Our house is finished (no really!)

After 5 years of hard work, our home is now finished. I'll tell you this, there's no better way to appreciate all the doodads that make up the average house than to have to add them yourself .......aaah door knobs you are so wonderful, oh carpet we love you so much, oh light fittings you are appreciated!

So take a look at the photos, and you'll see how far we have come.

Kitchen

Main bathroom

lounge

deck

master bedroom

front driveway

Oh the joys of a front entrance without red mud!

Landscape with a chicken called Numpty

Could we be any more green? vegie patch and solar power 

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.

The tradies are in!

Greg (aka Manuel Labore) saves us about 1200 bucks
by digging the trenches for the plumber.

Energex hooks up our power line

A rare glimpse of our plumber at work.

Downpipes are connected to tank so where's the rain?

The last 3 weeks has seen a flurry of wildlife on our property. We have sighted an electrician (Sparkus expensivus) as well as the rare and endangered Drainus exoticus (licenced plumber). A flock of Energexus standaroundus (energex linesmen) also appeared once the sparkus had left.
Finally some of the hard work is being done by someone other than us! Stuart, our electrician spent a day doing the electrical rough-in while Greg helped by drilling about a thousand holes for the wires to pass through.
Energex have now connected up our meter box so now we can plug in our power tools without borrowing power from next door. This is a significant improvement as Jedda the giant (but friendly) slobbering dog from next door almost knocks us over with enthusiasm every time we venture inside their gate.
More significantly, Tony our plumber has connected up all our downpipes to the water tank so now we can catch all the lovely rain. Of course it rained for 3 weeks before he showed up and now the weather is dry dry dry! Ahh... the irony.
We passed our first plumbing inspection (stormwater drainage) but it looks like we may have to dig a trench to the boundary from the water tank for an overflow - about 25 metres. Yuk. Still waiting to hear back on that - there may be a loop hole yet, fingers crossed.

The plumber will be back next week to finish off the wall plumbing - so we'll be sheeting the wet areas soon. Of course, we have to finish the exterior cladding first - stay tuned for an update later tonight.

"Tick, VG" - we passed frame inspection!

Yay!! A sense of achievement - we passed the inspection!

The bath has arrived . I can't wait for a long hot soak - luxury!

The house is looking a bit funny - wait til it's painted though.

A glimpse of all the nasty upstairs framing that will soon be covered in plasterboard.

After a long, drawn out period of working hard but feeling like we were getting nowhere, we have finally moved to the next stage of building. Our building inspector arrived this morning to check the structural integrity of our house (frame inspection). Greg has been experiencing sleepless nights worrying over whether he has forgotten anything but it was all a big worry over nothing - we passed with flying colours - phew!!!- what a relief.

Things that the inspector checked: steel frame (including bolts and straps), subfloor, roof, timber framing, bracing sections (including tie down rods and bolts as well as plywood bracing). He also checked that no unauthorised changes had been made to the plan.

So what's next? Finishing the external cladding, install the front door and upstairs french doors, kidnapping the plumber and electrician and make them do their bit. Plasterboard, kitchen to go in. Etc, etc etc.... no rest for the wicked that's for sure!