Well its moving really fast now

Here is today's progress pictures of being the house being framed-up. We can't believe how tall it is :-) it's huge!

A pic taken from the rear of the house:

This is the front of the house.

This is of the side ( rumpus)































and we now have windows waiting to go in as well.

More pics as at 6pm today

Here are some pics of the days work, these guys are good! Level 2 (house level) appears complete.

They have started on Level 3 !! The crane will stay on-site overnight so I reckon they will almost be done tomorrow afternoon.

More pics from today as of 1 pm

The crane only got there at 1pm. The crane was needed to lift the very heavy 'I' Beams up onto the steel posts.

We found the Chippie's

Here are some pics as of 9:30 am this morning. We are over the moon with the work these guys have done :)

We have lost our chippies - send out the SES ;-)

John and I have checked under all of our frames and roof trusses that have been delivered, and it would appear that we have misplaced the guys that are putting it all together! They have not turned up, they were due on Monday, then Tuesday, then today.

John spoke to Mark today and we are assured the chippies will be there tomorrow (with bells on?). Unfortunately, the crane is the thing holding us up.

Anyhow, the plumber came back yesterday and he has backfilled all the earth that he took out of the trenches that he put the sewerage and stormwater in to.










































And while we were there taking pictures of the excavator the rest of the frames and roof trusses were delivered. We were VERY excited and ahhh the smell of fresh timber.






























So now our block is looking like a construction site :-)















We really hope that that our frames do start tomorrow...

Sewerage, Stormwater and Surface Drainage Complete...

Here are some photos of the sewerage, stormwater and surface drainage.

Pic 1: Three sets of piping are in this picture - surface drainage (pipes with the risers), stormwater (to the water tanks) and sewerage (from Laundry and the Level 1 stack).
Pic 2: Pipework alng the rear of the house, including more surface drainage uprisers (8 in total).
Pic 3: The corner near the Meals area. The 100mm pipe closest to the slab is sewerage, the other 100mm pipe (next to it) is stormwater which is charged and goes to the water tanks and the 90mm pipe on top is for surface drainage.
Pic 4: This shows where all the pipes turn at the back left of the house and also run up to the water tanks. The 90mm pipe on top is the SW pipe I installed for surface drainage (connected to the rainwater tank overflow).
Pic 5: This shows the garage stormwater pipe and the 100mm agpipe (with geotextile sock) running behind the garage which goes down the side of the garage and out to street.

Research Results on Red-Tongue Flooring...

Due to its resin-enriched surface ensuring weather durability, most particleboard floorings can stay completely exposed to the weather for up to three months.
The Tongue and groove panels have edges fitted with colour coded PVC tongues to ensure an easy and tight fit for adjoining panels.

Particleboard floorings are treated against fungus and termites. The FT or fungicide treated sheets are ideal for areas where intermittent dampness may occur and the TT or termiticide treated sheets have added protection against termite attacks. StructaFlor is graded particleboard sheet flooring, manufactured in Australia to comply with the requirements for Particleboard Flooring, Class 1, in Australian Standard, AS/NZS 1860.1:2002 , Flat Pressed Particleboard.
Designed to provide a total flooring concept, StructaFlor is particularly suited to platform construction where the floor is laid prior to the erection of walls. It is made from precision milled wood flakes and bonded with moisture resistant synthetic resin. For additional protection during construction and exposure to weather, the upper surface is resin enriched and all edges are wax sealed.

The three colours and sizes are as follows:

Drainage & Sewerage Piping Completed (and extra surface drainage completed today by me)...

Today the Plumbers finished their work of completing the sewerage and stormwater piping. This will be inspected at 9am on Monday by the Yass Valley Council Inspector. The Building Certifier will also inspect the work on Monday then issue the authority to backfill the trenches.

While the Plumbers were there I completed my work which involved adding 90mm stormwater pipe to control surface drainage, which will connect into the rainwater tank overflow pipe (to street). It was not a good day to be working, the weather got to 40 degrees at 3pm so we all called it quits and I went back to finish my work at 5.30pm.

