tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51119692011-10-28T17:40:30.193+10:00This blog describes the sequence of events for the building of our new home in Melbourne, Australia. We haven't engaged a builder, but are taking on the role of "owner-builder" ourselves, which means that we are project managers and we engage sub-contractors for the parts of the project. NOTE: To be an owner-builder, a Building-Technology course at a TAFE is recommended (Tertiary Education Institute). <br> <br> <img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/239/2992/380/north%20elevation%201.jpg"><br>Stevenoreply@blogger.comBlogger1921100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-87982445827220682662008-04-13T19:10:00.003+10:002008-04-13T19:14:58.493+10:00

We are still in significant drought here, with very restricted use of water allowed for gardens. So, to establsih our new garden, we are first installing a 56,000 litre rainwater tank. This will augment the existing tank which is 13,000 litres. The collection system and pump are already in place, so it's has just been a matter of deciding on a location. The new large tank will be at the bottom of

Stevenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-2581295162366343952008-04-13T19:01:00.004+10:002008-04-13T19:10:36.367+10:00

This is one of those jobs that often gets left un-done for years. But we were worried about vermin getting in under the house, and setting up home in our warm under-floor insulation. So I made am a door-jamb and fitted a door to it. I routed the face of the door with v-groove to make it look a bit less boring.At the same time, I fitted a fly-wire frame and thick fly-wire around the portal in the

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-34821038667936826862008-04-13T18:47:00.002+10:002008-04-13T18:51:33.578+10:00

Just a quick post to detail the addition of the vanity and mirror to the main bathroom. Not a lot of work here for me, although the mirror took the best part of half-a-day to hang, as it need some substantial fixings into the wall-studs owing to its weight.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-54960933436613017022008-04-13T18:34:00.003+10:002008-04-13T18:43:06.243+10:00

A few weeks back, I installed our bath, after the cabinet makers finally fitted the hob for it. Our bath has spa-jets in it, and all the associated plumbing that you would get with a spa, except it's just a bath (a "theraputic bath" I am told). The photo shows the bath in position, ready to be dropped into its final loaction. I had put a lot of effort into getting all the pipes the right length,

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-37094046087864845602007-10-27T18:03:00.000+10:002007-10-27T18:06:12.773+10:00

Oliver is about 16 years old now. He doesn't really cope that well with all the changes that happen during building. But he does enjoy polyester wall-insulation. He just loves it.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-52219276559970794422007-10-27T17:59:00.000+10:002007-10-27T18:02:58.267+10:00

Our neighbour has two miniature ponies, and her acre is running low on grass. So Andy and his girl-freind have spent about a week with us, getting very full of our grass.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-4244634909375434242007-10-27T17:54:00.000+10:002007-10-27T17:59:22.115+10:00

My plumber has a great apprentice - Brendon - who does great work. He came on Friday to install the Grundfos pump I bought to run the pressure system on our water tank. He has arranged two circuits for me: just toilet cisterns and one garden tap; and/or the rest of the house (although for the latter we need to up our tank size from 12000 to 36000 litres. That won't happen until next year.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-38516863226548199212007-10-27T17:46:00.000+10:002007-10-27T17:53:40.283+10:00

Because our verandah has radiused (curved) rafters, I could not get a standard steel section rolled to fit the hips (apparently they can't roll to this shape). So I had to fall back on the traditional solution - lead. The down side is that we collect water from out roof - and we don't want excessive lead in that water, even though we don't drink it. Fortunatley lead can be bought pre-coated in

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-28750341275088149522007-10-27T17:25:00.000+10:002007-10-28T10:03:52.855+10:00

Its taken ages, but the flue for the kitchen exhaust fan is now in place. The cowling used has dampers in the top to stop back-flow of air into the house when its not in use (an energy requirement for our house). Unfortunately, the cowling is rectangular in shape, which means that I could not get an off-the-shelf sealing system for it. Its an ugly looking cowling, but fortuantely its nestled out

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1971887462973686872007-10-12T12:15:00.001+10:002007-10-12T12:22:11.550+10:00

Julie will throttle me one day for this. I bought a maid's-bell and indicator-board on ebay for A$30. I've installed it in the kitchen, and have run wires to switches in four rooms, so I can call for a maid from the bedroom or lounge! The bell is yet to be wired in place, but the indicator board is up on the wall. When a call is made from one of the rooms, a tell-tale drops down into one of four

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-3943445153904890292007-10-12T12:00:00.000+10:002007-10-12T12:08:15.031+10:00

