Bag and paint

It's the icing on the cake...at least that's the way it looked as I watched the lads slapping on a thick layer of the render cement. It was amazing to see how quickly it was trowelled on and smoothed out, before subbie #2 came along with his paintbrush and sponge to give the artistic final flourish.





















The finish I have chosen is a "bag and paint", a budget alternative to a smooth "render".

As I look around the suburb I see a lot of houses with a very thin "bag and paint" coating, so thin you can still see the the bricks and mortar underneath!

On the promise that Ausbuild's "bag and paint" is as good as some builders' render, I inspected a couple of spec homes and decided to go with it. I haven't been disappointed. The end result is a generous coating with a swirl finish and not a mortar joint in sight.





Day 2: After drying, a border is etched into the surface.

Bricks arrive

I just happened to be at the house the next day (Nov 12) when a massive truck turned up with a load of bricks. Are they all for here, I asked? Yes, all 9595 of them, in 25 packs, weighing a total of 28,785kg! The brickies tell me their average job is around 6-7000. Can this house really be that big?

The bricks are "purpose-made commons" - nothing special in appearance - made to be rendered or bagged. Well, at least the type of brick was one decision I didn't have to make. I see so many other people struggling with the colour and texture of their chosen bricks and mortar, hoping that the final result will be as they've envisaged it. I've managed to bypass that one, choosing a "bag and paint", which the builder tells me will be as good as some builders' render. I inspected a nearby Ausbuild home that had been bagged, and it certainly looked a lot better than many other homes in North Lakes, where you can still see the outline of every brick.

The bricks were unloaded by two men, a master and his apprentice, and it was amazing to see the confidence of the master as he manoeuvred his forklift expertly and speedily around the site, smashing the kids' fortress en route.


Check out how long that truck is. Not made for cornering suburban streets...







Fortress Morgan takes a fatal blow in the name of progress!






25 packs, 9595 bricks, 28,785kg, a week to lay...