tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82309478376396028032024-03-06T07:40:29.510+11:00The Denver DialogueRobynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-40503828488230941332011-02-17T20:26:00.000+11:002011-02-17T20:26:14.369+11:002 months and counting<div style="text-align: justify;">I can't believe how long it has been since my last post. </div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwzISBG55_SnVun_E2MpoL0xrhzkYznEM-anMbl5GWte7ILYsouXS88l3fEYvRI9M0JV3W5iCuh4aE1y8XV1kFr8E29XIu_VbFEWgeQoraK1q49f_c4WI6rKmK1fqA8-IcbCN7716oPaM/s1600/DSC00729.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwzISBG55_SnVun_E2MpoL0xrhzkYznEM-anMbl5GWte7ILYsouXS88l3fEYvRI9M0JV3W5iCuh4aE1y8XV1kFr8E29XIu_VbFEWgeQoraK1q49f_c4WI6rKmK1fqA8-IcbCN7716oPaM/s320/DSC00729.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Our chunky king size bed looks pretty small in our new bedroom</span></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">We received our keys on Friday December 3rd at about 6pm and we started moving in the next day.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">We've had a few ups and downs since then and at times it feels like we're in a never ending nightmare. I'll write up posts about that shortly, but I thought I'd answer a couple of questions that people left in the comments section.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Firstly, Robert - our contract length was 383 days and we received the keys after 191 days. Way back at site start time we thought we'd be in the house around February of this year so it actually went a lot quicker than we anticipated. That being said - the house was essentially finished in late October, there were only minor things that needed to be completed and there were weeks where no one was on site.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Secondly, DMFAN - we love the Denver, there's plenty of space and it works really well for us. Check over your plans carefully as there are a lot of wall cut outs and you may not want them all. Also, if you're going with the 43, the back of the workshop/garage is open. You have to pay extra to either have it bricked or an extra garage door put in. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In terms of lay out and selections there is nothing that we would change. I'll add a qualifier here - your level of happiness with the finished product will come down to the site supervisor you get. While overall we're happy with our house, the lack of attention to detail and poor finishing really drops the quality from a great house down to a good house, which is incredibly disappointing and frustrating, particularly given the amount of money paid.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I'll be back over the weekend to fill you in on our ongoing problems.</div>Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-35832958904496124422010-12-03T13:03:00.002+11:002010-12-03T13:03:58.797+11:00It's over!At 5pm today the keys are officially ours. 191 days.Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-84861928832873786222010-11-22T22:46:00.000+11:002010-11-22T22:46:06.793+11:00Oops<div style="text-align: justify;">I think that might be what our SS said today (or perhaps something stronger?!). </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS5IHqHdtrcd1t2nrGNHbueHuKB3i7MLXBiBzTG74ltB3rYs1SEg323L-xQcQCwdvtFeoQKvrkmMHqcrYFQd_XO5zfA0IkZBtKkjRf77LqARywCM2KdGa5S7EuIPhUSCHaAMU8WESMEng/s1600/termites.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS5IHqHdtrcd1t2nrGNHbueHuKB3i7MLXBiBzTG74ltB3rYs1SEg323L-xQcQCwdvtFeoQKvrkmMHqcrYFQd_XO5zfA0IkZBtKkjRf77LqARywCM2KdGa5S7EuIPhUSCHaAMU8WESMEng/s1600/termites.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">We were concerned that the expansion joint in our slab had received no termite protection treatments. Our building inspector at work suggested I contact the company that issued the building permit as they are required to have all the termite treatment information prior to a Certificate of Occupancy being issued. To cut a long story short the company contracted to provide the termite protection treatments were never told that we had an expansion joint and so it hadn't been treated. We're furious. It's like an all-you-can-eat buffet for termites.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I'm impressed with the service we received from Plan Scan. I was put straight through to the surveyor who issued our permit - he listened to my concerns, promised to follow up on it and then rang me back to let me know the outcome. I only wish Metricon's customer service was half as good!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">We had our final inspection last Thursday and when I have calmed down a bit more I'll post about it.</div>Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-17673705316605486042010-11-09T20:08:00.000+11:002010-11-09T20:08:01.659+11:00Red dotsNo pictures today. The house is finished. The Certificate of Occupancy has been ordered and it's time for the final inspections to begin. Hopefully this isn't going to be a drawn out process as the sale of our house settles on the 8th December!<br />
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I went up to the new house today and there are red dots everywhere! I'm assuming this means that the Metricon quality assurance people have been through the house and it looks like our tradespeople have some work to do. We can't get inside the house so I'm not sure how many dots are inside but there are a lot of red dots on our windows. There's a number of bent frames where is looks like they've been dropped before they've been installed, there's windows that meet at the top and have 7mm gaps at the bottom and yet other windows that have gaps at the top, meet in the middle and have gaps at the bottom again. Short of pulling out the windows I'm not really sure what can be done to fix some of the problems - but I'm sure Metricon will come up with something.<br />
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Still waiting on a few other issues to be resolved. They include: <br />
<ul><li>Obtaining a credit (or at the very least not being charged) for work we completed,</li>
<li>Adequate termite protection,</li>
<li>Payment of the electricity bills (as our land is larger than 700m2 we had to arrange the electricity connection so it's in our name, not Metricon's)</li>
<li>Credit for the tree guards (temporary fencing to go around trees on our nature strip) listed in our contract. When we signed our contract we argued that these weren't necessary and it would be better to put a guard around our water meter, but we were told they were mandatory and couldn't be removed from the contract. The tree guards were never even on site, let alone erected, but our water meter did get run over within days of the site start!</li>
</ul>Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-53337024624898066952010-10-30T13:57:00.000+11:002010-10-30T13:57:43.161+11:00Are we there yet?We're so close now we can almost feel the keys in our hands.<br />
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As you can see the top coat has been applied to the portico. The colour is Malay Grey.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD10Hq2r49Zx-lgRdavzBKXSsP8q5Zhxl6O9BhctgPkBJYC7bcwagx54T2MOy6htzxn98LW9YDTHUI5Cib07wmjIS_TVves4PTncMO2S0y7ka7APoUB6Io3cRdUm8ywL8O0O_KLuPXMOw/s1600/DSC00607.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD10Hq2r49Zx-lgRdavzBKXSsP8q5Zhxl6O9BhctgPkBJYC7bcwagx54T2MOy6htzxn98LW9YDTHUI5Cib07wmjIS_TVves4PTncMO2S0y7ka7APoUB6Io3cRdUm8ywL8O0O_KLuPXMOw/s320/DSC00607.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
