A shorter blog this week, not much has happened onsite so not a lot to write about, and we are away for the weekend so not much time to write it.
Our reverse cycle air conditioning unit (22kW Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in case you were wondering) has been mounted in the ceiling and Berry Refrigeration has been onsite working on the install. There was some discussion as to where the outdoor condenser unit should go, with the east side being preferred by the installer for more protection from the weather. We had planned to put it on the west side out of the way and strategically placed between the kids walk in robes to minimise noise. This location will cop the late afternoon sun so the unit will have to work a bit harder, however we still think this is the best location. We have also specified acoustic insulation batts in the western wall to also help reduce the noise. The outdoor unit is big and noisy, so placement of this and other services, such as hot water services need to be carefully considered.
We are having solar hot water with an electric boost. This will have evacuated tubes on the roof and a storage tank below. We require 2 as our wet areas are spread out and we do not want a long draw when turning hot water taps on. One storage tank will go on the west next to the condenser unit, and the other will on the east side tucked in the corner close to our ensuite. The evacuated tubes will go on the alfresco roof which will be very busy!
Our instruction has been to keep the main roof plane clear of penetrations, so all our exhaust fans will be ducted out either the garage or alfresco roofs, which are both flat and concealed by parapet walls. Up until recently exhaust fans could be just ducted into the roof space, however this can cause condensation and damage so this cannot be done unless the roof is adequately ventilated, and we did not want any wind driven ventilators (Whirly Birds) on our roof .
The alfresco roof will also have to hide our tv antenna and internet receiver… busy little roof!
We ordered our tiles from Conidi Tiles and Lighting. See selections below:
Our windows have been made by Maher’s Glassworks and are loaded on a trailer ready for delivery early Monday morning. These will he installed next week and then the cladding can be measured and ordered.
We have been getting quotes for the plastering and have just accepted the quotation from Hovenden’s Plasterworks. The house should be ready for plaster early November.
We paid the balance on our kitchen appliances during the week. We intended to buy these locally but ended up getting them from Reilly’s in Bendigo. We went there for just a look but were impressed with their range, knowledge, and time they gave us so felt obliged to purchase from them. See list of appliances below:
- Asko 60cm Craft Pyrolytic Oven, installed under bench below the cook top. A pyrolytic oven features an ‘automatic’ cleaning function that dramatically reduces your oven cleaning time. Pyrolytic cleaning heats the inside of your oven to temperatures upwards of 400°C, reducing grease and food residue to ash. Once the oven returns to a safe temperature and unlocks itself, this ash can be simply wiped away.
- Asko 60cm Craft Combi Steam Oven. Installed beside the other oven. Steam ovens feature a reservoir that must be filled with water for the oven to work properly. Heat from the oven turns the water into steam. Food cooked in steam retains moisture better than food cooked in a convection oven. Steamed food also tends to retain more vitamins and minerals than food that is boiled. This was perhaps an extravagance, but having 2 ovens is common, and so we figure that the second one could offer something different. We are forever steaming vegetables and feel it will get plenty of use.
- Smeg 82cm induction cooktop. An induction cooktop uses an electromagnetic field to heat up a pan while leaving the cooking surface cool to the touch and without heating up the kitchen.
- Asko 86cm integrated range hood. This is concealed in the overhead cupboards above the cooktop.
- Meile fully integrated dishwasher, installed in our island bench. An integrated dishwasher (also known as a built-in or built-under dishwasher) is designed to match the rest of your kitchen cabinetry. … They often allow for a fitted, custom cupboard door that conceals the dishwasher when the appliance is fully closed.
- Asko built in dishwasher, installed in the pantry. We had not considered a dishwasher in the pantry and thought that it may be extravagant. But it started to make more sense once we discussed how we would use the pantry. We think the pantry will be used to prepare breakfast, lunches, morning tea, etc, while the kitchen will be used for the evening meal and as more of a social area. Therefore, all cutlery and crockery associated with breakfast and lunch will live in the pantry so it makes sense that they go into a dishwasher in there.
We plan to catch up with Kerang Custom Joinery next week to finalise the finer details of our kitchen. This can be measured up and made once the plaster is up.
We escaped town this weekend, down to Queenscliff/Geelong for some work on Friday and then staying on for our first weekend away in sometime. So, no photos of the house, but not much has changed.
Should be more happening this week onsite and we are really looking forward to the windows going in and the cladding being measured and ordered.
See you here next week, same bat time, same bat channel.
