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.