Pace slows, problems sorted

So the pace has slowed this week in order to get a few problems with the frame sorted before the delivery of roof tiles next week.

The site supervisor has picked up an issue with the portico. Apparently the supporting beams are too deep to create the more elegant look shown on the plans and have to be re-engineered. I would not have realised until it was being finished off, so I'm pleased the SS is on the job and can get it changed before it's too late.












So far this week the only visible development is the arrival of the water tank. Looking good, with just enough "squeeze past" room to enable access around the back corner of the house.

After heavy rains and builder activity, plus the inevitable bird droppings, there is now little to be seen of the kids' chalk drawings. This was a brief disappointment to them, however they cheered up when they realised that their adventure playground had taken on a whole new 3D look.

Peeking through the "front door"

Silence of the weekend

It's late afternoon in the estate. Friday afternoon.

All the builders are gone.

And the silence is audible.

A flap-flap of wings heralds a solitary crow, come to tap dance on the summit of the newest roof in town!

And then he's off again, across the road, to sample the Metricon. Two storeys are definitely more desirable when you're a crow, I guess.

A human scavenger pokes in the builder's skip bin with his litter stick, and finding nothing of interest, moves on to the next site.

An air of calm has descended on the street, just for the weekend.

There'll be no Bobcats or cement mixers queued up and down the street, no delivery trucks squeezing past haphazardly parked builders' utes. Dozens of building sites, each running to their own schedule, will take a coordinated time out - at least until Monday.

And in that quiet space, there will be an echo of what this place once was, and a whisper of what it is yet to become.

The last rays of sun cast long, lovely shadows in a criss-cross pattern on the walls. The light is wonderful, the breeze refreshing, and I am feeling so much at home.

End of a busy week

On Monday, God (aka the builder) made a slab.
On Tuesday he gave it a frame to keep it company.
On Wednesday he brought trusses into the world.
On Thursday he raised them to the sky.
And on Friday he built a gateway and called it a portico.
Then, being as how it was the fifth day and all, he knocked off early and rested.



Manhole

Bare bones

I have the feeling I'm lying on the sand, looking up at the sky through the remains of a giant whale carcass.

Ker-chunk, a nail gun brings me out of my reverie. Ker-chunk, ker-chunk.

Another day, another stage. Blink, and you'll miss it.

Pretty amazing, really, considering that no crane was used to put these trusses in place. It's all done by hand with a few step ladders, some string, and a mighty sense of balance.



Is that an analogue nail gun I see?

We have trusses!

OK, they're not on yet, but this huge stack of trusses that was craned in after lunch certainly rates a mention as today's latest exciting instalment.

Despite long delays in the drafting, estimating and contracts phases of this project, the construction team is barely stopping for smoko!

Work began with a site cut on September 16, but didn't fully get under way until September 29, when the survey pegs went in. If we count from then, we are now up to Day 16 of the active build.

Total construction time is estimated at 130 days, plus 85 days for delays (weekends, Christmas and rain), with completion in April.

The current plan is for lockup before the Christmas shutdown. Hmmm, sensible!

We have a frame!

They're moving faster than I can keep up with the blog at the moment. One day we have a slab, the next a frame!

Of course, once you have a frame up you really start to get a feel for what it will be like living there. And the energy was positive.





















I did, however, notice two things that were not as expected.

In one case a cutout between the main lounge and the kidzone had been installed high up on the wall. I was looking for something more central, with plantation shutters, so I could monitor the kids from the adjacent room.

In the other case, a high fixed glass window in the ensuite has ended up double the depth of the one in the display home. Looking back through the plans it seems it was drafted this way from the outset. But why?? I can't see how this is going to work with the mirror and shower placement. Not to mention the lack of privacy.

Well, I guess we'll see how well these things are handled when we talk to the builder tomorrow.


Update: I woke up at 4am worrying about the framing errors and decided to shoot off an email to the company and site supervisor about it. At 8am I got a call to say it would be investigated, and at 9am I got an email to say that both matters would be rectified. Now that's service!

We have a slab!

Or is that a giant chalkboard?

The pour took place from about 7.30am to 10.30am - and by afternoon you could walk on it. Soon the bedrooms were decorated, and there were cars in the garage and a TV in the lounge.

And down it pours

The concrete, that is. Not the rain.

