Photos from week starting 21st February

The good news this week is that progress was made on the brickwork, the terrace slab was finally poured and our windows have left Sweden.

The less good news was that we found out that the manufacturer of the blackout blinds that we wanted to use in the bedrooms no longer makes them in the height that we need; and that the steel beams over the windows in the lounge was installed at a level that would have left insufficient room for the fly-screen frame to fit under it.  This has meant that we have had to quickly choose another blackout blind system and alter the design of the sliding door opening in the wall (obviously there will be no change to the size of the doors themselves).  Also, the cleats that fix the beam to columns have had to be cut off and rewelded on.

The terrace slab along side the swimming pool

The terrace slab outside the lounge

One of the beams whose height had to be adjusted

The internal skin of brickwork of the west wall to the dining room is now at full height

The east wall to the dining room is also at full height

Outside view of the dining room wall showing how much is above ground level

The east wall in the lounge showing the profile of  the roof

Native plants are now growing in area to the east of the site that we re-landscaped 

I had to do a bit of further landscaping work to prevent part of the slope down to our neighbour's  plot from being eroded.  It has been a test of my hydraulic engineering skills

View of the house from the east side of the plot

Photos from week starting 14th February

The bricklayer was back this week so there was progress on two fronts; the garage brickwork and preparing the terrace slab for pouring.

The front of the garage feels quite imposing as you come up the driveway.

The height of the garage wall is governed by the slope of the roof and the continuity between the garage roof and the house roof on the west side.

The rear wall of the garage is not yet finished by you can see where the rear window will be.

The reinforcement for the terrace slab is in place and it is almost ready for pouring.

The formwork has finally been stripped out from the swimming pool and it is filling up with rain again.

We have asked the builder to create some earth terraces along the west side of the house so that we can control the rainwater run-off and as the locations of the vegetable beds.

Photos from week starting 7th February

Work has continued on the timber stud-work walls and the terrace slab.  However, the big news of the week is that our windows and sliding doors are being fabricated in Sweden and should be ready for shipping to Australia next week.

This is the lintel and wall above the sliding door for the main bedroom

The lintel above the sliding door in the study

You can now see the profile of the roof line along the full length of the east facade

The east facade looking north

All the main internal walls are now in place

The trench has been dug to form the slot in the terrace slab for the swimming pool cover

Scaffolding has been erected along the hallway to give access to the construction of the roof

Fabricating our windows in Sweden - very exciting.
The two panel sliding doors are stacked for shipping in the background

This is the four panel sliding door that will be part of the north facade of the lounge.
It is 6.2m long and 2.5m high and weighs half a tonne!

In the foreground are the high level windows for the hallway

Photos from week starting 31st January

It was the builder's first week back after the summer holiday so we were expecting an acceleration in progress.  They did pretty well considering that the temperature during the day for most of the week was about 40 degrees and with no rain during January the ground has turned to dust.

The drainage membrane and pipes are being installed

Drainage pipes (I am not sure why there are two and why the connection is through the concrete.)

The gravel has been poured into the gap and there is a layer of soil dust coating everything

The house is now fully integrated into the ground.  This is a pretty significant milestone and it has taken seven months to achieve!

Permanent formwork for the slab over the equipment room

These are the laminated timber beams for the roof structure

The frames for the hallway walls are all in position and you can see what the view will be like when you walk through the front door 

We bought these steel raised garden beds to create the vegetable garden on the west side of the house

This is the west side of the house yesterday.  Like a dust bowl

The pencil cedars that have grown where we have cleared the lantana are really suffering due to the heat and the lack of rain.

Update note on Sunday:  at last the hot weather has broken and this afternoon the skies darkened and we have rain.  Lets hope that the plants get a good drink.