If you tile the listening room too, your singalongs will be stupendous.

cheers

Grant

reminds me of my place 4 months back

4 hours ago, Grant Slack said:

If you tile the listening room too, your singalongs will be stupendous.

cheers

Grant

 

Surely you're not suggesting that they aren't already stupendous?!

On 07/02/2021 at 11:08 AM, Grizzly said:

 

We've seen a few weatherboard places go up nearby and just really like the look. Overall the cost is slightly higher than brick (which I still can't figure out, but try to argue cost with a builder...?).

 

It took less than 2 days to completely clad the entire house, so I'm sure they're having a laugh.

 

Is the cladding timber or a synthetic look alike? We are sort of looking for a lifestyle property ATM and my wife will not even consider weatherboard homes  after seeing the continual maintenance her father goes through on their farmhouse. We would go synthetic, but not genuine timber.

Just now, blybo said:

Is the cladding timber or a synthetic look alike? We are sort of looking for a lifestyle property ATM and my wife will not even consider weatherboard homes  after seeing the continual maintenance her father goes through on their farmhouse. We would go synthetic, but not genuine timber.

 

It's effectively Hardiplank ie cement board but narrower than the older style. So no issues with rot, termites etc.

Anthony

 

looks great.  We are about 12 months behind you re a new build, but in Norwood (just around the corner from our current house).  I might ask about your experience later if/when we catch up.

 

I'll be doing setreo downstairs in the lounge/living area, and a theatre upstairs.

Acoustics will get more attention upstairs, downstairs will be more aesthetics, with DSP managing some of the sound issues.

 

cheers

 

Benje

A while since updates with a few hiccups along the way. Now looking at a handover date of May 7th, more on this below.

 

All was going pretty well aside from the sewer anxiety (being installed today, thank fully!) until our flooring guy arrived a couple of days before easter to begin the timber in the hallway and living areas- he took one look and pronounced the slab to be more akin to the Alps and promptly left. The builder (who surely should have checked this sort of thing prior?) set to and spent 2 days grinding the lumpy bits until the slab "met Australian standards" of 5mm deviation over 3m. 

 

Cue the flooring guy...... nope, still not good enough. Site manager calls my wife saying we'll need "2-3 bags of levelling compound at about $50 each" as our wider boards need around 2 to 3mm deviation tops. She tells him for sake of $150 just get on with it. The flooring guy then proceeds to spend at least 2 full days grinding lumpy bits and calls me to explain what's going on. Even after being pronounced satisfactory by the builder there were areas still miles out of spec (with video evidence). On the arc of one of the hallway doors at one point the bare concrete was 2mm below the bottom edge of the door! Anyway floorman is a good guy, he's on our side (we arranged our own flooring rather than be gouged for it). He spends all day Saturday laying boards, til 11pm, then returns Sunday to continue as the grinding cost a lot of time (as well as around $2200, rather than the $150 we were told). We pop in Sunday to see how it's going now. Scheizen says Floorman, I don't have enough material.....

 

A little frantic research reveals the flooring mob, even though they requoted on a revised, larger plan, ordered from the original. This includes the carpet as well. Dubbel scheizen!! We have to wait til more can be brought in from over East now. Floorman has to head up the Riverland for another job. Extra carpet not due til 1 day prior to practical completion. Eep.

 

Email to site managerman on Monday requesting details on what we do about this extra flooring cost, cuz buggered if I'm paying for remediating their slab. Mrs G also sends one suggesting they need to get the ensuite shower rose actually centred in the shower so we don't have to lean against the glass to get wet.

 

Crickets.......

 

Email from site managerman Thursday, hurrah! Except he totally ignores the previous communication and says handover now cannot take place til the 7th at 2pm as opposed to the 3rd as originally scheduled, and lays the blame squarely at the flooring shortfall. Hmmmm says I, and replying quickly let him know that the shortfall would have been discovered 5 working days prior but for the state of his sub floor, thus negating any need to change anything. To compound things we have the removalist booked for the 7th as well and cannot get them on the Saturday, and the lease on the temp rental expires the following Tuesday (11th). Therefore I have to insist we schedule handover for absolutely first thing on the Friday at the very latest.

 

More crickets......

 

In the meantime the timber flooring arrives and is installed by the legend that is floorman on Saturday. Carpet should be there and busily getting installed today. Busily getting pricing and ideas for retaining, concreting, paving etc. Painting is finally done, all looking great. Exciting!

 

I've prepped a lengthy email to send to the state building managerman today because-

 

Still crickets.....

Yeah, still definitely one of the more busy (stressful) things a human goes through is the home build.

 

Tiles look nice, hope the rest of the build comes up to scratch and is stress free until habitation.

 

?

4 minutes ago, Ray H said:

Yeah, still definitely one of the more busy (stressful) things a human goes through is the home build.

 

Tiles look nice, hope the rest of the build comes up to scratch and is stress free until habitation.

 

?

 

Thanks Ray! Right now stress is at a very high level, and getting-a-good-nights-sleep is not!

Best of Luck Ant. No way my wife would ever let me build, we'd end up so over budget and delayed it would make a good "Grand Designs" episode...

Some positive news, we received communication from site managerman. We have a concession on the handover timing and an agreement to at least consider the flooring costs!