All the bathroom mirrors are in and so is the bath in the main bathroom.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8nvGzDtY_ypvzrk94Nlk8-9UQo_MERF-rHO_KMANdlpfcsj3-MICyD4-z53fimIB7UJX7DRpVD-a6hS7UlGyIaiwprVsp3MmrgQOAhzHH3D5sPzoStVuFEYCjeF-Th199IxO-f_qO5YA/s1600/DSC00618.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8nvGzDtY_ypvzrk94Nlk8-9UQo_MERF-rHO_KMANdlpfcsj3-MICyD4-z53fimIB7UJX7DRpVD-a6hS7UlGyIaiwprVsp3MmrgQOAhzHH3D5sPzoStVuFEYCjeF-Th199IxO-f_qO5YA/s320/DSC00618.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVQzgbDUGtyZ9Rs0dgyWT4bh_T5n2EMT2sk-IRlqY3Sl725R68CnmQ0CfdWYyj8ea6eU26-_2Te8WM0CQgSYGigpHqHH-1dTjuYVNXBeC4hm0dZGpQng6-MCoscxHPvDyJCZy_wsDjP8E/s1600/DSC00619.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVQzgbDUGtyZ9Rs0dgyWT4bh_T5n2EMT2sk-IRlqY3Sl725R68CnmQ0CfdWYyj8ea6eU26-_2Te8WM0CQgSYGigpHqHH-1dTjuYVNXBeC4hm0dZGpQng6-MCoscxHPvDyJCZy_wsDjP8E/s320/DSC00619.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I'm already loving the shelving in the butlers pantry. Plenty of room for anything I can think of. We have plans to change the shelving on the left. After handover we'll remove the middle two shelves and put in a benchtop.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQee3Zz-OyyXmn2U9Aj-9eEx38fvT7MMSdJRrLOSkN91dMSPYn533RUZV2LO1VZVAFAgq5_FZav9wAcWT6bGA_4CZPUir2dcMbjgtJuMd2ElEbCu9m6ispYz_GzDbil_n7-9mtAakSoXU/s1600/DSC00631.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQee3Zz-OyyXmn2U9Aj-9eEx38fvT7MMSdJRrLOSkN91dMSPYn533RUZV2LO1VZVAFAgq5_FZav9wAcWT6bGA_4CZPUir2dcMbjgtJuMd2ElEbCu9m6ispYz_GzDbil_n7-9mtAakSoXU/s320/DSC00631.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPgtIOG5U42bschOHDVJskxwzN-oC2t3AzTjZ9h80Y7qvuheAByQx4Bi7MkDAENhG7wGdA49KNRI0Jbe1YhHr8tx7A0zzC17al3tsx0amRmJGwAXqjLxLcaVN8EOgypTO78qD0NFHmZwQ/s1600/DSC00632.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPgtIOG5U42bschOHDVJskxwzN-oC2t3AzTjZ9h80Y7qvuheAByQx4Bi7MkDAENhG7wGdA49KNRI0Jbe1YhHr8tx7A0zzC17al3tsx0amRmJGwAXqjLxLcaVN8EOgypTO78qD0NFHmZwQ/s320/DSC00632.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
This is the wardrobe fit out in the master bedroom. The additional shelving and drawers were part of the momentum promotion we signed up for.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii61RlmbRo9Wo_VDDr8XKlXRgaZ3EzB43zoPf_StERky-K_Rr0flSiJOhmK0hja43ANImInjhpeMPK6A_okj0MxZrStVUxa8PJYS2y7U3BYXdXhE3YhUe2BkjfdFx916_Q52s95u2PNt0/s1600/DSC00633.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii61RlmbRo9Wo_VDDr8XKlXRgaZ3EzB43zoPf_StERky-K_Rr0flSiJOhmK0hja43ANImInjhpeMPK6A_okj0MxZrStVUxa8PJYS2y7U3BYXdXhE3YhUe2BkjfdFx916_Q52s95u2PNt0/s320/DSC00633.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioPa5RewhDoLkspWT5mpBff4XXC-_3OaCVHrpkSO2zY_ORjAErC28Qzlj6BryNiB1IQ6P4hvsgf5RnjSophJSeHEyx6Luzytbv5AWdLsqf7OrWgkT8J9qsZiOeASkcC2E2wYrkI0YkiP4/s1600/DSC00634.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioPa5RewhDoLkspWT5mpBff4XXC-_3OaCVHrpkSO2zY_ORjAErC28Qzlj6BryNiB1IQ6P4hvsgf5RnjSophJSeHEyx6Luzytbv5AWdLsqf7OrWgkT8J9qsZiOeASkcC2E2wYrkI0YkiP4/s320/DSC00634.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
Here's the ensuite with the double mirrors.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8GRPJOpyegRcbRkD7GkSbE_AD627i67d18YR_8_kYMawMqcV-3AFWTapCSrWxmbrNslX-dDNDA3vOx5p8p93WZZqHrfxua5pOhdDsKt5pz9XYOTHfJcIN-CnAYPJs3YYcHv3QaBAcc2Q/s1600/DSC00635.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8GRPJOpyegRcbRkD7GkSbE_AD627i67d18YR_8_kYMawMqcV-3AFWTapCSrWxmbrNslX-dDNDA3vOx5p8p93WZZqHrfxua5pOhdDsKt5pz9XYOTHfJcIN-CnAYPJs3YYcHv3QaBAcc2Q/s320/DSC00635.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
So what next? I spoke to our SS last night. The kitchen splash backs should already be in (but aren't) so they should go in this coming week. The painter is due back next Saturday and the Metricon inspectors will come through early the following week. Our SS has said that we'll probably do our inspection on Friday 12th. A neighbour suggested that we remove the 'chinaman's hat' light shades before we do our inspections as they make quite a difference to the way the finish on the ceiling looks. We think that the plasterers have done a pretty good job but it won't hurt to take them down.<br />
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Had a look at some carpet options today - quotes ranged between $10,000 and $19,000 for 100% pure NZ wool carpets with premium underlay. Now we're only putting carpet in the bedrooms, kids leisure area, theatre room, sitting room, study and walk-in-robe so $19,000 is a lot of money (and out of our price range) - but boy was the carpet beautiful!Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-64858035906081965312010-10-23T09:59:00.006+11:002010-10-23T10:15:36.518+11:00Closer and closerThursday night I went up at the new house while a potential buyer inspected our current house. Hadn't seen any tradies there for quite a while so I got a pleasant surprise.<br /><div> </div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531009898996786114" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqqYt0aHH5c52YXok6w9AJpmHJXnb8kgWakBcFLafWh49QFeyncMdH6N9Sgej-8wEXCWZ9V-hG88vF49t8yoTbuXjavMr2tLrihfOOUEr-eYshh1FnIfDZt8L0RddStAUVmCyDRbA9JmY/s320/DSC00574.JPG" /><br /><br />The portico has had two coats of render and is just waiting on the top coat which will have the colour in it. This was done about a week ago - I just haven't had a chance to post pictures. So far we're really happy with it. You can see our front door in the picture above - it still needs to be replaced due to the door handle issue. <br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531009913604819458" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFVusxAhIm73LaiNX_Gy-ZIQgWDhPoO-ZnZxIesMzCC4g2yInRK94PvQy-AP8bp2r_BNTsJg-97OfGzWchpk4x-cTvtElcQ_Q-HpI__tzOfPGifXtIUt8eABCtKw7mODJVE7n22gsPb04/s320/DSC00588.JPG" /><br />The kids' mirrored robe doors have been installed and we think they look really good. We disagreed over the mirrored doors - I wanted the framed ones and Wade wanted the frameless. In the end we've gone frameless - I'll probably regret it because they only have a small handle for opening and closing but they do look good.<br /><div><div> </div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531009902913116370" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7QigjJsVNS5N2I_EheX0dO69LPlnphPqQhsompoKtJ37YA6tPLwt6EGt2jOSm9VTUP8L4Bo-O3f890bNKWKAFjmp4bVvxQcbu9lLgL-MRTJllNadIkSslbsxzjMp4APlfCv-ovJ-q8e4/s320/DSC00579.JPG" /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531009911979460050" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMZU1QsXluLkFRrZvu3uHSSGCheKXyGmoCRUJ6ZnfHJRHVoz_jXgMO8ADM-UYN2G8pDPsfW7j2I0UhwtKYocrO2gREVomQfjlRS8JWi7hJb-bUc1gwgYE2eSshCT4MXjUNuNRsN4g7zww/s320/DSC00583.JPG" /></div><div>Excuse the poor quality photos - I had to take them through the windows. The shower screens and mirrors have also been installed. You can see that in the ensuite we've gone for two smaller mirrors with a bevelled edge, instead of one large one. Easy enough to change over if we decide we don't like it in a few years time.</div><div> </div><div>All the fly screens have been installed and a bit of patch work has been done inside the house ready for the painters to arrive. The down pipes and toilets will go in on Monday (we're putting those in) so we're edging closer to the finish line.</div><div></div>Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-55214981853288530052010-10-12T20:01:00.009+11:002010-10-18T18:17:48.698+11:00So what's left?The answer to that question is...not much.<br /><br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5529279054826239042" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGftsWt1zGkNHApHIeM9AIic9L_pxIgNXa74k-JwUtNry1pi5ikT4Og0QVCoLt4WHUNCK5e7Zdn0ffKeDvlkZ8Ad2VWv4QBf5551cCB-5mwlFBuWr41mhp42ziwvuzBmzZ1AFbY7hHESc/s320/DSC00540.JPG" /><br /><br />We met our SS on site tonight and I was really keen to get a close up look at the tiles and the bathrooms and get a bit of an idea about what's left to do.<br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5529279070186701602" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4LwtdzvcjqJboZ03LrvJlejER_i7hTocPjQVc3xgK_qgv8Bj1azm5E4z56h_BSscvsISeqLXRor29cvQExIXauuJerCqJRtnOP9TsTkRKv30yjcJRbf-1N0xLLQLc5F-uNgtWY28kIcU/s320/DSC00554.JPG" /><br /><br />Firstly - the bathrooms. Really love the way they look. In the ensuite we chose to have the short wall of the shower (where the tapware is located) in a dark tile. The idea came from a Metricon promotional magazine, I know not everyone will love it, but we do.