The Ikea Kitchen Fiasco

We wanted a quality kitchen, without having to sell a kidney. "Hey, why not get an ikea kitchen" I said.
So we visited the megastore, looked at the cabinets and benchtops, took home all the info. I measured up and spent many hours browsing the catalogue to find the perfect solution.
After weeks (no, months) of thought and mind changing, I was set.
All I had to do was order it. Of course you can't order over the phone or online. You have to visit Ikea in person.
Ok, no problem. I'll take Greg with me and we'll get it done in an hour or so.
Here's the thing. The staff are probably nice people when they are not at work, but while they are on the clock, they are trained to be as unhelpful and surly as possible. At the kitchen section, I spoke to a staff member who seemed irritated that I had interrupted her busy schedule of standing around and bitching with the other kitchen staff member. Well, sorreeeeeee!
The kitchen section staff don't help you choose a kitchen by the way, they are there purely as data input people. Don't ask for help, you will be disappointed.
I told her what I wanted, she typed it in. She checked availablility. Oh yeah, that's another thing. If what you want is not in stock, you can't order it, noooooo You have to come back in and get it at a later date. A tad inconvenient when you are ordering a swag of gear and want it delivered.
Anyway.... The Ikea chick printed me a list of 66 items that I required (this included hinges, knobs and such). Now for the fun part....
Grab a trolley and go and find all the items in the self serve area. No, better grab another 2 trolleys - and they are big trolleys!
We spent around 2 - 3 hours finding everything we needed and getting through the checkout. Then we also picked up another 2 trolleys of stuff from the 'full service' desk.
Now that we have everything (we hope), it's time to arrange delivery. Take all 5 trolleys to the delivery counter and they take all the stuff and put it in a different room awaiting delivery.
All up, we spent 4 hours, 15 minutes in Ikea. It was dark when we emerged, tired, broke and hungry.
Ok, so this may be my most negative rant so far on the blog, but I am still happy to have the kitchen I have chosen. I just wanted you all to be aware of the drama associated with buying a kitchen from Ikea.
There may be a further entry about assembling the blasted thing yet.

Less than 4 weeks til move in day

Ugly steel beam..... how do we cover it?

Voila! Beautiful timber beam is now a feature.

I just love the beautiful timber door and french doors now they are finished.

We have been given notice by our landlord so our move in date is now fixed - the 9th June.

Wet areas are ready to tile. The licensed waterproofer has been and stung us for $825. It took him 3 hours or so. He used half a bucket of waterproofing goop. This could well be the industry to get into methinks! If we had known what a scam it was, we might have been tempted to be less law abiding and create our own 'waterproofing certificate' to satisfy the building inspector.

The kitchen cabinets arrive friday ( in flat pack), the tiles arrive tomorrow. Plastering & cornicing is half done (downstairs that is) so we are on track... I think.

Our goal is to have the downstairs and wet areas completely finished by move in date. Bedrooms can wait - we'll just sleep in the living area for a few weeks.

Stay tuned for an indepth account of buying an Ikea kitchen - not as simple as you think....

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!

A sustainable eco-friendly house?

Building a house is by nature not very eco-friendly. Alot of new materials are required and the land is left scarred after all the excavation and site works. A pile of waste is created as well.
At one stage I looked longingly at strawbale or mudbrick building as a way of counteracting the huge level of consumption required in conventional building but Greg couldn't be convinced.
So within the confines of normal materials we really strived to build a house that has as small an impact as possible on the environment. Have we succeeded? Not as well as I would have liked.

Positive things:

• No poisonous termite chemicals required ever due to the off the ground steel frame.
• Small footprint ( 8mt x 12mt) means more land can be planted and less roofing materials are required to cover our living space because we went 2 storeys high.
• Solar hot water should reduce our coal burning power consumption by around 30%.
• Large water tank means we are self sufficient in water.
• UV treated waste water means no chlorine or concentrated nutrient loads will ever leach into the soil and build up - and water is re-used on the garden.
• Very energy efficient design means we'll use less power to heat and cool. Large eaves, minimal windows facing west, north facing verandah, low thermal mass roof and walls, high R value insulation & under floor ventilation all contribute to a design that suits the wet & humid, hot in summer, cool in winter climate of the subtropical rainforest.

Negative things:

• We weren't able to use recycled windows due to the government requirement that a glazing certificate be provided ensuring adherence to Australian Standards - bugger!
• Steel has a high embodied energy so was and 'environmentally expensive' choice - the trade off was that we have a termite barrier without toxic chemicals.
• Clearing the block removed habitat for native animals & birds - we hope to replant and rectify this as much as we can.
• Our decking (merbau) and framing (cypress) both come from non-sustainable forestry sources. The only thing I can say is that we will be living here for many years and caring for the timber so it never needs to be replaced but I really feel rotten about this point.

