Building the House

The plans for the house were drawn for us by Phil Cuthbertson, one of our new neighbours.

Work started on clearing the land in early March 2010.  First we had to clear trees from the building block and, because the house site is over 100 metres from the road, build a "temporary" driveway.

The house is being built for us by Dean Harriss & his offsiders, Aaron and James Woolley. 

The foundations have been poured and the walls to support the floors have been built. 

13 July 2010:  The steels to support the floating concrete floor in the westerly block are already in place and the floors are being constructed.

18 July 2010:  Finally, Industrial Power and Magic have got around to starting the process of supplying our power! And on 8th October (!!!) yippee, power is connected by Aurora.

14 August 2010:  Now that the floor for the eastern block is complete, the floating slab which forms the floor of the Western block has been poured and framing has almost finished.  The roof trusses are of all three house modules are now compete.  Foundations for the verandahs, which skirt the north and western sides of the Western block have been dug and cement poured to support the steel posts which, in turn, will support the roof which extends 3.3m to the west of the Western Block (covering the western verandah).  We've also created a pad for the garage and woodstore/garden shed for which we are currently seeking planning approval (you can see Trevor (the ute) standing on the pad to the left of the driveway.  We see the two trees either side of the track as marking the entrance to the domestic area of the farm).   

19 August:  Framing is now completed - the next step will be the roof and gutters.

You can also now see the house from across the river, from Browns Road and from the back of the farm.  This picture, taken from the dining room window, gives you an idea of the view we will have from our "front" windows and verandah: 


 28th August:  Bad weather has delayed roofing somewhat, but a start has now been made.  Gutters and facias are installed.  Sunday 29th was a still dry day so the roofers returned and now, except for ridgecaps and finishing touches, we have a roof!

3rd September:  Concrete sheeting for the eaves has been cut, painted and installed throughout.  Final detailed framing has been completed.

9th September:  The Hebel panels have been delivered to site and the next stage of the process (cladding) has begun.   The building has been wrapped in a vapour barrier paper and batons which will support the external cladding of the building (the Hebel Powerwall panels) are being bolted to the frame.

11th September:  The first Hebel panels have now been attached - and the roofers returned to complete the flashing and ridgecaps.

20th September:  Most of the windows have been delivered and most of these (though not the sliding doors) have been installed.  Installation of the Hebel panels (which are much heavier than I expected) continues.  Today, Dean's father (Paul) came to help and progress is pretty fast...

27th September:  The high windows are installed as are the TV arial and satellite dish.  The external cladding is almost completed now - should be close to lock up by the end of the week, we hope...

29th September:  Just one day away from lockup now!!!!  The electricians and plumbers have made a good start inside and Custom Cabinets who are building the kitchen and the bathroom cupboards are doing their detailed measure tomorrow.

8th October:  House at lock-up.  Work has started on the internals.  First fix electrics, data and plumbing are almost completed. Work has also commenced on the external detailing - the deck is now being added to the west and north sides of the Western house block.

8th November:  Lots has happened over the last month - landscaping and laying out the garage/shed base is mostly complete outside; first fix is completed and so is the plastering of the rooms internally.  This week saw the begining of laying the floors in the front part of the house (batons with insulation between, then tasmanian oak floorboards over the concrete floor).

This is what the building site looked like at lock up (a particularly nice day)...