in the vicinity of little dip
Not a lot going on at the moment–but John Davidson kindly donated the posts for the fence, which he and Gary loaded on the truck and brought in–thankyou to both of them. Assembling all the fence materials for the big blitz on the weekend of Oct 15.
I’m also attaching another pic which I think must be Nanks’s comment on the design of the house. . .fair enough!
Here are some pics of the rendering, which is under way now. There are different surfaces here: the particle board base; the malthoid mat on top of that, then the chicken wire (here shown around the phone connection to Telstra nowhere); on that is the base coat strong mix; then the outside smooth render. The idea is to let it dry, and then select the paint to go on top. The parapet has also been rendered in that beige colour, and will also be painted the same outside colour. The blue strip on the eastern wall is for the box that will encase the flue from the wood stove.
Also, some of the roof lights are in and working! (you have to mark these small steps of progress).
Lesley has had in mind for some time to put some large limestone boulders around the northern side, where it slopes down. Gary and Geoff were sceptical but were persuaded by the result–gives the house site balance, will make a good rockery, and a lot cheaper than a retaining wall. This is why Gary and I just do what we’re told. . .Quite a scene, with tip truck and up-scale bobcat–first thing in the morning, in the rain. Here are some pics:
While the bobcat was there Gary got him to dig a hole down from the tank, across the drive, where he and Lesley had apparently been plotting to put a pond–part of the overflow from the water system, but also for decorative purposes. The soil looks pretty nice down there, doesn’t it?
This weekend is the one scheduled for the floor surfacing. This has quite a saga attached to it. We were originally quoted $6000 for the job, by a Robe bloke. This came down to $1200 plus shipping to get a 3-phase machine down from Adelaide. After some calls we located a small business in the Mount which let us have a 240v machine for four days, $300 plus shipping $100. Amazing! So that’s what has happened and Gary has been doing the machine (which he loves, and is now looking to buy the model himself) for the last couple of days. It’s a single pass but with a diamond disc set at an angle to take a fair bit off. It’s come out very nicely, with the aggregate making a nice pattern, and will now be sealed.
We dug the trench for the water line from the bore up to the tank: it was connected but needed to be buried so a tractor, for example, could drive over it.
And, of course, there is always this: Lesley and Bertram (Bertie)–Pat said he had an ‘honest head’–right. . .!
The boys have been gyprocking this week–along with other things that you can’t really see, like putting in bathroom plumbing, flashing along the footings, and so on.
Also, the timber for the Vastu fence has turned up–it is lovely wood, native Callitris from a plantation mill in Queensland–Steven at the Robe Hardware sourced it and had it shipped down through Melbourne–and charged us only a bit more delivered than local imported cypress.
(The cypress comes from Biscuit Flat–in the early days they cleared the native vegetation there and soon discovered that there was no shelter for stock from the winter gales–so they planted these fast-growing trees, which you can see everywhere in belts and around the homesteads. They are finally reaching the end of their natural lives, and are falling over, so are being milled and sold locally as garden timber. But I wanted the native timber, if I could get it as plantation timber, because it has much better qualities. Just some irrelevant information, as I am interested in these matters of environmental history. . .)
Callitris grows naturally in SA–we have four trees growing down at the shed–and was used in the early houses because it is highly resistant to insect and rot–a brilliant construction timber. There is 150 metres of it here, for the Vastu square of 18 metres per side, with two railings, and a bit left over. The Davidsons are kindly donating some posts they have left over from their block work on Evans Cave Rd. We are setting up for a working weekend to put the whole thing in at one go–we have a few young people targeted–as the last thing, once everything else is done.
And just for good measure as we were driving out, about half way down our drive, an echidna was getting along. By the time I got out of the car to take the photo she/he had moved into defensive mode, spines out–which is how they have survived for 200 million years, I suppose. With the platypus they are the last survivors of the Order Monotremata (the common ancestor of Monotremes and Mammals was around in Mesozoic times, with the dinosaurs). Really we were very happy to see her/him and I just wanted to say, welcome, we’re honoured.
A big day today–all the big windows turned up and were installed. It was a bit touch and go because of the wind but they got it done. Everything fitted very well, which was a relief because if they don’t apparently it involves a lot of messing about. We are very impressed with the joinery–beautiful wood has been used and the work is excellent.
And of course now we can see what the design is all about. The spaces are remarkably open–bows to Neil for his design. And the views are magnificent–bows to Mum for her insistence on big windows down to the floor. It really looks wonderful, both inside and outside. Here are some pics.
First, some from the outside:
Here are some from the inside:
And here are some from a distance, down the hill to the E, looking back:
Pretty spectacular, isn’t it? We’re very pleased and have been congratulating Gary–it’s beautifully built and not far off now.
The cladding has moved on and some of the windows are in. All the window frames are in, including the big ones (many of them)–they have been made by a firm in Mount Gambier. It looks as though they’ve used Baltic Pine, a lovely old timber bought to Australia in the early ships–you can see here some of the joinery, rather beautifully done with wooden fastenings. The big window openings have been closed up temporarily as there is a winter storm coming in this weekend. The glass should all come up from the Mount next week, along with the outside doors, so we’ll get an idea for the first time of what the house really looks like.
The first layer of the cladding is moving ahead (apologies for shadow)–ready then for the mesh and render. These panels have been painted to protect them; they are not the final colour–although Lesley is quite taken with them, so who knows. . .The plan as it stands is to cover them with a render that is more or less the same colour as the slab, a light grey–they can always be painted then if required.
The Vastu (boundary) fence has also been marked out, with more ground to the north and east , tighter to the south and west. Lesley intends to turn the spaces into a replica of the West Beach dunes–self-sustaining, water-efficient, etc.–in deep discussion here with Gary about the electrical set-up.
The roofing iron went on this morning–it was bit windy and grey early, and I was concerned that it might be difficult but Gary and the boys managed it all in a few hours. So now it’s starting to look like an actual house: you get a much better idea of the space, and I think it’s going to be very nice and cosy to live in. The first level of external plywood cladding is also going on, for the next couple of days–they have to use hammers and nails because nail-guns are too powerful for that job. The windows too are due to turn up any time. The external doors are being ordered–so pretty soon it should be at lock-up, which is a great step. I think Gary’s plan is to move on immediately to the gyprock inside, even if the windows and doors are still coming, putting temporary cover on the windows to allow that to happen. All go! Gary tells me you can see the top of the church from the roof.
The roof trusses are all in place now, ready for the roofing iron to go, which is beginning today. Nature has been kind: a perfectly still, sunny day, which is what you want when you’re throwing roofing iron around! The flat pieces on the ground are the plywood panels which will also go on around the wall frames, as the base for the render. They are painted black to absorb heat–which faces into the wall cavity (of course).