Our rear verandah has always lagged behind the rest, primarily as I elected to do it myself. We recently finished the roof frame for it, and clad it with galvanised (not zinc-alume) corrugated steel. This finish dulls-off over the years to look old, although it is not as durable as zinc-alume (so maybe when I am 80 years old, maybe I'll have to re-clad it!). I was pleased to show our carpenter

Stevenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-30696029079108003622007-10-12T08:42:00.000+10:002007-10-12T09:05:45.085+10:00

Contemporary windows have a strip of timber called a "wind mold" that protrudes out from the main window frame on the outside. The brickies then place the bricks so the rear face of the brick is covered by the wind mold. Our window supplier talked us out of this idea, as Victoian windows were not fitted with wind molds. This meant that the gap between the rear face of the bricks and the window

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-83484749670489877272007-09-30T18:48:00.000+10:002007-09-30T19:16:48.991+10:00

Of course the new rain-water collection pump has put the pressure on me to get all the downpipes finished. Most of them are done, but I had left the more difficult ones until last. Above is a photo of the downpipe that collects water from a gutter, and also from a sump located at the end of a "box gutter" in the roof (hence I have two pipes joining together). If the sump blocks-up, the over-flow

Stevenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-79040012390805798492007-09-30T18:37:00.000+10:002007-09-30T18:48:08.018+10:00

A few weeks back, our rain-water collection pump was finally commissioned. The photo shows two pits (each 600 x 600mm) - the first of which is a settling pit to help removed any debris collected from the roof. The sump-pump is in the seond pit, which also has two over-flow pipes that discharge to the stormwater "legal point of discharge".Our tank only holds 12,500 litres, as it was initially

Stevenoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-46289497354980655182007-09-20T14:33:00.000+10:002007-09-20T14:43:26.256+10:00

I stuffed up slightly with the brickwork for our fireplace. The hearth in front of the fireplace opening must extend out 300mm to satisfy building regulations. Because we chose a different mantel to the one originally envisaged when the brickwork was laid, I have had to extend the hearth by about 100mm. This was done by removing (see below) one of three floor joists (leaving a double joist

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-33725505523788122332007-09-17T10:03:00.000+10:002007-09-17T10:13:11.370+10:00

Although the main plastering was done some months back, the hallway-arch was left until later. The main reason for this was that it took us time to decide what we wanted! At first, we couldn't seem to find all the right elements in the arches we saw on display -- but then one of the suppliers said that we could mix-and-match any design elements, as they could make anything we wanted. So I did a

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-21923792206937743152007-09-17T09:23:00.000+10:002007-09-17T09:39:58.540+10:00

The kitchen installation has been tedious to say the least. But it has arrived, and we have been painting it ousleves over a period of months. Julie wanted a hand-painted brush-finish in semi-gloss enamel. While two-pack finished are very popular these days, we felt that the super-smooth finish would not suit the provincial style of out kitchen.However, we did have the cabinets primed by the

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-2166403717347088122007-09-17T09:14:00.000+10:002007-09-17T09:22:38.686+10:00

Here are two examples of moulding-profiles used in our house ...these are on a large scale as they form the support-brackets for the chimney-breast aboev our kitchen stove. The curved profile on the top-half of this bracket is "ovolo", while the profile on the bottom half is "cyma". See also this description of moulding types used in classical architecture.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-10508876177279505712007-09-17T09:06:00.000+10:002007-09-17T09:13:52.874+10:00

Just a quick note to document the paint-job we did on out hallway (some months ago now). The photo shows the cornices masked with blue-tape to so we get a "proper" straight line where the different colour of the cornice meets the wall and ceiling ...yes, I did the first room in the house by cutting-in without tape, and it was deemed "not satisfatctory". So its blue-tape everywhere from now on.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-50450082297471862572007-09-14T16:43:00.000+10:002007-09-14T16:48:22.422+10:00

I guess that for people who own "real" Victorian homes, they might wonder why we bother with "reproduction" stuff. But on this occasion, we have the real-thing -- a door knob with 100 years of history. We found it at a tile-shop we visited, and I bought it for my wife's birthday. Of course it didn't get fitted in time for her birthday, but it is fitted now. It looks great (...the maid will have

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-61467463907740735792007-09-14T16:33:00.000+10:002007-09-14T16:50:55.666+10:00

I am a sucker for decent light fittings. This is one of the few things that my wife has not had to convince me of. We have bought a few for the house now -- we have a shop in Melbourne that stocks really good lights, with a range to suit any period. One of our first lights was for the master bedroom, shown here. The wall-painting is finish, but the French-blue detail on the cornice has not had a

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-66741154199342379602007-09-10T11:14:00.000+10:002007-09-10T11:30:01.554+10:00

