When I left you last time, we were pretty chuffed to have a deck and were about to christen it with a BBQ and a few beers. The beers were had, the sausages burnt, and the deck was christened. We have since moved on to our next adventure.
The deck is now old news and is now covered up and being for a smoko area in lieu of my shed workshop. The shed has been filled with cladding, backing foam, and all our belongings since we have moved out of our rental and are living with the in-laws whilst we wait for the build to be complete. The state of my shed bothers me so I am looking forward to tidying and reclaiming it soon.
The final preparations were made early last week ahead of the plasterers and cladders. I caught up with AC installer Darren on Tuesday and confirmed the ceiling vent locations and created a little bit more work for the builders, insisting the vents line up exactly with/or are centred to the lighting. This meant that a lot of ceiling battens had to be cut and moved and apparently this was being a little fussy. I almost conceded on the bedroom vents, however the builders had time to do it as they waited for the cladding.
The eagle landed on Wednesday and I was pleased to hear that Anthony from Artisan facades was confirmed for Thursday morning. Anthony is the cladding guru who has been hired to set out our cladding, assist the builders and compete the more intricate parts.
Thursday was the day we had been waiting for however we were somewhat preoccupied. Building can be a roller coaster and we were thrown a curve ball with our joinery. Scott from Kerang Custom Joinery broke the news to us that he would not be able to fit our job in before he finished up. Scott is selling the business and moving to Mt Isa to be with his family. After being alone for months he has decided to move up for Christmas and will not have time to get to our job. This sent us into a panic as we are just about ready for joinery and knew it would be impossible to find a new cabinet maker at such short notice.
Dale Gitsham, who has been working with Douthat Joinery in Cohuna for years, is buying the business and after a nervous 24 hours we were able to speak to him and confirm that he would be able to take on our job. We caught up with him onsite on Sunday morning and walked through each room and discussed our joinery plan. The priority is the vanities and Kristian would like these installed prior to Christmas. Dale officially takes over 2 weeks before Christmas so this may be a stretch, but we remain hopeful.
So, we weren’t able to enjoy the cladding that was installed on Thursday, but by Friday night we were able to relax and take in the work that had been done.
They started on the simplest of walls, which is the west wall, which has no windows and is now clad in Vestis Aluminum V25 interlocking in pure white. Anthony did the first part of wall with Kristian and Cody, and then left them to do the rest, while he moved on to the garage.
The garage is clad in Vestis Aluminium V25 interlocking in Nebula Midnight in wider panels. As discussed previously, the garage has some intricacies with the flush mounted tilt door.
The panels are all custom widths to suit the wall lengths and openings. Each panel is plastic wrapped and numbered and can come with corresponding foam backing that can be added to the panel before it is installed. We were advised to use the foam backing to make the panels easier to handle and improve impact resistance and thermal performance. Flashings are installed first at the base and top of the wall, then around windows and then the panels go on one by one. The work takes patience and precision, so Kristian is well suited and has picked it up well after the tutorial from Anthony.
By the weekend we had one wall complete, half the garage done and half of another. I quizzed Anthony over a few beers on Friday night and determined it was safe to take the plastic wrapping off high sections that were out of the way of construction. I therefore could not help myself and peeled some off the garage panels to reveal the beautiful Nebula Midnight colour. This has a texture and appears different in different light. Metal also expands and contracts in heat and we have one panel that is playing up because it cannot be fixed properly until the garage door can open. This caused me some grief during the week, but I now understand that it is only one panel and can be sorted out.
Anthony returned on Monday and brought up a missing panel that had prevented him from competing the garage. He was a bit miffed to see that some of his measurements missing that were written on the plastic I had pulled down, but I am still glad I did it as it made my Sunday.
The chuff-meter reached record heights this week as sections of our walls were unveiled. The black (Nebula Midnight) is proving to be the star of the show, however, do not discount the white. It does some heavy lifting and then steps aside and lets the black shine. It is a role player who quietly goes about its work with little fuss and is happy for the black to steal the show.
We are loving the Nebula Midnight Snaplock panels on the alfresco area. On Anthony’s recommendation we made these wide 400mm panels with 25mm ribs to make it look like the traditional standing seam, and this move appears to be paying dividends. But perhaps the biggest winner so far is the black interlocking panels on day bed.
I received a message from the builder warning me to prepare to have my mind blown. I was ready to drop everything and come for a look, but he urged me to be patience and wait for days end. It did not disappoint, and this will prove to be a nice feature.
The cladding is coming in two orders to make it more manageable. I can appreciate this as there was shite everywhere once the first order was unpacked and sorted. Unfortunately, this order will not arrive until later in the week, and they are almost out of panels, so not as much progress expected this week.
Whilst the outside was being transformed Hovenden Plasterworks have been busy inside insulating and hanging plaster sheets. The house is fully insulated (R2.5 in walls, R6.0 in ceiling) and half sheeted. The rooms are taking shape and I have only received one complaint from a child sighting that their room was tiny. Said child soon realized that comments such as this would not be tolerated….
So, a couple of good weeks at the block. A lot of changes and new things to look at each day. Have even changed my morning walking route so that I get to walk past twice, and have put the court to good use with drivebys at every opportunity.
