Well, you may have been thinking that nothing has been happening on the house because there haven't been any new posts. Sorry that's just me being a bit slack in reporting - I have been making progress. Here's the latest status report.
I have ordered the bricks from Boral. We have gone with a smooth surface red/grey brick called Orient. We shall also be having 3 bands of Vic Blue (a nice grey-blue brick) laid horizontally at around mid-window height to add some interest and historical connection, possibly with the middle band projecting out. I am also investigating pre-cast windowsills to give an extra kick to the heritage look.
We have decided on the roof colour and guttering. We will be using Ironstone for the roof and Surfmist for the gutters. The down pipes will be painted in Ironstone as they will be attached to the verandah posts. The window frames, fretwork and finials will be in the Surfmist colour. We think it will look good. The exterior colour scheme seemed to me to be the biggest challenge but we feel we have nailed it with our choices.
The slab engineers have the final house plans and are busy engineering the slab. We are having a waffle slab - which was a good boost on the energy rating - and have decided to go with a 375mm high pod. This will give the house more prominence and balance the roof profile. It also helps with the verandah ie no digging!!
I've made some small layout changes to the ensuite and Connor's bathroom. Yes I know - I can't help myself. But that's the bonus of being the builder, I can make changes. Well at least up to the point that the slab drainage is laid. I have also been selecting and in some cases, purchasing, bathroom items. I need to know the fixtures for the slab drainage anyway so if I find a bargain I grab it now.
We have finalised our kitchen, butler's pantry and laundry cabinetry and benchtops. The same colour/finish will be throughout as the rooms are connected. The cabinets will be off-white with the benchtops in a grey speckled-look corian material (no join lines, yippee). Bit of an extravagance having all 3 matching but it should look fantastic, fingers crossed.
I have started to look at tiles for the wet areas. We will have timber floors throughout the house with just the ensuite/bathoom/powder rooms and laundry/mudroom/butler's pantry tiled. I know the look I want for the floors in the laundry/mudroom and butler's pantry - something that doesn't show the dirt! One of the tiles I'm considering is appropriately called 'mud'. I'm looking at a 30 x 60 tile laid in a stretcher-bond pattern which should be classic and slick at the same time.
I have also been investigating building insurance premiums, temporary power powers and getting the large parcel of paperwork ready for building approval. And we've been calculating some material quantities. For example, we have calculated the amount and cost of the foilboard right down to the number of nails required! Basically my plan is to think through as many decisions and choices now so that we are not making too many decisions on the run. This should reduce stress levels and costs.
My next priority is to look at the build schedule as I want to try and compact the build into the shortest time-span taking into account that we are renting to the end of Feb 2014. We are going to use foilboard insulation on the outside of the frame which means once that is done and the windows/doors are installed the house will be watertight. So I can have trades working inside the house whilst the brickies are doing their thing on the outside.
I am also thinking that I need to start preparing the soil for planting in springtime. I have 40+ trees in pots at Mum's that will not like being restrained for much longer. However I need some large earth moving equipment to plough the ground so that I can start enriching it. Just one more thing to work on!
This year has been a challenge in more ways than one and we are hoping that the 2nd half of the year goes smoothly for us, and all our family and friends.
cheers Laureen
