Rain stopped play

A showery week prevented us from putting another coat on the fence. But we did get the garage tidy enough to put the car safely off the street before heading to Tas. Scheduled on our return: fitting of blinds, rendering of the wall, and building of a new deck.

Fenced off and walled in

Fencing continues on Friday and the following Monday. In between we reduce the height of the wall between us and the house behind by knocking off four courses of bricks.
Then a pause in proceedings before a big day last Friday. Brickie comes and closes the gap between us and the other building site, fencers came to cut the fence on the other side to the prescribed height.And a nice man from Uretek comes to inspect the side wall of our Little O'Grady street property which is also the boundary of the garden, and gives us the good news that although the wall is leaning a bit, there is no risk of it falling down and we don't need to worry.
Sunday we paint the fence - fortunately before the massive storms that came through on Sunday night. Waiting for the weather to settle so we can put a second coat on.
Progressive pictures:

Fencing continues

Fencers returned on Wednesday with a skip, and used their digger to remove all the grass and weeds and some of the topsoil from next door's garden beds. Neighbour worked with them to clear rubbish until they had filled their skip. Garden not yet totally clean but an unbelievably great improvement on the jungle it was a few days ago.

Thursday, the actual fencing restarted, after about a week's break while work was done on the neighbour's side. Here's what the retaining wall half of the fence looks like...

... and note how tidy next door's garden looks.

All over by Christmas?

No, not World War 1, but the final stages of the renos.
Today we put up the last pictures. A number of them have moved from their previous locations, and we are enjoying being surprised to see them somewhere new. The last light fitting went up, so the pictures are also all suitably illuminated.
Peter has been doing some artwork around the edges of our floor tiles where there were some bits of bare concrete, and although the colour match isn't perfect, it looks good.
After further consideration, blinds have been ordered for all the windows, and we hope they will arrive and be fitted before we head off to Tas at the end of October.

We finally selected a fencing contractor who started this week on the replacement of the fence on our south-west side. An issue for this project was the presence of built up vegetable gardens and very large, very old fruit trees close to the fence on our neighbour's property, which were the principal cause of the collapse of the old fence, and a potential danger to any new one. Somewhat to our surprise, rather than being concerned about the impact on the trees/garden, the neighbour is taking advantage of the absence of a fence and the access through our other neighbour's property to do a complete transformation of his garden. On Monday our favourite tree fellers will come and remove all the trees along the fence line, and the fencing contractors will use their little bobcat to take the top layer off the raised beds (including the grass and weeds currently growing there). Neighbour has been out in the garden today doing some clearing up himself - we think it is going to cheer him up to have his yard back under control. We lent him a shovel and made encouraging noises.

Not sure what the birds and possums are going to do when the trees go. We will also miss the shade they provided in the summer, but we can replant some greenery on our side to compensate. And if it gets hot this year before it grows high enough, we'll just pull the new blinds down and/or head off to Tasmania to sail.



And now we can see lots of things that aren't really all that attractive...

Let there be light (reprise)

Sometime back in April the tracks were fitted for new track lighting. Once everything else was done, we went hunting for track lights to match ones we already had from pre-renovation days. It turned out that this was no simple task. We had an eBay disaster when some that looked the same in the photo turned out to be HUGE, industrial size. We found tracklights in lighting shops which not only didn't match but were also wildly expensive. Finally we found what we wanted at Lawrence and Hanson for a modest price. But they had to order them in, and we bought the globes on the internet at a fraction of the asking price at L&H. It all came together today - lights picked up at L&H, globes collected from our post office box, and we spent time today assembling them and climbing ladders to put them up.
I now have a brightly lit kitchen, and all the recently re-hung art is appropriately illuminated. After weeks of being in gloom it is a big improvement. Three more pictures to hang, and we really will be all done.

Our turn to work now

With the builders and tradies gone, it's time for us to put the finishing touches in place. Pictures are finally almost all up, although the Chief Picture Hanger thinks that some are too high. The Assistant Picture Hanger thinks they are fine as they are, and as the Chief has 'done his back' (picking up The Age from the front verandah!), her view is prevailing at the moment. The Sound Engineer has done a great job of ehancing the little cabinet we bought on e-Bay so that it holds TV, tuner/amp and most of our DVDs and some CDs. He has connected up our ancient but very good Sonab speakers wirelessly, so we now have wonderful surround sound for TV, radio, or recorded music.
We have finally found and ordered tracklights which a) fit the new track and b) match our old ones - they will arrive Monday and finally our living area will be lighter by night, as well as by day. Still to go - blinds (jury still out on whether we need them) and the garden. We are trying to get three quotes for a new fence, so that we can then negotiate with our neighbour to get it fixed. Hopefully that will happen next week, although getting the quotes has been an extremely slow process - has been going for several weeks already.

