Take Two

Hello, I'm Variegated, and I'm building for the second time, and this is my second attempt at documenting the building process on Home One, so - Take Two.

This is the story of a custom designed, energy efficient, partially strawbale house on 1/2 acre in the ACT.

Land was purchased in July 2010 (no, that's not a typo), and it's been a bit of a stop/start journey, but building has at last begun.

Plans:

and the house is sited on the block like this:

I got the best Christmas present on 9 December with this:

Will be interested in seeing this play out. Where is the link to your previous build thread? I get the impression from your post that it didn't quite work out.

Woot, glad your strawbale house is still in the works!

Sounds like you must've had a few issues along the journey this far - it must be good to finally see something concrete (so to speak) happen!

You don't come across many strawbale builds in the ACT. Are you owner-building?

Hi everyone.
arcadelt - my previous thread was called Á Strawbale House', and it's probably still around somewhere. It was quite a while ago now, so it seemed better to start a new one.

Hillsbuilds - I too am very glad my strawbale house is still in the works. I'm really looking forward to being able to live in it for real, instead of just in my head!

Algernon - there have been some very frustrating times along the way, and there are times when getting approvals/finding a new builder/selling your house take much more time than you would hope.
There is actually another strawbale house in the estate, and no, I'm not owner building.
My builder is a small local builder, Paton Constructions, who is interested in energy efficient buildings. The house is being built to Passive House standard, although it probably won't be actually certified.(cost).

The framing for the central part of the house is up, and when I visited on Friday, the carpenter said they would be starting the attic framing this week. Whilst we could certainly do with some rain, I don't really want it to happen this week as forecast!

Rain, whilst needed, is not particularly helpful when framing is supposed to be happening. I took a drive this afternoon, and arrived in time to watch the main roof beam being put into place. It's not a small piece of wood - it took the four tradies to carry it, and it's a fair way above ground level.

There has been quite a bit of rain too - the laundry is a little lake at the moment - giving new meaning to the term "wet area"!
I got to play with the Site Supervisor too - she is a chocolate lab, about 10 weeks old, and very gorgeous.

There is now some roof - and it changes the whole feel of the build. I think the house will be quite impressive when it's finished.







The carpenter in charge has been great (and he's the dog's dad), and asks if there's anything I want to know about the build, and fully answers any questions I have.
It's finally starting to feel REAL.

Congrats variegated, I'm really looking forward to seeing your straw bale home come to life.

How will the walls be finished internally to the straw bale section?

I would love to build a rammed earth or straw bale house on the acre we have just brought, every time I mention something a little left of centre the builder turns green. I can only imagine how hard it has been for you to get to this point.

Yes, it hasn't been the best building weather the past week or so...

But your house is coming along nicely - looking very impressive already!

Tribe7 strawbale walls will be rendered inside and out - hopefully with lime render - as it breathes.

Builders have been quite supportive and interested in building something sustainable - although not project home builders, obviously. Difficulties have been more with other requirements like certifiers, who are used here in the ACT to provide building permits. It took from the end of July to the very beginning of November last year to get the building permit, which was extremely frustrating for both me and the builder.

Algernon - Thank you - I've had this house in my head for a long time, so it's nice to finally see it in reality.

Mightily impressive roof.

The attic floor has been framed up, all the roof rafters are in, and the tall frames that will surround the straw bales were being started early this afternoon. It's great to see some progress even if it is slower than I want it to be!
I got to walk into my new attic bedroom and ensuite bathroom today, climbing the ladder to get there, and it was fabulous to be able to see the distant views of mountains in both directions






Had a discussion with the carpenter, who has marked out positions for grab rails in the ensuite, to ensure that appropriate studs are in place for proper support.

And the view from the south roof window

Very cute pup!

She is a bit of a cutie - it's also good to be able to get a "fur-fix" when seeing house progress!

Looks like it's all coming together nicely. Love the Narnia concept! Are they going to be full-height doors in the back of those wardrobes, or something smaller?

Algernon,
Part of my discussion with the carpenter on Friday afternoon was about doors to the storage area. It's not possible to have swing doors (even if that's what the architect has drawn) due to the slope of the roof - opening the door into the roof space will hit a rafter.
So the options are to have a small door, which would obviously involve crouching down to get through it, or a sliding door, so the whole height can be used. I have chosen to have the slider. It won't quite be the same height as a "normal" door, but should be pretty reasonable.
As far as I am aware, the ventilation system for the house will be above the living room, so I want to make it as easy as possible to access it when necessary, even when that access is through wardrobes!

I've been reading some of the other threads, where people talk about their frames beng completed in a week. Whilst that would be very nice, I guess one of the "downsides"of building a custom design is that frames don't get mass-produced and just have to be stood up and fixed in place.
This week I have frames for the strawbale walls in the living room, with the studio area being installed whilst I was there. They soar up into the roof, making it feel quite cathedral-like.

Ensuite frames have been completed, including the noggins to enable the grab rails to be securely fixed.

Talked with the builder this week about the roof windows, and hopefully I will have roof - as in actual colorbond - in the next couple of weeks.

Following along, I'm excited to see your place to come to life

Gorgeous pup


GJ Gardner Modified Coolum 277
http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=83643

Thank you Charlibear - so am I.
The pup is a real sweetie, she runs up to greet me now when I visit the site - her name is Rum.

Well, my visit today doesn't show much progress being made.
The blade frames are up in the studio area, and the windows are now lined and sized for the windows they will host. he store room on the attic level is also framed up now The chippies said they had been ''squaring up the frames, and whilst it's good they are taking the care needed to ensure I have straight walls, I want things to happen faster!
They did say that the colorbond would start going up next week, so I'll look forward to that.