In the future, we hope to make our property more sustainable through the following:

• Keep chickens (to be fed on kitchen scraps and other green waste)
• Grow large amounts of our own vegies and fruit (and eggs of course)
• Grow habitat for birds, native mammals and beneficial insects
• Addition of grid connected solar power to supply all our power needs

Of course, we still have a house to build so I'd better go and help Greg with the tie-down rods!

Our first harvest

While the house has been slowly coming together, I have been chucking a few seeds around to see how good our soil is. We are now harvesting lebanese cucumbers and have 6 nice fat sugarbaby watermelons nearly ready. The zucchini's are a bit slow and the rockmelons haven't set fruit yet. I have cast some budgie seed around the front yard (which is mainly millet) to try and get a cover crop going and it is sprouting well after the rain. I've put in a passionfruit to cover the wire fence and my lovely brother Tony gave me 5 fruit trees for christmas - 2 feijoas, 1 eureka lemon, 1 tahitian lime and a low-chill peach. There is still alot of soil to be moved around before the orchard can be planted but I can hardly wait!!!!

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.

Upstairs framing is complete - could it be true??

We assumed that the upstairs framing would take about the same as the downstairs framing but nooooo! There were lots of tricky fiddly nasty bits up there (which we will be revisiting soon with plasterboard) and we underestimated on timber by about 500 lineal metres. But, finally, it is all done.

What's happening?

In the last 3 weeks we have moved to the mountain and settled into our new 'temporary' life 2 doors down from the building site.
We are now in the slow 'middle stage'. Just like most things, the start is exciting, the end is a celebration and the middle is ....well, the middle. Not alot to see at the moment but in a few weeks the house should be looking more like a house. The cladding will go on over christmas - all going well.
To add to the constant feeling of 'this is not happening fast enough', the house next door has had a quick start. They got the wall frame up in a week and it was starting to look as if we would lose the race but...... their builders have nicked off for more than a week and counting. They were hoping to have the roof on by christmas but their trusses haven't arrived yet so it's looking a bit doubtful. Just goes to show that getting a builder to do the work doesn't necessarily make the process go any faster.
There is that lesson again..... patience in all things. Why can't I learn that one?

Getting on with upstairs framing

This is the back wall and this area will be divided into a bedroom and a study.
Vaulted ceilings will go almost to the apex.

Greg and his best friend - the framing gun.

This is the bit we have been dreading. The height to the apex upstairs is over 4 metres and we also have the roof angle (40 degrees) to work around. As it happened though, the back wall went in pretty smoothly. Watching Greg up on the ladder made me really nervous. And while he put on a brave face, he was pretty scared too.

Work stops for a few days now as we are moving up to the mountain this weekend. We have rented a house 2 doors down from the new house so we can be near our beloved building project and can keep an eye on it. This will save us 2 hours travelling time per day as well as give us the convenience of having a working kitchen and bathroom as we work. New estimated completion date? Probably February but who can tell???

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...

What I have learnt so far...

1. Don't try and get too much done in a day. The first week we did 10-11 hour days and as a result we were exhausted, grumpy and we were starting to make mistakes. We have decided to stick to an 8 hour day and pack up before it starts to get dark. This has done wonders for our relationship (we've stopped hating each other now) and makes for a more pleasant working week.
2. Patience, patience, patience. This lesson has to be relearned every day (several times a day actually). And it ties directly to lesson 1. Also, we have to be patient with each other which is very difficult some days.
3. Girls can use power tools! Yes, it's true. I have learnt to use a drill, drop saw and a nail gun. In fact, when Greg was getting impatient with his crappy nailing technique on the deck, I decided to have a go and I was pretty darn good - the woman's touch cannot be underestimated boys!
4. People are really generous. We have had so much help along the way. Our great new neighbours have lent us power, my parents have left their trailer and compressor in our care indefinitely and the lovely Vicki at the public pool across the road has let us use their showers and toilets for free. We have also had many other offers of help so thanks to everyone.

Framing progress

This photo was taken on Monday and shows some of our progress. The small decking area at the front leads to the front door. We have been getting accustomed to some new tools - notably nail guns. We have used a 'GMC' finishing gun on the decking and it seems to go through the decking and steel pretty well. The 'GMC' framing gun is also coping with the brittle cypress very well with much less splitting than if Greg was hammering by hand. These nail guns were at the cheap end but came with 2 year trade warranties so we decided to give them a go. The performance is really dictated by the power of the compressor. As the pressure runs down in the tank, the nailing power drops slightly but it comes right again when the compressor kicks in again.