Finished! It's official

Michael from Zeev Kitchens came on Saturday and Sunday, working for hours to put the sealer round the splashbacks and the kickboards of the cupboards in the kitchen. He did a lovely job, so by Sunday evening we were really all done. On Tuesday we handed over the last payment to Profast and had a ceremonial removal of the signs from the front fence.
We began re-hanging the art on Monday, starting with the pictures in the hall, then the two big pictures came out of the garage. On Wednesday we hung them in their former places in the living and dining areas. On Thursday, the one in the dining area fell down again, punching a small hole in our nice new plaster, but no damage to the painting. So much for stick on hangers. It's now back on the wall, resting more securely on screwed in hooks. Still got our smaller pieces to re-hang, but with the big ones in place, it looks terrific.

Finished product, with pictures

Kitchen 1

Here are the long-promised pictures!

Dave (builder) delivered final invoice and certificate of completion for us to sign today.

Kitchen 2

Still waiting to hear from Dave (kitchen) about when our splashbacks will be sealed, but otherwise we are all done.

Dining

Bought a splendid orchid to sit high above the fridge.

Long view

Lounge area

Only thing left to do is hang the art.










Unpacked last box of stuff to go back into the cocktail cabinet today, and the ottoman and scatter cushions arrived.

The space, and the view

Close inspection of the last picture will show you what our next task is - to fix up the garden, starting with the side fence, which is on point of collapse. So we haven't seen the last of the tradies yet.

Finishing touches

Yes folks, we are really really nearly there.
This week we've had the builders finishing the odd bits of flashing on the windows outside and the renderers doing the final coat of render, so that's pretty much it as far as Profast is concerned.
Today Armando sent Giuliano to finish off the painting - all done including the range hood chimney which now matches the ceiling and is even less noticeable than it was.
Took our ottoman to Bluestone yesterday to have it upholstered to match the couch - it and some scatter cushions will be back by Friday.
Next door the builders have finished messing about with the party wall, so as soon as the paint has dried, we will be able to put the furniture back where it belongs and, finally, rehang our art collection.
All we need now is the caulking of the splashbacks, and some more tracklights. Minor hiccup in that area - Peter found some LED tracklights on the web and ordered several. The trouble with buying things on the web is that the size of the object isn't always obvious. When the tracklights arrived today we discovered they were shop fitting size - about four times bigger than we need or want. They might be back on eBay this weekend. Meanwhile we continue spending our evenings in gloom until we find some smaller ones. Can't win 'em all.

We got flue!

No it's not a typo - we're pleased, not diseased. This week the flue was fitted for the range hood and it looks as innocuous as we had hoped, even though it's not exactly the colour we thought it would be. The issue of it going straight through the tracklighting was solved by sparky Damo shortening the track. Then Dave, Chris and Mick cut the hole in the ceiling, fitted the flue and its chimney And it works.
Painter has been notified that he can now come back and do final touch up. At least Dave said he'd tell Armando - must check...

Baulked, not caulked

Unscheduled visit from Michael (kitchen) on Thursday. We chose a brown-gold for the splashbacks, which works well with the wooden shelves and the formica on the benchtops. But the current fashion in kitchen colours is neutral, white, off-white, greys. So although there is a caulk that comes in a colour called mustard which is almost a perfect match, 'they' don't stock it and it will have to be ordered in. Which one might think could have been worked out a couple of weeks ago when we specified the colour for the glass, but one would be wrong. So it will be at least a week before the mustard caulk will arrive from 'them' and we remain unsealed until then.
Renderers came Friday. We queried the colour of the render which was supposed to match the window frames and they cheerfully told us that the job isn't finished - that's just the base coat. Correct colour will come with the final coat. Hopefully next week.
Waiting for last things continues.

Rendered, and with splashbacks (almost)

Returned Monday from 8 days in sunny FNQ (except that it wasn't always, and was very windy), to find the outside of the house rendered and the splashbacks installed in the kitchen, but not yet caulked. Contacted Dave (kitchen) who said they had to get the colour of the sealant right (good!) and that Michael-from-the-office would contact us later this week. Two days to go for Michael to do so. Keep putting off taking the photos until the kitchen is really finished, and doesn't have big bits of blue tape covering the powerpoints that are actually embedded in the splashbacks - this will presumably be removed as part of the caulking exercise. Amazing (and annoying) how long the last few things take.

