11.8.10

Big week!

Posted by Cath Swan | Labels: , , , ,

Well, we have had quite the big week as far as the house goes!


Yesterday morning we got a call from our Building Manager to tell us that the brickie had signed off on his brick work last night as it was all finished, and discovered that we had upgraded to 'off-white' mortar!! He
used the standard uncoloured mortar, which is a grey colour.

If you remember a few weeks ago when they first started the brick laying, I commented that I wondered if the mortar colour was right. The first time I saw it, I said to hubby - "The mortar colour is wrong!" He calmed me that it was just wet and appeared darker but it would lighten up. Well trust women's intuition, cause I was right!!

So because we paid to have the mortar colour upgraded, and they've done the entire house in a lovely 'grey'; we are waiting to hear from Porter Davis about what they will compensate us for.

Our quick trip out this arvo brought great excitement. They have started putting all the cabinets into the house. Laundry is all in, the ensuite is half in and bathroom all in. They have also put in half of the kitchen cabinets! Amazing!

They have added all the skirting boards throughout the house, and had put in all our internal doors. The difference this makes is amazing, everything looks very different.

It is beginning to feel a lot like our home, and like we are actually going to move into our own home very soon!

Everything is happening very quickly!!

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8.8.10

Bricks done!

Posted by Cath Swan | Labels: , , , ,

Greetings!! Busyness has overtaken me, so I haven't had a chance to update. But here is yesterdays offering.


We were very excited to see that they had almost totally finished all the bricks, all the way around the house. And it wasn't until my husband pointed out the portico pole finished that I realised they had finished the whole portico, (that is front entrance for you newbies)!
We now await to see what the render to the front post and bottom half of the front will look like.

Inside they have finished all the cornice for the ceiling, and
finished plastering all the ceiling areas. Including the doorway into the rumpus area, which is meant to actually be a 'doorway'! So tomorrow my husband will have to get the building manager to make sure that it is turned into a door frame.

They seem to be following the original plans and not the revised ones that we made, so we'll have to see why that keeps happening.

Other than a few niggly problems, everything is coming along very nicely!

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1.8.10

Surprised!

Posted by Cath Swan | Labels: , , ,


We've had a busy weekend so we hadn't had time to get out to the house until this afternoon.


I was hoping to see the bricks finished and no green insulation in sight. Well they had bricked further around and finished the back of the house completely, but still haven't finished the front and side.

So I ventured inside to see any changes, and noticed the front temporary doors had blown open and all the rain was getting in the house, so I fixed the bricks against the doors so no rain could get in. I turned around and was shocked by what I saw.

The builder had called Jose on Friday to tell him the plasterers would be starting sometime in this next week, so we were waiting to see the next stage started.

Well to my shock, the plasterers had not only started but nearly finished. All the walls are up, all the ceilings are done, and all that's left to do is the cornice and the door frames.

They must have worked hard since last Wednesday, because it wasn't done before then.

It totally changes the look of the house and makes everything seem real. Instead of looking through walls, we now have rooms.

In the photo to the right, is our foyer with an extra 300mm height added to the already high ceilings through-out the house. It makes the whole house feel very spacious!

A very exciting stage to get to.


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28.7.10

The Facade!!

Posted by Cath Swan | Labels: , , , , ,


Well it's update Wednesday!

The bricking is coming along slowly, taking a bit longer than we think it should, but hopefully it's all on track.

They've at least almost finished the front of the house including the entrance and garage, and are gradually making their way around the whole house.

We are both a little concerned about the front of the house being the 'Oakland' facade. The original Camberwell 29 has the 'Balgowie' facade, the one we originally chose but had to change because of a neighbour with the same facade.


We went on to change ours to the Oakland, but this facade has a very prominent portico entrance, which given the style of our Camberwell doesn't seem to match.

Of course we are only realising this now, and after seeing the brickwork finished at the front of the house, we are thinking there is too much space above the front windows.





There will be render all around the bottom half of the front facade, so we hope this will make balance out the overall look.

It's always a gamble choosing your exterior style and colours, one you will have to live with for a very long time; hopefully ours will look okay!

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24.7.10

Bricks 'n' wiring

Posted by Cath Swan | Labels: , , ,


Today not much appeared to have changed from the first look at our home. But on closer inspection we noticed the brick infill to the top of the garage had been finished. This is an upgrade from the normal plaster board that is above the garage door.








The side and back of the house right around to the other side's alfresco area has been 3/4 of the way bricked as well.

We also found that as well as the electricals being finished, they had also done all the Telstra Smart-wiring. The cables had been put into
every room which we had chosen when we did all the electrical plans.

This hooks up all our phone, internet, television reception and Foxtel into the one system through the same cables.

So it's all coming along and getting closer to lockup stage.

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22.7.10

Still bricking...

Posted by Cath Swan | Labels: ,

Had a quick look yesterday to see any progress.


Nothing looked much different from the front, but heaps has been going on at the back. They have nearly finished the side and back walls of the house, mud and all!!

On the inside all the electricals have begun, and we were able to go through and see how many plates for power points they have put in. We have averaged 2 double power points in every room, and more in the living areas.


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17.7.10

Doors, bricks, & bath

Posted by Cath Swan | Labels: , , ,

On today's visit to our home we found a few new things.


The bricking has continued on the front of the house, and the garage is finished. It gave us an idea of how the bricks will look with the roof.

We are still unsure of the colour of the mortar as it's still drying and hoping they have the colour right, we picked the upgrade of off-white to go with the bricks. So time will tell.

We also found they had installed the laundry door and put some temporary doors on the front, until our beautiful red slat doors come.

They have also started on the bath and finished the frame for the fridge
space for the kitchen.

Very soon it will be at lockup stage, and in around twelve weeks give or take a couple, we will be moving in!

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14.7.10

'Wrapped in plastic'

Posted by Cath Swan | Labels: , , ,


We went for our mid-week look at our house today. As we didn't get out there till late I was fast losing light; so just took photos hoping my lovely Canon SLR would pick up enough light.


When we got out there we found one lonely carpenter working on the inside of the front door with a flood light. So didn't feel like we could go through the house like usual, so we kind of said hi and snuck into the garage to have a closer look at the start of the bricking.

They wrapped the house a couple of days ago with insulation, and today they had started bricking the garage. As it was so dark and the mortar was still wet, it was hard to see how the bricks looked in colour, so by Saturday we should be able to have a good look at the colours and hopefully get some good photos.

We also found they have installed our beautiful bi-fold doors that lead to the Alfresco, they looked really good. Its all getting closer to lockup stage!

I imagine by Saturday there will be more bricks up, so stay posted!

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1.7.10

Gutters 'n' bricks

Posted by Cath Swan | Labels: , , ,


As it has been freezing cold and raining most of the week, we wondered whether the builders would darken the door of our home this week. But when we went out today we found the boys on the roof putting up all our nice Colorbond Ironstone gutters.
Most of the gutters were finished when we went out there, so I think it would have been finished by the end of today.

And we were also pleasantly greeted with the delivery of all our bricks! As they were sitting up on our block, the first view we had caused us to panic as they were NOT the bricks we had chosen. We then realised we were looking at the side of the bricks that will be unseen.

Our real brick colour is as the pictures below!

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