Bryan & Petersen Build in Ballarat (VIC)

Howdy Hillsbuilds, yep the screen is going to run flush on the shower side of that 1000mm high nib wall, like this:


One thing we are slightly annoyed about is the actual internal depth of the shower is actually short of 900mm, at around 860mm from memory? I know there are tiles and plasterboard to allow for, but if we had of known this we would have increased the depth to allow for this stuff. Would have bene nice if during the design phase this sort of stuff was clearly outlined. Anyhow you live and learn I guess?!

Ah, well that makes sense. I see that the shower tiling runs right up to the edge of the vanity mirror, so maybe if you put the glass blade on the outer edge of the nib wall (as opposed to the inner edge shown in the diagram), you could have a nice ledge to put stuff on! Or maybe bottles of shampoo etc there would be too untidy - I see you have a niche under the shower head anyway.

Yep that was our thoughts exactly, because we already had a shower niche we figured if we put the screen on the shower side, then the top of nib wall provides some extra 'shelving' around the vanity sink area.

While we're talking the bathroom, these pics are not very exciting but shows our towel rails etc fitted off these past few days. Behind the door we have a single rail and the builder have used a longer door stop (130mm?) to provide a bit more of a gap behind there....good thinking.

VINYL FLOORING INSTALLED

Our vinyl planks were installed into the following areas of the house over the past couple of days:

• Entry
• Hallways (both main and the small one leading to the boys bedrooms/bathroom/WC)
• Laundry
• Open living (Dining and kitchen only)
• Walk in Pantry

We both think the colour has turned out great and seems to add some warmth to our living spaces. The young guy who installed them also seems to have done a great job.

The 'Vale' brand planks we selected are exclusive I think to National Tiles? They are made in Korea and they have both 3 and 5mm versions. We went with 5mm thinking they'd be better quality and also had more colours choices. We went with the 'Honey Oak' colour, after much deliberation!










We're not too stressed about it, as we know our builder are fairly fussy particularly with finishes. They went to a great effort to get our hallway wall looking better, so confident they'll get this all sorted out for us.

So apart from the hallway (and slightly into the main living area) the planks look great and we're thinking they will perform well compared to the tiles that we were considering for these areas earlier on.

SPLIT SYSTEMS GETTING INSTALLED

We are installing 3 split system reverse cycle air-conditioners as 'owner supplied' items. We are using a company recommended to us by our builder, and they did all the rough-in at frame stage to make things easier.

We originally considered removing the standard central ducted gas heating from our specs, but we weren't offered all that much credit in our opinion so we left this in......but our thinking is these 3 split systems should cater for most of our heating and cooling needs.

They are Fujitsu's recently updated models, and we're going with the following sizes:

• Main bedroom: 2.5kw cooling / 3.2kw heating
• Rumpus: 3.5kw cooling / 3.7kw heating
• Main Living: 7.1kw cooling / 8.0kw heating

These are new models released in the past month or so, and I think the main upgrade has been a new heat exchanger, with better efficiency particularly on the heating cycle. I didn't know about the new models when we ordered them so a bit of win there?!








CENTRAL HEATING SYSTEM COMMISSIONED

We also had our central heating system commissioned with the temp sensors and the MagicTouch controller. I didn't realise this system had a fan only mode, which I now hope we can use in conjunction with running the split systems (with 'free' solar power during the day) to distribute conditioned air all around the house.

EXTRA CABINETRY INSTALLED

We had our additional cabinetry installed onsite late last week also. We had three separate areas setup, including:

• Hallway cupboard (incl. 'network' equipment shelf)
• Small study nook desk and shelving
• Main study desk and bottom drawers

We're really happy with the workmanship and how it all has come up. Even though it wasn't exactly cheap for all this it is so much easier to have it all done before moving in....and then resisting the temptation to just put our current 'cheap' desk units in these areas. In-built cabinetry certainly looks so much neater, and we can finally throw out some of our old crappy furniture.

I worked out what we wanted using Google Sketchup first, then emailed this to the cabinet maker to get it finalised and quoted on. The study nook and study were fairly simple so we just got them drafted and quoted by the cabinetry people. We only adjusted them slightly, before putting through our colour selections

The hallway cupboard unit we did in 'polar white', the study nook desk in 'Prime Oak' and basic melamine shelves with the main study desk also in 'Prime Oak' and 'Polar white' for the bottom drawer unit.

Nice, I like the hallway joinery especially. Provides a great landing spot for when coming in the front door.

APPLIANCES FITTED....AND THE KITCHEN SINK!

Over the past couple of days we've had the electricians back to install the ovens and a few final tweaks to the electrical setup on the house....including kindly agreeing to swap around a couple of light switches. I'm not sure about others but I'm a bit 'OCD' and prefer the switches in a certain order, so happy to have a couple swapped around.

