Fixing up the Driveway

Lesson one:  try not to build on a clay site in winter.  It costs more! Particularly when you have a long driveway to the house site. 

Here are some shots of fixing up the driveway for the 3rd time.  Our wonderful neighbor Noel has come to the rescue twice.  Unfortunately he wasn't available to do the original driveway which has caused so many problems but he is trying to fix it for us.

This time we are using shale as the base.  When the ground dries out eventually it will be fantastic. At the moment  when a truck drives over the large rocks it moves like someone walking on foam.

Basically the driveway in front of the house had to be dug up and a new base laid.  We need this done so that the delivery of the windows and accessories can happen tomorrow without hiring another crane.  I would rather spend the money on rock that we keep than a crane service.

The cut to the garage.

The apprentice throwing out the water laying in the shower rebate.  Can't wait for the roof to be put on.

It's quite a large area, I'm hoping there is enough shale.

About to dump another load.  The ground is so soft Noel has to work his way into the garage making the road he needs for his truck as he goes.

Putting up the Trusses

Well October 21st was foggy and visibility was low but at least it wasn't raining.  That wasn't the case for the truss installation!

Craning off the trusses.  This was quite an event as the new driveway had turned to slush with the rain.  A more maneuverable crane was called in to do the job - at extra cost.  Damm rain and clay soil!

When we arrived for the daily after-school inspection, the weather was miserable but the view of at least part of the roof trusses installed was heartening.  

We didn't even bother getting out of the car it was so wet.  Hence the rain splattered windscreen shot.

The Harkaway team arrived to continue the truss installation Wednesday Oct 23rd but it was wet and windy and hence too risky up on the slippery frame. They called it quits after the wind blew over a few of the trusses before they could be fully braced.

The Telstra trench was in flood.

By Thursday Oct 24th the guys had most of the roof trusses in place and were starting the strapping.

From the front corner.

The front of the house.

An artistic view of the roof trusses!

The back of the house in mist.

The main bedroom box bay window is framed.

Starting the verandah  framing.  

Looking at the front of the house.  

You may be thinking why have they chosen this house style as a lot of people on acreage go for the wide ranch style look?  Well, we just didn't feel comfortable with the floor plan of the ranch style house basically. Having to walk across a large living room to get to either side of the house didn't jell.  We have had traditional floorplans in the past (Victorian workers cottage, Californian bungalow, Victorian Italianate villa and even a modern beach side apartment that was based on a terraced layout) so decided to stay with what works for us.  This is one of the reasons we angled the house at 45 degrees to the front boundary so that as you approach you see the length of the house.  Plus the verandah and box bay windows look fantastic and deserve to be shown off.

The back of the house showing the meals area and family room.

Close up of the longest length of veranda.  My sitting room/study (the front room) has french doors opening to the garden.  Can't wait to decorate that room.

Framing the House

The house frames were delivered around 11am on Friday October 18th.  Usually they arrive about 7am but due to the concrete still being poured I had them put back a few hours.  With a large pumping rig and concrete trucks going in and out it would have been a logistical nightmare to have the frames delivered in the middle of all of that.

Starting the lift off of the frames.

First package has landed safely.

Termite-resistant wood, hence the color.

The Harkaway framing team arrived very early Monday morning, October 21st.  The visibility was low but at least it wasn't raining.

It was a very foggy day out at Gisborne on the 21st so as Connor and I approached the farm after school we couldn't see anything until we were nearly there.  Then out of the mist was the shape of our house.  In just one day they had all the stud work in place, still to be 100% secured together, but there.  It was a fantastic sight.

Standing at the left hand front corner of the house.  The front and side here have a wrap-around 2.4m deep veranda.

The back of the house.  To the left is the box bay window meals area and the box bay on the right hand side is the large rumpus room.

Connor running across the garage slab.  This side of the house is the utility side, so not as interesting as the rest of the facade.

Looking at the proportions of the house and garage.  The garage is quite big.  Steve and I decided that we didn't want the typical large shed on the farm.  What would we do with it?  So we decided to have a larger garage and put the tractor in there.

