Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum Re: Tondelver House - Southern Highlands 41Nov 14, 2014 12:26 pm Well I made it back from the overseas adventure - had a great time and didn't think about the house build once!
The 'stans were terrific (except for Turkmenistan) and despite bad press Iran is exceptional. Never ever met such friendly people in my life. And the sights are extraordinary. If anyone is interested here is a link to my travel blog - lots of pix and not much writing: The Road Goes Ever On Not a big update but in the 3 weeks since I've been back I picked up my septic tank which I'd paid for and had the suppliers hang on to it for me. The guy at the shop helped me load it onto my Ute - then I realised when I got out to site that I had no one to help me unload it! And it's a big bugger. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Taller than I am. Anyway after a bit of thought I reversed the Ute up to the soil heap beside the hole for the tank and dug a concave depression in the top. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Then I was able to tip the tank off the back of the Ute so it lay on its side in the depression. Drove the Ute away and slid the tank down the side of the soil heap. Then rolled it to the edge of the hole, and using my 2m step ladder as a ramp, I was able to slide the tank down it into the hole. Et voila. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I have also had over 60 tonnes of shale delivered and spread onto my driveway so I don't have a repeat of the concrete fiasco!! (Just watch - it'll be the driest summer on record now...) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ My water tank (also paid for but held back until my return) was supposed to be delivered last Tuesday. I had to spend a few hours re-levelling the sand pad beforehand as the kangaroos had enjoyed playing in it while I was away. Then Monday at 5pm I received a call - they had just discovered the major support pole for the roof was missing and they will have to order another one with no date set for re-delivery. Why this was discovered at the 11th hour is beyond me. I've also spent about 7 hours weed spraying (the saffron thistle is very bad this year for some reason.) I am now hoping to get the concrete foundations poured next week. And that's about all for now. Re: Tondelver House - Southern Highlands 42Nov 14, 2014 6:42 pm Great news that your back WG I went and Checked out your blog what a beautiful part of the world you went to .....thanks for all the photos the insides of those Mosques were stunning <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=62083">viewtopic.php?t=62083</a><!-- l --> Re: Tondelver House - Southern Highlands 43Nov 30, 2014 10:24 am Well the concrete arrived last Friday and the pouring of the pier foundations went smoothly - to my great relief!
Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ As the pump guy walked around and filled the piers I followed him with a makeshift float and levelled the concrete making sure any excess flowed out of the cuts I had placed in the side of the pier tubes. This ensured every pier was filled to the same level. Concrete is not as fluid as water so sometimes it would sit a little higher in the middle of the tube. So paddling with the float levelled it out. Then I was able to drop in the metal plates I had had made making sure they were in the correct position and no concrete spilled out over their surface. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I did the calculations for the concrete myself and was worried I had under ordered. So I asked the pumper to fill all of the piers needing metal plates first as they were the most important. I also told him to leave the 4 verandah post piers until last as they could be done by hand if I ran out of concrete. Besides, for verandah posts, I thought the engineers had WAY OVER engineered them! Due to overfilling of some piers and spillage, I ran out of concrete with 2 and a bit piers to go. Finally before the concrete set, I went around with a trowel and smoothed the pier tops as best I could and with a wet rag wiped off as much of the concrete splashes from the side of the metal pier tubes above the concrete level. These tube tops need to be cut off and I figured any set concrete on them would make the angle grinding more difficult. I was working alone so there are no other photos as I didn't fancy stopping mid pour to snap off a few quick pix! I was very happy with the result. The day before my water tank arrived. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The 2 guys came up from Cooma near the Snowy Mountains and had the thing ready for 18,000 litres of water in just over 4 hours. The water truck was standing by so as soon as the tank was finished he was able to empty his water truck. A new above ground tank need water in it straight away to stabilise it and the liner, and to prevent and damage from winds. (And it is VERY windy where I am at times.) Re: Tondelver House - Southern Highlands 44Dec 02, 2014 10:16 am ... and just in the nick of time. Almost 60mm of rain fell in the last 2 days and rain predicted every day for the next 6 days!! A big WOO (Window of Opportunity!!) (Glad you liked the pix AKB - the mosques were jaw droppingly beautiful.) Re: Tondelver House - Southern Highlands 45Dec 11, 2014 9:16 pm Looks fantastic! Perfect timing for the water tank, it's been seriously wet! Build thread http://tinyurl.com/llgc7yk Re: Tondelver House - Southern Highlands 46Dec 12, 2014 12:15 pm I know BB7 - I didn't get a chance to backfill my septic tank (as I need to attach inlet/outlet pipes, inner dividing wall and external anchors) so it is bobbing around in the hole like a dinghy!
And my absorption trench is mocking me: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Looks like I now have a lap pool. Yesterday I discovered all the rain has caused 2 deep furrows (up to 15cms deep) in my newly covered driveway from the road. So I bought a tonne of shale and filled the ruts and used the rest to fashion a "speed-hump" by the gate to divert runoff down the side of the road and towards the dam. One benefit of the wet weather is I christened my dam a few days ago with a couple of swims. Invigorating after a couple of hours sweaty labour!! How are things going on your property? Re: Tondelver House - Southern Highlands 47Dec 12, 2014 12:30 pm Quote: I didn't get a chance to backfill my septic tank (as I need to attach inlet/outlet pipes, inner dividing wall and external anchors) so it is bobbing around in the hole like a dinghy! Backfilling would not have helped. The tank need to be partially filled with water to prevent it floating. I put 1500 litres of water in my septic tank the day it was delivered. This seemed to work as I have not had any significant rain since! Re: Tondelver House - Southern Highlands 48Dec 12, 2014 1:08 pm Hi Beetaloo - the instructions that came with my tank said I needed to attach 2 -4 anchors around the outside of the tank before backfilling. These were to be made with sand/earth filled length of PVC tube around 6-800mm long and tied to the tank exterior hanging just above the tank bottom. Once backfilled these anchors prevent uplift.