<br /><br /><br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5529280660900562194" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo9q-L-U7EzM50XB6MQexljNm7jnRfMGgw4Tv2QCGiTkDR_eHQEZ_HYMVKOgcUp1kKTQYdYHmWwfmMeWRRlEm-YU56uwAPgvgA2zz_qUpSPCR724Oaf0vtexCHBrAAdewHbp5fqFoyG5I/s320/DSC00560.JPG" /><br /><div></div><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5529280665607295490" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9nLwE6YMq4Xky4Ma513p6XLnk-75b2hD8KVlssW-NRo7Yqj78r_kUK6pBL9Z46_1MWV6qHo8WfdqkAfs6UPpGzjs4mzR_AUjlPLiTPFF8xIO9TAcYiufwnGWHdZT_0ytwjoNG6eII1DY/s320/DSC00561.JPG" /></div><div><br /><div></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5529279079155849266" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidbdA9z9e5pJFLTUP4Ob8UbUZGNxP7mX2bJn47DxNwj2hHJfI7UkhB9qGrqkxciPGUmDRPYrCDSZbrj6kBpbOby5XaJhf8Ki1Ecp9rOBfxPCp7uuPl9uRFFnF7dkJD9Dpy2s0_8VX8nI4/s320/DSC00564.JPG" /><br /><div>All the electrical work is complete - we can now turn lights on! There was a small hiccup with the front door. The beautiful $450 long bar handle we selected wasn't installed, instead a standard lever door handle and lock were, so that means a new front door needs to be ordered, stained and installed. No biggie.</div><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5529279059044765906" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGgvan4oXMbyrjNxL-ubJgq3Dys2Kd_RTACXIuNUFzPyhaTuTNAPrOphcD3GpsJau4QCfY6XtmXTF6dEP8GNXKt5whcMWGbZoRPPhGY2mAfXphGyTKwFjy8unVFLKP7TiBSOpUkY316u4/s320/DSC00541.JPG" /> <div>So what's left? Well we've chosen to install our own cooling, carpet and curtains after handover so all that is left is the installation of the shower screens, kitchen splash back and the pantry/linen cupboard/wardrobe fitouts and rendering the portico. The toilets and downpipes need to be installed - but we're doing those and they should happen within the next week. After that it's the touch ups and house clean and then it's on to quality control and inspections.</div><br /><div></div><div></div><div>I started writing this post last Tuesday (12/12 and today is 18/10) and have only just had time to complete it. Since then the temporary fence has been removed, the undercoat has been applied to the portico, the bricks have been cleaned and a partial site clean completed. We're also in discussions with Metricon over the poor workmanship with the termite control and the slab. I will provide more details and pictures in my next post.</div></div>Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-25785667823397810412010-10-08T15:58:00.008+11:002010-10-08T16:25:11.821+11:00Double WhammyI received a double whammy from Metricon yesterday - two invoices on the same day - one for Lock Up and one for Fixing. On the good side that means that all the bricks have been finished (yay) and that things have are progressing inside as well. On the downside those two invoices account for 45% of the construction price - the next loan repayment's going to hurt! <div><div><br /><div></div><div>We met our SS up at the house last night. I was hoping to get a look around inside but the tilers were still on the job - they'd just finished grouting the tiles and washing away the excess so we couldn't go in.</div><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525539714912258658" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivuj8TfzladlorTHFq6NATRuOUEV_yaRJN0IJgZzdErAlnk_iObHiCd-ZCH-SUrPTZ61jyAnVfVdxehRubqZJrYkWfIUVJUQmWUoOUw8DKXM5GOWq400YhjcfSF1_COAKO7Chwx9JBqKM/s320/DSC00488.JPG" /><br /><div></div><div>I was so pleased to see the bricks finished. After all my worrying there wasn't a problem with the colour of the bricks and I really like the way the house looks. We're so glad that we mentioned that the half built portico pillar was too small, because the bigger size looks really good.</div><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525539724287275282" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCqmK2wITcleletpXSlnYErsO45NCPiKFjLEwI96BOztbA9VC81t4Apuej4Oy4wSG4GIYyP6p-HNAiPMJBdfio1wIjD9ExlleCmN9aaIha8gu1mvuOM7uzuE9a9SApfVUvkJGtWMphNwM/s320/DSC00487.JPG" /><br /><div></div><div>Peering through our bedroom window I could get a bit of a look at the tiling in our ensuite. All the floor and wall tiles have been completed and my spa has been installed. Shower screens are due to go in today - not sure when the basins go in.</div><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525539729145804994" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhubKp6ofkKOh4RkJ7uE0vJ1d_DGSjhqsjXz__Nv_tuM3Xyqn3RTpwqMrmZzN_xghD0-PuQbxKJ_q9o4T2tpBicMWmbXXDO-Jsp3s8HI2d9z7GQLw7B3oelWycCsSi64m_W_YOovi29b5w/s320/DSC00491.JPG" /><br /><div></div><div>Our SS has scheduled the rest of the things that need doing to complete the house and it looks like everything will be done by the end of October, so if all goes well handover should be around mid-November (touch wood) which allows time for any defects to be fixed.</div></div></div>Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-23181955306671034952010-09-30T12:40:00.009+10:002010-09-30T13:03:59.159+10:00<span style="font-family:arial;">Day 126 and we have tiles. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Pretty happy with the way it's all going so far. At the moment the tiles stretch from the garage internal access door all the way through the house, including the entry, kitchen/dining/family room, pantry bathrooms etc.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522533565872210978" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXzGk_CEkI_p9uIzLf9QPhW7M-SqXAVQQPOVpU-4lPVdeLNPQtHEaK0n-ZWtIFc1apIr6c2w50WDHxROnekY-HGyKwufvUNTCxWEfIxSBbc0vlFXpEf6C9wOjg5RIaNa9mXeuyhjQXgf4/s320/DSC00444.JPG" /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><p><span style="font-family:arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522533570789725938" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPHVPq0OM9RZZaolbmsJNyvkbiCYLvTkBfvxVZb1Ch-p1V7y63iF6t04uJ6k01W6lUCuwVtcyg0IDJRnJT5yM650qnHvQeBfsImNI6ymFbAoCbPZT7gTyI1hHiASbsiGXBqo6cOr0CLhI/s320/DSC00447.JPG" /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522533556801312882" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWVQSk7GqLqUVczt43P-9UYO7Bx49ZoJDy2lBIrKh5am6ouKRxKrHejqQeCrk27zh3rUyxf5CYmTwD7aY-lRMEFkoBDNRKCjYcFlyCWlPMboat5gO5zMEy3C7MPgFpGW45FLcRUdGSulw/s320/DSC00437.JPG" /></span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">We've run out of bricks, so at the moment the bricking has come to a halt while we wait for three more pallets of bricks. One of the portico pillars is partially built, but will have to come down as it has been built too small. It's not a major problem and we probably could have left it, but we both felt the house would look better with the pillars the bigger size. Given all the dramas we have had with the bricks, we're very concerned that the new ones wont match the rest of the house!</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Our SS has moved to a different area and we are the last house in this area that he is coordinating. In some ways that's good - he knows all the ins and outs of the job so far, on the down side there doesn't seem to be a lot of 'supervising' going on at the moment. Maybe that's normal? Everything seems to have really slowed down.</span></p>Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-59447134511637052582010-09-22T22:24:00.005+10:002010-09-22T22:52:17.196+10:00Just for Mum<div><div><span style="font-family:arial;">Got back to the house yesterday with my camera and went a little bit snap happy. So Mum, here are some extra photos just for you (and me, 'cos I'm pretty excited about this house).</span></div><div align="center"><div align="center"><br /> </div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519715151290120882" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0MdkeflxZqfTCPqQZADt29ICssHrmkbt4NEccZjw-6q-drwxH9Fyge5wet-Uss5QZt4boJ0dXzkw7gIqHTsM2WGT2zr-UH1ov4eONCzjdV-MBdfVCiarwdiDgSNWirLHAnrE6sOYElFU/s320/DSC00268.JPG" /><span style="font-family:arial;">The bricks continue to creep around the house.