It has been a while

Has been a while since we posted updates - too busy doing!

Two weeks ago we put in the last straw bale.  A few days later the wall was wrapped and ready for render.

Once the wall had a single coat of render, we had the builder come back to help put in the windows into the guest area and finish the eaves.

At the same time we had the plasterers put the ceiling in the garage

Since then the builder and I have finished the blocking the plasterer needs in the rest of the house, I have nearly completed the second coat of render outside, we have dry fitted one of the two garage windows and I have got two coats of paint on the garage ceiling.

All going well the garage door will be fitted next week and if the weather holds I can get the two garage windows in.  We will then be at lockup which is very exciting.

Guest Area Progressing and lights

The guest area has progressed with one and a bit of the three sides having two coats of render.

Work will now begin on the straw walls on the other two sides of the guest area.  Once they are done I can get the builder back to help me install the windows and do the eaves.

We're waiting on the electrician at the moment so we can get the plasterers in for the garage. The panel door is ordered and in about six weeks will be ready to install and get us to lock up (everything else going well).

We also had a big breakthrough last Friday when we were in Devonport. We visited a local lighting store and finally found a store with a great range at a really good price - Halley's Lighting if you want to know. Kylie has found the perfect light for her studio and our kitchen lighting is pretty cool as well.

Happy New Year

Well it is the new year and the neighbour has had his excavator home.  Which allowed for some larger scale earthworks to occur.

We moved the original drain which was closed and open, open bit shown below.

The new drain is a little longer but it is all underground.

And once it is covered in gives us a little more space.

We also had the mountains of soil moved so now the ground is a little more even around the house.

Now we just need to get on and finish the last of the straw walls. (And by we Derek means he!)

Window in the Bedroom

We fitted the window into the main bedroom at the end of last week, which closes that room up.

We have also made a large start on the guest area.  Hopefully the weather in the new year allows us to get the guest area wrapped and rendered, then it's a relatively small step to lock up.

Bedroom Second Coat of Render

Kylie has taken a week off work to help with the build.  Last Friday we started on the second coat of render for the bedroom and finished it today.  The walls are quite high in comparison to the others.

So now it is onto the guest area.  We started baling on Saturday which was quite warm (by Tassie standards) and will continue through this week, assuming I don't break Kylie.

External Cladding

The external cladding is all but complete.  Finished outside the ensuite and the window seat on Monday.  Also did some more of the eaves along the front of the house

Finally finished the clerestory window, and put up the eaves and cladding for the guest area.

Hopefully the weather improves from the last few days so we can get the second coat of render on the bedroom.

Brush cutting walls

Friday was supposed to be my day off, but I had to go into work in the morning for a COAG Standing Council meeting. This meant that I spent the morning around Minister's from the Commonwealth and other States as they talked about high level Human Services policy issues. This is the first one of these meetings I have attended, and it was pretty interesting.

Then, as a complete change of tack, I changed out of my office gear and into flannie mode to go and work on the house. This has always been a job that I've been comfortable doing, as Derek says I'm not comfortable with the chainsaw, but brushcutting walls is a different story.

Of course Derek has to do the bits up high, but I can pretty much get to the sixth bale (ceiling height) without too much issue.

We're getting pretty close to finishing the bedroom walls at the moment, which is pretty exciting. Basically when this is done it is just the guest area left and then the walls will be complete (there is a little bit of cladding but that's a small issue). I'm planning on having a week off form work to help get that room done before Christmas, if that is possible.

We're getting really close to lock up now. There will still be a lot to do once we reach that stage, but it is extremely exciting.