Home, home on (with) the range (hood)

Two days of enjoying our new space in peace at the beginning of the week. On Wednesday, Peter does some carpentry on the shelf so that our new super-duper tap can swing full circle. He is very pleased with the neat job he has done.
Builders back on site next door Thursday, enabling us to retrieve our yard broom which they had inadvertently taken because theirs is almost identical. Also to arrange for them to come Friday to fit the range hood, which they do, and it looks great. There is no longer enough room above the plate rack to fit plates in, but as I rarely used this, I'm prepared to forgo it for the sake of having an effective range hood. Builder is going to organise the fabrication of a flue so there will be another wait for this to arrive and then another messy day when they install it and cut the requisite holes in ceiling and roof. Then the painter can return to do touch ups, and finally we really will be finished.
Where are the pictures? Just waiting for the home handyman to finish varnishing his carpentry work so that I can take a picture of the kitchen without sheets of newspaper, paint tin and brush, etc.

Cooking with gas (and electricity!)

Monday 21 July, plumbers arrive early to commence connecting everything from dishwasher to downpipes, sink to stove. I have various appointments, so Peter is supervising. As a result, my message about not bothering with the shelf that the kitchen people have supplied with the sink cupboard gets lost, and the plumbers go to all kinds of trouble to fit the pipes through the shelf. However it is so good to have running water that I don't care. Peter organises a nest of powerboards and cords so that we can plug in stove and dishwasher, and for the first time in 9 months I cook a meal on the stove!
We have another communication disconnect, finding on Wednesday that the electrician has told the builder he is not coming until Friday (once again, after two days of being on early alert). The good news on Wednesday was that Bluestone delivered our recovered sofa and dining chairs, and they look great.
On Friday at 7am we greet electricians Chris and Jason who have all the wiring finished by mid-morning. At last, we can move the fridge and microwave, the last bits of the kitchen still residing in the middle room. The fridge (like us) is elderly, and when we try to move it into its new, snug-fitting cupboard, we discover that (like us) it has a lean to the left that seems beyond adjustment. We eventually succeed in getting it in place by propping up the back corner with a bit of wood, but it has taken the rest of the morning. In the afternoon, we make a sortie to Ikea to buy all kinds of drawer fittings and such-like to help organise our new spaces. We also buy a new thingy to put the TV on (our old cabinet, also Ikea, dates from pre-flat screen days and is excessively large), and two new lightweight chairs, as we've decided that the chairs from our old three piece suite are too heavy for the room.
Between Monday (plumbers) and Friday (electricians) I have been slowly escorting items from the old kitchen cabinets in the garage to the new kitchen cabinets. Over the weekend this continues, and Peter joins me to shift larger items on Sunday. So we now have just about everything back in the kitchen (plus a couple of boxes to go to the op shop), and in the rest of the living area a dining table and chairs, 3 coffee tables, a sofa and two chairs in flat packs waiting for us to get the strength to assemble them. Tomorrow perhaps.
From the kick-off, I predicted that it would take until my birthday to have a liveable house again. I'm about right (birthday is tomorrow), although there are still Things to be Done. But it's a short list now, and nothing to prevent us having a dinner party tomorrow night. Whoopeee!

Kitchen complete, but not yet functioning

After our return from Tasmania, we have a week of early rising in anticipation of further action on the kitchen. When nothing happens and we've got to Wednesday, we contact Dave (kitchen) on who tells us that he has told Dave (builder) that the drawer and door fronts and side panels won't be coming until Friday. Dave (builder) has no recollection of this message, and so hasn't passed it on. Anyway we have one peaceful day on Thursday when we knew nothing was happening. On Friday the rest of the kitchen arrives and is fitted, and looks pretty good. We await the bins to go in the bin drawer, and some side rails for the deep pot drawers.
We now expect builders, plumbers and sparkies to come to fit appliances, hopefully starting Monday. Until we have sink connected, stove and dishwasher functioning and fridge in place, we are still camping in the middle room. I am decidedly 'over' this, especially as each week I tell myself that this is the last time I will crawl under the bench to get out into the lightwell to cook on the Weber. In the freezing cold. I'm hanging out for the stove, Peter for the dishwasher as he is sick of grovelling around in a bucket in the laundry sink in the bathroom.
Over the weekend we treat ourselves to a Karcher and use it to clean up the tiles. It's going to take several iterations to get them really clean, but they already look heaps better. Pictures to follow, preferably WITH appliances installed.