I hadn't taken 2 steps inside the house when I was on the phone to Steve so he could enjoy the excitement too.  This is the family room at the back of the house.  There will be an open fire place positioned between the 2 double hung windows.  On the right hand side is a lovely picture window looking down the valley.

Playing with the timber cut offs in the kitchen area.  The pipes sticking out of the floor are for the island bench.  

Looking down the lovely wide hall way.  I think is it 1.6m wide.  

Looking out a doorway to the veranda from the rumpus room. This door faces the front of the house and there is a matching one facing the back of the house.  I love being able to get outside to the garden as easily as possible.  As there is a lot of work to do before I can say we have a garden easy access is a good thing.

The House Slab

The image above is from the front of the house.  All the waffle pods laid out and a start on the reo.

We positioned the angle of the house at 45 degrees to the front fence.  This gives us better exposure to the north sun, open views and more presence on the land.

The back half of the slab is poured.  Due to the size of the house and the soil type there is a construction join across the house.  This has a supporting edge beam, termite protection and extra steel reinforcement.  The two halves are poured on separate days with a break in-between.

They poured the back half first as per the engineering specifications. 

The rebates are for our showers so as to give the flush floor tiled look. 

The front half of the slab is poured.  Yippee.  

The concrete pads for the verandah posts were also poured this day.  

The house and garage slab work took 9 work days. It was a big effort under challenging site conditions.  The concrete was still wet when the house frame was delivered.  Moving right along, hey.

Getting Started on the Concrete....

Despite the challenges that the wet weather posed, preparation for concreting the slabs started.    Here are some photos of the work done:

Image 1:  Excavation of the edge beams for the house.  The external walls carry the weight of the trusses so for extra support in the highly reactive clay soil deep edge beams were installed around the entire perimeter of the house.

Image 2:  this is the triple-car garage slab preparations.  

Image 3:  The concrete pumping rig.  Due to the risk of the concrete trucks getting bogged (and therefore the high potential cost of getting them towed in addition to wasted concrete) the plug was pulled at the last minute on Friday Oct 11 for pouring the garage slab and edge beams.  So this expensive rig sat idle.  Our surveyor said that the rig was a minimum cost of $1000 per day.  Luckily I had a fixed price contract!!!

Image 4:  Pouring the garage slab.  All systems go on October 14th, Steve's birthday.  

Image 5:  Our lovely garage slab.  Not long after this photo was taken it poured rain and the guys spent quite a bit of time 'rescuing' the finish of the slab.  

Image 6:  the concrete edge beams of the house and the area covered with crushed rock in preparation for the waffle pods.

Slab drainage and water to site

The house setout was completed on schedule. It's like reading a foreign language - what the peg and how they stagger the measurements seems strange to me so good thing Steve and I didn't try to do it.  Watching the professional in action illustrated that some jobs should be left for those skilled in it.  It would have taken us an age to do what he did in an hour.

The plumbers had planned to start on Tuesday October 1st but it was called off around 7.30 am due to the wet weather.  This was a good thing because it was Connor's 10th birthday and we have a tradition of the 3 of us spending the day together doing as Connor's puts it, "whatever he wants".  This basically means focusing on Connor 100% but I'm not sure how this makes it different from any other day?   Other than he thinks he is the boss! Steve took the day off as he does each year as Connor's birthday falls in the school holidays.  Although maybe my absence wouldn't have been noticed as Connor was quickly into his various Lego presents:  Star Wars Republic Gunship and Star Wars AT-TE both fairly large models and Lego Minecraft.  When Nana arrived for lunch she surprised Connor with Lego R2D2.  One very happy boy, sorry, tween!

When the plumbers arrived Wednesday they nearly got bogged getting their excavator off the truck.  Unfortunately my all-weather driveway wasn't very all-weather'ish.  It seems the crushed rock has too much dirt in it and retains the water.  Great.  

There was a lot of rain onsite and the site cut was under water in parts which didn't give me confidence.  Talk about not being flat! 

Anyway the team at Pro-Fit Plumbing got into it and did a great job under not ideal circumstances.  

Here are some photos of the action: