Week 11-12: Slugs playing Tetris - Bricking downstairs (7 - 17 July)

Week 11-12: Slugs playing Tetris - Bricking downstairs  (7 - 17 July)

 Planned for a Monday 6/7 start for the bricklayers but instead we got a pile of sand and more metal supports. By Tues 7th July the bricklayers started work, and the electrician was in to fit the meter box which should be recessed into the brick work.

 

I'm trying as usual to fuel them with chocolate muffins and coffee! However, bricklayers seem a different kettle of fish. These guys are mountains of muscle and communicate only by grunting. Coffee was replaced with requests for redbull (no worries), checking in on timeline was just "grunt, big house, grunt", and the poor fellas had hands so cold they started a little bonfire (complete with brick surrounds) on the block!

 

We were told to expect 1-2 (week 11-12) weeks to brick downstairs, then they disappear for 1-2 days while the scaffolding goes up, then back or a couple of weeks for bricks upstairs (Week 13-14). I think it is fair to say that bricklaying is EXTREMELY slow! After 3 guys on the job for a day, usually the only work completed is a wall say 3m long and 12 brick courses high (up to window height!). Is it just us? Is bricklaying always this slow???? Slow moving like slugs, and leaving a goopy trail of slippery mud slurry wherever they have been. Won't miss this phase of the build!

 

 

 

 

This is a days worth of work... the next wall set back in the left of this shot was another day's work! You can see my brickies in orange supping on coffee and sweets inside. Bless.

 

Like rainbows, they disappear at the first sign of clouds. Possible rain day claim on 13/7/15 as there was a bit of rain in the morning, and once it stopped and the sun was beaming down it would have caused far too much risk of...frizzled hair? damp boots? anyway, they felt it best to stay home.

 

The bottom rows of downstairs for the whole house are almost complete and we are at 6 business days of work, so maybe 10 days of labour would see the downstairs done, but I am not holding my breath. I expect minimum of 10 days, but likely more like 14 days. No doubt the top storey will be much much slower as one square-shaped-muscle-mass-man needs to pass bricks up to another square-shaped-muscle-mass-man on the scaffolding.

 

Here you can see the funny level the bricking stops at each day. I assume they can only build to a certain height then move on while it sets so it forms a strong foundation for the upper half of the brickwork downstairs. The pace is making me regret having replaced all the cladding panels with brick in the original plans... but trying to keep patient and long term perspective that quality brick-man-ship will last a lifetime.

Looking at the house from this low side makes me realise just how huge it is (and to be fair, how many bricks are involved!). The window level in the foreground is just floor level! Here we are looking at the playroom in the foreground and back past the family room, guest room and to the sunroom in the far right.

 Starting work on the façade bricking.

 Here you can see they have used common red bricks for the pillars/piers in the front that will be rendered and painted Pebble Bay colour. See also the slug slurry left all over the porch... and pooling all over the ground like a superhero has melted some sort of slimy villain!

 Close up of the front porch piers. Nice and chunky in size.

 Here you can see how the rendered coloumn will be separate to the adjoining face brick wall. We deliberated at length with the architect, Mahretta, about whether this wall panel adjoining the pier/column should be rendered or face brick (I hope we made the right choice!)

 

More (slow?) progress to report again soon. 

Week 10 - Our first walk upstairs... plus brick delivery and plumbing rough in (29 June - 3 July)

Week 10: Brick delivery and plumbing rough in (29 June - 3 July)

 Mon 29th June we had the big stockpile of dirt removed and bricks arrived. Tues 30th June plumbers rough in, then 4 working days of nothing while we waited for the brick layers to start.

 

The highlight of this week - meeting the site supervisor on our build and going upstairs for the first time. We discovered this is what the sunrise looks like from our Master bedroom. It's absolutely gorgeous!

When I think about waking up to that view every morning for the next few decades, I feel like this... (my happy little lark at 6 months old this week!)

 

 The week started with (finally!) having the stockpile of dirt out the front removed, just in the nick of time as a couple of hours later 9000 bricks were delivered (the first instalment of 14,000 total bricks to go into our house on both storeys!)