This is the effect of too much groundwater on an underground tank in my neighbourhood last week - surfacing like a submarine! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Tondelver House - Southern Highlands 49Dec 12, 2014 6:39 pm Good photo of the submarine surfacing. Not enough ballast. Just proves my point. When you get around to fixing your septic tank I would ballast it with water as well as installing tie-downs. Perhaps one of your neighbours has a farm fire fitting unit and can partially fill your tank. Re: Tondelver House - Southern Highlands 51Feb 18, 2015 6:37 pm Bump again. Terry, You have lots of fans following your build, probably because it is different from most builds on this forum, and you are likely to face some interesting challenges. Don't be shy in showing us your progress (or lack of progress). Re: Tondelver House - Southern Highlands 53Feb 19, 2015 10:07 am Just putting in a message to confirm you have fans who are following Re: Tondelver House - Southern Highlands 54Feb 19, 2015 10:47 am Hee hee that's right don't forget to feed the pic piggies - and wow I feel for your neighbours and their tank - I don't think we get a lot of sunken tanks over here in WA mostly they are on a concrete pad at ground level what's the advantage to sinking them (especially on an acreage apart from asthetics) <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=62083">viewtopic.php?t=62083</a><!-- l --> Re: Tondelver House - Southern Highlands 55Feb 19, 2015 2:23 pm Looking forward to seeing an update Build thread http://tinyurl.com/llgc7yk Re: Tondelver House - Southern Highlands 56Feb 25, 2015 3:48 pm Latest progress - the containers are finally on their piers and the house has a shape!!
Seems to have taken forever to get to this point. I'd been ready to move them since after New Year - but I realised I had to have underfloor insulation of R1.3 for my Basix requirement. Then I thought it was going to be difficult to put it in once the containers were in place as I only have crawl room of around 3-400mm. So I devised a system of putting it down first. This involved fencing wire criss-crossing the piers like a spider's web: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I left this wire in place for almost three weeks to check it would last the distance. Then I covered this with a knitted nylon netting (usually used to keep birds off fruit trees): Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ (Yes - it does look like a giant trampoline!) I then left this in place for a week to make sure it stayed in place. Then yesterday I covered the mesh and wires with insulation batts and then tied them down with 0.8mm (25kg) fishing line to make sure they didn't go anywhere overnight. I found these R3.5 certified batts online for $33 per 9sqm - around half the standard store bought price. So I thought you can't have too much insulation and it was such a good price. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ (The bare patch on the right was left free of batts so the first three container ends could be accessed whilst lowering them onto the piers. As soon as the third was in position, and while the crane operators were hooking up the 4th, I unfurled the netting, cable tied it in position, and threw on the batts ready for the last container.) This morning the Franna crane arrived - I expected it to be bigger, but it did a surprisingly easy job of moving the containers around. It was all done in about two hours. At $231 per hour (including GST) and 1 hour traveling time - I was really pleased with the cost. I had heard of $3,000 -$4,000 figures bandied about for cranes for containers. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ All done and ready for the next stage! Re: Tondelver House - Southern Highlands 57Feb 25, 2015 4:01 pm Thanks for the update. It is good to see real progress on your build. You seem to have got a good price for the crane hire. Your build certainly looks different to most stick built homes. Re: Tondelver House - Southern Highlands 58Feb 25, 2015 6:26 pm Looks fantastic! Interesting way of getting around the insulation issue! Is there any probs with rodents etc with it being exposed? Build thread http://tinyurl.com/llgc7yk Re: Tondelver House - Southern Highlands 60Feb 26, 2015 10:04 am BB7 - not sure about the rodent issue - at the moment if they want to nest in the glass wool blankets - let them I say!! We did evict three rabbits and a disgruntled goanna when the containers were moved! At some stage I am thinking I might be able to use some of the container wall panels that I cut out to form a barrier around the base of the building before back filling. I want the house to look like it is sitting on the ground not on piers. Beetaloo - it's been great having a lockable container on site the whole time as a secure tool shed! I now need to think about how I am going to start cutting out the walls and window openings whilst still leaving a secure lockable area. Overall I was extremely pleased with my levels. Of 22 contact points (where I need to weld the container base to the metal plates) there are 4 where the base rail doesn't touch the metal plate in the pier. These range between 3 - 10 mm and will be very easy to pack with some scrap metal plate. Having used the water in a hose method to level I was very happy with those results. The only 'major' issues was bad positioning of one of the piers. One of the container corners is sitting very close to the edge of the pier so I might build up that side of the pier in case the inspector questions it. Besides, with 6 piers to a container side compared to 4 that I've seen on many other builds, the load spread is far better. 1 10676 Thank you so much everyone. This all makes a lot of sense. I guess when you talk to a builder who butters up everything to look very polished, you get to start believing… 7 19850 hi guys. Please be nice. First time home builder in Qld. I would like some feedback please on whether I should build my granny flat first before my main house at the… 0 5296 |