The plumbers also re-appeared to install the kitchen sink and the outside water tank & pump. Currently the tank feeds both toilets and a tap for the washing machine in the laundry. I am still waiting on them to organise another town water cold tap for the washing machine though....as we don't really want to disturb the neighbours with the pump noise if we need to do a late night load of washing.

Next few days we are getting ceiling insulation and carpet put in. So getting closer now to handover. Everything is going reasonably well, with the house looking good overall. Only a couple of things for the builder to rectify, and I'm not sure what else is left to fit-off now? Maybe more caulking work, shower screens and mirrors?

Any updates on the flooring?

Hi StorewallAU . Nothing mentioned as yet by our site supervisor. But normally when he's sorting out stuff like this he seems to like to work it out without really talking to us anyhow so I can only assume they have worked out a plan between themselves and the flooring company?

We certainly can't accept the flooring as is, particularly in the main hallway and leading into the living area. It's looks really bad in those areas, but there are a few 'lumps' in other spots like the kitchen but you can't really see them as much because of the different light angles etc.

Anyhow good question, and as soon as I get an answer will be sure to post up the info. One thing I can definitely say though, is if you have any long hallways with glancing light this type of glue down flooring is probably not ideal unless the slab is perfectly flat.

Here are some more pics:

Hi darb74,

We have a very similar vinyl flooring due to go down in a few weeks, on a very similar area - long hall flowing into open plan kitchen and living - and feeling a little worried after seeing the wavy outcome you've had so far!

Was it builder supplied or an external supplier? And do you know if any self leveling medium was applied before laying?

Ours is external and we've already paid deposit for flooring. Wondering if there is anything we can do to help the final outcome. 😕

Hi Newy-Jan,

I'm glad now we can at least help others going down the vinyl plank path. Basically what I would suggest now is get hold of the particular plank installation instructions so you can see what the actual company making the planks specified in terms of floor prep.

We did go through our builder to get the floor laid....thank goodness! They direct clients to a couple of local flooring companies, and in our case we chose our tiles and planks from one, and our carpet from another of their 'preferred suppliers'.

Anyhow in terms of the issues we have experienced with vinyl planks....firstly one key factor is glancing light I reckon. So in larger open areas you will not notice the lumpiness so much, but still potentially feel it underfoot etc. I also think the thicker the plank the better it will be in reducing the impact of the sub-floor issues coming through in the planks. Our planks were 5 or 5.5mm thick from memory.

In terms of what prep our floor had, not much from what I can see. They did a basic 'sand' with some sort of 'machine', but the installer has acknowledged this doesn't actually remove any major bumps. I think they do this more to make sure all the building crap that builds up is removed so that the planks stick better to the concrete.

They also 'ramped' up to the carpet edge strips so that you don't have a large step between the flooring types.

I think also you need to work out who is actually responsible for levelling the floor. When you have a builder, contracting a flooring company who in turn sub-contract to an installer.....well you get the idea!

Finally make sure you have a site meeting with the builder and/or flooring company and make it 100% clear who is responsible and what is being done in terms of sub-floor preparation. I would suggest a full self-levelling compound to be applied, but I am still trying to get my head around all this myself.

Thank you so much!

Our vinyl will be done by a flooring company just after handover. They did allow for floor levelling compound in the quote, so I'm really hoping that will diminish the bumps.

We are also using a 5mm plank and will have glancing light from many angles.

I have to say, aside from the leveling issue, your floor is exactly the look we are hoping for! Beautiful colour and woodgrain! Love that oak tone 😊
Fingers crossed we all have a great outcome!

No problem, and yes I'm confident with some more discussions & info beforehand you will get a good outcome.

For us I am sitting here a bit frustrated to be honest. But I will hold back on saying too much as I'm still hopeful we will be looked after by our builder, particularly as they pride themselves on quality homes.

We don't believe we're being too fussy in basically cringing whenever we look at the undulations in the planks? Anyhow their team are currently in discussions and I've requested a meeting and also offered to extend our build contract to give them plenty of time to sort it all out for us. So as you say.....fingers crossed!

We agree though that the colours etc have come up great, so my wife wasn't overly happy today when I suggested we might have them replaced with tiles!

CEILING INSULATION

We had our insulation team arrive early yesterday to start 'blowing in' the cellulose ceiling insulation. We had already put up 'perimeter batts' around the main living zones of the house. This was the idea of the insulation company owner, who suggested this would help in a few ways, including giving the cellulose stuff something to push up against....and not go down the brick wall cavities etc. It also allowed us to optimise the insulation over those edge zones (ie. over the external frame top plates).

We have ended up supposedly with R5.0 level of blown-in cellulose, in addition to our two layers of perimeter batts @R6.0 total.

I must say the two guys who worked on it yesterday did a great job. The company owner I think did most of the actual 'blowing in' and the other guy manned the hopper etc. He also was the same guy that installed our internal/external wall batts....and did a great job. He was really impressed at the time with all our other attempts to make the house well sealed and energy efficient.

