Misty Mornings

Well there has been a change in the weather down here.  The mornings are a little cooler but the days are still beautiful and sunny - once the fog clears.

This is what the fog was like on Thursday morning

This week saw the plumbers arrive on site to start the rough fit out.  The intent was to get the bits done that were easier with the roof off, but it looks like they may get everything done ready for the plaster.

I also started on the ladders for the straw bale walls to sit on.  Getting very used to using a hammer now as the ladders will split if I use the nail gun.  So every nail has to be pre-drilled and hand hammered.  Not to mention the ladders being held down by concrete nails.  Back to the old school way of building.

All going well the roofers will be on site next week.  Just need to hope the good weather continues.

Another Bargain

I actually wrote a post on this but then Kylie informed me that she had already done so in another blog she writes, and that hers had more emotion.  So I have deleted my words and cut and pasted hers:

So today we happened to be in Moonah, by a series of confusion and error, but we won't go into that. While we were there we decided to just drop into Harvey Norman and check out the rangehoods, one of the random sort of things we do.
I should explain that about 12 months ago we happened to go into the same store when it was changing ownership and purchased our stove. This was a Belling stove I had fallen in love with but could not bring myself to spend $8,000 on. We got it just under half price in the changeover sale, but that was a different positive experience.
Anyway, today we went in and we were looking around at the rangehoods. We came across the clearance section and they had a 110cm Belling rangehood (that is the size of the stove we bought) for less than half price, it was only $647. And it was black, which I think will work better than the silver ones we had been looking at. So given that we had budgeted $2,000 for the rangehood, I think that rates as a very positive experience for the day. 

Kylie also saw her Smeg fridge that she likes.  But at nearly $4000 we may have to wait until I get a job.

Engineer Approval

Well last week the engineer approved the framing, so now the roof can go on.

Had the glazier on-site yesterday to measure up the last of the windows, so they shouldn't be too far off.

So whilst I am waiting for the roofer, I will be building the frames for the windows and doors in the straw walls and building all the ladders for the straw to sit on.

So a busy few weeks ahead.

Stinky Lily and Battens Done

Well Lily got to ride home in the back of the ute on Wednesday.  Not sure what she rolled in but Kylie needed to bath her when she got home. She was very dejected that the builder and I refused to pat her for the remainder of the afternoon, post-crap roll.

We finished the sunspace and we're extremely happy with the work, given that the timbers will all be exposed.

And yesterday saw the last of the battens go on.  Roofer hopefully turns up today to measure the tin.  Few more little internal walls to build and the end of the rafters to be trimmed and we will be ready for engineer sign off next week.

Today will probably be the last day with the builder and then it will be back to just me.  Progress will slow but it will be nice for it to be just me and Lily - as long as she doesn't roll in anything again :)

Roof Update

The last few weeks have shown a lot of effort in the roof and the end is approaching.

With the roof we just have to finish the battens on the verandah and finish the sun space.

We then have a few internal walls to finish into the cathedral ceiling and at that point we can get the engineer on site to sign off on all of the work we have done.

And between the engineer sign off and the roof going on I can get busy building the ladders for the straw bales to sit on and the supports for windows and doors in the straw walls.

Still not moving as quickly as we would like, but we're pretty certain we'll have a roof before the end of March, and then the fun part can begin.