We recently got our carpenters to come back on site to fit the skirting boards and architraves. We have taken ages to choose these -- probably because tehre are so many designs.Our skirting boards are 300mm high, which I admit to thinking that thay would be too big. But with the 12ft ceilings they look great. Our architraves are 150mm wide, expect for some doors in service-areas where we used

Stevenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-10757715993506517142007-09-09T19:15:00.000+10:002007-09-09T19:30:01.072+10:00

We stumbled across a new (reproduction) door bell that is the same as that used 100 years ago. It is actuated by a cable, running through pulleys in the roof space. At the front door, there is a knob that says "pull", and if you do so it causes the bell to tinle as it wobbles on its spring-suspended mount. This was another crazy project really, as it too the best part of 2-days to install.The

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-59165418199798098822006-12-10T15:26:00.000+10:002006-12-10T16:10:00.976+10:00

The design of the verandah seems to have been more tedious than the design of the frame for the whole house. I am not sure why.We have chosen a roof profile that is radiussed in such a way that it is convex on the top. Some Victorian homes also had it around the other way, so its concave on the top surface. We like both versions, but eventually we went with convex.We painted all the verandah

Stevenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-42564800518490465772006-12-10T15:02:00.000+10:002006-12-10T16:03:58.192+10:00

Our window sills are made from dark-grey concrete, and are intended to emulate the bluestone sills originally used. We were happy enough with the apperance of the concrete that we felt we didn't need to spend the extra to get machined bluestone sills made.As the sills have oxide colouring in them, we had to install them after the brickwork was washed-down, thus avoiding damage to the sills from

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-60268455366457542422006-12-10T14:12:00.000+10:002006-12-10T14:55:09.897+10:00

For some time now we have been in drought conditions in much of Australia. The water storages serving Melbourne are down to 40% of capacity, and we are restricted in how we can use water.To counter this, many people in Melbourne's suburbs are installing water tanks. (This used to be illegal not long ago! But now the Government encourages it, and has made water-collection or solar hot-water

Stevenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-11213079631790080442006-12-10T14:02:00.000+10:002006-12-10T16:01:47.510+10:00

Not strictly house-related, but here is Andy.Andy is owned by one of our neighbours. Andy also lives with a lot of other animals, including two dogs who love to chase him around. So he loves to escape over to our place from time to time, just to eat different grass, and relax away from the dogs! Also in-shot are three concrete window-sills yet to be installed into the brickwork.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-47149884580269816322006-12-10T13:27:00.000+10:002006-12-10T13:45:15.735+10:00

Julie thought it would be a good idea to re-post the photo of Coolattie (located in Melbourne, Australia) as it is the house which was the biggest influence on the design of our Victorian home.The other house that was influential is also from Melbourne, Australia:

Stevenoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1162860533996673252006-11-07T10:26:00.000+10:002006-11-07T10:48:54.036+10:00

At the beginning of the year, I figured it would take 2 months to get a kitchen. Well, here we are in November, and the kitchen may be installed in the next fortnight.Just to review the timeline that we have followed, here are some of the hurdles: - design kitchen: 3 months - find a suitable supplier: 2 months - wait for construction: 4 monthsThe design phase was long for two reasons: - we kept

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1162085240755508662006-10-29T11:16:00.000+10:002006-12-10T13:59:47.230+10:00

Normally new brickwork would be cleaned down with a sulphuric acid mix, a week or so after completion. But we had to wait for our rendering & mouldings to be complete first - well that was the advice we received from the company that provided the mouldings (as the rendering process would make a mess over a newly cleaned wall).But to our dismay, the mouldings company changed their mind -- after

Stevenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1162025357493261572006-10-28T18:35:00.000+10:002006-10-28T18:54:14.473+10:00

I think I've said this before, but of all the decisions on the house design, the ones associated with brickwork and associated mouldings were the most difficult. It caused many "discussions"!Traditional Victorian homes usually featured extensive exterior mouldings, as labour was cheap in the 19'th century. These days, light-weight stick-on moulding are used a lot on new homes, but these didn't

Stevenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1162022787416967572006-10-28T17:54:00.000+10:002006-10-28T18:30:32.626+10:00

We've had the heating and cooling system running for some months now. I'm not that happy with the way it works - but I am going to get it modified to get it right.Ducted heating using a centralised gas furnace is by far the most common method of central heating - in Melbourne, Austrlia. (Funnily enough though, our system is made in the USA!). For homes on suspended-timber floors like ours, the

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1162020550523574192006-10-28T17:21:00.000+10:002006-10-28T17:29:10.523+10:00

