HANDOVER SORTED - 1 year and 1 day!

Day 207 - Hole in weatherboards discovered

(Sun 22/05)
I continued my perimeter clean up and various other odd jobs and in doing so, discovered a hole and several nails protruding through the weatherboards above the Guest Ensuite downstairs. Looks like when the framers were 'blocking out' that they went a bit crazy in that area. It will have to be patched or preferably the weatherboard replaced and repainted. I will add this one the the Builder's Defect List to be dealt with later as there  is too much on his mind as it is at present.


Not a great pic but hole in corner near stairwell window

Day 206 - Portico roof done.....almost!

(Sat 21/05)
I started early and continued my perimeter clean up and fixed the coax where the sparky drilled through it.
I was amazed to see the roofer turn up today and finish off the ridge cap & flashings on the Garage roof and nearly finish off the roofing of the Portico. I say nearly, as they ordered the wrong flashings again! They still have to come back to do 2 flashings - unbelievable. At least there is a roof keeping the weather off the front door now.


Coax join - not ideal but I'll get over it!


Portico roof nearly done!


Looking good

Day 205 - Plaster battens started

(Fri 20/05)
Sparky's continued their cable runs and mounting etc.
Plasterer started with his gang installing the steel ceiling battens. In the past, I have not had much joy from steel battens as they can creak and squeak due to temperature changes and installation issues on a 2 storey home. I guess we'll see how we go. They couldn't finish the battens as apparently the framing is incomplete in a few areas? This came as news to me.

I started the cleanup of mortar overspill around the perimeter of the house and dug out the bent conduit for repair.

Ducted vacuum system was supposed to be installed today. They didn't turn up.

Before clean up
 

After clean up

 
Steel Plaster Battens
 

 Steel Plaster Battens



Day 204 - Meeting on-site with Sparky

(Thur 19/05)
I met up with electrician on-site this morning and handed over my amended electrical plan and we went through it in detail over the next 1.5hrs. I also brought along some of the supplied lighting/sensors I will be getting him to install. Basically, we are supplying all the light fittings except the downlights. I was going to supply these but he doesn't want to use 12v ones I was going to supply. He uses the 240v type. We are also supplying 18x GPOs, which I acquired from my brother-in-law which will be used downstairs only. I will be changing over, after handover, the switches downstairs to Clipsal Saturn Push-button LED type in Ocean Mist.

Day 203 - New flashings delivered.....but

(Wed 18/05)
New flashings and ridge caps were delivered today for supposed completion of flashing/roofing. Let's see how they go this time.

I moved 400-450 bricks down to the backyard. (I would hate to be a brickie!)

Builder brought his truck along with 2 of his lads and got rid of all the rubbish at the front of the site.

 My brick stacking effort

Day 202 - Plumbers return & Cabling Completed ;)

(Tue 17/05)
Plumbers, builder and myself met up and I brought along all the fittings I am providing so the plumbers could fit the shower/bath mixers etc.
They also fitted the spa-pump internally, which made sense. I will just pack some acoustic insulation in the walls to dull down the noise.
Now cabling is completed, there is a total of 24x Cat6 cable points, 15x RG6 Coax F-Type points and 2x RJ12 telephone in sockets. I have pre-wired for Telstra & Optus both with Cat6 (phone) and RG6 (Cable TV)
A Grand total of 39 Cable runs plus the Digital TV Aerial, the longest run being 24mt (x4 runs)
I used a total of 418mt of Cat6 Cable and 268mt of RG6-Quadshield Coax Cable!

Cable run back to Cable Ladder in under-stairwell void


Cable Ladder with Telstra & Optus cables on LHS


Rear of Cable Ladder


Shower mixers fitted

Day 200 & 201 - Cabling

(Sun 15th & Mon 16th May)
Still cabling but getting there. I have made a few changes along the way (because I could!)


Living room cabling/conduit detail
L to R - Subwoofer, 4xSpeakers, 40mm Conduit, 4xRG6 & 2xCat6

Day 199 - Brick cleaning downstairs

(Sat 14/05)
Noisy, dirty and toxic it was too for the short time I dropped by.The brick cleaner said that some of the mortar the brickies had used, had too much cement in the mix, which apparently made it hard for him to clean the mortar. Not sure what ramifications that the mortar mix will have on the structural integrity.
When he cleaned bricks, there was significant over spray and it ended up staining the paintwork under the eaves. No doubt I will be bringing that up at some stage with the Builder.

 Clean bricks


Day 198 - Roofer back....

(Fri 13/05)
It's Friday the 13th and it was bad luck again. The roofer was there but just to do flashing, which apparently was ordered wrong again!
I'm still cabling.

Day 197 - Doors hung and more.....