I will post some photos tomorrow, but basically I had to run approx 20 metres of stormwater pipe to which I have added 7 inlets into it to control the surface water. There is also an inlet near the corner for the future colorbond double garage roof water (this will be built after handover). Thus, the entire length of the rear of the house (where the cut is) and the side of the house where the pool and alfresco will eventually be will now be covered by this stormwater piping.

A little planning can save a bundle of money and a lot of back-breaking work by doing this type of work at this stage. Most Builders and Tradies will have no issues with you doing your work providing you do your work when they are not there (or don't get in their way if they are on-site) AND do not touch the work they have had to do under contract to get paid. Another important point to make is not to cover their work with your work if there is an inspection scheduled otherwise the inspector will not be able to see their work, and they will have to come back for another visit which will be accompanied by a re-inspection fee (ouch!).

Probably the most important point of all is to arrange site access approval from your Site Manager. In my case I phoned and emailed my Site Manager (Mark) who met me on-site this morning so I could discuss what I wanted to do. Mark then explains the site safety rules and regulations and ensures I have the necessary items with me to do my work and do it safely. I can only access the site with my Site Manager (Mark) with me and because he is never too far away access is rarely an issue.

Mark and I also discussed the schedule. We are expecting the Carpenters (not the singers) on-site on Monday to start on the Ground Floor framing and 1st Floor flooring. Another truckload of timber frames will arrive on Monday and the roof trusses are scheduled to arrive on Wednesday. I think the windows will arrive on Monday.

That's it for now, will post some pictures tomorrow...

WOW !! The Frames Have Arrived Too

The frames, 'I' Beams and timber extras arrived today.

The Carpenters (not the band) are scheduled to arrive on Monday to make a start and Truck #2 should arrive on Tuesday with the second load of frames and roof trusses.

Pic 1: Timber extras for the job.
Pic 2: Well packaged 'I' Beams.
Pic 3: The 'Red-tongue' flooring. I have heard of 'Yellow-tongue' flooring and 'Blue-tongued' lizards, but not 'Red-tongued' flooring...I may have to do some research...
Pic 4: The delivery - an entire semi-trailer load...
Pic 5: The Ground Floor pack (and the final load off the truck) touches safe ground.
Pic 6: The semi-trailer that delivered our frames - it came all the way from Unanderra on the South Coast of New South Wales, approx. 250km away.
Pic 7: Another pack of walls is lifted off the truck.

The Plumbers are in...and almost finished...

Plenty of all day action in the soaring heat. The plumbers earned their money today.

They will be back to finish off tomorrow.

Progress Payment #1 Received...AND PAID...

Yesterday, we received the bill for Progress Payment #1 (Concrete Slab).

This payment was for $76,000. Payment was received AND paid in full yesterday.

The next payment ($95,000) is due on Friday (D'oh!) which is for the frames and windows.

Photos will be posted tomorrow if the drainage is done...

Building Schedule Updates...

Hi everyone,

I spoke with Mark, my Project Manager this morning and we have some updates to the building schedule.

Tomorrow, Thursday, 29th January 2009 - The Drainer will go in with his equipment and do all the external sewerage and drainage pipework.

Friday, 30th January 2009 - The frames and windows are scheduled to arrive. This was changed from last Tuesday as the Drainer hadn't done what he needed to do prior to the arrival of the frames and windows.

Wonder when the carpenters will start on the frame!

We now have a concrete slab - YIPPEE ;-)

GOOD NEWS ! We now have a slab. We didn't think it would happen today, there was a massive storm last night, heaps of rain. Then this morning I went for a drive to the site and sure enough, the concrete pump and crew were there and then a concrete truck went past. I immediately called Tarin and the kids to let them know and they were all really excited!

Now for some pics:

BELOW: Josh had a sit in the big Boral Cement Mixer.

The very bottom picture is of the water tank slab.

Other things happened at the site today too...

The steel beams arrived today as well.
The green pieces will be used for above the alfresco triple stacker doors and across the centre of the lounge room to support the second floor brickwork. The zincalume square tube will be used as the upright supports for the lounge room 'I Beam'.

Also, today saw the Termite Preparation 'A' occur whereby the entire slab area is sprayed by the pest control dude. This happens due to the fact that the site has been disturbed and if there happens to be any termite nests around they will be eradicated.