Some pics of Gyprock

As promised, some Gyprock pics! This week should see cornices go on and water proofing commence, next week lock up and kitchen delivery / installation!

Some pics look a bit warped as they were taken as panoramic...so our rooms aren't really that crooked :)

Hallway to Bedrooms etc

Main Bathroom

Linen Cupboard

Theatre Room

Looking into Living / Dining / Kitchen

Looking from Kitchen into Living / Dining

Another Kitchen angle looking into Living / Dining

Garage

Gyprocked!

That's right - gyprocked! I think it is finished anyway, from what I can see from the front of the house and along one of the sides it looks complete - I can't see into the main living area but I think it is all complete, there was no one there yesterday from about lunch time, and when I drove past today there was no one there either, so I'm assuming it's done!

We did our electrical walk through last Friday and got to meet our new SS, Iain. Great guy - I know we are in great hands and I can't speak highly enough of him. Nothing is an issue. We had discovered some offensive graffiti on the floor of our theatre room and he cleaned it up after we left from our electrical walk through, he even sent a pic of the clean floor! The only issues at electrical walk through were:

1. We should have 2 x double power points in main living area TV pop out and 2 x double power points in our theatre room (there was only 1 x double power point in each area) and;

2. The data cabling was overlapping some of the electrical cabling which could have caused future internet interference not to mention other potential issues - Iain simply grabbed his ladder out of the car and fixed it up for us on the spot, too easy!

Other than that, all was good!

On the down side, there have been many reports in our estate of hot water systems being stolen - HEAPS. It's getting really out of hand actually, they are so brazen - stealing from occupied homes as well, even in broad daylight! So I am looking into ways we can try and secure ours when the time comes to have it installed. I have heard you can get covers / cages to bolt onto the wall, might even look at getting a security camera for that side of the house (maybe even a "Beware Of The Dog" sticker! I'm sure our two little mini foxies could give them a run for their money anyway!). Only sucky thing is we probably won't have our fence up straight away so the cover / cage and possible security camera will have to suffice to begin with. It's all well and good to claim the stolen goods through insurance but then the excess / premium goes up. MJH are now opting not to install the hot water systems until appliances go in around handover time which is wise.

So, can't exactly remember what is next on the agenda when it comes to the house but I am sure we will see in good time. We have an Engineer meeting us on Saturday at the house so he can start looking into drawing up a plan for us to submit to council for our retaining walls. The past week or so has been the most frustrating time, been going around in circles with Council and Engineers - however we have found a fantastic Engineer who has been so willing to help and the fact he is willing to meet us on a Saturday speaks volumes to me, so hopefully we will start getting somewhere with it now! We have been dealing with William from MSL Engineers (highly recommend for those in the Illawarra who will need Engineering input for any retaining walls you plan on doing!) http://www.mslengineers.com.au/

Carmel from Stockland also came through for us yesterday as we had to obtain a copy of the 88b and DP for both Stage 9 and Stage 1 (we are Stage 9 in our estate, however the block backing onto us is Stage 1 and the retaining all is situated in the Stage 1 DP). Carmel sent this through straight away which we really appreciated.

Bye for now!

Action packed week

It's all happening this week! Spoke to the SS today and he said the plumber was there, and was also fixing up that dreaded Bedroom 2 pipe - it is indeed for the plumbing and electrical for the kitchen island bench and the measurements were stuffed up when the plumbing was done before the slab went down. All good though, as long as they fix it correctly and it doesn't hold anything up - our SS said it won't hold anything up, it is pretty much almost fixed now anyway. They just need to re-do some of the Kordon termite barrier for the area which had been organised already.

Tomorrow the electrician is scheduled to be there, and the eaves should be done tomorrow as well. Gyprock to be delivered on Thursday and they MIGHT start putting it up on Friday, though this may not happen as they are apparently a little bit behind with their jobs, but we will wait and see. As a result of the gyprock potentially going up on Friday morning, we are having our electrical walk through on Friday morning at 7am, as the gyprockers would start at 7:30am if they are to be there on Friday. That would have worked out perfectly if I was at work, as the house is 5 mins from my work and I start at 7:30am every day so the walk through before work would have been ideal BUT Vas and I put in for a day off that day so no sleep in for us haha. But all worth it, at least I get to drive past work on the way to the house and not have to go in! Haha :)

I also asked our SS about the report I sent through to him yesterday as a result of our Private Inspection last week and I was pleasantly surprised when he said he was already onto it! He has already addressed some of the issues (such as cleaning out some of the wall cavities) and is in the process of getting the rest of the issues sorted. Very happy :) Iain is great!