</span></div><span style="font-family:arial;"><div> </div><div align="center"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519715163387683074" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrvF5P66qa0A1lewgdKbnC0oN9_A5u-gTYFvfOrh365EXUdnfxQEawLkNJsbkRhUCybYbnTKQThxYOEZItA4shdei9T1bRHh0yu6EvZ-_MwIFr-TEzcno4knKBe8cXPLJxEZOCp5Ml0Sw/s320/DSC00276.JPG" /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519718092500939714" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi69CVsY-maJjTkO2fKxIWTJo5yhcLoZsshu6bYcR9hy33uJj3Dgw3MPJNYVg3xYkUWohx3W8dj7fA28UJOtPMsA9wc1qDV_p5TE9-7LwZCzOvXb0Ar1mpuJ1d4cDO9cbiVX0sFEEfmtL8/s320/DSC00320.JPG" /><br /></span><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519715161929838802" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdY-Q6cfxlAO4_fTfJ0HQHgnrxL8w-NrMrHuKs5DaQrc7MrNJiqjgjOl6NIwgBeT2IxMna-1fdw70cxPi02QPjp1D_T0RZouFwmwtHxlRWhDYG_l1j1RK34OOnLXCxrRPcoSXJvKi_eRk/s320/DSC00277.JPG" /><span style="font-family:arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519718088468839074" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBtgaKBhHz7zB0Qp29XHZ8_6QqfJJMHlWIfexF9SQyS2uMWdl9ZK3inUM_cLC4l7ICRvx00tL8PMRfuoZ7IhU_hHYbHTIw1yj4jtUKKwxwitvt1IxZojVhs_37GefcsEYEFC0XGpemOFQ/s320/DSC00300.JPG" />A few different views in the kitchen<br /></span><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519718084445235890" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW0HZIZaxU1wd4pcE9IRg5RplR54eFdFqlWNKG1iFc905-lz_TDwPiqHiPW0LsD4nSFkCxcoqwO96wuRrjOhP60UBHtZeCvK-OqP5KWPvVObzo2DmTJJQkyiGwc-YXEqXn0jjAdeWN9s4/s320/DSC00281.JPG" /></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></div><div align="center"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Last, but definitely not least, my fabulous sewing room. Can't wait to get set up in there.<br /></span></div></div>Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-18917813421579367062010-09-21T12:45:00.014+10:002010-09-21T14:20:18.879+10:00It's all coming together<span style="font-family:arial;">Day 118. We're so excited, the house is all coming together and we think it looks beautiful.</span><br /><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">Wade called in at the house last night to see how the bricks were progressing and the house had been left unlocked, so I went straight around to check out the inside. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519210764610572978" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrG4gKcWnvbxteBrtoaPuobwul5vvFJny37xV7j0FXS8n8LQhTTITy0z0Nd5fqXkrBIPJ7B13qRFrZA4p8EEw1BrCVg9RM_41VsoC7cf42ZyqoTaSLIKTNMMZ4WNfsJl3OqCoiMj8UZoE/s320/20092010022.jpg" /><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">All the internal painting has been completed, there are a couple of areas that will need a touch up but nothing major. The finish is just beautiful. Our gorgeous timber front door and timber bi-part doors have been stained and they looked fantastic. The front door won't go up for a little while yet, but it looks great.</span><br /></div></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519210775793064786" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhclcFn7g_WieCLlTZWRHMLuNsW3n-ypVv52uXoYqWwxIuGv0Sfq4kRfAFya81aPtNMa2j9qACeuva_4oKtLR30QlTjtLS4yIvp_XbmdlY1fzxIozXOHfrnGuqAnAigmAf4D5ocxbfNuBM/s320/20092010024.jpg" /></span></div></div><div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 206px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 266px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519210792737801298" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfLD-Scvl8dLYqBgjNwi5u4fD_o8AlhvJ-akDi0t1zYafn8gx9XXRV3urlOcftShctK5fRw6tYnFDPzS73C2R0jEVD5AjMXxL9UCGm1naEGMPIIujsTmB06MK5YwPnT8TEK_-vnV7b34o/s320/20092010027.jpg" /></div><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519213810798015122" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbjwVXm3ohNhfAUpHw-CCzkvFfbEJPhjJtgpvV18pu9j6Mq9oprE0bBdKjoTv8EVPSM9tKzBlx9n5foGFYnu5TOLkMoXb2Hn7FgEYZzyZjJUscKSbj_HuYL8pvEY100ryd-DOa_ZmD4Js/s320/20092010039.jpg" /><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">The electricians have been and about half of the house now has lights and all our switches and power points have been fitted. So glad we went with the slim line option, they look fantastic. All our vents for the ducted heating have been installed and the remote is hanging on the wall.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;">All the stone bench tops have been fitted and the cabinet handles have been installed.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519215551548069186" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuZ_R3t_vglGGMKMNxuMAIYfe_zWb30mtULfMyT6ByTfY3Ezfg5PQwsdfVHP5CTwKhbF0Ax57CZ-2iNkaXHPhJGpUqD28XO3Ap3fJocj9GzDKF4hVXqzdfCw2lu8N3ZcvQs7NMJiru3DI/s320/20092010029.jpg" /> <div></div><div><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519210808630579442" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkK7uPwhAcQM8qv-CATAWq3HRvta8T7kkt4Iy34gl-1T3SriAaKZcOlytjp-3g_KM8LxtZSpE8-qPxnlbip1UyjaEubhJR15b2Kj_Swa79HJXIDhu6LBy-LLP47ZN_W_e11wobIT5he_Q/s320/20092010040.jpg" /></div><br /><div></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;">According to My Metricon and the internal communication board, our wall tiling will commence today. Of course my camera went flat after one photo yesterday so I've only got mobile phone pictures. Hopefully I'll be able to get back there later in the week with my camera and there might even be some tiles to check out!</span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-55024584541696524192010-09-14T20:40:00.004+10:002010-09-14T21:00:28.944+10:00Finally!<div><div><div><span style="font-family:arial;">Day 111 and I finally have some pictures of our bricks to show.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5516719769680440530" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Xwuu-ZQGiHVNAi25_W766pEIprah1gIX1DPkMVXTEn68NDsiV37i2YBJF8MMp1ILx74nguyYLBPavCKY2PhQynnt0q9OyBMb_y0yxUWbqePPPJ_fuLI-xzVZ6XywG5fCSKdGBqESegQ/s320/DSC00233.JPG" /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;">The bricks started going up last Tuesday and I had a bit of a panic when I saw them last Tuesday evening. It was just before night fall and in the low light the bricks looked nearly as patchy as the first lot. So Wednesday night we were back on site again with the brickie and the SS checking it out. We washed the bricks down and had a good look in better light and we were much happier with them.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span> </div><span style="font-family:arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5516719758105312594" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrl_Yoyt5MkaiOSV1EUUVWAB0ek34xqpEcKBkc_TZjYOrWriJ0fWa0IlvpJVjXazgZmhJsMgmwZdaWpzfWG4iYXPTOUorAC7GQm5sHbvxFqBwlVibZKB3xsOoWWohUHkyRE51yulo1yVM/s320/DSC00236.JPG" /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5516719752901930818" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF3Typ-S_HYbdCncUJUAuq4h59QnLfbpiO1ADe20bqi3tVQedDGPF3j4c3zknVkHr432scVh6CzpOXCABQYolPJcnbarw5pUafgMnsuRWSSe8LFeKDIXZtpwclDzMUN7vUZIOm2u3aKk8/s320/DSC00231.JPG" />I'm impressed with how quickly the bricks are going up, with a little bit of luck the bricks will possibly be finished by the end of next week.<br /><br /></span><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><span style="font-family:arial;">I had a quick look through the house on Friday evening, but <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">forgot</span> to take the camera with me. Not a huge amount of progress on the inside. All the cabinet doors have now been attached and the ceilings, cornice, architraves and skirting boards have all been painted. According to My <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Metricon</span> (which our SS tells us to take no notice of) our wall tiling is due for completion on the 20<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">th</span>. Hopefully I'll have some interior pictures to show later in the week.</span><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div></div></div>Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-37012087644206864362010-09-05T09:52:00.008+10:002010-09-05T10:27:47.098+10:00The Brick Saga<div><span style="font-family:arial;">So here's the house after the <a href="http://denverdialogue.blogspot.com/2010/08/plastered.html">patchwork bricks</a> were pulled down and the site cleaned.