grow Share Eat to come up and see the build.  We had a fantastic array of food – wonderful salads, kebabs, snags and Sarah’s fabulous homemade berry custard tarts – yum! All this wonderful food was washed down very nicely with two brew of mulled wine and some Tassie sparkling.  We have all decided to re-name the group Share Eat Grow…. :)  Once the food was served, the favourite spot for sitting was the sunroom.