Crunch Time in Chaosland

Been flat out building, and stressing and trying to live some form of normal life in the mean time, which has left me with little head space for a blog update. But I realise that it’s been a while and there are lots of little updates to report… as well as some pics… so here goes.

I mentioned in the last blog that we were in the midst of putting plasterboard up. Our scaffolding got another workout as we plasterboarded the huge front wall. That made such a difference to the interior, it now looks significantly more ‘finished’ with the pine studwork and my tetris-like polystyrene insulating covered up. Lifting the long plasterboard sheets above our heads to attach to the ceiling in the bedroom and bathroom was a challenge but, when I stand on our little scaffold my head is exactly ceiling height so I used a cushion on my head and supported the weight of each board while Bernt screwed them up.

Supporting the bedroom ceiling plasterboard with my head while screwing it in place.

 

Plasterboarding finished on the front wall. The two white rectangles show the back of the exterior cladding which we will cut away when the windows are ready to go in.

Our electrician visited each Saturday for a month and a half to get our electricity in and on.  We tweaked the lighting designers’ plan a little because we weren’t so confident that he had allowed for enough light in some spots. We replaced his idea of one uplight in the bedroom with 3 downlights. I’m not a huge fan of downlights but they achieve the selective-minimalist look we are going with for. Instead of allowing for bedside lamps we have installed a hanging pendant light each side of the bed. I have yet to design the shades for these, but have a fair idea of what they will look like. Our brushed stainless steel light switch plates look amazing! I’m so glad I went to the extra effort to source these. It certainly was an exciting and long awaited day when we could flick a switch and see light!!! We have been working in the bathroom a lot lately and are making good use of the new heat lamps J There are still some lighting and power point bits and pieces to get finished so we will get the electrician back in within the next couple of weeks to complete the job so we are ready for Certificate of Occupancy.

The hanging pendant bedside lights. The window Bernt has already installed is looking amazing (just above Charlie) and the long horizontal white rectangle will also be a window.

 

Our spectacular brushed stainless steel light switches! They sit flush to the wall, cant wait to take all of the protective film off them J

After a couple of months worth of waiting (and more than a couple of broken promises) the company supplying our tiles told us that they weren’t going to be able to get the ones we wanted so we’d better choose another option. It was a bit of a blow, purely because we knew that finding another tile that we liked was going to be super tough and we no longer had the luxury of waiting for weeks for something to arrive. We scoured every tile shop in Hobart with no luck, then decided to re-contemplate our initial idea of sandstone. I did some ringing around and found a lovely guy in Kingston (30mins away) who imports sandstone from India. It was exactly the colour we were looking for, but couldn’t find from local quarries. As much as I cringe at the thought of the embodied energy of stone carted half way across the world; it was there (with no wait time), it was beautiful and it didn’t cost the earth…. So we snapped it up.

Trying to chose a new tile which would work with the basin, myrtle (door frames and built in cabinetry) and celery top pine (window and structural frames).

Our last couple of weeks have been focussed on getting the bathroom finished. First I sealed and waterproofed the floor, after giving the room the scrub out of the century (amazing how a good sweep can make a building site seem civilised). Then I spent more than a week tiling the column which the toilet will hang from. We used the wine coloured slate (originally intended to be border tiles) which I cut into 3 different size strips and attached slowly in a pattern. It was very involved but the result is well worth the effort. We bought an electric tile cutter  (a standard scorer didn’t work on our tiles) with the intention of reselling it when we are finished but it is such a handy machine that I’m now really reluctant to part with it. We then laid out a pattern with the sandstone which I cut to size and Bernt glued in place. We also tiled what will eventually be the inside of a cupboard housing the washing machine and dryer (I thought tiles would be super easy to clean). The sandstone looks breathtaking and I’m now so glad that we had such a hard time with the tile company, making us search elsewhere, because this is exactly what we wanted from the beginning. Bernt built the floor-to-ceiling windows for the bathroom and installed those. They are gorgeous too, giving the room exactly the inside/outside feeling I hoped for. He is now working on the door frame (which is made from Myrtle) and starting the base coat for our plaster. Ill go in to our special plaster adventure when its finished (because if I brag about it now and it turns out to be a disaster I’ll feel like a bit of a wally).

I designed a niche in the shower column for shampoo bottles etc, we were able to squeeze it in at just the right height despite concerns that the in-wall toilet cistern would be in the way. This pic shows my laborious tiling job in progress, still a bit grubby and without grout.