(Thu 12/05)
Doors hung & door hardware fitted, buzzing of frame pre-plaster, blocking out of frame, spa bath & pump delivered and upstairs Entertainment bulkhead frame now fixed.
Oh....and I'm still cabling!


Entertainment bulkhead now 2150mm wide


Spa bath in Kids Bathroom


Front door (Hume Ultimo XU20) 2340x920mm
Will be painted in semi-gloss black (at this stage!)



Internal Garage Door
Has same door hardware as Laundry above fitted

Day 195 - Cabling/Pre-wiring startup

(Tue 10/05)
I am on 2 weeks leave and have my work cut out for me now. I originally told the builder that I would take approx. 2-3 days to complete my elaborate (OTT) cabling job. I now will have to reassess that as my Dad was to assist me but has had a heart attack and quad-bypass surgery (and doing well). The only way he can help me is by lending me his 'tradies' van - which he did without hesitation. Awesome.
Today I started the fitting of my cable conduits and TV wall mount supports between the studs. I also ran the TV aerial cable back to my cable ladder under the stair void - which I also installed today!

I also put in a 32mm conduit (complete with Telstra rope cable pull) from a void upstairs back to the cable ladder for any possible future cable runs.


Cable conduit & TV mount timber
supports between studs


 Cable ladder with TV wiring and 32mm
Conduit on LHS in under-stair cavity


 32mm Conduit in void on1st Floor Wardrobe

Day 194 - Gas line done...and

(Mon 9/05)
Gas line dug and installed ready to hook up meter when necessary.
The blokes who did the job, ran oven the Telstra conduit and kinked it at the base! Will have to dig that up now!

Gas Line ready for meter

Day 191 - All quiet.....but

(Fri 06/05)

I guess we won't be locked up by today as suggested :(

No sign of roofers either but I dropped past late this arvo to find a bloke fitting a replacement Whirlybird. As previously mentioned, the other one didn't spin! So I asked for it to be replaced.

I am on Annual Leave for 2 weeks from Sunday and I had hoped to work on my cabling from Monday. Guess I'll have to wait.

I must admit, I am getting a little anxious about the Contract date now (8th August - 285 days)
Builder has 12 weeks left to completion date. Considering when we signed up he mentioned we would be in by May/June 2011. That's definitely not going to happen now :(

Day 189 to 190 - Ground floor roofing starts

(Wed 04-05 to Thu 05-05)
Roofing, Guttering & Fascia started above Guest Ensuite, Garage and Portico on ground floor. Hope they finish this week.

Roofing starts on Ground Floor



Trace wire on pillars for elec. cable now done!



Day 188 - Portico roof trusses up

(Tue 03-05)
Portico roof trusses went up and Builder drilled down Portico pillars and puts in wire tracer for electrical cable.
Also, they did a 'partial' rubbish removal. Would have liked it all to go, but I guess I will clean it up a bit over the next weekend or so.


Day 187 - Scaffold down/removed

(Mon 02-05)
I dropped off my son to school and to school and they were already half done. When I dropped past later, the truck had just left, about 315pm.
It looks great, if I do say so myself! I am very happy with our colour choices to date. What are your thoughts?
I can now get my garden shed erected out back and do some work in the rear garden also, now that I can get through.
Still haven't taken any photos......

Day 183-185 - 2nd Storey Painting

(Thu 28-04 to Sat 30-04)
Painters arrived and finished off the painting of the eaves and weatherboards. From what I could tell, they used Haymes Premium builders white on the eaves and am unsure what brand they used on the weatherboards but the colour is Wattyl - Gravel Chip (A38w).
I was going to paint the 2x 40mm plumbing pipes and the 20mm drain pipe coming from the Evap Cooler on the roof to match the Colorbond whilst the scaffold was still up, but I had a better idea. I asked the painters if they could do it - they agreed and payment terms were a slab. Crown Lager of course ;)
Builder called and discussed progress and said scaffold was booked to be removed Mon or Tue next week (2nd or 3rd May) Guttering, fascia and roofing of the ground floor to be completed next week also - fingers crossed!
He mentioned that he had chipped away the mortar on top of the Portico pillars and that I needed to give him the specs. for the lights which we have purchased for that location. As previously mentioned, the builder forgot to run electrical cable through so will now have to drill down to get cable through.
I sent him my detailed drawing as pictured below.
Do you like the choice of lights for the Portico pillars? They are from Beacon Lighting. Model: 230301
We looked high and low for a different style to this, but as most of you will find, there is not much out there, so we settled for these. As they take GU10 globes, I will be putting LED GU10s in them.

I also appears that the brickwork around the Laundry door has been re-done after door was removed and straightened up.

PHOTOS TO COME WHEN SCAFFOLDING COMES DOWN


Portico pillar lighting location/specs