Week 25 – 26: The Pursuit of Plumb – Inspectors, AC, and insulation (12-23 October)

Week 25 – 26: The Pursuit of Plumb – Inspectors, AC, and insulation (12-23 October)

Here we, were, right on the threshold of moving on to the next stage of gyprocking... but not so fast, it was time to call in the independent inspector, Clever Carl from Tyrrell's inspections. He has a reputation for being extremely tough on inspections.

When I first met Clever Carl, I only came up to his knees. He had these awesome stilt/pogo stick legs going on, so he was up at the ceiling line to see the frames from every angle.  He did not miss a thing! Amazingly, though, he did a great job of getting the carpenter and builder on side, helped them feel like he as there to help them make it all right so that they wouldn't have to waste money and time on repairs later. His people management and rapport building skills were outstanding. 

Every single wall and ceiling was measured for straightness. I have never heard the word ‘plumb’ used so many times. And so we had a list of items to perfect, and so began the long sweaty wait on carpenters to pursue perfectly plumb. Not to downplay the importance of this process, but sometimes whole beams were being ripped out and replaced over 5mm variances. Amazing! It came to a point where our poor carpenter had been working 7 days a week for a few weeks and I had to give him a bit of counselling on the dusty floor over a coke when he said he wanted to quit and travel Europe (which I said was a great idea… once he had finished our job, thanks!).

Although it felt like we lost at least a week in the pursuit of perfect plumb, there was actually a lot of work happening in the background:

• The stone cladding by Super Jay was finished and looks fantastic. We can’t wait for  the scaffolds to come down so we can really reveal it.
• Electrical rough in was finalised.
• Guest room storage area was framed out so it will be nicely gyprocked ready for us to install custom shelving later (a quiet thank you from our depressed carpenter for the Europe pep talks and snacks, I think). 
• Insulation was installed, including our Gold standard acoustic noise-blocking batts between the floors so upstairs can’t be heard from downstairs and vice versa.
• Air conditioning vents were ducted in – I was amazed just how massive this system is and how much of the roof cavity it takes up. 
• The site was cleaned – about time! It looked awful!

Here are some photos of the progress. 

The finished stone cladding on the front facade - resplendent in the sun!

 A truckload of insulation, mostly 3.5 rated.

 Some seriously large air con ducting in the upper roof cavity!

 Carpenters added the cavity slider doors x 9 throughout the house. We have added these is a lot of places to manage noise and heating/cooling to be more efficient.

 These are the wide double cavity sliders to close off the front sunroom when it is needed for private use, as a home cinema or additional guest space. Or maybe just to hide from the children with a cup of tea for five minutes!

 What a transformation after the site clean!