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><span style="font-family:arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513211819130349906" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqvgiZpC6U8A9r-_piEy-BQD3QeE1-cvodOYhh8eZ_0nUBKTzMyP-e0pLgK5-7xg38L1tNcb2Hpsgg5RLMl_ENBofZl2V2FT4gv0DAB9Csum9JDx5CWhgmCtxEuJIEZUnp-eGjS0_n8eM/s320/DSC00092.JPG" /><br /></span><div></div><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513211810122077378" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsbttvO0-9Z63XNnsqhpUIOwr9Llo10ia0yMcRqypLDGN_rXa-ZfyTqkypy8WMbBqAzoDW9klfsisu57c0EiAYdJ_BJiuOhHDrbEH1qSBSSpec4RyDvjq4qyNxg_V4nsCFezpw-AGdIHk/s320/DSC00091.JPG" /></span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Our SS and the Austral Bricks representative said that we were unlucky and unfortunately it was a bad batch of bricks, some had been in the kiln a lot longer than others resulting in the darker colour. Austral told us that it would be at least three weeks before another batch would be made and our SS suggested that we select a different brick.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Austral rep dropped in some samples of similar bricks and we went back through all the brochures. There was nothing that we really liked so we called our SS and had a chat with him. The hold up with the bricks wasn't a major problem for Metricon because they couldn't find a bricky to do the job, all their usual guys were on other jobs. </span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Austral rep came up with a solution. They would sort the bricks before they put them on the truck so that we had a consistent colour.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Here's what arrived.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513214420634422802" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN09_gFVPxWI8L4Z6bmpKFwDCATsIwf0zthIrzobn-jQWCxKMr5KgU-HuX4iybtftt4BSxHmVM66xIl65D9I5xm-SOGdIwRRwXEqtsD9MVuzvr9JznCQxSsJ6ZmTTTthG7neYXDk2IM6I/s320/DSC00133.JPG" />You can imagine how frustrated and unimpressed we were. They were even worse than the first lot we had received. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">We've now had a third lot of bricks delivered. By this stage we were quite wary of anything said by Austral. We looked over the bricks ourselves and there is still some variation between the pallets. The bricks are suppsed to be so similar that they don't need mixing.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">On Wednesday Wade had a meeting on site with our SS and the Austral rep. They built a couple of 'walls' with the bricks to get an idea of how they would look. We gave our SS the go ahead to use them, he had a bricky lined up to start on Thursday. </span></p><span style="font-family:arial;">Our SS rang us late Thursday to say that the bricky had been to check out the job and had decided that it was too big, he wasn't going to do it. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">At this point we were beginning to wonder if our house was ever going to be bricked (bearing in mind that the bricking was originally set for early July). The SS rang us on Friday to say that he had a bricky lined up to start on Monday and that he is someone that he has worked with for years and will do a good job.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">So cross your fingers for us, hopefully I'll have some progress to show you on Monday.<br /></span>Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-646704288515417542010-09-02T09:37:00.011+10:002010-09-02T10:03:24.794+10:00Cabinets<div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;">It's day 99 and it has been a while since my last post. There has been a fair bit going on. Nothing has changed on the outside of the house (update on the brick situation tomorrow), but the inside is moving along nicely.</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;">Last time I posted the cornice was going up. Since then all the skirting and architraves have also been put up. The floors have been levelled, internal doors installed, the first coat of paint has gone on and our cabinets have been installed.</span></div><div align="left"></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512097383967064066" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWGgRZYWtNckBasktw5WJs7U4SKxPUJ1V2_4rAPBwnkD6uxVR9wZJZGQUmO5jmeSGunw8-lRvTaMuiBE7MmcyM0Goe6G6OJFTL91_EXYpjxmNPmrOx8utj2vmRZy-5vNmiZa367kNI5Js/s320/DSC00152.JPG" /></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;">Kitchen</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;">We're really pleased with the cabinets. It's always hard to tell how the final product will look when you select a colour using the tiny swatches but we love the way it has all come together. The 'templates' for the kitchen <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">benchtops</span> are still attached in the photos. Soon they'll be taken away so that the stone can be cut.</span></div><p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512097402154787714" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVTcdNAr3e7g7s_rGmMhs7ySCJ_c0znRXiyIuAXs0ToJ1hGDdzSfaKHDY8G2YWlHeavIlaMKB_sV9Ldi-UL-8EGK3-fVouCU40WvSe9dWhy4XpncbUneTOdo9eum9z662n77Z7EMLhlso/s320/DSC00155.JPG" /></p><p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512097394202471458" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgykyKXOnRqBhk76Z8YCZcEtmnujGKZtE1w73Ykue4LoC3kNN30bksX69gLSjWipqmc0ibXT57IWU0fsUOIlyVyZsnvGYn8mZQ3JEUeDtfmkc4gNdh4ChN35b7enfLh3fJu9UtNa8Ev26g/s320/DSC00157.JPG" /></p><p align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Ensuite</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Our laundry <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">benchtop</span> will have to be replaced as they installed the wrong trough and the correct one has a smaller cut out, but that's no big drama. </span></p><p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512097369251902722" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvnYJQu_dirirSok1pvqr6E0hdM-C1mMdJmAZPF7FDe27omD_6yh5dQeihdHmyeqGh-1FGmzdGFaXfHfk96jJwJmOkmmSQVGnQo8b5F7Km-893bmUcaKdGU1xk5uf8ZRVw8tcsiPuL818/s320/DSC00149.JPG" /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The kitchen window is slightly lower than we expected. On two of the detailed drawings it shows glass <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">splashback</span> behind the sink, then the architrave and then the window. One other drawing has no <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">splashback</span> and the architrave flush with the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">benchtop</span> and that is how our window has been installed. Not a big deal, just not what we were expecting. We were given the option of having a smaller window installed (at our expense) to match first two drawings, but I really like the big window so that is what we're going with. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Update on the outside coming tomorrow.<br /></span></p>Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-86413630313148763192010-08-13T11:36:00.004+10:002010-08-13T11:51:39.943+10:00And they all fall down<div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP8ZreT3fq5vQSD1pKkSEdXRk8KC3WqyHd9gASKCpyYlMO7eanogbWKMSEyw57UWncBE9z0HTMiqJaRmPBjeqPhB0H_xEZu_bfDzNFDBn6dw_3yvvRoEwa0q1BVpNrpQT1484zGDaQ8ck/s1600/DSC00061.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504705178680434930" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP8ZreT3fq5vQSD1pKkSEdXRk8KC3WqyHd9gASKCpyYlMO7eanogbWKMSEyw57UWncBE9z0HTMiqJaRmPBjeqPhB0H_xEZu_bfDzNFDBn6dw_3yvvRoEwa0q1BVpNrpQT1484zGDaQ8ck/s320/DSC00061.JPG" /></a> <div><span style="font-family:arial;">Well not quite - but all the previous bricking has been removed. The Austral Bricks truck has been there a couple of times to check out what needs doing to remove the bad lot. They'll all need to be restacked, wrapped in plastic and loaded back on the truck before our new bricks can be delivered. Not sure when that will happen.