Hill House - far south coast

I have had a year of minor bits rather than major building as the piggy bank was pretty much empty and I had a tax bill that really really hurt... I still managed to finish off the kitchen (splashback, range etc), put in the hearth and slow combustion heater and have been picking away at the bathroom, which is almost done now. Pretty much spending my limited time and pocket money doing what I can.

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr164/Fishdejour/house10/IMG_0269_zps5f82c14b.jpg

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr164/Fishdejour/house10/IMG_0909_zps95c9ede5.jpg

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr164/Fishdejour/IMG_0279_zps1cf7540d.jpg

Despite that I really only have the solar pergola on the front of the main pavilion and to connect another water tank and the first pavilion will be completely finished. Tank is coming in a few weeks.

The building preforms very well i.e. warm in winter and cools well with all the cross flow venting in summer. All the 'systems' work well, solar hot water runs well with the gas booster turned off, grey water and composting toilets are great and the led lighting and green GPO's all work really well. From that perspective I would not change a thing as it is very comfortable and cost very little to run. We did get a $120 electricity bill over winter, none of which was for electricity The supply charges and gst (on exported and imported power) made up our entire bill.. I would love to be off grid but battery technology is not there yet.

I intend to start on the last two pavilions this winter, I feel they will come together quicker as I know what I am doing now (kind off), have some great helpers and the structures are less complex.

Steve

Tx for the pm earlier and then this new post.
I happened onto H1 by chance and then spent a few enjoyable hours yesterday reading your blog from start to finish.
This must be one of the nicest OB's I have followed on the various sites / blogs.
Just the right fit for a country life, but also for many looking for a really interesting design and amazing surrounds.

Love it, you are doing such an aweome job with this build. Hands down the best one on site.

Those windows and views are to die for – and all that wood *swoon*. I'll never tire of seeing pictures of your house, however much or little has changed.

Loving the clever storage space for cutting boards and trays in the kitchen – genius thinking!

Thanks for the update - good to see it is all working out and it looks so beautiful ....

Here is a great write up about our place in a fab little blog written by our neighour from down the road. It is a good sumary of the first pavillion and what we have done in the last 12 months. Her blog is a terrific read and worth following!

http://featherandnestkim.blogspot.com.a ... dmade.html

Hi Steve
I am 11000km away on another continent so it is of academic interest.
Using reclaimed material what would you say the 1st pavilion has cost to date?

I would guesstimate around $140-160K to build this pavilion. Using recycled/salvaged timber for big projects will not save money generally, you get some cheap but will pay double for other batches but it is not about the cost savings. It takes a lot of time to salvage, remill, de-nail etc which is exspensive if you need to pay to have it done.

Steve

Your house is beautiful, I hope mine turns out half as good.
Lorri

My, my, my it has been a while but I am finally back to building again, having changed jobs, then started a new business, saved some dollars and found the balance of time and money to my favour...... In the last few weeks I set out the next pavilion, dug the pad footing holes, formed them up and poured the concrete. This time round I mixed the concrete on site, as access is rather difficult to this pavilion. I loaded a tonne of premix into my 4 x 4 ute at a time and backed it up to each hole, mixed and poured straight into each hole with the stirrup set on the form. Pretty straight forward but hand shovelling about 8 tonnes of pre mix sand/gravel and bagged cement has its downside...



With all the pads poured and the site cleared of hurdles and forms, I have started prepping the next batch of 150 x 150 hardwood posts. Fortunately we have some French HelpX folks staying with us for a few months, they have been learning some new skills assisting with the timber work, very nice to have a few pairs of helping hands and to share some skills - they are teaching me French




In addition to the building work I have been finishing a few odd jobs like the wood oven platforms (that match the entry steps). We also moved our vegie gardens from down the bottom of the farm to next to the main pavilion, corro tanks for garden beds and some stone walling to retrain the slope.



The next few months will see a fair bit of action, I am hoping to get the bulk of this little bedroom pavilion done but one can never tell

Woo hoo - volume 2 in the trilogy. Been waiting eagerly for it (as I suspect have many others.)

Great to see the project continuing on one of my favourite OB threads!

Ahh Terry, nice to see you progressing on your place too

Steve

Any chance of getting the links to get the Edison lights parts and how to make them? They look great!
Cheers Lorri

Fantastic! Look forward to watching this next stage come together

Great to see you back Steve. Really have enjoyed reading and seeing the great attention to detail you have put into your build.

Thanks yet again for the positive feedback, great to see some of the regulars hanging in here Lorri, I'll see what I can dig out about the lights, it's been a while

Steve

When do you think you will finish off the whole house? It does look great but I bet you can't wait to finish it.
Cheers
Lorri

Oh and thanks for looking for the light stuff.

Slow and steady progress as always, we got held up waiting for the 6 large long (up to 7.5m) posts for this pavilion to be milled from telegraph posts but they finally arrived
http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr164/Fishdejour/IMG_1370_zps0050b205.jpg
With help of my neighbour and his fancy fork lift we managed to get them off the semi, through the gate and up the hill. Total weigh of the 6 posts was 1250kgs…. solid ironbark.http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr164/Fishdejour/IMG_1372_zpsdfd16fcd.jpg
With a lot of man handling we sanded, finished (Sikens Cetol 7 again) and pre checked the base for the stirups, it took a bit of time but we finally got them done. With the help of my work group buddies and our French HelpXers, we stood the large heavy posts and bolted them in. Standing the big posts seemed easier and more straight forward this time round, perhaps just experience, I still got quite nervous about it though as if one gets away it will end badly.
http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr164/Fishdejour/IMG_1257_zpsce5ba613.jpg
As per the last pavillion, the subfloor beams are bolted in, LVL's under and salvaged hardwood to the exterior, lots of long bolts and brackets to join them. I now have one last floor beam to fit and then I am onto sub floor bracing, joists and blocking. I already have slavaged joist timber so there should not be too many hold ups.

Lorri, I had a look but could not find the details for the lights, we must have deleted it as we never intended to make anymore as the rest of the lighting will be LED's sorry. If it helps the silk 3 ply cable and brass fittings came from the UK and the bulbs from the USA.

Not much happening at the moment as the focus is on making a few dollars over the busy summer season and wet weather has really limited work on the few days here and there that I have had to get on the tools. Still...slowly moving ahead, got the bulk of the floor joists in, sub floor cross bracing was cut, galvanised and fitted. I retained and poured a small slab under the floor for the composting toilet (Rotoloo) and have since fitted that.

I sourced some floor boards and purchsed the cement sheet for the flooring so levelling the salvaged joists and fitting the floor is next. I decided to fit the floor and then cover it with plastic and masonite this time so I have a better work platform fot the scafold to fit roof beams.

I also managed to purchase all the major structural timber (posts and beams) for the third and final pavillion. Finding the big posts has been the most difficult and exspensive part of the build so it is a relief to finally have it all on site!! The timber has been stacked and wrapped ready for the final push (which will be next summer hopefully!!)

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr164/Fishdejour/IMG_2176_zps4aaacbed.jpg

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr164/Fishdejour/IMG_1963_zpsa6057f2b.jpg

I have been swapping labour with my buddy and have built a week of credit, so I hope to get a whole week in building soon if the weather is kind. You will be intrested to see his blog, the house is a more economic hybrid of this design, a great read
http://offgridstudiohome.blogspot.ca/

Steve

Very interesting Build

And a amazing View