Plasterboard is going up

Lounge with new plasterboard walls.

Entrance. Solid Meranti door still to be stained.

Looking more complete on the outside now

There has been plenty of activity on the jobsite over the last month. The plumber has finally finished after 3 weeks (a total of 6 days on site over that time). We put in a big effort on the shadowclad cladding and have finished except for a couple of sheets right at the top. Greg will put those on when we hire the necessary equipment (we'll get the soffit linings on at the same time). So, finally, after several months of painstaking, methodical work we can move onto other things - like internal lining!



Wow, what a difference a wall makes. We have insulated all our walls with 1.8R bats and with the plasterboard on in the entrance, lounge and dining areas, the place already feels quieter, cosier and more like a house. We'll be continuing with plasterboard and villaboard for the next couple of weeks and then some of the really fun stuff will start (for me anyway) - kitchen, bathroom fitout and tiles. Next weekend will be ceiling sheets - we are hiring a panel lift to make the job easier, well actually to make the job possible for 2 people. Greg has a ludicrous sense of optimism about what the two of us can accomplish but even he has conceded that we need help on this.

The internal spaces look so different now that the plasterboard is up. I realise now that there is plenty of hanging space for paintings so I want to keep the wall colour light and neutral in order to showcase the art.

What about the walls?

Aaaahhh, walls - what a luxury!

We have chosen an exterior ply cladding called 'Shadowclad'. It comes in large sheets and is 12mm thick with vertical grooves. We love it. Originally we were going to clear coat it to give a nice timber finish but advice from the manufacturer's suggested that the board would only last about 15 years if we did this, whereas they estimated a life of 50 years for painted boards. So paint it is. The colour is Wattyl 'weekender' and is probably a bit darker than it appears in the photo. We have found shadowclad relatively easy to put up - as long as the first board is true, the rest just slot into place alongside it.

Windows in!

Looking from the front entrance through the dining area to the back deck.

The back deck as viewed from the water tank.

The windows arrived on monday and while we expected (unrealistically) to have both ground floor and upstairs framing done by then, the reality is that we have finished downstairs only. The upstairs framing is alot scarier for heightaphobics like myself but there is alot less to do upstairs so that should only take a week or so to frame up. The place is starting to feel like a real house now that the wrap is on and the windows are in. We can actually have a cup of tea without the whole street watching us so that's nice.
Our 'Shadowclad' cladding arrived yesterday and I can't wait to start putting it up. Real walls! Luxury!
I have started gardening as well. There are watermelons, rockmelons, cucumbers and passionfruit in now. Hopefully they will ramble over the dirt and create some greenery (and some food). I have sowed grass seed but it is very dry on the mountain (just like everywhere else) so nothing has sprouted yet.
Today I am revelling in a day away from the building site - I am soooooo tired but there is a sense of satisfaction that goes with it. Only five weeks to go before we move up there - will we make it? Stay tuned...