Floored, and half a kitchen

Tilers come on schedule and take 3 days to do the tricky and time-consuming job of extending the old floor out to the new wall. The new tiles we found that were the right size and material have small lugs on the base, which gives the tiler a problem because they are going to sit slightly proud of the old ones. We tell him we are prepared to live with that, but he can't cope with an imperfect result, and spends hours with an angle grinder removing the lugs from the tiles before they are laid. The meeting of old and new looks much better than we anticipated, given that the old tiles have darkened and are not exactly the same colour as the new. Final grouting of the tiles happens on Wednesday, we hold the Memorial Service for my brother in the afternoon.
Next morning we head to Tassie for much needed R&R. On the tram on the way to the bus on the way to the plane we receive a call from the kitchen people, asking if they can deliver the kitchen early! Of course we say yes, provided the builder an organise access. When we return the following Tuesday we find the kitchen cabinets are not only delivered, but are in place, albeit minus doors and drawer fronts. We leap out of bed early for the next two days in anticipation of kitchen completion activity, but nothing happens until Friday, when a couple of blokes come to fit the sink (which was in the house all the time, but they didn't ask and we didn't think to tell them as we thought they were just going to drop off the cabinets, with installation happening later).
So once again, we are looking forward to next week, when we really should see some action: doors and drawer fronts from the kitchen guys, and builders, plumbers and sparkies back to fit stove, sink, dishwasher, range hood etc. And hopefully connect up the stormwater - we have lakes in the back garden each time it rains.

Half a kitchen

A strange week...

So strange that it seems a bit of a blur already, even though it's only Friday.
Painters come on Monday and Tuesday - the painting is complete.
Electricians come Wednesday  (or was it Tuesday?) move the exterior light down so it's no longer visible from inside, and hang our genuine 70s retro Danish-style pendant light (see pic).
Tilers come and chip up all the half tiles, without damaging the underfloor heating, and fill
the gap with cement (and I think that was Wednesday as well).
Roofer comes Monday and does some of the last bits of flashing.
The building activity and advances toward completion this week are the Good News. The Bad News is what makes all that seem a blur: Previous week ended with Peter's ex-wife being diagnosed with cancer. By Monday I am coping with the sudden news that my brother, who is in intensive care after an accident on his mobility scooter, is developing severe complications from the injury sustained (badly broken ribs, leading first to kidney failure, then a severe lung infection) and isn't going to make it. Family assembles at the Alfred on Tuesday morning, to give the OK to turn off the life support (the alternative is waiting until his heart gives up). Rest of the week taken up planning funerals, etc.   Oh, and somewhere in there, the Burke and Wills book draft finally gets sufficiently near to complete to give to the publisher, who now wants the rest finished asap, and all the images. It is a step forward, but like the house, we're not quite there yet.
Next week the tilers return to lay the new tiles, hopefully Monday or Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday is the funeral and then we're running away to Tasmania, as nothing more is scheduled to happen on the house until the kitchen is delivered the following week, ready for installation on 14 July.

Are we there yet?

The short answer is "No", but it's been an interesting week.
Monday: 
Good news: the plasterers arrive, as scheduled, to do the final polish of the plaster framing of the skylights. They look good (the skylights, not the plasterers, who came while we were both out).
Bad news: first, the painter rings to say he doesn't think he'll be starting until next week. Later in the day I receive messages from the kitchen people, one of which tells me that they can't get the right length drawer runners. I fret over this overnight.
Tuesday:
Good news: Talk to David at Zeev Kitchens and find that with a minor alteration I can have drawers that are 50mm longer than originally planned - more storage space, must be good. Especially as I feared I might have to settle for shorter. Another call later in the day indicates that our kitchen is in production, which gives us hope of seeing it sooner rather than later.
Bad news: Tiler comes, and seems rather daunted by the problems of a) matching the tile colour b) fitting new tiles into the old floor pattern. He phones a friend while I am on a Skype conference call, but by the time I finish he has gone, so I still don't know what if any conclusion he came to.
Wednesday:
All quiet.
Thursday:
To our surprise, painters arrive at about 7:00am, for which we are ill-prepared (having gone to sleep at about 2:00am). After months of blokes called Dave, Dave, Chris, Chris, Tony, Damo, Jason, Simon, Mick, Mick etc we finally have some real Aussies: Armando, Giuliano, Saba. In a day they manage to get a coat of undercoat or primer on most of the things to be painted.
Friday:
Two of the painters return and take advantage of a fine day to do most of the outside painting, plus another coat on the ceiling inside. Makes a big difference to the look of the room - see below.

