The heavy rain never arrived so the site remained relatively dry. I felt like Noah preparing for the flood last weekend, helping Kristian put in temporary measures to get the rain from our roof away from the house in the absence of downpipes. These measures stayed in place most of the week and served their purpose with more showers on Friday.
Steady progress this week again. Laser Electrical and Matt Wilkinson plumbing were back onsite, and the builders put in some solid days.
The electricians started their rough in and have placed all the brackets for our power points. We get the opportunity to walk through and confirm we are happy with the locations and heights, which is good as i was a little rushed when putting the electrical plan together. I plan to do this this weekend with Jess, although our weekends are starting to get a bit busier with the easing of Covid restrictions.
The plumbers put the roof sheets and box gutter on over portico and started to flash the side of the main roof. Their rough in will start soon and hopefully they can replace the gutters and get down pipe socks on before the next rain event.
The builders work mainly consisted of preparing the walls for cladding and the eaves for lining. The main walls were battened ready for the interlocking metal cladding and plywood was installed
on the garage and alfresco walls for the Nailstrip Metal cladding. I chose larger 64mm steel top hat battens to create more wall depth to house our stacker doors and improve thermal performance by creating a larger air gap. I was planning on having 15mm foil board (foil backed polystyrene board) as well but decided against after some cost vs benefit analysis. There will also be another layer of wall wrap between the battens and cladding.
We have used a vapour permeable wall wrap that allows allow moisture to escape the inside of the home. This reduces the risk of condensation build-up and mould growth in the timber frame. It also acts as a second protective skin that defends the internal wall from weather-related water damage. During heavy rain, strong winds or hail, water can enter the wall cavity leading to serious unseen damage. So, with 2 layers of this I am satisfied that the walls will perform!
The battens are spaced at 400 mm centres, which will keep the cladding nice and straight. This seems like overkill but was recommended by our specialist cladding installer. Same with the 15mm plywood backing for the Nailstrip cladding, however we want the wall finish to be spot on as I think it will set off an otherwise simple facade.
There is a delay with the windows, so the cladding is still a few weeks away. Lucky there is plenty of other things to build, so it should not hold the show up too much.
On Tuesday we were back at Conidi Tiles and Lighting and this time were much more concise. Jess had done her homework and came with a clear vision for our bathroom tiles. With Tina’s help we were able to select the tiles we would like quoted. Dark grey floor tiles, large white wall tiles with some white subway and penny round tiles for features. Later in the week we watched the Block Ensuite reveals online which was good timing and made us even more comfortable with our direction.
We also looked at lighting again and made some headway there. The ball is now back in our court to confirm tile locations and update my internal elevations for Tina to quote on.
On Friday, another Kristian with a K was onsite, this one from Quicklift Doors in Melbourne. He had a pass escape the ring of steel to come and measure up. Seems a long way to come to measure, but the flush panel tilt door needs to be precise, so they take no risks here. I met him there with the other Kristian and we discussed how the door would work.
Whilst onsite I also discussed the set out of our Versilux eaves lining. Versilux is a fibre cement product what is installed with a 10mm express joint (gap between sheets). We roughly worked out where the joins should be, particularly around the daybed and wide east end eave. I then went back to the office and drew the locations accurately on a plan and sent to Kristian.
Friday was a throwback to winter, so the fire pit was lit at 4pm for knock off beers. I arrived shortly after and stocked the fridge before returning in my work boots to help empty the fridge and acquire my usual Saturday morning headache…..