Anyhow I have never seen this loose fill insulation operation before so I took a few pics....

I would recommend some sort of seal or protective measure around your bathroom extraction fans. We have blow in insulation in our current house, and tiny particles float down and gather as dust in the bathrooms.

VINYL FLOORING FIX

Well after some discussions with the builder, they did agree to pull up the main visible problems areas ('lumpy' bits) and get replacement planks re-laid. It was causing us some stress, as it looked fairly ordinary, particularly down the main hallway so I am pleased it is now getting sorted for us. I'm not why any flooring business would even consider laying glued down vinyl planks and not prep the sub-floor beforehand? Anyhow I think there was some miscommunication between the parties involved, but for us it's just good to be able to move past this and hopefully look forward to handover in a week or so.

Even though we have built previously, we've now realised these building projects are never easy and stress-free. But we're nearing the end and I think when we finally get to move in we will be happy with the final result. I am really happy especially with how the extra sealing work and insulation has come up....we just have to now see how it performs in terms of comfort and efficiency.

The trades we have had I think have been mostly really good. The finish quality in terms of plaster, trims and painting all appears top notch.

Based on previous houses we have built or purchased, the average Aussie home is a fairly 'leaky' and thermally inefficient thing to live in....and the trades people haven't really had any incentives or pressure to improve these aspects of the construction. So we decided to push this part of the construction fairly hard ourselves, and at times we have had to combat some negativity in terms of 'this won't make much difference' type attitudes. But I was 100% determined to get this house well sealed and insulated, and I am satisfied that our efforts have paid off. I think this house will be more comfortable and energy efficient than any other we have lived in previously. Time will tell of course!

One really simple example of an improvement all builders could easily implement is.....buy the chippies a roll or two of batt insulation and when they are installing the wall wrap that can very easily fill all the external frame voids. This is just one example of a job that is super cheap & easy early on in the process but near impossible at the end of construction. We were lucky that we had good site access and had been able to do this type of thing ourselves, but I'm not sure why all builders large and small just don't do it?

Anyhow we now only have a few minor fix-ups and internal cleaning left before we do our final inspection early next week. Looking forward to getting it all finalised.

Here are some pics I took a few days ago:

Looking good and nice to hear flooring issue sorted out at the end to your satisfaction. Hope everything is ready by the PCI next week and things go smoothly.

It is just going to get started from now on, we have so much things to do now, moving houses organise this and that, landscaping, decking, furniture, lighting etc..

Hi Ramee, Thanks and yes everything is getting sorted fairly well. We met with our building supervisor yesterday for a while onsite and then he left and we stayed behind for another couple of hours. We hadn't been inside the house for a few weeks now so it was good chance to check over everything before we get to handover.

We're still trying to organise driveway/cross-over etc, plus all the other stuff like shed, fencing, blinds, Telstra etc etc. So like you say it is getting fairly hectic now.

Overall we're definitely happy with how the house is coming up. Still a bit of cleaning to do, and minor fixes. The main issues we've had along the way have now mostly been sorted which is great. I have certainly felt like I have been a real pain-in-the-butt at times asking repeatedly about a few things, but I always figured it was better to push to get fixes done early to avoid them becoming bigger issues later. Always hard to know if you are being too fussy with certain things, but it's just so much money building a new house and because we have specifically chosen a local builder that pride themselves on quality etc I'm really wanting a house that not only looks great but functions really well too. I think now overall it will certainly do all that. But like any project of this scale we've not been without our share of challenges....both us and the builder!

The 3-panel sliding door and window seals have been worked on by the window company, and the door in particular is much better than it was (frame joins better sealed etc). Some windows are still allowing water into the 'opening sash', it doesn't seem to be able to come inside the frame but I've asked this morning for some more work to be done here. These are all the upgraded 'semi-commercial' windows which is annoying, as the lower spec versions seem all fine.

The vinyl plank flooring as mentioned the other day has been mostly fixed now. Only a few minor 'lifting' planks and join issues to resolve, which shouldn't be a big deal. I think the flooring guys are back later today.

I decided to just let the Bed2/3 robe issue go, and I have agreed to pay extra money for extra drawers and boxed top shelves. To me our plans etc showed these were incorrect, and because I really wanted more storage for these bedrooms I thought I would just move on and get it sorted directly with the cabinetry team.

We've unfortunately found a small dent/chip in our garage roller door and I'm hoping it can be properly fixed? Obviously this is a real pain for the builder and it would be great if all the trades were more careful, as we've had a number of bench edges or tops replaced from damage. But the rest of the things we have found in terms of 'defects' are all fairly minor otherwise.....paint marks, silicon etc.

We not sure exactly when handover will happen, but hopefully within the next week or so. Anyhow took some photos yesterday as always!....

Very nice, congrats 👌🏻