Lock Up

Mostly bricked

We are just reaching lockup now, which isn't as good as it sounds, although it is a milestone in the project. With the lockup stage upon us it means a very big bill (progress payment - 35%) and no ability to see things inside the house, other than through muddy windows.

 The front door has been fitted (to be stained) and the internal doors have been hung.

Front Double door

The brickwork is still dragging out due to weather - the majority of the house is done, with just the higher layers on the alfresco, front and the pillars to be done.

Alfresco - Under construction

The next things scheduled to happen is further carpentry inside, as the skirting boards & architraves fixing has started. Painting is lined up to happen next, along with fitting off of plumbing and eletrical.

Brickwork, Plaster & Cabinetry

Porch Brickwork (Chestnut brick & standard mortar)

About half the brickwork has been completed so far (most of one side of the house), unfortunately a couple of days of bad weather has delayed the bricklaying process. We are hoping it will be completed mid week.

Progress on the inside has continued (and not limited by external work!) - with the cornices attached and all the joints/screw holes covered over. The place is really coming to life now and is a good preview of the finished layout.

The cabinetry has also started in the house - with the laundry completed fully so far. The bathroom, powder room & ensuite have the cabinetry mostly in.

Cabinetry for ensuite

Laundry

The kitchen has progressed most of the way as well, with just a few of the feature cupboard doors to be fixed (Perl colored perspex). The above fridge wine rack & storage area has been fixed into place too.

Kitchen Cabinetry (Seductive Limba - Vertical Grain)

Island bench in progress (Seductive Limba - Vertical Grain)

Wine rack (Above fridge space) (Seductive Limba - Vertical Grain)

I've included our color selection below, when we were at Carlisle's SPECTRA display center. Unfortunately I'm not a huge fan of the seductive Limba (Color selection was partner & color consultant - secret women business apparently!)- as it reminds me of very old houses / doesn't fit in with the modern theme/layout of the house and is very dark (contrast or otherwise, it sticks out like a saw thumb!). I'm hoping it will look a bit better once the places is done (if the Caesar stone can hide some of it ;)) or grow on me in time...If it's a big issue over time, we may look at what we can do to adjust it..

Caesar stone (Sparkly white) & glass splash back (Black) are likely to be installed at a later date.

 

The tiler is due to be in the next week or so, so we should see the fitting of the big floor tiles and the wall tiles (predominant color of the brown, with a white feature stripe)

Plaster & Brickwork start

Master Bedroom

We have now seen some progress on the walls of the house - with the basic plaster installed to the frame and the bricks at very early stages. Temporary external doors are also installed.

Chestnut bricks - Cat1 from Carlisle

 Above are the bricks we selected, it was the nicest color in the bricks we were after and luckily had been moved down to category 1. Additionally, the bricks where in stock, so we didn't have to go to our backup bricks/have a delay in the build. The switch/meter box color is the same as our roof, a nice match.

Brickwork under construction

 The brickwork is currently very early days, hopefully this week there will be a lot of progress. It looks like they only started very late Friday afternoon, so lets hope with a full week they can get a good portion done.

Garage Plaster

 The plaster work looks to be at just fixed to wall the stage, cornices & plugging the screw holes still to happen. In the photo you can also see the man hole, which we had relocated to the garage instead of in the powder room.

Pre Plaster Inspection

Our per-plaster inspection came in a while ago - the defects/issues raised were very small/minor. The issues raised were mainly reinforcing and completely sealing holes that had been made - ensuring things are to code.

Carlisle have been responsive to our independent inspectors and followed the matters up - something that we hear often other builders will fight tooth and nail to avoid doing any fixes/works.

Our Slab inspection picked up only a few minor issues as well, with a slight slab miss-pour and again reinforcing the frame (mostly at overhanging areas - such as the porch). These were rectified without issue as well.

As mentioned previously in this blog, we used NHI - New Home Inspections. Reports have been good, with clear photo's, general description of the fault and then the applicable code/standard the flagged item relates to.

We will be having them back a third time, for pre-hand over inspection. On average it's around $500 per inspection - but money we believe well spent (Mostly peace of mind when building with Carlisle and just keeping on top of trades, to ensure corners are not cut) - as well, as, we are not versed in the relevant standards & codes.

It's also not in our interest for large items to be fixed latter - as that will cause large delays / destructive/inconvenient fixes in cases.

Electrical and plumbing in

 

Switch Box

The nice frame of the house has now been fitted out with the basic plumbing and the electricals of the house (The frame looked nicer without them!). The ducting for the central heating had been installed into the roofspace as well.

Bricks, Plasterboard and door-frame supplies had arrived - all the resources for the next weeks worth of work. We are glad that our choice of bricks was in stock (no need to worry about how alternative bricks will match + additional costs incurred).

Electrical, Data  & plumbing

The electrical work in the place did see the cables go everywhere - making for a big web of cables behind almost every wall. We had elected to go with slimline points, which means all our power and data outlets are attached to wall studs - hoping they look great as a finished product.

Roof - Complete!

Roof Complete

Our colourbond roof is now complete and looking good. We are happy to see the progress and great to see it all really taking shape.

Side/full view

The next stages are the start of internal plumbing and cables, follow by brickwork. The house should be heading to lockup soon (less photos and information then!).

Inside

Truss, batons & Sarking

Roof - Under construction

Roof under construction

A week after the frame had been done, the gutters went up initially and then our colourbond roof went up, along with the sarking underneath the roofing.

The roof is 25' degree pitch - as required by the estate (added cost for the build) - with the all important safety rail to ensure the workers are safe.

The light colour is looking great and we are happy with our choice. Hopefully with a lighter colour it will absorb slightly less heat then a darker colourbond roof - it will also contrast the darker colour bricks that will be coming soon.

Frame Stage - Complete!

Shell of the house

Our frame stage has now completed, with the trusses installed. They have also tacked on the extra noggins in the locations we requested (excluding bathrooms at current).

It is really taking the shape of a house now and its interesting to see and know the design of the place - hopefully that will make it easier for post hand over works in the future (both short and long term).

We have organised for New Home Inspections to inspect our frame stage and provide us with a written report. We are wanting to ensure that any problems are flagged as soon as possible, rectified in a timely manner and that the building is to code (which we know nothing of - so hiring a professional!).

Next stage is for the gutters & the colourbond roof to be attached. Looking forward to that and pictures to follow for that stage as well.

Right side of house

Internal Framing (Photo's)

Just a collection of internal framing photo's - showing the structure of the home and how the framing stage looks in a bit of detail.

Alfesco

Front Door (Coming soon!)

Front room & windows

Garage

Laundry

Front of house

Bathroom