 

May 7 will be a bloody busy day methinks, but I'm glad that stage will then be over!

 

The carpet shortfall in my room....

Hi @Grizzly not long now  for handover hey, I hope it all goes well and the build meets your expectation.

Are they doing a blower door test towards the end do you know?  

On 21/04/2021 at 12:53 PM, Grizzly said:

Some positive news, we received communication from site managerman. We have a concession on the handover timing and an agreement to at least consider the flooring costs!

 

May 7 will be a bloody busy day methinks, but I'm glad that stage will then be over!

 

The carpet shortfall in my room....

 

Who ordered (actually, sized!) the carpet?  There is no excuse for that - shirley it's the builder's problem ... or the carpet supplier's problem?

 

Andy

 

6 hours ago, andyr said:

 

Who ordered (actually, sized!) the carpet?  There is no excuse for that - shirley it's the builder's problem ... or the carpet supplier's problem?

 

Andy

 

 

We arranged our own flooring and that issue falls squarely on the supplier. They sorted it quickly but it really shouldn't have happened!

7 hours ago, Willmax said:

Hi @Grizzly not long now  for handover hey, I hope it all goes well and the build meets your expectation.

Are they doing a blower door test towards the end do you know?  

 

Yep, can't wait! To say we are completely over the (now quite cluttered) rental place is an understatement! 

 

I haven't ever heard that term, what does it mean? 

3 hours ago, Grizzly said:

 

They sorted it quickly but it really shouldn't have happened!

 

 

Good to hear.  

 

Andy

 

which one is the listening room Ant...?   ?

 

What a horror story but I reckon you've probably had a decent run compared to other stories I've heard..  Fingers crossed you're through it all now and those memories pass quickly when you're all settled in.

On 24/04/2021 at 3:45 AM, Grizzly said:

I haven't ever heard that term, what does it mean? 

A blower door test is a test conducted to verify the amount of air leakage through the fabric of the building, including external walls/windows, floors and ceilings. It is not yet a requirement for residential construction so you don't need to worry about it. Achieving a lower air leakage helps with the energy efficiency of the home over time. 

 

On 24/04/2021 at 7:44 AM, scuzzii said:

which one is the listening room Ant...?   ?

 

What a horror story but I reckon you've probably had a decent run compared to other stories I've heard..  Fingers crossed you're through it all now and those memories pass quickly when you're all settled in.

 

The one that had the missing carpet mate. Fixed now?

 

And yes I have to keep it in perspective, we've done alright compared to scores of others currently who can't even source building materials....

On 30/10/2020 at 10:05 PM, andyr said:

 

Wow, interesting - when I had the slab built for my last house, in the late 80s ... the trenches went down at least a metre, to get to some solid foundation!  

 

Andy

 

Same in Artarmon which is pretty much all clay and is highly reactive. 

13 hours ago, Grizzly said:

 

The one that had the missing carpet mate. Fixed now?

 

And yes I have to keep it in perspective, we've done alright compared to scores of others currently who can't even source building materials....

Hi Anthony, just saw your build thread. The house looks great, hopefully once you settle in all the hassles will be quickly forgotten.

After all the recent dramas, does your site manager still have the (lovely) smile on her face and her arms in the air in cheerful jubilation?

 

Buth then, perhaps she's waiting to see her room completed.

On 26/04/2021 at 10:39 AM, Antipodean Brad said:

After all the recent dramas, does your site manager still have the (lovely) smile on her face and her arms in the air in cheerful jubilation?

 

Buth then, perhaps she's waiting to see her room completed.

 

Little G was sent to a friend's house while we did the grunt work. Dang the younger gen have it good these days! Part of the plan was to get the play area and bedroom ready for "reveal" on her return Saturday arvo. One of my highly important and urgent jobs Friday was to assemble the new bed. I duly set to, being a doting father and obedient husband while Mrs G ducked out on some, let's say, "errands". Upon finishing I plopped the new mattress down and promptly raised one eyebrow....straight on the phone to her majesty. "This mattress is too small" says I. "What the devil is going on here?". Oh dear, she bought the wrong bed, necessitating an emergency run to rectify the situation first thing Saturday morning. This of course pushed back the shed move til later in the morning, just as the rain began. I was a very happy bear I can tell you!!

 

Still, life has ways of providing us with amusing stories and all's well that ends well. Aside from the MUD!! Ergh, the cat racing in and out splatting filthy paws on the new furniture and new black flooring😡😡

 

HOWEVER....the trivial nonsense out of the way finally gave me some time to spend sorting and arranging my little space. It was a bit overwhelming to begin with, and is still far from complete but we have some progress😃

 

It's a bit hard to spot in the photos, but those chairs aren't actually a set. There are subtle differences in the fabric that can really only be seen up close.....

 

And the winner of the "First Album Played in the New Room" award is....

 

Badbadnotgood- IV

Wow, fantastic! 

 

When did this all happen?  Nevermind, it's my fault - just haven't been paying attention.

 

Anyway, you've got me and Mrs M reminiscing about our moving in experiences  over a lot of decades - nostalgia++ for us.

 

It's just a great time to be savoured and remembered - hope you, Mrs G and little G enjoy it to the fullest.

 

BTW, how does it sound?