 

Bernt knocking through the exterior cladding in order to install the bathroom windows. It was beautiful to have sunlight stream back into the room after a dungeon-like couple of months.

 

Laying out the sandstone tiles was quite an intricate puzzle. We wanted a random, but not too random, pattern so we bought 4 different sized tiles. It was also important that we chose tiles which fit together colour-wise to make the wine slate column work. It worked out so nicely!

 

The lovely windows in (the vanity with countertop basin and whopping mirror will sit in between) and our super lovely sandstone floor all grouted.

Last week we hit a bit of a milestone when we got to ‘lock up’! Bernt finished the beautiful timber/glass doors a few weeks back but he was reluctant to fill in the gaping hole in the wall which separates the apartment from the workshop. It was rather handy to be able to move big things in and out with the pallet trolley but the time had well and truly come to make the apartment lockable. So he plugged away laying blocks by himself (as I had a busy week full of shifts at work) until the hole was no more. Being able to store things safely in the apartment freed up the spare bed in the ger (which has been acting as tool storage for much too long) just in time for a whirlwind visit from my mum. Now we have a bit of a sprint to the finish, we need to get to Certificate of Occupancy within 3 weeks. Wish us luck!

…….

Bernt showing off our doors. These will act as the front doors for now. Eventually, when we unpack the container, the antique door we brought with us from Perth will sit in the wall to the left of the glass. The antique door will be the front door and these will be used to open the apartment up to a beautiful courtyard garden (which exists only in my mind at this point) while we entertain our multitude of friends on lovely warm sunny days (... both of which also only exist in my mind… at this point).

Bet you’d thought we’d dropped off the radar (or the roof) after such a long gap between blogs! We’ve had some visible progress but we’ve also been occupied with a lot of fiddly organizing bits.

First job once the roofing was up was to finish it off with barge capping (covering the edge of the roofing panels), ridge capping (covering the join along the top of the roof), ceiling capping (covering the same join on the interior), z flashing (a solid edge at the bottom of the panels for the gutter to hang from) and finally guttering. Apart from the guttering, which is a standard profile, we ordered all of these profiles to our own measurements and angles. I wasn’t aware that this was possible but apparently its pretty standard. When the barge cap and ceiling cap arrived they were not the angle specified so we had to have them remade. This was unfortunate as we were hoping to have the gap at the peak of the roof closed when my Dad, Nanna and brother arrived for a stay. My dad camped out on the mezzanine and I was worried that the rain might leak in through the gap. It turned out not to be a problem.

Bernt pop riveting the barge capping in place.

Bernt carefully sliding the ridge capping into place.

 

Attaching the ceiling capping, you can see sunlight on the left where we haven’t attached it yet.

 

The guttering was a bit tricky. It is designed to hang from something vertical but because of the nature of the roofing panel, the edge is not vertical but at an angle. We puzzled over a non-ugly way to solve the problem and settled on cutting neat wooden angle blocks, which we screwed to the z flashing. These gave a vertical surface to attach the gutter brackets to and are a not too shabby solution.

The ‘bespoke’ blocks in place with the brackets attached and ready to the hook the guttering into.

 

First length of guttering up.

 

Next we waited for our double glazing to arrive, well the first 4 windows anyway, deciding to order the glass as we are ready for it. We were able to order the non opening pieces (as the frames are already built in to the structure of the house) but are still waiting on getting a 3 phase power outlet installed so we can start work on the window frames for the rest, seemed too risky to order the glass before the frames are built as Bernt is still nutting out how he will build them.  We had some fiddly bits to do to get ready for the glass, including attaching double sided foam tape to seal the units in, a little bit of rendering around the edges and some frame building. Our new Planer/Thicknesser came in super handy.

