Enclosed Stage Done!

It's a bittersweet moment when you finally see the bricks finished (especially when you know the house inside is so far ahead) as you know you are getting closer to moving in yet you receive an invoice for an amount that's almost as much as your first ever mortgage! Worse thing is, because the house is so far progressed on the inside, the fixing stage is just around the corner. Once that happens it's only the practical completion invoice (plus variations) remaining.

The scaffold has returned now that the bricks have finished. Yesterday saw the soffits on the verandah being completed with all the other overhangs having the boards ready to put into place - most likely Monday after the 'flood'!

Today sees the return of the rain. The predictions are that this April will be the wettest in Brisbane's history and yet this is only the second day of rain for the month. It last rained on April 1 and on that day we saw flooding as well. I am just thankful that all the bricks have been laid and that the house is fine no matter how much it stomps down. The only problem will be all of the rubbish that is uncaged washing down hill in the rain.

Here are the latest photos of the house, enjoy!

Brickies earning their wage by having enclose the front verandah.

Cyclone ratings mean it cannot be attached to outside of bricks.

I'm happy - it looks much better this way!

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Side view of bedroom windows looking from back to front of house.

 Back wall leading on to the verandah all bricked!

 Scaff is back!

 The front with the verandah frame bricked-in. 

Different colour bricks as this face will be rendered.

 Garage overhang almost complete - the bricks around the garage will be rendered as well.

 The whopping big A/C unit!

The A/C ducts.

The A/C Return.

The A/C control panel!

(Okay, I'm a little excited to have A/C again - it's been a long 4 years!)

 My wine display cabinet (almost finished). 

 The over bench pendants.

 The solar power 'box' in the garage. Unfortunately it has been placed directly in line with hallway.

So if garage door is open, it can be seen from inside house.  

 The laundry cabinetry fully extended at last.

 Wasn't too sure what this was for - then I worked it out!

 It's the template for our curve in the portico.

 The front from portico to garage.

 The front from portico to master bedroom.

Time for an update!

It has been a while since my last post! My apologies for that! I have been in and out of Doctor's surgeries and hospitals for the last fortnight and therefore not quite up to sitting in front of a computer.

Up until the weekend, very little had happened at the house. Internally, the painting has been finished, as has the plastering - all this will need to be touched up due to other trades who simply could care less about the damage and mess they cause (enough about that for now - I intend to do a whole post on my gripes at the end of the build). Externally, the bricks finally started late last week, however they were moving at a snail's pace. On Saturday, a whole gang of brickies arrived and that changed! They managed to get all the straight lines of the house completed up to head height. Over the last couple of days, there has been slow but steady progress.

In the last 24 hours, we have seen a massive amount of internal work get done. The baths, showers and toilets are in. The internal plumbing has been done. A lot of the external plumbing has been done. The extra cabinetry has been put in to place. It is almost finished and will look amazing!

I will leave the rest of the progress to be shown via the photos below.

The bricks have started! Yay!



 But there's so many!

 Thankfully, we asked (and of course paid for) bricks above back windows instead of concrete sheets. It looks so much better!

 The opposite end of the house - the only place where there are no soffits.

 The fully painted Media Room with the high gloss paint on the doors.

 Family Room and view down the hallway.

 Our Bedroom fully painted.

 Ensuite with the plastic removed.

 Where the bath goes.

 The Ensuite shower.

Ensuite - the bath on the left and the toilet on the right

 Looking back into the bedroom from the Ensuite.

 Main bathroom shower.

 The kitchen uncovered.

 More Kitchen.

 The bricks finished on the far side.

 The gas bottles at the back of the house.

 The back wall.

 The main bathroom shower done!

 I love these shower heads!

 Main bathroom bath being tested.

 Bethany's bedroom.

 Ensuite shower & bath.

 More Ensuite.

Ensuite looking through to the WIR.

 The Walk-In Robe.

 Our toilets! We will have three! 

Who'd want to be a Tiler!

Late on Tuesday 31 March, Donna received a call from the tiler saying he'd be there tiling the next day and he would like to meet us on site prior to starting - can you be there by 7:30am? Lucky we live on site is all I can say. The tiler really didn't have a clue which tiles were going where, I had to go and get the tile plans from the file to explain the layout to him. (NOTE - whilst our tile choices are fairly straight forward, it was April 2013 when we made the selections and in all honesty, we just expected the tiler to have the same information as us!).

Anyway, he started Wednesday, worked Thursday, off Good Friday & Easter Saturday, worked a full day Easter Sunday, off again Monday and then worked Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday. Friday the painters were in, but the tiler still isn't finished yet!

Some of the areas that haven't been finished are due to cabinetry having to be replaced (laundry cupboards/benches should run the length of the wall) and running out of tiles (powder room tiles were also used as a feature in the main bathroom). He will also have to come back as there are tiles in the Ensuite that are about 1-2mm out around a corner - it's right at eye height and I have seen it, so it will have to be fixed!

Thursday afternoon saw the painters come in and tape everything up! We hadn't really taken tile updates each day as firstly it was always very late (and therefore dark) when we walked through and also because we were just waiting for them to be finished. Unfortunately now, they are all under plastic sheets and therefore cannot be seen.

Also on Friday, our caesarstone benchtops and basins/sinks were installed. Really happy with the colours and the styles we have selected - so far so good in that department! Our island bench in the kitchen is supposed to have gabled caesarstone ends, however it was installed with only one end gabled - this too will have to be fixed!

Painters were in and out on Friday doing their first coats and getting rid of the 'Disco Walls'. They will obviously be back on Monday to do the cutting in and possibly the finishing painting - certainly much faster that the tilers (lol).

BIG NEWS!! Hopefully the brickies arrive tomorrow!! They have set us back twice now, so it will be good to have the brick moved into place for Monday and for them to start to laying the bricks as well (fingers crossed)! If so, we will finally have an outside that looks as completed as the inside does!

The first two pictures below are from NearMaps - they usually update every couple of weeks (at worst), however this is the first update since November last year! Look closely and you can see all the bricks!

March 19 2015

November 23 2014

 

 Powder Room (Pre Paint)

 Main Bathroom (Pre Paint)

Main Bathroom (Pre Paint) 

 Undermount Sink in Kitchen

 Kitchen (Pre Paint)

 Garage (Pre Paint) - This is the best example of what the girls called 'Disco Walls'

 Garage (Post Paint) 

 Pantry (Post Paint)

 Master Bedroom (Post Paint)

 Main Bathroom (Post Paint)

 Powder Room (Post Paint)

 Home Theatre (Post Paint)

 Home Theatre (Post Paint) - the doors have been taken out to paint.

 Our double vanity in the Ensuite