We wanted a timber garage door, with a tilt-action automatic opening. This type of garage door can be too heavy with certain timber types, so they are generally only made in 12mm cedar. This is a beautiful timber, and it would be criminal to paint it. So we decided to treat it with oil, which will need re-newing at least every 6 to 12 months. (Clear polyurethanes are not durable in the sun).The

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1162019981939807832006-10-28T17:17:00.000+10:002006-10-28T17:19:41.943+10:00

As usual, Julie and I elect to do too many things oursleves. And so it was with painting. We spray-painted the raw plasterboard (called "drywall" in the USA) with a high pressure spray-gun.Fortunatley my wife Julie works in the paint industry, so we were able to borrow a professional spray pump. These things operate at huge, and dangerous pressures - around 2000 pounds-per-sq-inch or over 120

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1162019664242237712006-10-28T17:13:00.000+10:002006-10-28T17:17:06.100+10:00

In Australia we can still use 2-part epoxy coatings, which is what we have used to coat our garage floor. Before applying the epoxy, the concrete floor was etched clean using sulphuric acid (H2SO4) diluted by adding the acid to the water. Protective gear is needed when messing with acid.We used a light-grey colour epoxy. The big advantage of coating the floor becomes apparent when you have to

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1162015142405959272006-10-28T15:54:00.000+10:002006-10-28T16:55:47.550+10:00

This blog is now well out of date. I am going to have a go at some catch-up postings, to cover the main events of this year. Our house is still a long way from finished, even now.....

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A recent view of the house - sills and mouldings are yet to be done, so the brick work has not been cleaned down yet.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1136263609439139932006-01-03T14:41:00.000+10:002006-01-03T14:46:49.450+10:00

Before we start moving anything into the house in the way of appliances or furniture, we have installed and commissioned a security system (Sierra, now owned by Honeywell). I did the installation, as I have an electrical engineering background. But it has taken me about 5 days all up to complete the job. before it was finallycommissioned, I was worried that the security system itslef could be

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1136263219452345272006-01-03T14:40:00.000+10:002006-01-03T14:40:19.456+10:00

I'm pretty pleased with the security system installation I did - I had to keep the wiring neat & labelled to stop myslef from going insane with mixed circuits!

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1136263060874289792006-01-03T14:37:00.001+10:002006-01-03T14:37:40.880+10:00

The formal lounge has a cornice with more detailed "egg and dart" design.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1136263046510983692006-01-03T14:37:00.000+10:002006-01-03T14:37:26.516+10:00

George finishing the installation of the ceiling rose in the formal lounge.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1136262880466710972006-01-03T14:34:00.000+10:002006-01-03T14:34:40.470+10:00

Here's a sample of the large decorative cornice (a Victorian gutter cornice). It looked huge when it was on the floor, but a perfect size when installed. You can also just see the nosing on the external corners of the fireplace breats, and the box-window to the left.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1136262790773292612006-01-03T14:33:00.000+10:002006-01-03T14:33:10.780+10:00

Our plasterer, Amore, have a discussion with his assistant, George.

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After "hanging" the plasterboard, the next stage is "stopping-up" the joins and corners. This work started around late November.Our plasterer, Amore, liked to complete the work in each area as he went, rather than stop-up the whole house first, and then do the decorative.We chose to put "bull-nosing" on many of the external corners in the house. This is a good idea aethetically, but they were

Stevenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1136261914406600182006-01-03T14:18:00.000+10:002006-01-03T14:18:34.410+10:00

We liked this Victorian fence, which we saw in one of Melbourne's "heritage" suburbs. We may use a similar design on our new house ....one day!

Stevenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1136261769486217072006-01-03T14:16:00.000+10:002006-01-03T14:16:09.490+10:00

These ternches have potable stormwater in one pipe, and sub-surface/cut-off drains in another pipe. All this doubling-up of drainage made it more expensive of course, but its best done now.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1136261532079975582006-01-03T14:12:00.000+10:002006-01-03T14:12:12.083+10:00

Three drains in one trench - the potable stormwater drain is on top (in 100mm PVC fro strength, even though 90 mm is permitted). Underneath is the sewer and also the surface/sub-surface drainage. Note :- the grey water from the house (excluding kitchen sullage) is kept separate from other drains in the house until it joins the sewer main line - this allows me to easily re-direct gray-water for

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1136254482088713172006-01-03T12:14:00.000+10:002006-01-03T12:14:42.086+10:00

Here is Greg installing the sewer and rainwater drains. The laser level allows home to get the correct fall on the system (we had about 1800mm of fall over 40m from the house to the Legal Point of Discharge - which was heaps).