From the outside looking in.
In the foreground on the left you can see the kitchen shelves that Dad made for me over 30 years ago, which the painters are re-varnishing prior to them going back on the kitchen walls.

 From the inside looking out.

Exterior view - eaves and fascia now painted to match the colour of the doors. Eventually the brickwork on the left and the wall under the windows on the right will be rendered to match.

We've even had them do the exterior of the garage/office, a project that's been on our To Do list for years, but never done. We had planned to just repaint the garage door to match the old colour scheme, which was the traditional Victorian "blood and bandages" combination of oxide red and deep cream. The painter informed us that this was very old-fashioned now, so we've gone with matching the colours that are being used elsewhere on our house and our neighbours' houses, and we're pleased with the effect.

Getting closer

This week's achievements:
Monday:
Queen's birthday holiday, nothing happens
Tuesday:
Plasterers come and do a nice job of boxing in the skylights.
Wednesday:
Painter delivers paint, and puts the first coat of polyurethane on the window ledges.
We hike out to Tullamarine and collect our tiles - they are the right size and type, but look a very different colour. We think this is mostly because the ones on the floor have darkened with age, and that over time they new ones will blend in. We may have to look for a way of hastening the ageing process with some oil or chemical - will consult the tiler.
Peter modifies the shelves my Dad built 30 years ago so that they fit into the new recess in the kitchen.
Thursday:
All quiet on site. We receive kitchen specs to sign off, but they have a few minor errors.
Friday:
Builders on site: Another architrave is put in place. We have consultation with the builders about outstanding items - discover that some can't be done until after the kitchen is fitted (eg fitting the range hood). Also the rendering of the outside wall won't be done until the wall between us and our neighbour is re-instated, as that is to be rendered as well, so it will be the very last thing to happen.
We get a call from the furniture people to say our furniture repairs won't be finished until second week in July. But with a bit of luck we'll get our restored and recovered sofa back before they brick up the wall, which will make it much easier to bring it back into the living room.
We sort out the minor issues with the kitchen specs and sign them off.
Next week we hope that painting will commence in earnest, the plumber will connect the stormwater, and the roofer will finish a bit of outstanding flashing, and the tiler will come to tile the gap in the floor. Once the painting and tiling are finished, we will be able to do a final clean up and start moving back in. We are hopeful that this can happen in a fortnight's time.

Inching forward

Monday - hard plasterers come to finish off the back wall of the kitchen, builders come and finish the architraves and skirtings, and the room really starts to look finished.
Tuesday - plumbers come and fit the pump into the rainwater tank in the lightwell, which will pump water back up and over the roof if the tank fills. Downpipes still not connected, so water will still just fall to earth on the other side of the roof.
Painter also comes Tuesday to give us a quote, it looks reasonable and he seems to think he can get the work done next week - we accept with alacrity. Like all the other subbies that our builders use, he also seems highly professional in his approach.
On Monday we also go once more to IKEA, buy our sink and have another try at buying the range hood we want from their display. Once more we find the manager isn't there, once more we are promised a call the next day, once more Tuesday comes and goes without a communication. We are just heading out there again on Wednesday when we get the call to say we can have it, and on Thursday it is ready to collect. When we get it home we have an "Oh shit" moment when we realise that the chimney is in line with the tracklights. We think it is a resolvable problem.
On Wednesday we also collect some interesting retro Danish lights, which we found on eBay, and which we think will look good hanging over the dining table. We have two to choose from, one gold, one red.
No further building action from Wednesday to Friday - hoping for more next week. Meanwhile we have started on the major exercise of cleaning up the house, now that most of the messy work is complete. It may be premature, as the plasterers have to come back to box in the skylights, and that probably means another layer of dust. But it makes the place look much better now that we've cleaned the floor.

Lights, camera, action!