Vas and I have started turning our attention to the big retaining wall we will need to do in the back yard as well as on one of the sides. We are going to try get started when we are at lock up stage, but first we need to get council approval as it is going to be more than 600mm high. We have also had to engage an Engineer as it will also exceed 1 meter in height. He was going to go past this afternoon to check it out on his way home as he lives near the area so hopefully I will hear back from him tomorrow, we really want to get moving as we will lose a bit of time with having to go through council. The reason we are in a rush is the vacant block of land behind us is about to register any day now, so they could start building soon, it would be great to get this done whilst we have access around the back as it is going to be a big job with quite a lot of dirt to excavate, not to mention the delivery of the many many masonry blocks that will be required. Ohhhhh this is going to be a very expensive exercise! Anyway, looking forward to hearing from the Engineer tomorrow, as he was going to give us a cost on drawing up plans / specifications, which from speaking to other people can cost around $1000 just for that.

Our friend will do the retaining wall, he said to save on labour though, he can lay the footings and the bottom blocks and Vas can lay the rest, so we will probably go for this option to save a little bit more money, and I am sure we will have some help from others too :) after visiting Amber Tiles & Pavers yesterday and talking about all the work to be done, the salesman made a great point - when we are sitting in the beautiful backyard when it is all complete, having a drink, it will all be worth it!

Lid's on!

The roof was completed earlier this week, it took a little longer than I thought - they completed it over a number of days gradually, but they got it done before the strong winds made a return for a few days yet again which I was very happy about. They finally removed the scaffolding yesterday too so some pics below minus the ugly scaffolding, I am so happy with our roof...and the whole house!

We have hired a Private Inspector to complete a post frame / pre-plaster inspection and that was done yesterday, we will get him back around PCI time also. $650 per inspection but definitely money well spent in my opinion, unfortunately these days workmanship is just not the same as it used to be, for everything really, so it is piece of mind. The report was sent through to us yesterday afternoon which was very prompt of them. We have been instructed to forward onto our SS so he can organise for the defects to be rectified. There was nothing major which is good, though looks like that bloody pipe in Bedroom 2 definitely shouldn't be there! The web address of the Private Inspector is www.hnkryan.com - highly recommended and this came from recommendations of various other people we have met building in the same area.

Speaking of our SS, we have a new one! Adam has a lot of jobs on so we have now been passed onto Iain. I was disappointed as I really liked Adam, he was very pleasant and personable. In saying that, Iain called us the following day and as Adam said, he is a lovely bloke and I have no doubt he will look after us. We should have our first walk through very soon for our electrical - hopefully in the coming week. Then gyprock!

Vas and I went out today and started moving the bricks around to the back of the house, two pallets down and one to go! They had done a bit of a clean up so a lot of excess loose bricks were thrown away unfortunately so we got in a bit late, but at least our pallets were still there (well, what hadn't been stolen anyway!). It is definitely more than enough to make a letterbox so I am happy. We walked through the house whilst we were there today and looks like a bit of the electrical rough in had started, as all the wires for the alarm sensors and keypad were in place. We will be back out there tomorrow to finish off moving the rest of the bricks, and a friend of ours will also be coming out to give us a quote for retaining walls that he will be helping us out with as he is a Landscaper by trade. He advised that if our walls need to be more than 600mm in height that we will need council approval - dammit! I think they will be more than 600mm unfortunately :( but looking forward to sussing out how much it will all cost as I have no idea, I just know it will be expensive! But we know he will look after us and give us a better deal than any other Tom, Dick and Harry!

Pics below:

The beginnings of a roof!

Looks like they actually started the roof on Friday afternoon whilst doing the sarking, they must lay the roof panels as they lay the sarking which makes more sense. Today we went for a drive to the house to check it out and we are so happy with the roof colour and how it looks with the bricks and windows, couldn't be happier!

Wondering into the alfresco area something caught my attention on the brick pier...the number "5" written in black texta! GRRRRR! It was probably already on the brick before they laid it but still...I really hope it can come off because that will annoy the hell out of me.

Awkwarrrrrrrrd!!!

So turns out it wasn't insulation in our garage - it was the sarking haha! That would make more sense. I'll just blame it on Vas. Can you tell we have never built before?! They were up there today putting up the scaffolding for the roof and got a start on the sarking - wonder if they will work tomorrow on a Saturday?

Gutters & Fascia - but still no roof!

Saw the roof being delivered yesterday though and it is currently sitting in the backyard LOL! They were putting up the gutters and fascia yesterday but no one was there today, I am a little disappointed but it was still nice to see the gutters and fascia up as it gives the house a bit more definition now that it has a "border" around it :) they probably have a lot of catching up to do after all the winds last week so I will just be patient. Now that I think of it, I haven't seen the anticon blanket lying around anywhere, so maybe they are having to wait for that before they put the roof on. Well, they better!

We also noticed today that they have already delivered the insulation which is sitting in the garage. Anyway more pics below! Loving the Dune gutters, now all we need is our Dune roof!