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1136254266135705022006-01-03T12:01:00.000+10:002006-01-03T12:11:06.136+10:00

All our internal plumbing was roughed-in, but we had no drains to connect it to. Fotunately, I had slected a plumber who can do both inmternal and external plumbing (some plmbers specialised in only one).Onece again, the energy-certiciation system required for new homes in Australia had an impact here. As part of our energy certification, we had to have rain-water recycling (or solar energy

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1136253694888162682006-01-03T11:55:00.000+10:002006-01-03T12:01:34.890+10:00

I don't currently have a photo to depict this, but also in November, we had some more excavation work down, and the old original timber garage rewmoved (which we hd been using for storage on-site). The excavation work was done on the high-side of the slope, where the house appeared too "dug-in" to the gound. We removed lots of earth, to open this area up, and placed removed earth around on the

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The plasterboard hangers were scheduled for early November, but I had to delay them by one-week when I realised that I was not going to have the frame ready for them. So the plasterboard was installed by a team of three "hangers" around November 10. They took three days to do it (they said thyy would have taken two days on a normal house, but our 12-foot ceilings slowed them down).They did a

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The tools of the trade for our plasterboard hangers :- battery-packs on re-charge for wall-board screwdrivers, and an industrial-strength ghetto-blaster.

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All the sheet plaster was shipped in one truckload. The total mass of plater was about 8 tonnes as I recall! I was worried about how our suspended timber floor would take the load, so I had it distributed around the floor as much as possible (see above).

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On the right is the revised kitchen window - it comes dowm 172mm lower than the original one did, so now the sill is level with the kitchen bench (i.e. there is no splash-back)

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1136252492807335942006-01-03T11:34:00.000+10:002006-01-03T11:41:32.806+10:00

Stuff ups are different when you make them yourself - and we have made some on this project. You can't get mad, or even, because its your fault when you are owner-builder. In the case of our kitchen window, I didn't listen to Julie properly, and so I had a kitchen window made that had a 175mm splash-back underneath it, where the kitchen sink was to be. After the window was fitted, Julie looked at

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1136251852219265922006-01-03T11:30:00.000+10:002006-01-03T11:30:52.223+10:00

This internal wall of our lounge room has polyester acoustic insulation, to keep sound from our sound-system to a minimum in the adjacent room.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1136251752074391452006-01-03T11:24:00.000+10:002006-01-03T11:29:12.076+10:00

All external walls were insulated in R2 polyester (fire rated) batts. These are white in colour. All new homes in Australia must now achieve a 5-Star energy certification, which usually implies full insulation,and careful design of windows, shade-control, and aspect.We also fitted some acoustic insulation to some internal walls to provide better isolation between rooms (e.g. kitchen/bedroom wall,

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1136251418367444422006-01-03T11:23:00.000+10:002006-01-03T11:23:38.370+10:00

Photos of all internal walls are handy for locating electrical wiring, plumbing and wall studs later on.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1136251225649030052006-01-03T11:17:00.000+10:002006-01-03T11:20:25.650+10:00

Also as part of the frame preparation process, I had my electrician and plumber finish off the rough-in.Its a good idea to take photos off all the walls after the rough-in work is complete. This way you can used the photos later if you need to locate plumbing, wires, or wall-studs.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1136251015970308352006-01-03T11:05:00.000+10:002006-01-03T11:16:55.970+10:00

Before plastering the internal walls, I had a list a mile long of all the things that needed doing. For example: * Extra noggins to allow for fixing of things like: toilet roll holders, wardrobe frames, light fittings, etc. * Bell-wires for front door bells, and servants-bells (NOW HANG ON - we DO NOT have servants, but I did buy an old Edwardian room-indicator panel (for about US$20), so that

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1136250292634035432006-01-03T11:03:00.000+10:002006-01-03T11:04:52.643+10:00

Well, this blog is some 3 months out of date, and I am going to have a go at catching up on the building-work done in that time. So watch for some new postings shortly.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1127956035529571212005-09-29T11:07:00.000+10:002005-09-29T11:12:49.966+10:00

The brick work has been quite exciting to see being done. As we have chosen a design with quite a lot of detail in the brickwork, it was the cause of the longest "discussions" about how it should be. But this has also made it quite rewarding. We are very happy with the result - which should look even better once is is cleaned-down.The brickwork nearing completion.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1127955990368111062005-09-29T11:06:00.000+10:002005-09-29T11:06:30.373+10:00

The completed chimney. To me, it looks Victorian-for-real.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1127955866497086482005-09-29T11:04:00.000+10:002005-09-29T11:04:26.503+10:00