After the last post, we have another week of nothing happening, and we are able to sleep late. Then it all changes this week:
Monday 26 the electricians arrive, spend the day putting up tracklights, installing powerpoints and switches. We have light! The bad news is that the exterior spotlights spoil the look of our triangular window in the gable. We chose their position from the outside, considering it from the exterior point of view, and didn't think about how it would look from inside. May be fixable.
Tuesday, we are awoken early by the plumber wanting to turn the water off so that he can relocate one of the pipes under the sink, which would otherwise have finished up in the bin drawer.
By Wednesday my body clock is adjusting to early, and I am up at 10 to 7, showered and dressed by 7. No one comes.
Thursday the roofer comes and finishes the guttering and downspouts, doing a lovely neat job. The downpipes are not yet connected to the storm water drains, but at least the water is coming off the roof in a more controlled fashion.
Friday, and at last, the skylights arrive and are being installed as I write. Camera to be employed when they are done. Builders are also here levelling the floor, filling in gaps around the windows, and putting up architraves. And the hard plasterers, busy filling gaps in the back wall.
Meanwhile we have been trying to finalise all kinds of other things and having the usual two steps forward, one step back experiences. On Monday we found that the range hood we chose months ago has been discontinued. We might, if we are lucky, be able to buy the display one, but that has to be approved by a manager, who has apparently been sick all week. We are also told by the kitchen people, who have contacted Laminex, that the laminate we had chosen for the benchtops couldn't be formed to give the modern wrap-around look. Wednesday things take a turn for the better. We trek out to the Laminex showroom at Tullamarine and confirm that the laminate can be formed. On the way back we find a tile distributor who locates the last 7 square metres of 200x200 terracotta floor tiles in captivity - our builder told us that he thought we wouldn't get the size (no longer fashionable) and our sorties into tile shops thus far seemed to confirm this. We decide to buy the lot, even though we probably only need about half, so we have spares against any future contingencies. We still have fingers crossed on the range hood. It is an IKEA product, and you can't ring an IKEA store, only their central enquiries, which is maddening. After a bit of shouting on Wednesday, the central enquiries person contacts the store for me, comes back with the information that the manager who has to approve the sale of a display item is sick, but they will call. They still haven't and I'm wondering if I have the energy for another lot of shouting, or whether to wait until Monday.

Looking in (above)



Looking out (right and below).
The partition wall on the left is NOT blue - that's just a trick of the light.

Day 50ish: Real progress!

Lots of activity for the past week. Nothing Monday, but first thing Tuesday guys arrive to put the insulation into the walls and ceiling prior to the plastering. They have an amazing technique of impaling the batts with a pronged stick and poking them up into the ceiling - no ladders (see below) rather like pitchforking hay.
 Electricians are also due Tuesday, but are prevented by illness.
On Wednesday, we spend a happy morning with them working out where all the lighting tracks will go. In the middle of it, a bloke arrives with a truckload of plaster board, expecting to meet the plasterers. Who aren't there. So Peter and I learn the techniques for getting 6m lengths of plaster board off a flat bed truck and into a house without damage. We leave them next door, as the electricians are busy in our place - so handy having a two site project.
Plasterers Mick, Drew and Dallas arrive Thursday, work solidly for four days and have finished all the plaster board work by Tuesday (yesterday). Chris the carpenter comes back on the intervening Saturday to finish the cladding under the eaves.
Today (Wednesday again) the Zeev kitchen man David comes and with the room starting to look finished, can finally come to grips with how it's all going to work. Now we just have to source the sink and range hood, and consult with the plumber about relocating water and gas pipes. The shelves my Dad lovingly constructed over 30 years ago are going back on the wall, although one set will require a minor adjustment to fit in again. Chris makes another brief appearance to do a bit more work on the exterior.
Next steps include hard plaster on the back wall, filling in spaces in the floor, and fitting the skylights which will be a major excitement as we will finally know how much difference they will make to the light in the room.
Latest pictures:

Forking up another batt

Post-plastering: looking back toward the kitchen

From the doorway looking out - note the sexy new roof line.

Day 37 to 40ish

Yes, I've lost count. Attendance has been so intermittent it's hard to remember. But last week we had builders & electricians on Thursday and Friday. There were men in the roof, men in the cupboards (en route to the roof via the manhole) and the 'roughing in' of the wiring is done. The 3/4 wall at the back of the stove is now framed, so that the kitchen is defined again. On Saturday, to our surprise, Chris braved the rain and cold, working from dawn to dusk on the outside panelling. We headed out on Friday to buy track lighting, ready for Tuesday when they are coming to finalise the position of the tracks.
Meanwhile, we have started the kitchen project again, with another trip out to Zeev, in Springvale this time. After discussions and much thinking and measuring during the week, I think we have the layout of the cupboards finalised, and the quote isn't too scary. Unsurprisingly, they are going to be very similar to the old ones, with a minimum amount of reshaping and reshuffling.

