Most of the frame is up!

We again went out to the property on Sunday to see the progress of the build. Jason (builder) had gotten most of the frames up which was pretty cool as we got to walk around the 'rooms'. The really really cool bit was the supporting post in the middle of the house. He chose a rough looking one which gives it a lot of character. We also scored a lovely dressed beam he put in (as he no longer needed it for his own house).
Will and I braved the climb up to the top to enjoy the view from the "top floor". The floor is down for the loft but the frames for the roof line has yet to go up. It'll be a bit of a shame that the roof will hide the view from the second story. I had a bit of sunbake on the top floor to warm myself up (it was < 1 degree celcius at home the morning... and I can only imagine how cold it would have been on-site!)

Level of Dam

Just saw the old post with Will standing in the empty/dry dam... and thought I'd post a current photo of the dam (as of today):

Building progress

Well it's been a while since I have posted anything to this blog but that doesn't mean there hasn't been progress... cos there has!

On the 12th June, groundworks started with holes being dug into the ground for each of the footings... and unfortunately the guys kept hitting rocks so the holes got bigger and bigger and bigger... which meant that a whole extra lot of concrete needed to be ordered in even despite the best effort of the team to throw extra rocks back into the hole to make them smaller in volume.


Will then installed a gate on the 15th June so that the builders could leave some of the materials on site without too many dramas. But putting the gate in was not an easy feat when we were in a rush and had poor materials to work with. We dug out the holes (experienced similar problems as the excavator where we kept hitting rocks so ended up with much wider holes than we wanted) and put the posts in and poured in a bag of quick set concrete (and hauled water from the dam). The gate looked good... until someone used it a few days later! We did a return trip and fixed the gate on the 20th June and it's been good ever since!

There was work being done on the 20th with the brickie putting in the brick piers. I was very happy as the brick piers were quite tall... which meant the floor of the house was going to be higher than I first thought.

After a few mishaps and a strangely silent supplier, the A&A Worm Farm Waste System was installed on the 16th July. We're very excited about it and can't wait till the house is completed so it can be used. It's a strange little set up with a compost bin sitting on top of the tank and a tall vent spinning in the wind. Whilst a bit nonplussed about the lack of communication when it was being installed the stated 'passion' that the CEO has given me hope that the hype of the system will live up to expectations.

Anyway today we went up and saw the floor was down! (And as usual walking around the footprint of the house it seems very small. But the decks seem huge in comparison!) Will was pretty impressed with the corrugated sheeting which was under the house to provide extra protection / insulation... I think he was particuarly impressed with the additional storage space that height of the floor would give him!

Approved!

We now have approval to build!!
A package dated 22 May 2009 arrived in the post with the Notice of Determination of Development Application (which according to our builder means it's approved!)

Will has managed to detach one of the gates and is working out a way to place it strategically to protect any building materials on the block.

Council Approval?

We sent our plans in late December to Singleton council for approval. And received early February a letter requesting some changes... changes which are going to cost over $12k! Mainly for fire hazard reduction. I suppose we are getting better materials.

Jason is a real gem and has been handling all the changes, so hopefully we'll get council approval soon.

So at the moment the house is going to be on the ridge, it will be clad in zinculum (yep it will likely look like a tin shed!), be a loft design and hopefully have great views of the valley below.

When we went their last, the dam was teeming with little frogs. I hope that means the water is very healthy!

Lunar Landscape

We have decided to build on the plateau section and have appointed Jason Bomski to do the building for us. It's just a small house with a loft floor. We want to take advantage of the view so the orientation is going to be the South... even if it means that the back of the house looks like the front and vice versa.

Some clearing on the land has been done and now it just looks like a lunar landscape. Jason wanted us to do our own burnoff! But after getting a second opinion, we've decided to leave it for a little while yet. Especially since the piles aren't in the way.

A picture of the dam that they managed to dig (originally it was thought there wasn't any clay around to build a dam...) now we're just hoping for some rain!

Timbercrete Sydney

We met with Ian Lucas on Saturday to discuss the Timbercrete blocks. He was very helpful even though he cautioned us that we may be purchasing our blocks from the Newcastle franchise of Timbercrete.

We took our plans (sheets 1 and 2 as advised by Peter Lees' notes) with us so he could quote us on them... at least for the blocks!

We were quite pleased with the look of the blocks although we're undecided if we like the mudbrick profile (easy as it has all the service "holes" -- it's hollow -- as well as easier for the brickie); or the slumped sandstone blocks. I think the slumped sandstone ones look larger and more unique. It also has the benefit of being able to be be used in the solid gable as they have the "skinnier" blocks for the top half of the side walls. (We were told that we need to put deeper blocks down the bottom and for the top part we needed less deep blocks -- which is why many don't go for a solid gable, but I like the consistent look and feel).

So when we get the quote back we can fall off our chairs and have a heart attack and work out backwards the cost of building it... let alone the cost of the builder itself!

Last week I also met a lovely man (Ross) on a course I went on who outlined step-by-step how to go about constructing a dwelling or struction, from who to appoint/consult etc and when to go to council. I'll post that up in a couple of days for those who are interested.