Sunday, December 6, 2009

the good, the bad and the mudbrick

The mudbricks arrived and have started going up. Carpentry has been delayed a little by an injury sustained to our chippy when his circular saw kicked up off the slab and into his leg. He's OK (if you call a big V-shaped cut in his shin, OK) but won't be back until next year.
Nic has been able to help out since CVGT decided to give him a little rest...  Here are some of the latest photos.

Cheers,
Deb & Nic

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Stumps? Check!



The stumps are all in. Today the carpenter started on the subfloor framing and the bricklayers started on the external brick wall. Trusses were delivered today and tomorrow, the mudbricks are coming for the curved walls in the stairway & passage. We talked to a stonemason who said he could probably get around to our job about half way through next year, so I think I'll be talk to a few others...

Things are actually happening, it's getting exciting.
:)
Cheers,
Deb & Nic

Friday, September 4, 2009

The Cut



Here are the before and after pictures of our house site (I appreciate that dirt isn't very exciting to anybody else but you all said you wanted to be kept informed!)
:)

Cheers,
Deb & Nic




Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Ready, set, GO!

Ta DA!










Well, after a few more hiccups (nothing like building hold ups to keep your blood boiling on these chilly Winter days) this morning they finally 'turned the first sod'. I know it's been a long time coming but I don't think I've ever been so excited about a hole in the ground!

Saturday, August 29, 2009

BUILDING PERMIT...finally :)

On Monday we received our building permit in the mail. The builder has been out and checked out the levels with the concreter & with any luck they're coming back next week to actually make the cut for the stairwell foundations and the carport.

More news soon (fingers crossed)
:)

Sunday, August 9, 2009

soon.....?

OK, I know we've said, "soon" and "next week" before so I don't blame you if you're reluctant to believe the hype BUT we are under the impression that our building permit will be signed off tomorrow and the concreter will be out to assess whether or not he can manage the cut himself this week.

On the vegie garden front, we have cut down one ring from the silo and are in the process of positioning it so it's level. Then I can start filling it with compost.

Pics when there is something to take photos of...
Cheers,
Deb

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Visitor

OK, so there's still not much going on here in the way of building but we did have an interesting visitor yesterday....

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Vegie Garden Edging



In our travels around the area we spotted a couple of old silos that were just sitting around being unloved and would be perfect circular garden edging for the vegie patches when cut down.

We managed to get them home on the trailer... 




... now we will just need to cut them into rings and we will have the edges, then the hard work will start :)

Monday, April 6, 2009

April Update




No building permit yet, but it is very close. In around a week we hope.






We have appointed a builder, an experienced straw bale builder who lives fairly locally. He is well on the way to organising the permit and seems keen to start.


The existing bridge has been spruced up with a new deck of 2nd hand redgum sleepers to replace the treated pine. This will allow most trucks access, and larger trucks can still use the older track through our dry creek. The driveway has been reformed as well and top dressed with road base for all weather use. It will need regrading after the building is complete and all truck traffic has finished.






We have placed the water tanks in position with a bit of help from a mate at the CFA, Roger, who pushed them into place with his tractor. 3 thousand gallons of water delivered to start the builder off. Let's hope he starts using it soon!

Cheers,
Deb & Nic

First House blog

OK, so here we are.

We plan for this blog to cover our adventure into the strawbale construction of our new home. This way we can keep you all updated on what is (and isn't) happening on the building front.We are currently talking to a couple of builders and waiting on quotes. In the meantime we have had a driveway graded in (much less bumpy than the old track through the bush) and the site for our 2 tanks has been levelled.
Tanks are due to arrive tomorrow.

Pics to follow.

Cheers,
Deb

Starting again

Hi folks,

No news on our house blog has not meant that nothing has been happening (nothing MUCH has been happening but not nothing) I've just been having some issues with the 'thoughts.com' blog so I've moved house to here.

Hopefully things will run a little smoother and it isn't an omen for the building project itself! :)

I'll transfer over our old message and start from scratch here and try to be a bit more forthcoming with information on a regular basis. You can also 'follow' this blog (I think you may have to login with a google account of some kind to do so, not sure.)

Cheers,
Deb & Nic