Our Bricky, Pete, finishing up work on the mouldings. The single top-course and chimney-damper are not fitted yet.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1127955670195572162005-09-29T11:01:00.000+10:002005-09-29T11:01:44.230+10:00

Another view of the Cherry Picker in action. It was towed to the site by a 4-wheel drive, as I did not want to risk getting bogged with my own car towing it.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1127954967267231682005-09-29T10:49:00.000+10:002005-09-29T11:04:45.726+10:00

For some months now, we have been waiting for the mouldings for our chimney to arrive. Because work on the chimney was not finished, it has been holding up the work on the roof cladding.Anyway, our mouldings arrived and we were going to erect a scaffold through the roof-frame to do the work on the chimney. However, it was cheaper to hire an Elevated Work Platform (around A$290 per day). I booked

Stevenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1125367250342772312005-08-30T12:00:00.000+10:002005-08-30T12:08:31.816+10:00

It was good to get some photos from a different perspective. Here's one that my wife Julie took from the north side, showing (of course) the north elevation. We are currently waiting on the brickies coming back to lay the bricks here. The roof is now clad, except for a small section near the chimmney (this is held-up as well, because we are waiting on some chmney-mouldings to arrive from the

Stevenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1125366752627210992005-08-30T11:52:00.000+10:002005-08-30T11:59:21.380+10:00

We have a truss-roof, and it is possible to line the ceiling directly with plasterboard fixed to the bottom-chords. However, a better result can be obtained by first fixing battens to the bottom chords of the trusses. This gives you the opportunity to "pack" any variation in bottom-chord heights, so all the battens are level. This is crucial where the ceiling meets the wall, as any height

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1125366479624507602005-08-30T11:47:00.000+10:002005-08-30T11:51:24.620+10:00

I was lucky to be able to borrow my carpenter's nail gun for a week-end. This allowed me to put up quite a large portion of the ceiling battens. This nail gun uses a small replaceable gas cannister for fule, and a rechargable battery (presumably to run the compressor, and to fire the fuel). In Australia, these "framing guns" cost about A$600 (US$450).You can't put up ceiling battens without one

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1124417112151994812005-08-19T12:05:00.000+10:002005-08-19T12:10:48.336+10:00

With the newly-arrived front windows installed, the house is really starting to hint at its final character. I guess the windows are kind of like eyes -- contributing much to the personality of a building.The windows are made from gum trees (Victorian Ash, hardwood). They are double hung, and weight-balanced. I feel like I don't deserve such beautiful windows. They slide up and down so easily --

Stevenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1124416546100680562005-08-19T11:55:00.000+10:002005-08-19T12:03:14.153+10:00

Our windows are made in the old style, and therefore lack wind-mouldings. This means that the outside face of the window-frame is flush, and butts-up behind the brick-veneer outside skin. Therefore it has been possible to do some brickwork before all the windows arrived. Of course, this is risky -- you have to get the brickwork dimensions correct, and it has to be a smooth finish on the inside

Stevenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1122960689971306792005-08-02T15:31:00.000+10:002005-08-02T15:53:04.813+10:00

This week is probably the scariest part of this house-building project. This is because a number of components are being installed that all need to fit togther: - the windows have to fit into the frame - the concrete window sills need to fit into the brickwork - the radiussed steel lintels have to match with the radiussed heads of the windows and doors - the brickwork "buff banding" has to look

Stevenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1122860596471000082005-08-01T11:43:00.000+10:002005-08-01T11:45:58.790+10:00

This is the last post for today, in a series of catch-ups from the last week or two.I thought I would post a photo of the front door frame in-place. Of course, this makes it look much more like a home, than it has done to-date. The frame is fitted with plain glass for now, but after we move into the house, we would one-day like to have stained glass here.The front-door frame in-place, with

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1122860328466443972005-08-01T11:38:00.000+10:002005-08-01T11:42:17.696+10:00

One of the most difficult thigs to get right is the alignment of window openings with the brick bonds and courses. We have all the arch "springing points" aligned with the top of Course-33 in our brickwork. I have checked the measurements following installation of the windows, and I think its going to work out for us (and the bricky agrees!).All windows have their head-hrights aligned, and also

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1122859900456303922005-08-01T11:31:00.000+10:002005-08-01T11:36:07.696+10:00

Our first batch of doors & windows arrived last Thursday. This batch mainly had our casement windows, with only a couple of double-hungs. The casement windows (and our doors) are all fitted with wind-moulds, which means that the frame protrudes through the brickwork about 10 or 20mm. (This is in contrast to the majority of our windows, which all butt-up to the brickwork from behind, and so a have

