Friday, February 22, 2013

The fences are down!

Fences have come down around the construction site - not long to go now, it would seem.
The update yesterday told me we're looking at the following timeline for various bits and pieces:

  • Fixing of Hebel at front of house and first layer of render: Monday
  • Replacing glass in front door: Next week.
  • Front render complete: Friday
  • Internal painting fix-ups: Next week
  • Gutters and downpipes installed and checked: Following week
  • Driveway: Following week
  • Internal QA start: Three weeks
  • PCI scheduling: About four weeks.
Of course the actual PCI date could be months away :(

Monday, February 18, 2013

Flooring progress

A little while ago they started with the carpet in some of the smaller rooms, but since then haven't really made too much progress.  As such the study and bedroom 2 have been carpeted, but bedroom 3, the hallway and the master beedroom are still solid concrete.

Some time between Wednesday and Sunday though they've been in and laid down all the floor boards, so now from the hallway to the back of the lounge room it's all timber looking.  Unfortunately when I got out there on Sunday night it was getting quite dark and reflective, so no decent photos to really be able to post.

Painting still needs to occur in the master and lounge room, doors still need to go on in bedroom 3, and the Hebel fixed up on the front façade.

Other than that though, it's mostly getting there.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Rendering happening!

Good update from the site supervisor today - they've pushed a few things back, but some big progress items have also been completed.
They've held the carpenter back a week so he'll be installing carpets next week, and they're going to hold off a bit longer on the timber flooring - that will now be done at least the week after next or the following week again.
Plastering and re-painting has all been done - there'll be another layer of paint to be done over some areas but for the most part that's been fixed up.
Plumbing fit-off has been done, so there's taps throughout the house, and the first/base layer of the render over the Hebel was done today.  They usually give it three days before doing the second coat, so he's hoping that by Wednesday the house will be fully rendered and coloured.
Most importantly though the splashback is getting fixed up tomorrow, so come tomorrow afternoon we should have a nice blue glass splashback rather than the tile one that was installed by mistake.

Getting close now!

Monday, February 4, 2013

Garage door

This can be kept as a quick update:  Things done between today and last Thursday:

  • Garage door
  • Holes drilled for door handles, and door latches installed
  • Shower screens installed
  • Lounge room plaster wall reinstalled and repaired
  • Some skirting boards repaired
  • Holes in master bedroom walls repaired

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Tiles are in, but boy is there a big screwup

Thursday nights have been the time I've been dropping by over the last few weeks, since I can do it without having to make extra trips - this Thursday meant visiting whileit was absolutely bucketing down with rain though.
Just a few hours earlier I'd had an update from the site supervisor as well, which informed me of details something like this:

  • Tiling has been completed throughout the house.
  • Plumber will be in next week to do all the fit-off of taps etc.
  • Hebel guys will be inspecting the house on Friday, and Metricon are waiting for a report back from them.
  • The back wall that's been cut out (which was because of the frame being out of plumb) will be repaired early next week, after which they'll get the painters back in.
  • Flooring will be done late next week and/or early the week after, which includes both the timber-look laminate and carpet.


Tiles don't look to bad - they're basic though, and we didn't really have a lot of choice in colours for tiles.  There was one very, very obvious screwup though.  Remember how I said I'd paid for a glass splashback, which was basically what's going to liven up the room?  Well, imagine my shock when I saw this:

Basically straight away I sent off a query, basically saying "I didn't know they put glass over top of the tiles..." ;)
As expected, they gave me the option of leaving it with a credit, or fixing it.  A glass splashback isn't just a look and feel thing, it's also easier to clean and much better on the fire safety side - so it's definitely getting fixed.

Some other shots of the tiles having been completed:




Oh, and now we have some shelving in the pantry!

Very difficult to get a photo that shows the width though, since there's a doorway there and all.