April already?

So the long summer came to an abrupt end and we were reminded what building is like when the weather turns to damp, as it does. Reluctantly I moved out of the comfort of my in-house workshop and focused on the outside bits, while I still could.

Joe the digger man came round and before long there were trenches going in all directions

which were swiftly filled with pipes and buried again.

In the bathroom, the shower, which I'd lined earlier, turned green. I like it. Pity it won't stay that way.

Then the hard working eave lining team reunited and finished off the jigsaw right the way around the back of the house.

Day one.

Joe the digger man also left me with a trench. The beginnings of something big.

wait for it

Wonderful stuff. The hard part is knowing how much to order.

Here's an example of too much.

So what does one do? Make pavers!

And then Michelle got involved.

Wall. The start of.

And some paving. Why not.

And finally some more sexy shots of the front of the house. It's now rendered and waterproofed, so next time you see it the plastic will be off the windows and there may even be some doors!

New year, same but different.

So, how did we end up at the end of the year? Externally not a lot has changed, but now the roof is connected to the water tank and that's filling up nicely. Michelle has started rendering around the windows and getting distracted with some cool arty bits that will be revealed soon.

Internally, I admit, may look like a bit of a shambles, and, well, it is.

The plumbing and wiring are in

But the big news is the batts we've had in storage ( and moved several times ) are finally making their last journey!

this one being numero uno.

and eventually the smallest room of the house was cozy.

and lined. About this time I cracked a rib and had to stop building for a couple weeks. Frustrating, as we're in the middle of five weeks holiday from work, but not much can be done about that.

                          

 and here's a taster of the fancy stuff to come.

This and that.

Yep it's been a while. But things have been going on and progress has been made, mostly to the front wall, but I felt there were already too many photos of the scaffolding so I've been waiting for it all to go before the BIG REVEAL.
But first, the progress so far.

After a day of scratching our heads trying to figure this out, Wazza (genius plasterer) and I got stuck in to the eave lining.

but after two days we only got this far.

Eventually it was done and I could add the fascia proper.

and paint it.

Next, Chris (genius roofer) could return and fit the front flashing, thus finishing the roof!

                                          

TA DA!

And so thats where we're at. The final render will go on eventually but right now the focus is on installing the wiring and getting the plumbing sorted.
Stay tuned.

All hail the Render Queen

So one rainy day Michelle decided to tackle the fun job of smearing mud all over the walls to make a uniform surface and to fill any cracks, technically known as rendering.

I think she quite enjoyed it

Looks like a real one!

On a sunnier day I put in the last of the glass; very satisfying indeed.

OK so not everything goes according to plan. The fascia that I'd made out of plywood and was very proud of got a bit friendly with the rain and swelled up and twisted and generally ruined itself. So I ripped it off and replaced it. Broke my heart but the result is even better than the first version.

and it's made from marine plywood which as the name suggests is waterproof, and just to be sure I've sealed it. Ha!

Meanwhile the render queen was back in action, turning this wall from this....

to this. I know it's abit hard to see and it's dark because it's wet bit stay tuned cause before your very eyes....

random

Put a lid on it!

In no time at all, well, between showers and high winds, Chris the wonder roofer had the iron on.

And I put the first two layers of the front fascia on.

Badly fitting glasses obligatory.

Then comes the battens for under the eaves. Looks wrong but hopefully it'll work.

More fun and games! Building permit calls for 6mm cement sheet, so thats what it gets. Seems easy enough, but try working out the angles on the sides of those wedge shape pieces. fitting straight lines into compound curves is not easy. It took a day and a half of thinking and calculating and a bit of trial and error before we got it sussed.

This is after about two hours...

...and by the time our arms couldn't lift any more we'd come about a third of the way around.

Meanwhile the last of the aluminium strips for the window frames were drying

and the slow job of fitting the glass continued.

Interior ceiling framing is a rainy day job.