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504705186018370050" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIixxtrMMGxPIuwdQlQe0G4i41PqZq2_ktyHs9Lpv2J-AoxFL4TWDdwZLbgmuks4uJXsEhYZ6fbZ6WO1HFgQdOyeBOavaidtgpjMoKStB46s-d0c9ovtxGs_WzE8Ks4UfeqcFHhLzsw6c/s320/DSC00067.JPG" /></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;">Yesterday the last of the cornice went up. The plasterers have done a pretty good job, there are some bits that could be better (a dip where the cornice is joined - that type of thing), but overall not too bad.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504705193120247970" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnYUWW52814nXrY4l1zdYsaX1ORHTEzq47eDXLsdIaKVm-VXgznuPhIq542cN_Xl_MsES4eLKOcU5GqXZjDDuW68nsj8Ik9ibR4wftrB1zDYUxeRR3ePtsHW4HBq8x_mqnLwY9ta4swQs/s320/DSC00068.JPG" /><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">You can see the channeling that has been cut in the floor for the electrical conduit. Our SS was as annoyed as we were about this. You can see the black marks on the floor outlining where the island bench will be. All the had to do was channel back to the bench (approx 300mm) and the same on the other side where the conduit comes out in the butlers pantry rather than level with the wall. As you can see they chose to go right across the floor, which was time consuming and unnecessary. Thankfully they haven't cut through any of the reo. It turns out that common sense isn't always common!</span></div></div></div>Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-19030304468054836002010-08-10T17:19:00.006+10:002010-08-10T17:38:48.150+10:00PlasteredDay 76. Our dodgy bricks were pulled down today - I don't have photos of that yet and I'm not sure I really want to see it. It was necessary but it still feels as though we're going backwards instead of forwards.<br /><p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503679705885121506" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUfBwqNnejTaOkqWHpJToY1jlZjjukrhjjqbHzub7WHYBuHAMuxjrGfd0HE55W1W2_4O2fgMsgflB97jBtd5rs_qBs72ngYU0V0j1GfzkHfnzVhL1L6m4IvAyLgTmlqsucmB5Z7HYANcI/s320/dodgy+bricks.JPG" />In the picture above you can see the amount of variation in the brick. It's not Metricon's fault, we just got a bad batch. Austral tried to get the brickies to toss out the really dark ones, but with the bricks being wet it's incredibly difficult to tell which were too dark. Our SS did mention that we could let the bricking continue and then have the house rendered at the end, but we really preferred the bricks. </p>On a happier note - the plaster is just about complete. It's all up and the cornices were all cut today and should be put up tomorrow.<br /><br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503679720593517314" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFWClw8TyZnxG6tLEisWC2eYBZKLpbGbOc70rvNfJDiWD2gsrIGig1bneuyuwo-PURdnzwnJTJhZ03XsUmmzwLsGn7NqJAiIW3yjFDjf1NG0hPNNy4k31Dzftb9fwSGIVYvZ2bC5NYnIk/s320/DSC00011.JPG" /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503679734520899314" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsVqpeSnPn9crTjHadq0wnHynn8JJLWY5BGvTTYHLXKKkzbgwHn5tJW_MLobdKIdfUziE1-QoSI58hU-fhsTVs6Tg-p5lvsFmnI4F_3zTnSaNG3H9VapHotkc2Sd6lJ1C5sKMlFO2EuEA/s320/DSC00016.JPG" /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503679726464453042" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhssiOP5sVAAxRqxkJxb18AU7wlnphoAHKkQe7-Zygye0IAIipaj7NwNZoCoG9IdKOVaMVWOTJ5oyP3sWQyVm1FSkSVa-G9lsJFIGnyWZQppVfQ3QN5v5M99lVj5kdM_AwUSqMCgAK6TLI/s320/DSC00014.JPG" /><br />Our SS also mentioned that the kitchen floor will levelled this week, ready for tiling to start. Not sure when that is due but hopefully not for a few weeks yet. According to the engineers our slab needs to sit for at least three months before tiling commences.Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-83061559003271007082010-08-05T17:18:00.009+10:002010-08-05T17:42:45.620+10:00It's enough to make you cry<span style="font-family:arial;">Day 71. As you can see from our time line over on the right hand side our bricks started going up on Tuesday. Today we talked to our SS and they will have to come right back down again. To top it all off our new camera has disappeared. It really is enough to make you cry!<br /></span><div></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">I stoppped in at the house at lunchtime on Tuesday and the brickies had done about three panels. They'd done a great job - really neat and clean. I wasn't really that concerned by the dark patch, I thought it was a combination of wet bricks and shadow. Tuesday night Wade had a look and took the picture below. We chose Harvest Malt from Austral Bricks - they are supposed to have only very mild variations and don't need to be mixed. You can see from the image below that they're not mild variations!</span> </div><div></div><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501824796110502466" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD9PQXEAyV6G9t2r9Pea46OXAKRypxBic2UWD938LTyug1HCfS0FuH1BoN9ihsVnMWSVP5NCpXGWAIySWL5oge9KjnbE3UYJHFOwNaPs6qqi2sZYBiDqc8U5p7kPIZNYInyEryrhw_p-0/s320/03082010.jpg" /></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;">Before our SS inspected the bricks it was suggested that we could have the darker bricks bleached to match. When we were down at the house tonight our SS said that the walls looked like a checker board (and they do) and would have to come down. If they don't come down now the only alternative is to render the whole house on completion and that's not what we want.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;">Our SS said that he'll keep pushing the inside along but it could be another month now before any more bricking is done.</span></div><div> </div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;">On a more positive note the wonderful lady in accounts got back to me very quickly with an amended statement of account which included the credit and we were also able to talk to the cabinet maker and get the laundry benchtop and cabinets fixed up - just in the nick of time too as they were starting to build the cabinetry this week.</span> </div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div>Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-42162729284583706952010-08-01T10:31:00.003+10:002010-08-01T10:40:01.709+10:00Check and double check everythingStill no action on the brick front, apparently when our SS was off sick the brickies decided they no longer wished to work for Metricon, so now we have brickies from another area coming in to do ours. Our SS talked them through the job on Friday so fingers crossed we'll see some action this coming week.<br /><br />Our insulation was installed on Friday so there was some progress. We decided to add some additional sound proofing insulation and luckily we were able to deal directly with the contractors.<br /><br />Here's the link in to the title. I was flicking through our colour schedule today and I found an error. The colours for the laundry benchtop and cabinets had been reversed. so our benchtop will be brown and our cabinets white (yuck - not the look we were after!!). We'll call the cabinet maker directly to see whether the cabinets have been built or not. If they have, I'm not sure there is much we can do - it's their mistake but we did sign off on it. If it hasn't been built then we have a chance to get it fixed.<br /><br />Must have been the day for finding errors. Every time I looked at our statement of account I felt a little niggle that something wasn't quite right, so I sat down and went through all our variations and compared them to what was listed. Turns out I was right. There is a $965 credit missing from the statement. Needless to say I've sent off a couple of emails today.Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-19829482726824266492010-07-28T19:55:00.011+10:002010-07-28T20:22:54.778+10:00Pictures, but not much progress<div><div><div><div><span style="font-family:arial;">Day 63 and I thought I would be showing you pictures of some bricks. Unfortunately the bricks are still wrapped up on their pallets. I think the only people on site today were the plumbers who installed the solar panels for the hot water.