Installing the large double glazing units was the one job I had decided I didn’t want to take part in. All along I had expressed that I wanted to be absent the day that any large glazing units were to be carried around and put in place. When we watch any building show, this is always the part that has my muscles tensed and teeth grinding with stress. So I thought Id opt out of that job, and I felt super justified; knowing that Id been a part of everything else. As the day grew closer Bernt started joking that I wouldn’t be able to truthfully say that Id co- built this house by hand if I didn’t help carry the glazing… It may have been this harmless teasing, I’m not sure, but when the units arrived and Id recovered from the stress of watching the delivery guys casually hoist the panes off the truck I decided that Id give it a go. I think it was the excitement of being able to see some glass in immediately, without having to wait to organize for someone to give Bernt a hand. Unfortunately the guys had laid the panels out in such a way that we had to start with the biggest and heaviest panel first, rather than easing our way into it.  It was a panel roughly 1.5m by 2.5m and it weighed over 100kg! It was so heavy that I could only lift it from one side, with my right arm doing the work and my left supporting it. Apparently I’ve been building lopsided so I’ve got monster muscles on one side only! HahaJ

Anyway, we took it slow, laid out some supports on the floor so we could rest frequently and built a platform under the window so we didn’t have to step down once we were outside. And we got it in! After that the others seemed easy. It’s really awesome to have some glazing in. We have been enjoying sitting in the corner with a cup of tea and not being blasted by wind or rain. Now I can’t wait to get going on the other windows!

 

The delivery guys made it look like a piece of cake.

 

First four windows in!

Our favourite corner to sit in, enjoying the view while sheltered for the first time.

 

As I mentioned, we have also been organizing lots of fiddly behind the scenes things. We chose tiles for the bathroom and kitchen/living area. They are a dark, charcoal grey which in some lights have a purpleness to them. And we chose a wine coloured slate (a very similar colour) as the border tile. We had wanted sandstone flooring but when we investigated we found that the colour of the sandstone coming out of the quarries these days is not the same as in the historic buildings around Hobart. Those have lovely tonal changes; with deep burgundy swirls… today the sandstone is very uniformly beige. So we changed our colour pallet totally and chose the deep grey/charcoal colour. The tiles will be laid uninterrupted through the kitchen, living area and into the bathroom and walk in shower.

We had been looking into Kitchen bench materials and finding it hard to find something we liked. Most stone or stone composite material is polished to become a really blingy reflective surface which isn’t the look we are going for (plus it too easily shows off a less than perfectly clean benchtop). I had found that Caesarstone and Silastone do a honed finish (matte). But these were going to prove tricky to find as they aren’t that popular (story of my life). So I went back to my original preference and convinced Bernt that a timber bench top was the way to go. We had recently picked up some bargains at a timber auction in Hobart so we took a day off the hard grind of the build and planed up some figured myrtle to have a play and see if it was suitable. It definitely was and we now have the raw materials for a beautiful bench top for only $70!!!

I spent a day in Hobart organising plumbing fixtures for the bathroom and kitchen. Taps, a shower head, kitchen sink, toilet etc. I went uber-prepared with images of what we wanted and found a superstar of customer service who sat with me for half a day sorting through it all and finding the perfect options. Everything arrived a few weeks later and they are sitting patiently in the ger waiting to be installed. I cant wait!!

We have also been working with a lighting designer (a service at a lighting shop in Hobart; free if you buy through them). So we feel like we have our lighting sorted. I, yet again, fell in love with something I couldn’t have. We were looking for big industrial pendant lighting fixtures for the apartment (which would look awesome in its big open barn-like space). The lighting companies we talked to didn’t have access to anything lovely so I went snooping on the net… bad idea. I found the perfect fittings, and not dearer that the not-so-pretty ones suggested by the lighting place. But they are American and the company wont ship to Australia. I was considering finding a way past that problem, being aware that our electrician would have to rewire them to Australian standards (but he would have had to rewire any fitting we got as they would never be long enough). But then I got talking to guy in a different lighting shop and he lectured me on the substandard standards which American lighting is required to meet compared to Australian fixtures and I decided it was all too hard and possibly a bad idea anyway. Now I’ve started designing fittings that we will make ourselves and we have organized the electrics in such a way that we can take our time getting organized with them.

The pendant light I fell for *sigh*.

 

Next step is getting the electricity moving. We have an electrician organized for next weekend to run cables etc. and we have decided on power points and switches. We are also in the midst of putting up plasterboard, which is really changing the look of the interior. Pics when we have finished.

On a personal note, Bernt has finished up with the company he was working for (as they are closing down). He wants to focus on getting the build to certificate of occupancy and start making furniture for himself. I have picked up a retail job in Hobart (with casual hours). It is so good to be dealing with people again after 2 years of dealing with building materialsJ On a tragic note; our cat George passed away a couple of weeks ago. He was hit by a car. We are both devastated as he was an awesome cat who we were all very bonded to.

RIP George