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1122859623216396112005-08-01T11:27:00.000+10:002005-08-01T11:29:58.536+10:00

All our windows and doors have "segmented arches" over them (i.e an arch that is not a 180-degree arch). Getting the look of this correct was a worry for me, as I did not want to make the arch effect too strong. I settled on an arch "rise" of about 70mm for an opening of 970mm (4 bricks). I am very happy with the effect, which is shown below.Our first completed masonry arch.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1122859144153578872005-08-01T11:19:00.000+10:002005-08-01T11:26:19.650+10:00

The brickies started on the top-brickwork last Thursday. This is the first section of "top brickwork" to be done (i.e. above base-brickwork level). We have settled on three course of Daniel Robertson "Buff Banding" at around window-sill height, and two courses just below head-height. The garage is made using "engaged brick piers" which impart lateral stability into the wall. The piers are one

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1122858949600682882005-08-01T11:15:00.000+10:002005-08-01T11:17:21.946+10:00

I've been meaning to post a picture showing the slate pattern in better detail. The effect is achieved by cutting the corners of each shingle.A closer view of the pattern in the slate roof.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1122359417526215442005-07-26T16:30:00.000+10:002005-07-26T16:34:25.743+10:00

I like the idea of fitting old-style latches to the internal doors. Down here in Oz, rim-locks were frequently used, so I'd like to use these inside (although I can't envisage a use for the key!). I like the look of them over mortice-locks as used these days. They seem readily obtainable, but the prices seem somewhat high. This frustrates me, as I am sure that they are probably made in India for

Stevenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1121651024982241302005-07-18T11:43:00.000+10:002005-07-18T11:53:51.983+10:00

We have chosen a slate roof, and I still feel guilty about the expense. So much so, that I feel that we will be eating sausages and mashed potato for the rest of our life to pay for it!The roofers have done about half of the roof in slate shingles now. We fell in love with a pattern often used on slate roofs back at the turn of the century. To my surprise, we could have this pattern put into the

Stevenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1120699905074434012005-07-07T11:19:00.000+10:002005-07-07T11:37:02.546+10:00

This week ,the brickies arrived to put the fireplace & chimney in. This needs to be done now, as the roofers (who have also started) need to make the penetration through the roof weather-proof.Our fireplace will follow conventional design practices here in Australia (double brick walls, slightly angled covings, narrowed throat (100mm), smoke shelf, parged chimmney walls, an s-bend in the internal

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1120698842433791062005-07-07T11:08:00.000+10:002005-07-07T12:18:32.710+10:00

We are thinking ahead to the day we move in to the new house, and wondering what name we could give it. I found a database with Melbourne house-names in it, and have extracted these names into a complete list. These names are from the late 1800's and early 1900's. We are not sure that we really like many of these names, so we are still thinking of something creative that reflects both of us in

Stevenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1120459268452535512005-07-04T16:30:00.001+10:002005-07-04T16:44:50.766+10:00

Down here in Oz, the roof line we have chosen is quite un-orthodox. We see "Dutch gables" here frequently, but in our case, the Dutch gable extends the full height of the roof (which makes its a full gable) except that we have retained the fascia and guttering beneath the gable (see pic below). I have seen this sort of thing on American buildings though. Of course when you design these things,

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1120458605281325172005-07-04T16:30:00.000+10:002005-07-04T16:42:20.190+10:00

The battens have now been fitted to the roof, with foil/paper sarking underneath.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1120093231947401912005-06-30T10:53:00.000+10:002005-06-30T11:00:31.946+10:00

Well the frame is finished. The roofers started work this week - so far they have installed roofing sarking/paper and the battens for the slate. The battens are 35x35mm oregon, which surprised me. I was expecting pine. The battens have to be a soft timber to suite the slate shingles.One item that is a bit behind is the chimney. This is being done next week, so the brickies will have to work in

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1120092647438178492005-06-30T10:50:00.000+10:002005-06-30T10:53:40.466+10:00

Having just completed the fitting of the fascia and guttering, the frame is now finished, and ready for roofing.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1120092569542871362005-06-30T10:49:00.000+10:002005-06-30T10:49:29.600+10:00

This is another Melbourne home, that has also been an "input" to our design process.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1120008559718493542005-06-29T11:24:00.000+10:002005-06-29T11:29:19.720+10:00

One of the Melbourne homes that has had a large influence on the architecture of our new house is "Coolattie". I thought I would include a photo of it below for reference. Our house will have a return-verandah, overall front-of-house appearance, and roof-line design similar to Coolattie, except that ours is not quite so large. Coolattie is a very big house - I have counted the brickwork many