The real work begins

Greg finishes the shed - we'll move it to the back corner when we start landscaping.

Dad (left), me and Greg enjoys mum's excellent cooking and a nice cold drinkie.

The last week or so has gone by very quickly and we have made good progress. On our first weekend of 'work' we had lots of visitors. On saturday, city slicker friends Gary and Connie brought a beautiful bottle of NZ sauvignon blanc to share and we spent a couple of hours lounging about on our new floor having plenty of laughs and feeling (slightly) guilty for doing no work at all.
On Sunday my parents arrived with a fantastic picnic lunch and once again, work was put on hold - what a shame. We also had a visit from Renata and Andrew.
At least 20 different people have stopped to talk to us about our house in the last week - no exaggeration. On Wednesday we had 5 'pop ins'! Everyone is fascinated by the steel frame and the speed that the structure went up.
Number one question? 'How much is it costing you?' How rude!! And this from people who we have never met before and who have never bothered to introduce themselves.

Anyway... we started on our decking at the beginning of the week while we were waiting for our framing timber to be delivered but didn't get too far - there is quite alot to do - about 35 square metres. Still, the section we finished looks absolutely beautiful. Well done us!!
The timber arrived on Wednesday. We are framing with cypress - so combined with a steel subfloor and poles we will have a VERY termite resistant home without using any chemicals.
Later in the week we erected a shed in the backyard to give us some storage - not the easiest task despite the 'simple to erect' promise on the brochure. It took us all day saturday and a couple of hours on monday to finish.

Hair Raising Roof Raising

The amazing unfolding roof with help from a very tall crane.

Passers -by are all frowning and scratching their noggins at this stage - what on earth are these people building????

So there it is - our steel structure has a roof. Just a few things for the builders to finish today (ridge capping and verandah roof) and it's all up to us. Yikes!! After the roof raising, I supplied our builders the traditional 'roof shout' and everyone was happy - Yay! By the way, it pays to ask what they like to drink because none of the guys were beer drinkers... they preferred the hard stuff.

This could be the last post for a while - we are taking the tent and the barbie up to the block and staying for a few days. First job is to install all the decking - about 34 sq m and then the timber framing and bracing. So if anyone fancies a sticky beak we'll be there over the weekend. See ya!

Building has begun (Monday 9th October)

Ezy Homes is erecting the poles, floor and roof. It's called 'built to roof on'. By Thursday we'll be on our own and we'll start on the extra framing, the cladding, windows & doors in etc etc etc.
Monday morning, we arrived around lunchtime, thinking that there wouldn't be much to see but the guys had wasted no time!
Apparently the roof will be hoisted up with a dual gib crane - Thursday morning. I'll be there to take some pics - can hardly wait!!

Water Tanks & Septic Tanks too, Oh My!!

It's time for my happy dance - tank you, tank you tank you!!

The crane lifting half the water tank into position.

A semi and trailer carried our tanks up the mountain. The water tank is in two pieces because it is so stupidly big! The tank on the right is our septic system.

Our beautiful block has a couple of disadvantages. There is no town water and no sewerage either. That's just par for the course up here but it means that building has a few extra complications (and a few hefty extra expenses).
Our water tank is 7000 gallons (over 31,000 litres) and is buried nearly 4 metres in the ground. Our septic system (or HSTP) is also buried in the ground with substantial trenches for the treated water. That's alot of soil to be moved people!!

In fact, the site works for the tank installation is so extreme that we had to have it happen before we started building. There just isn't the space otherwise.

Site Works - September 18

Concrete Pour. Note the handy concrete vibrating gizmo that Greg is using - what a great gadget! Really helps more concrete go down the hole and brings big air bubbles to the surface - brilliant! Dad was a great help on the day too - thanks!

Greg gets 'down and dirty' in one of our footing holes.

Before we started building.

About Ezy Homes

We have chosen a kit home from Ezy Homes. http://www.ezyhomes.com.au
They specialise in steel pole houses for sloping sites. Our design is based on their Islander design but we have made a few changes, notably added a back covered deck and kicked out the front on one side to add more living space.
Why did we choose Ezy Homes?
The designs really interested us. They are modern and clever but also have character - more of a beach house than a typical suburban house. We had just returned from a beach holiday in New Zealand and fell in love with modern beach houses known by kiwi's as a 'bach'.
We had looked at heaps of kit homes and were frustrated and disappointed that we couldn't find a design that was energy efficient, modern, not too big and had character. So we were very happy to find all those things when we stumbled upon the Ezy Homes website one sunday. Yaay!!