</span> </div></div><div><div><br /></div><div></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498896533643322402" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzihm3lW8ZjvJp6rP-_jMyVE0mldsmlGr7DcvnYM5OoNCLOEfxwQR2rKlxOCBppAvS-XVYx-gucsi5g5vIY2qlkVT2x3Cj9HAAYhDA_12QAbboXVQu15yw138mVd0CiERIuLgWfDR_EOY/s320/DSC02806.JPG" /><br /><br /><div></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498896537466855522" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPkcEO_ibYV7Fx_pduVUSH3phvxK9m-Z9N7DN1MgGUDTLKZejBV8MtNh5p7nN7Wopi6ZD1SuzvOR7XiA2X6NKYf9DRtL0zxj5OxiHQ2NF4Cw7EbwwejPcumQV5URjD05Q53eTtATSVjBI/s320/DSC02809.JPG" /> <div></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;">I had a great time wandering around the house taking photos - there's still a long way to go but I really love our house. We took a bit of a gamble with the floor plan as there are no Denver 43s in Victoria available for inspection. We drove down to <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Traralgon</span> to look through the Denver 31 and thought that it was OK, but we didn't love it. So we're lucky our gamble has paid off!</span></div><div> </div><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498897685558904562" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh83s9JLUUkrepeN4Anexp2_tNB45CaCnDzfQWALq202KlmxptgqKcfhXS-VY06mXr3GFF0L4rMBrgpmbOKbYf1BDZFD8rfucgjeWFRY3izs3fOI8-zR7WjS7ABeINAeF2lrNIXIJal3xY/s320/DSC02817.JPG" /></div><div> </div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;">Our 4 star <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Bonaire</span> ducted heater (above) some of the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">ductwork</span> (below)</span></div><div> </div><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498897688869843746" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM3fAMuqdfsgTrZYZK_DAltC_cj7TyLYFzIGPqX6yWRsIshyHG3FksMwmS4JQCJ1wXv_c1_9YvRen0HynNmnDzlk1RdOAiv_qypqt-fP1hQNaR6RkkJLGYcLYPscHVSkHRjY4VGZXe4Tg/s320/DSC02818.JPG" /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">This photo is looking into our kitchen. At the moment you can see right through to our <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">ensuite</span>, but you can also see all the electrical cable hanging down, bits of conduit and some of the plumbers pipework.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498897698638318002" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUy1M7D7p7P9vMb4_LAjRmnMaaQBoCvgBOzTxOSOS4zuNhq3vCVHIQbyFqQQ_wUJKQzXykoi2O2K0o-9tvs9m7z6Yx2juSbRDkgXJ_KDCz-UtZRjmovAiyBUg-tr419l5tqmTa40-pW7E/s320/DSC02835.JPG" /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></div><span style="font-family:arial;">I shouldn't even say it, but hopefully tomorrow the brickies will be <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">on site</span>. The insulation is going in on Monday so I'd really like at least a bit of the brickwork done. I know we've had the weather wrap done but I still worry that with all the rain we've had, and are <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">forecast</span> to have for the next week, that the insulation will get wet.<br /></span><div> </div></div></div></div>Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-82664136448433349132010-07-27T18:53:00.008+10:002010-07-27T19:19:37.378+10:00Latest happenings<span style="font-family:arial;">Since my last post some progress has been made on a few of the problems we have identified. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Concrete boxing and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">reo</span> has been set up in a couple of places where the house frame was overhanging the slab to support the brickwork. Our SS told us that the exposed <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">reo</span> will be fixed this week and the brickies are due to start tomorrow.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The plumbers have been and roughed in all the interior pipework. We were a bit surprised to find pipework that hadn't been properly clipped, but this is easily fixed before plastering begins. The duct work and heating unit have been installed - I'm really looking forward to having ducted heating next winter.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Our chippie has been on site to straighten walls and check that everything is OK.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The electricians were on site today running cables for <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">the</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">power points</span> and lights. Due to the size and length of our house (and the associated electrical demands) a secondary power board is being installed in our linen cupboard. A bit disappointed with the locations of some <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">power points</span>, in many rooms we have two double <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">power points</span> on one wall. We thought that the outlets would be evenly spaced, both 600mm in from the adjoining walls, however one is right in the very corner and the other is about 600mm in. These aren't hard to fix before the plaster is done, but that's not how our electrical layout plan looks. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I'm really looking forward to seeing the progress the brickies make tomorrow and will <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">definitely</span> have photos. Our new camera has arrived but I ran out of daylight to get proper photos today.</span>Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-91312342216251623052010-07-19T17:46:00.005+10:002010-07-19T17:51:35.663+10:00Locked outAfter my little whinge last night it was good to find out that a few things have happened today. <br /><br />The roofers have been back and the roof is now complete - the whirly bird isn't there yet but that's not a big drama. The internal garage door has been put up complete with lock and the temporary front door now has a lock on it too. So while I'm glad that some progress has been made, I'm a bit sad that I can't wander the rooms of my new house anymore. There's no pleasing some people ;)<br /><br />As soon as we replace our broken camera I'll post some pictures.Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-86246395488246109302010-07-18T13:18:00.004+10:002010-07-18T13:23:00.452+10:00WaitingSo this week has been a total loss. Not one thing has been done on the house. <br /><br />Our SS is still on sick leave so we sent an email to our Customer Service Coordinator (CSC) and the area manager with a list of all the major issues with the house as it stands at the moment. Received a reply letting me know they're looking into it. So now we're up to week five of exposed reo in our slab and the rust continues to get slowly get worse. They are very quick on one thing though - sending out their invoices for payment. We've now paid for 45% of our house.Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-28300844778593863042010-07-08T22:51:00.009+10:002010-07-08T23:18:22.712+10:00Things that make you go HmmmFirst a progress picture.<br /><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5491522004103598098" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKhf0cAcWNJwB_1Q8rYQ23aR_Sh_E6rego28SYOniTvNdfuHwq1Xw5_Kz4sTVkJbTRHFKlx_cvRjoUct7lkpxzGGdmslMH_No_xc8Tubjc-jAXvYyvq0OaP7EKVuIdU427ixYSfWamsw8/s320/Roof.JPG" />Love the way the colorbond roof and the gutter and fascia look.