Day 34-6ish: Lockup achieved

We ran away to Hobart and the boat (so nice to have a stove with burners and oven and a sink that isn't in the next room), and when we came back, they had finally go the house to lockup stage. Note that lockup does not equate to weatherproof - there are still gaps around the windows and doors. Not enough for rain to come in unless there was a howling gale, but gaps nevertheless.
While we were in Tasmania and after we returned we had a further exchange of info about lights and powerpoints - we will probably have one more meeting with the electrician some time next week.
While we were away they had also framed up the skylights and we decided they weren't exactly where we wanted them, but the frames have been shifted without drama, and the skylights themselves are also supposed to make an appearance RSN.
Latest pics:

From the back (above), and from the side showing the new back door.

Day 33: And the brick walls rise higher...

... but still aren't finished. Pic will follow when they are.

Day 32: Let there be lights (and power points)

Good meeting with the electrician this morning to sort out what lights and power points go where, and where the switches are. Meanwhile the brickies completed the neighbour's wall. Hopefully tomorrow they will finish ours.

Day 31: It's all happening, sort of

Builders here all day, but mostly working next door. Brickies are finishing the walls, starting with the outer wall of next door. Windows have arrived for next door, and our neighbour has been busy oiling them prior to installation (so glad we have metal frames that will never need any maintenance - if I want to spend time oiling and varnishing timber I have a whole boat to play with).
We did have two bits of action on our side of the divide today - our dinky little triangular window is now in place - it seems to get smaller every time I look, but I'm still pleased to have it. And we had asked if it would be possible to get rid of a bit of brickwork that sticks out as you come into the living area and which has always looked like a bit of a mistake. The answer was yes, and even better, they've taken out the masonry above the arch as well, making the entrance from hall to living area bigger and much less cramped looking.
Electrician comes tomorrow so we have to work out where we want power points. From experience I know you never get this right - you always want more than you have, and in different places, once you actually arrange the furniture. But we will do what we can to try to anticipate every possible need.

Day 30: Re-arranging the walls

We have a new stud wall along the west side of the back area, supporting the roof and blocking out the rather dodgy brickwork behind. As I want to lose minimum space from the kitchen area, I asked if the pantry shelves my Dad made me years ago could be incorporated into the wall. Today the builders came and replaced the part of the stud wall where the kitchen will be with a huge lintel, so that the shelves can fit in below. Dad would be pleased. They need a bit of TLC (sanding and re-varnishing) before they go back, but they are as solid as ever.

Day 28-9: Tank installed, more windows fitted

Plumber came to re-arrange what we thought were water pipes. A big galvanised iron pipe turned out to be gas, but fortunately nothing burst into flame when he cut the pipe. It and its attachments were duly re-routed, and the tank did indeed fit through the window opening with about a centimetre to spare all round. It is now sitting in place in the lightwell, waiting for the roofers to return to fix downpipes.
Picture shows the tank in place, shot through the window that it went through, with the window now in place.
Fitting of windows continued, so that all are now in place except the tiny triangular one at the back of the kitchen. Several of the windows have frames only at this stage - they will be glazed in place. In the pictures below you can see that the big window on the left is unglazed, as is the fixed panel of the sliding doors.
 It is at last beginning to look a bit like a house again.

From the inside looking out








From the outside looking in.

Day 27: Some work on the windows...

Things proceed very slowly on the house. Our windows were due to arrive Friday 14, then were rescheduled for Tues 18, actually arrived Mon 17, when of course the builders weren’t there. They turned up on Tuesday and fitted one of the glazed windows and the (glass) back door, plus the frames of two more windows that will be glazed in situ later. The big sliding door unit for the back wall was a bit of a surprise. Architect drew two enormous sliders, and we specifically said ‘no flyscreens’ as we wanted a view of the garden without any blurring. What arrived was a three part slider, with fly screens. We have decided we can cope with having two sliding doors and one fixed panel, rather than two sliders as it actually gives you a bigger opening if the two doors are slid away, and the two panel effect would probably have been too heavy to move easily. And we have found that it isn’t an issue to remove the fly screens, so we will probably have it installed with the screens, then decide whether to remove them afterwards.

Since demolition commenced way back last year, we have had a temporary cable linking the house to the garage lying across the floor of the back part of the house (originally it ran over the roof, so of course it had to come down when the roof was removed). The back windows couldn’t be installed with it there, so everything stopped again until the electrician came to re-route the cable. And the builders haven’t been back since, so no more progress. We thought they were definitely coming back today to get on with the windows, but no…

In the meantime we have ordered and received a water storage tank to go in the light well. We are installing this not for environmental reasons, but rather because there is no inlet to the stormwater system in the light well, and not enough fall to put one in. For years the water from the entire roof has had to travel the whole length of the house, including negotiating two right angle bends, with the inevitable outcome that we get waterfalls from the guttering if there is any heavy rain. Some of the water from the front has been re-routed down the east side of the new roof, and what’s left will drain into our new tank, then be pumped back up and over the roof. And the plumber was supposed to be coming today to fit all that, but did he? No. The tank will just fit through the window space into the light well provided it goes through BEFORE they fit the window frame, so they can’t finish the windows until the plumber comes. We live in hope for tomorrow.