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1120007874218069202005-06-29T11:17:00.000+10:002005-06-29T11:23:17.026+10:00

The house that inspired our design - "Coolattie", circa 1897.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1119855729922221592005-06-27T16:51:00.000+10:002005-06-27T17:02:09.926+10:00

Our house requires a box gutter, as we have kept the roof line low with two ridges instead of one. Box gutters are called box gutters, as they are often folded with right-angles at the bottom (so the cross-section is rectangular) and are often seen where the roof meets a parapet wall. In our case the folds at the bottom are a much bigger angle than 90 degrees, but its still called a box gutter.I

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1119854985864261312005-06-27T16:49:00.000+10:002005-06-27T16:51:14.580+10:00

Here is the view looking up the central valley in the roof. Rainwater run-off flows towards you.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1119857561065759102005-06-27T16:16:00.000+10:002005-06-27T17:32:41.070+10:00

With our ceiling being 3.6m above the floor, it means that fitting the fascia board and the guttering is nigh-on impossible on a ladder. Even with two people. In addition, it would be an un-safe work practice!I made enquiries about hiring a suspended walkway that attaches to the wall frame. At first most companies wanted to fit the entire house with a continuous walkway, leave it in place for 10

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1119856496654735002005-06-27T16:02:00.000+10:002005-06-29T12:33:38.930+10:00

Our house has verandahs on some sections of the external walls. Traditionally, water from the main roof is collected in a gutter, and then fed on to the verandah roof below via "spreaders". This is the arrangment that we want to adopt (the other option is to put separate downpipes for the roof and verandahs, but this is tedious and messy looking).For months we have been trying to decide what

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1118039566199396632005-06-06T16:32:00.000+10:002005-06-06T16:43:38.646+10:00

Nearly every Victorian house we have seen and liked, has had a suppressed, or reduced roof line. This is achieved by dividing the roof into two, and have separate ridges of the same height for each half. This if course means that there is a central-valley running the length the building - but the visual effect is fantastic! If it had a roof with a single-ridge, it would not look like a real

Stevenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1118039387345210522005-06-06T16:29:00.000+10:002005-06-06T16:31:35.560+10:00

The first roof truss to go up was a "girder truss" that is designed to support other trusses, which connect to it with metal boots. The truss shown support about 2 tons of roof mass.The first roof truss is up.

Stevenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1118038343368780312005-06-06T16:12:00.000+10:002005-06-06T16:17:20.546+10:00

We are considering going on yet another splurge. This time on sub-floor vents. Some (not all) older houses have a decorative design in the sub-floor vent. I have also seen the regular checker-board matrix of squarte holes on period homes too, so technically we could use them as they are cheap.I have found two decorative sub-floor vents - the cheapest one is shown below. I am happy with this

Stevenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1118038188232323932005-06-06T16:07:00.000+10:002005-06-06T16:10:03.573+10:00

On May the 19th 2005, our rood-trusses arrived. I was not on-site, but my carpenter sais it too threee hours to unload. Often the trusses are placed on top of the newly erected wall frame, but this seemed impractical in our case, as there were so many different types of truss (and sorting them on top of the roof would be impossible).

Stevenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1118037966565599842005-06-06T15:59:00.000+10:002005-06-06T16:06:06.566+10:00

Its been some weeks since I last posted, so the next few posts are a bit of a catch-up.The walls for the frame were set square and plumbed over about two days. Our frame was somewhat more demanding than most, as we required the external face of the frame to be at 250mm (+/- 5mm) from the internal face of the brick-veneer skin. Normally the frame can vary +10/-15 and it doesn't matter, but that is

Stevenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1115950644475744762005-05-13T12:17:00.000+10:002005-05-13T12:17:24.550+10:00

Here is a photo looking down the central hallway towards the front door. Of special interest in the large lintel over the intermediate door frame in the foreground. This is 2 beams of 300 x 45 F17 SHW in parallel! Needless to say, we have extra stumps under this location, to bear the roof-load from this lintel.

Stevenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5111969.post-1115950478495623942005-05-13T12:09:00.000+10:002005-05-13T12:14:38.500+10:00

To my surprise, the frame uses imported MGP10 baltic pine (machine graded pine, stress-rating 10). We grow heaps of radiata pine in Australia, so I found it amazing that an imported product can be cost competitive. With our high-dollar at the moment, it is practical to use baltic pine for the frame.Baltic pine grows slower than radiata pine, and has a very fine grain structure that makes it

Stevenoreply@blogger.com