The forecast was for showers, but the rain held off, and the slab pour went ahead.

Interestingly, the Courier-Mail today reported that "In just three days, parts of Brisbane have had almost as much rain as the October average." Apparently some nearby suburbs had up to 60mm over the weekend, just shy of Brisbane's average October rainfall of 62.5mm.

With more rain on the way it could be that today was a great window of opportunity to get the job done.

We watched a succession of cement mixers pull up to transfer their load to the crane. As it's quite a large slab (261 sq metres, not counting the alfresco and portico, which will be poured later) we had concrete coming from two different batching plants - Redcliffe and Lawnton - and ended up with a darker mix at the bottom and the familiar light grey on top. I wonder if the slab will end up looking like a Cadbury "Top Deck" chocolate? Hehehe.

Here's some shots of the work in progress.

False alert

More rain overnight and at 7am (above) heavy, heavy clouds promised a downpour at any moment. I was up early to witness the big event, but the site supervisor was ahead of me, making a judgement call on the weather. Yes, the slab pour would be delayed until Monday.

As it turned out, there was only a brief shower over North Lakes. According to the Bureau of Meterology, between midnight and 9am Brisbane City had about 22mm and Archerfield had 13.4mm. During the scheduled pour time of 6am to 9am the heaviest shower was at Archerfield. By contrast, Redcliffe had less than 1mm (0.8mm) between midnight and 9am, all of which fell in a brief shower around 8.30am. Despite continuing cloudy skies there was no further rain for the rest of the day.

Yesterday, the tradies told me it would take more than a drizzle to halt the job. I had read various opinions on the Internet about the effect of rain on newly poured concrete, and was aware of the risk of an unstable powdery surface if too much rain fell during the levelling off phase.

So, not knowing quite what the weather was up to, it was a great relief to know that the builder was not prepared to compromise on the quality of the job.

Outlook for Monday: Mostly fine.
Outlook for Tuesday: Frames (already?)

Last minute jitters

I felt the need to make a late afternoon visit, tape measure in hand, to check things over before it was too late. I'd heard of mishaps with other people's slabs, necessitating patch jobs such as this, and I was worried.

It was worth the trip, not only to reassure myself that the plumbing and slab looked as they did on the plans, but also to see the builder's processes under way. Despite the fact that it was well after knock-off time for the average building worker, no less than three inspectors turned up to do their own last-minute checks of plumbing positions, termite barrier etc.

It was also interesting to see the set-out complete.



Anyone for a game of checkers?

Weather permitting

There was heavy rain last night, turning the dust into gooey clay, particularly at the back corner of the block. But you could be forgiven for thinking there'd been snowfall when catching sight of the block first thing this morning.

The white ground cover consisted of more than 100 polystyrene waffle pods that will provide a base for the concrete slab. The image was further impressed on me as I watched the workers cut pods to size, generating a mass of tiny foam beads that eddied in the wind gusts like flurries of snow.

The slab pour is scheduled for tomorrow...weather permitting. The forecast is for a few showers, possibly tending to rain. The skies today seemed to confirm that, with plenty of cloud cover in the photo above. But with 10 concrete mixer loads of cement booked for the pour, everyone is hoping that the forecasters have got it wrong.

A string line to aid the set-out


Perimeter ribs

A rapid transformation

Just one day later and all the mountains and canyons have disappeared. The site is level once again - a blank canvas, ready for the story of "Our Home".

And on that canvas, it's as if a giant has taken a huge marker and joined the dots. The formwork has gone in. We have an outline! No more imagining required!

Step in and check it out....Here is the alfresco, this is the view from the front door, this is how much backyard we'll have...

Oh, and this is today's adventure playground.

Mountains and Canyons

The excitement was shared by the kids when I took them for a look after school - except to them it seemed that the block had been transformed into a giant adventure playground with "mountains" to climb and "canyons" to cross.

Some real action

It was a windy day today and the earthmovers were stirring up the dust on my block, as well as getting started on the empty block across the road. For once I was happy not to be the first in the street to be finished.

It was exciting to watch some real action under way, as the trenches were dug for the stormwater pipes and internal plumbing.

But it also felt slightly strange knowing that this virgin block of dirt would never be the same again. Not so long ago this was grazing land, and the cattle and kangaroos roamed free. Now, already, we are in the midst of suburbia, and the fate of Lot 182 is sown.