<br /></span></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left">Really excited to get to the block and see that about a third of our roof has been installed. Not so thrilled to discover that there is no weather wrap under the colorbond. A quick phone call to our out-of-action SS (he has done his back) and he tells us that weather wrap under the roof is an optional extra. What the ...? We're planning a quick call to the Plumbing Industry Commission tomorrow. Wade and a bunch of his mates are all plumbers and they all agree that there should be sarking under the colorbond, however they can't be absolutely positive that it's a regulation and not just something that is strongly recommended (and just good practice/service). </div><div align="left"><br /></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5491522646780946082" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKD_j8366s2prwZ1To2D8ML4aK61NkahW9iyq6q6b0vbuXis65W6UDwrdt6qJ76xL0h0pjRveOKUt5khIFo9rN5U96_V-X3HnBA7TkLnlFayxuKRNqsj801KokWLGT09LK3ngfjZjYUvw/s320/half+round+gutter.JPG" /> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">Love the look of the half round guttering<br /></span></p><p align="left">The most frustrating part of this is that we were never given the option. At no time was this raised. I went back and looked right through all the information given to us prior to our selection appointment and it wasn't on the checklist or any information provided in the kit. It was also never raised during our selection appointment - although that is hardly surprising given our consultant rushed us through in just over 2 hours, was completely disinterested and didn't know how to navigate to, or around, the Studio M website.<br /></p><br />So if it's a regulation, then the roof will come down and the sarking will be installed. If not, then we have been told the house is too far along for us to make any changes including installing a bigger hot water service, so I assume sarking will be out of the question!Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-62894950672997187282010-07-07T14:22:00.013+10:002010-07-07T15:02:56.334+10:00It's a wrapYou guessed it, the weather wrap has been applied to the house. It doesn't feel like a lot has happened since my last post, but at least we're still moving along.<br /><br /><br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5491018934139222930" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhCPAHdNI5Xfqt7aDu1XQiZ1FPytQr6d4y_2Ed6_E_ExaNtH1Hjz0N0IqKaV-eZ0XxObQd5j8AupyIZPm9ZeWzLTA70B57zATe8H8Ih_q-1DZoL3ld8foIijL8u-aplIm5otQ4q4do8mU/s320/wrap+1.JPG" /> <div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">Excuse the pile of rubbish - not sure if this is normal but apparently it's too far to walk to the rubbish cage.</span></div><br /><p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5491019628572750546" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM-W9V-2AyOFDMVshtpS9_x90RdyKOCfm6EvzqJ5njQfZX5zvsrEafyrPgVc4-jEN1QUbwJkP7O45wFl2F31uOAQ86rq93U-f6Ru3tCSli8kpzO7AlknHsYd2p23lcKrpvEqpUACjfAN4/s320/wrap+front+door.JPG" /></p><p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">Our front door</span></p><p>Here's what has happened:<br />* All the roof trusses are up,<br />* Fascia and guttering have been installed,<br />* Safety railing for the roofing has been installed,<br />* Weather wrap has been applied,<br />* Plumbers have started,<br />* Bricks and sand have been delivered,<br />* We received our Frame Stage invoice (thanks to the Reserve Bank for not lifting interest rates this month, much appreciated!)<br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5491020108831828562" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3d4SpVWudqS-aSFptjdHEb6Hm2CZSnCLgfZQgy9hWydxvyRBVcxBXioEBr9ZvoXxtcUqQn9evR-b-VGzeOKStg87nd8O7YnrBTDNAh5a880W6RmCwcp8fNkbj7RoUnJdvI7VJ0lyd7ro/s320/sand+and+bricks.JPG" /> </p><p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">Brickies sand all ready to go</span></p><span style="font-size:78%;"><p align="left"><br /></span>According to My Metricon, the roof was due to be completed yesterday. That hasn't happened, however the colorbond and whirly bird have been delivered.<br /></p><p align="center"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 198px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 122px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5491022814247957250" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3-1A0EDJvGJauKUjte01tw6qsQ12pVM60nskSvOsHQypiAr7epFDAW3BNXs4M5vtdarzwxD7t0Oax6-UoRCOsXx5Ve7QWKDv56Ld5r3acZ9aOZGRMePni8yy_Ziby_5xa2ckftsIzFto/s320/DSC02654.JPG" /><span style="font-size:78%;">Can you see the rusting steel and all the water just sitting around the house, rather than draining away from the house?</span><br /></p><p align="left">The brickwork is due to be finished on the 15th. Not sure if we'll hit that timeframe either. There are still some issues with the slab that need fixing before the bricking can be completed. Out Site Supervisor (SS) is aware of them, but there doesn't seem to be any degree of urgency in fixing them even though some of the problems seem quite significant to us i.e the exposed, and now beginning to rust, steel reinforcement in the slab.</p>Bricking will hopefully start tomorrow - fingers crossed.<br /><p></p>Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8230947837639602803.post-70162914740217161262010-06-30T14:58:00.008+10:002010-06-30T15:34:00.249+10:00Progress Pictures<div align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Not too many words today just a few pics to show the progress so far. Due to the weather and it being dark so early, I haven't been able to get pics of the house with the roof trusses on.</span></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488430955318370962" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWFY9pqitQZHUVKBhG9MDUmrLiU858nVgS0lzMYP5AeS6q2T_RKDDUTfeS-UpeHF0RyLON_FMpmcpzXf6L7KoERJC8Zf-3pYCyd-CvBchZEXtsNoteGcX4qBmaWmgLi0nCJxuTP-HS7dA/s320/ground+prep.JPG" /></span></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial;">The plumbing has been completed and crushed rock put down in preparation for boxing the slab. You can see how wet it has been by the amount of water pooling in the garage.</span></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488430965558001602" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlEC0rSw73wmsyv0hT1O9Gab4EXRXockaEUDEQTlw2LnOlDRds1_kQag0pzFXD3UbpAzHxnWiEjeG3YVQHaw-mPPbWA2J45_BCmufGbXT4T9PViMzMkViPjcBHmWymUyeC0v6j-QZuIBY/s320/slab.JPG" /></span></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Here is the completed slab. Due to the length of the house the slab is actually poured in two halves with an expansion joint in the middle. </span></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488430972696796546" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTiFl7KWf0M2OS7ZdvWxWiSjgkSjvCtwkbp8wXKAhLhdW4pypcLSWvorJnnAU_YTPFQD3aj66pgxT-OuDwUU0oSLVB3qnYQPTes6Lc3DU_5DjzKnqzbZecNQQ83X4k1-Mm8e0aRDY_lBg/s320/frame.JPG" /></span></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial;">We were so excited to see the frame going up. In this pic the roof trusses haven't been delivered yet, and of course the garage frame isn't up. </span></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></div><br /><div align="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyYHg4PyUQbPQK7QA3T50zat6TZOxwOeKjgxkIZLKBW4n8L8ZNfT7hdNBsuAw0I9MyHb75iadBo6rxikvKFghTvnlYAHsn36WTGat6LALxfBnPNEKNDIj-oLqY_RdToZpAuDFIAKNLYpA/s1600/us.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488430995516214434" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyYHg4PyUQbPQK7QA3T50zat6TZOxwOeKjgxkIZLKBW4n8L8ZNfT7hdNBsuAw0I9MyHb75iadBo6rxikvKFghTvnlYAHsn36WTGat6LALxfBnPNEKNDIj-oLqY_RdToZpAuDFIAKNLYpA/s320/us.JPG" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;">The girls and I at the internal access door between the garage and the house.</span></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzrD_Se4ca1g-am4znFxiHfzaXAZ1dwCt_2OMZtpDBp6K2dd-tJi4wlt0rneYqda4sv9fpYnnu-0f7FIFkqCXKUrE-7MvPrXltGXGsxHpUXxUyCtPEQlLHZfCAN0-UJPxcM_jDtELUAoY/s1600/hallway.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488430989601965202" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzrD_Se4ca1g-am4znFxiHfzaXAZ1dwCt_2OMZtpDBp6K2dd-tJi4wlt0rneYqda4sv9fpYnnu-0f7FIFkqCXKUrE-7MvPrXltGXGsxHpUXxUyCtPEQlLHZfCAN0-UJPxcM_jDtELUAoY/s320/hallway.JPG" /></a> <span style="font-family:arial;">Looking down the length of the hallway. Gives you a good idea of how long the house is. From this doorway to the end wall is approx 32 metres.</span></div>Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01545965949294513334noreply@blogger.com1