Waiting for windows

Not much activity so far in March. The builders were on site for about a day and a half in the first week, when they removed all the old iron, insulation and so forth that had come off the roof, and finished off a few other bits and pieces around the new roof.
We took advantage of the skip they brought to get rid of lots of scoria that we have dug out of the light well to make room for a rainwater tank. We uncovered some rather bizarrely arranged water pipes which may have to be relocated before the tank is installed - we're waiting for a plumber to come and provide an opinion. We also found an old earth stake at least a metre long which took us ages to dig out. Somewhere in the process of digging and shifting the scoria Peter did his back, and I pulled the muscle that I damaged last year when I fell out of the bed in the roof of the camper (but that's another story). But we've uncrocked since and are now walking normally again.
This week should be full of action. We've ordered the water tank, which may arrive as early as Monday. Windows are due to arrive Tuesday, and will presumably be fitted as soon as they arrive.  Skylights may also arrive this week. Once the windows are in we will really be able to feel we have a house again, and possibly even lock up the back part, and open up the door in between us and the building site.
And that means it is time to get back to finalising the design of the kitchen (some minor changes to be made to the old layout to adjust for walls being in slightly different places) and putting in our order for cabinets, a new sink and rangehood. We have bought a Weber barbecue which has vastly extended the range of meals I can prepare, but I am looking forward to the day I can stop cooking in a cupboard.
Watch for the next update, with photos.

Day 26: Front roof replaced

Yesterday was fine and sunny all day, but nothing happened, neither builders nor roofers on site. Today showers, but fortunately the roofers are not deterred - they have removed the old roof from the front part of the house, cleaned it out and are putting up the new roof as I write. As we try to take photos of the results, we realise that there is almost no vantage point from which you can see any part of the new roof. Makes a nonsense of the council's requirement for it to be a particular colour or material.

Day 25: Roofing continues...

The other half of the new roof at the back goes on. Suddenly the world has gone dark. We were getting used to the sun streaming into the passage through the glass door into the living area. At the moment it is even darker than it will be on completion, because the three new skylights aren't in yet.

Days 22-24: Roofing

The first day there were only battens to show, but then we had serious excitement as they ripped the old roof off the middle section of the house. The Profast guys had the dirty job of removing all the old insulation and 100 years of dust, soot and pigeon poop. They put in new insulation, and then the new roof went on. The roofers have also started on the roof on the rebuilt back section, but it's not yet visible except from below.

Our new roof








Looking across to the back section and our neighbours new roof

Roofers arrive...

...but sadly, so far all the activity has been on the other side of the wall. Watch this space for photos when our roof goes on.

Most of the time, nothing happens, again (Weinberg's Law of Twins, reprise)

Builders here most days, doing stuff, but sadly not on our side of the wall. Fascia boards are now nailed along the end of the roof, but that's about it since we got back. We are asked about roof colours, and the roofer is supposed to have come to measure up, but we're not sure whether he has or not yet.
And although we're generally pretty pleased to see some rain (to put out bushfires, water the garden, and generally cool things down), it is a bit disconcerting to have raindrops falling on one's head in the bathroom during the night. We're hoping that the roof will come RSN, before we get any more heavy rain.

Days 20-21: 2014, and builders resume

Building works begin again in the week before the Australia Day weekend and continue the following week, when it isn't ridiculously hot. By the time we return from Tasmania on Thurs 30 January, they have finished our framing, constructing the bit that joins the old roof to the new. They were unable to do this in December because it kept raining and they have to expose a bit of the bathroom ceiling - needless to say no one is concerned about rain at the moment, although they have tied a tarp over the exposed section. The shots below show what the end of the room will look like.

You can also see that our house is now being used as a storage area and sawbench for the work that is now happening next door - framing up on our neighbour's property is now mostly done as well. We're not sure what's next - perhaps the roof?
Completion of the framing up meant that the last window measurements have been made (the rather cute little triangle near the roof in the picture above will be a window one day), so we had to stop dithering and choose the colour for the window frames. We just hope that "Evening haze" looks OK when we see it in much larger quantities than a 60x20mm sample chip.