Internal Work

It has been some time since our last update - time seems to disappear...
This post will cover from the time of our last post in early November till Christmas.

This period was one of the busiest we had seen on the house... Cornices, Downpipes, Wooden Flooring, Light and Switch Holes, Staircase & Balustrades, External doors, Waterproofing, Kitchen and Vanities, Internal Doors / Trim & cupboard shelves, Power connected, Balcony drain hole, Glass in rear bi-folds & lock-up, Floor heating in bathrooms, Painting mostly done... and more!

Overall we have been very impressed with the quality of the work done - the house is coming together well and looks great. We have had a number of site visits during this time and the pictures showing the progress are below.

The main concern we have at the moment is with the general timing - we were expecting to move-in in mid-to-late February and now there is no chance! No-one is telling us when the house will be completed which is causing issues trying to lock-in the critical trades that have occur after completion but before we move in such as driveway and pool fencing. Also, trying to lock-in dates to take long-service leave at our jobs in order to do the multitude of tasks we need to do is also proving hard with the goalposts moving!

One of the major causes of delay at the moment is the Caeserstone benchtops - we were told they should have arrived in November, then we were told mid-January, and now early February... Things have been moved around to try and minimise the impact such as doing the internal painting earlier, though this seems less effective as the painting gets damaged by the trades such as tiling and needs to be redone in sections. Tiling (next post) which was already late has been delayed further, as has the french-polishing of the staircase. We are told once the finish trades are in all will proceed quickly... 

Here are the pics!

1. Wooden Floor - Blackbutt - Heartwood Timber Floors

Starting - Family / Kitchen

Progress - Entry

Almost complete - Kitchen

2. Staircase

Stage 1 - Staircase

Stage 2 - Under-stair framing

Stage 3 - Under-stair boarding 

Stage 4-1 - Balustrade

Stage 4-2 - Balustrade

Stage 4-3 - Balustrade

Stage 5 - Handrails on

3. Waterproofing & Underfloor hearing (ComfortHeat Australia)

Ensuite

Bathroom

WC

Powder Room

Underfloor heating in Bathroom

Underfloor heating in Ensuite

4. Kitchen and Vanities - PM Kitchens

Kitchen 1/3

Kitchen 2/3 - Island Bench

Kitchen 3/3

Butlers Pantry 1/3

Butlers Pantry 2/3

Butlers Pantry 3/3

Powder Room

Laundry 1/2

Laundry 2/2

Bathroom

Walk-in Robe

Ensuite

5. Doors and Trim

Front

Laundry 1/2

Laundry 2/2 - Painted

Study cavity slider - glass to be changed to translucent

Internal - Bathroom

Rear-view of house

Water tank

Wall Insulation & Gyprock installed

On the 22nd Oct we got an independent building inspection with Bill from Jim's Building Inspections at the optimum point - electrical rough-in complete but no insulation or wall/roof covering done inside.
The report was comprehensive with mostly minor issues reported - this was sent to our SS and Provincial immediately for rectification. I would thoroughly recommend everyone get this done for piece of mind!

The insulation was done quickly and very comprehensively from what I could see - this was an important area for us as a bit of effort in this area can make a huge difference in the efficiency of the house later on. The wall insulation was generally very good, though there were a number of gaps in the ceiling around areas such as A/C outlets which I hope will be tightened up when the outlets are installed.

Our prized double-sided indoor/outdoor gas fireplace was installed between the Rumpus and Alfresco which looks great.

The walls and ceiling has just been finished over a 3 day period and now we truly can get a feel for the size of the rooms. It was fantastic to get to see the house inside with a site inspection with our SS on Friday! The progress now is amazing and we can definitely see light at the end of the tunnel and the house being finished! It can't come soon enough... Feb is the latest estimate.

Unfortunately there is a delay with the supply of the timber floor until the week of the 16th November, Stairs 23rd November, Waterproofing of wet areas 24th, Kitchen 26th, Floorheating 30th November.

Here are a ton of pictures from our site visit:-

From the Kitchen out towards Alfesco

From the Kitchen down towards Meals

Butlers Pantry

From Meals towards Kitchen and Family

From Meals towards Alfresco & Fireplace

From Family towards Kitchen

Alfresco inwards 1

Alfresco inwards 2

Alfresco towards Meals

Alfresco towards Family

Double sided indoor/outdoor fireplace

Alfresco looking north

Alfresco looking south

Rumpus 1

Rumpus 2

Rumpus 3

Rumpus towards Powder, Laundry, & Garage

3 Car Garage looking south

3 Car Garage looking north

From Study towards Lounge showing both cavity sliding doors

Powder Room

Entry where base of stairs will be

Sitting Room from Balcony door

WC

Bath looking west

Bath looking south

Bed 1 looking East

Bed 1 looking west towards Ensuite

En-suite vanity -  wc to left, shower to right

Bed 4 (Guest room)

Colourbond roof as seen from WC window

Power Box taking shape!