Here are our bricks - Austral Metropolis in Alabaster colour. We chose this brick because it is quite neutral in colour - more a stone than a blond/honey colour so hopefully won't date too much. It is also a through and through coloured brick, where some are just painted on colour and can chip. We were really keen to see plenty of variation in colours - this first sample pallet looks pretty acceptable in the range of colours.

 This is what 9000 bricks looks like! The red common bricks in the left corner are a cheaper brick and used where there are portions that are rendered - like our front pillars.

And now for the walk through upstairs with our site supervisor...this is looking NE into our master bedroom - this room is going to be full of gorgeous sunshine and sweeping district views. Love it! Despite being upper floor, you can see the north facing windows we were permitted to have low set, where the east facing and the kids bedrooms we had to have high set 600mm high windows for safety.

Here are the north facing low set windows from the master bedroom. I am not quite sure why they permitted low set in the master bed, but I am very thankful as it makes the façade look much better!

 

 

 Here is Bedroom 2 on the rear SE corner - here you can see the high set safety windows. To the rear we are not missing much view as they would be blocked by the pitch of the rear playroom roof below, but the E side windows would have had a nice district view (they still do, you just have to be on tip toes!)

 This is Bedroom 3 on the rear SW corner. Not missing much view on this side with the high set windows as it overlooks our yard and the neighbours yard. The W side window here is a special glazed thermal window to block out heat and late afternoon sun. To the left of this frame is a mirrored sliding door robe - oodles of storage, and matching layout as in Bed 2.

 This is a view looking north into the front of the house - the flooring here is temporary and this will be a double storey height void above the entry door. The square fixed glass window will frame a nice artistic hanging light/chandelier that can be seen from the street -designs still under discussion! It will probably be the only window on the façade without plantation shutters so the feature light can be seen from the road.

 Another view of the fixed glass window that will frame the hanging light. I love this aspect looking down the cul de sac out front of our place.

 This is looking to NW corner of the house upstairs, looking at our upstairs sitting room. I am calling this the 'quiet room' where I am thinking TV, tepee, bookcase of books to read and some quiet activities for the older kids to play while the little ones sleep... or ideally while Mum and Dad have a Saturday sleep in (maybe wishful thinking!). The western wall directly in front will be a solid wall so we are not overlooking the neighbour, but to the right are three 900x900 windows which will have lots of sunshine and northern light, most likely with plantation shutters for privacy.

 This section of the floor is temporary and will be removed and replaced with a stairwell and void that will be just stainless steel post uprights. Access to the upstairs is currently a ladder! Room for improvement there!

 Having the roof on, and especially the sloped pitch room under the 3 upper living room windows (above the garage) has really changed the façade and it feels much more balanced and complete.

 The other roof trusses added this week are over the rear alfresco. This view is from the laundry door, looking down a pathway past our kitchen to the rear alfresco. This will likely be the spot for fold down washing lines. As you can see, this side also needs a new fence - top priority when we move in!

 The plumbing rough in finally happened and there were flexi pipes like this running all through the roof and walls connecting each of the wet areas. One day this house is going to be liveable!

 

What next for WEEK 11: Planned for a Monday start for the bricklayers but instead we got a pile of sand and more metal supports. By Tues 7th July the bricklayers started work, and the electrician was in to fit the meter box (fuelled by chocolate muffins and coffee!). We expect 1-2 (week 11-12) weeks to brick downstairs, then they disappear for 1-2 days while the scaffolding goes up, then back or a couple of weeks for bricks upstairs (Week 13-14).

Week 9: More Frames and roof trusses (22 - 26 June)

Week 9: More Frames and roof trusses (22 - 26 June)

WEEK 9: The carpenters worked so hard, in the rain, but the 5-6 days to put up the frame stretched into 2.5 weeks due to rain slowing them down and the delayed delivery of roof trusses.

 

I happened to be passing by when the trusses were delivered and got to see this massive crane delivering entire pre-built roof frames to site. It was a rather shaky delivery with a span of about 13m on some trusses!

 

Now in the second week of frames and by Wed 24th June our brilliant carpenters were back and we had roof trusses in place. They even brought their own scaffolds to frame the very high entry.

 

 Loving the 25 degree pitch on the roof when many builders standard inclusion is 22.5 degrees. It makes the house feel more traditional and complete.

Sadly then the block stood still on Thurs and Friday while we waited for the next steps with the plumber doing a no show for rough in.