The top floor has been wired up to allow for GPOs (wot you plug your hairdryer into), downlights, a pendant light, a low voltage night light (for the babies), switches, extractor fans (for the bathrooms), Ethernet (compooter cable) and TV.
These days you can get GPOs with built-in USB ports so we’ll probably get some of those as I’m seeing more things (other than phones) being charged via a USB cable.
After the walls are installed, the electrician will return to cut holes for switches and GPOs. Then later still, after the walls are painted, he’ll return to finalise all the fittings.
This week the upper floor was wrapped in cladding. You may recall that this process already started downstairs 3 months ago. It means that upstairs is now mostly enclosed, other than the front which will remain open for ease of access.
Cladding upstairs north
External walls
Next week we understand that the electrician will wire up the top floor and then the gyproc crew will come in and build all the internal walls and ceilings.
Rozita has chosen the bathroom and balcony tiles and she’s close to deciding on the carpets for the bedrooms (the hallway will be timber to match the stairs and downstairs). She also needs to decide on the internal wall style, architraves, skirting boards, cornicing, ceiling fan, downlights. And get quotes from painters… Plenty to do and all before Christmas!
You may recall that 2 months ago we finally chose and ordered our windows. Well, this week they arrived. It took the builders no time at all to install most of them and they’re looking good…
Kids bathroom window & plumbing
Stairwell window from the outside
Stairwell window looking out
Leela’s windows
Main bedroom windows (above bedside tables)
Kayvon’s windows
Ensuite window & plumbing
Also the plumber has done his initial work upstairs so the bathrooms are ready to have the fittings installed once the walls are installed.
Rozita has been looking into wall and floor coverings, including carpets and timber for upstairs and wall/floor tiling. Given the amount of time that goes into all this research, I’m amazed that other renovators manage it – Rozita has a diploma in interior design and doesn’t have a full time job. I guess others just outsource the design and/or don’t care so much about quality or budget…
It seemed like a bit of a quiet week last week. The main things that were accomplished where installing the skylights and working round the building changing the lower roof from our original tiles to the steel we chose. This lower roof is clearly visible from the 1st floor window holes.
Lower roof at the back of the house
Lower roof from Leela’s window
Lower roof from Kayvon’s window
The lower roof on the north side
Skylight above the stairs
Skylight above the kids’ bathroom
We’re having problems with the electrician. We got him in early to get a quote for the work that isn’t covered by the builder’s contract. He took ages to respond and came back with a crazy amount. We are semi-sitting ducks for this as he will be doing all the basic electrics for the builder so it would make sense to have one electrician doing the whole job. However I’ve raised it to the builder to sort out and worse case we’ll just get our own electrician to do the extras.
The good news is that we finally committed to most of the bathroom gear, at least for upstairs. This included a bath, two showers, 2 mixers, 2 vanities, 2 toilets, 2 basins, 2 taps, 2 towel rails, 2 toilet roll holders and a hand towel holder . For the record, the brand was mainly Methven which provides a 15 year parts and labour warranty which should be a pretty good indication of quality. Plus we ordered the new fridge – a Mitsubishi workhorse which was the right size and had excellent reviews. We bought it all from Harvey Norman as their prices were best.
We chose the roof material on Monday and by Friday it was installed! It’s difficult to actually see the roof as it’s only been installed on the upper level. So I had to walk around the block to get distant views.
Presumably the lower roofing will follow next week…
In my last post I mentioned how the colour of the ColourBond steel changes with the time of day, weather and view-point: just compare the photos in this post with those in the last post.
We (well actually Rozita) have spent a huge amount of time researching and choosing features, styles and materials for the house. The hardest choice so far has been the roof material. We started with no idea and then went driving and surfing (online). We must have covered 100s of kilometers, visiting far-away tile factories and various suburbs that had lots of relevant houses to look at.
There are two main choices in Australia – tiles (concrete and terracotta) and steel (Colourbond). We flipped between them on a regular basis – steel fades less and is less damage-prone but tile is more traditional and quieter in the rain.
We almost decided on tile until we found out how much the tiler would charge which focused our attention on steel. Now we had to choose the colour. We drove around for weeks looking at roofs. The colours changed with the time of day, weather and view-point so when we found a colour we liked we had to knock on their door to ask them what it was. It wasn’t much easier online either as you can’t trust your monitor colours (unless you calibrate it).
The end of the week was exciting. By the end of Thursday the builders had completed the new under-floor and sealed it (from the weather). I told the kids there was a swimming pool upstairs:
Coated
Then on Friday a cheerful gentleman rang our door bell a little after 6am with a delivery. The kids and I didn’t quite know what to expect when opening the door at such an early hour but found no-one on the porch. We looked around and they realised that there was someone in the porta-loo in the front garden. Once he emerged we explained that the builders didn’t turn up for another hour so he’d better go away. We went back to sleep and according to the builders, so did the driver (the builders woke him up when they were ready for him). So the frame were delivered:
Frame delivery
So what are these frames? Basically, the framing company take the architectural plans and in a few weeks turn them into timber. At this stage it’s just the internal and external walls but the roof structure should follow next week. The frames include windows, doorways and even cupboards.
So by the time the kids were ready to be picked up from school, we had the framework of our new 1st floor installed. Walking up the corridor, into the bedrooms and bathrooms, it was amazing how it brought our plans to life. We didn’t take the option of creating 3D plans in the design stage (the draftsman was too expensive and I lost the link to the offshore company that would turn 2D to 3D for $20) so this was the first time we could really visual our plans. Now we know what we can see out of each of the windows and whether people can see in to the bathrooms! Maybe I should do a walk-through video, but for the moment see if you can tell what’s happening from the photos:
The new under-floor has been laid. In the foreground of the photo you can see the new balcony hanging over the original front roof.
New floor
The other day Kayvon had just finished his morning business when a hole suddenly appeared above. It turned out that the apprentice builder forgot where it was safe to step and put his foot through the ceiling. Good thing Kayvon’s been eating his greens…
Scott Renovation 