Owner Build in Southern Flinders Ranges- Cert of Occupancy

With Autumn here and overnight temperatures between 3 and 7 degrees I have moved my bed inside the house.
The solar passive design is working well as the coldest it has been inside the house is 17 to 18 degrees and that is without any form of heating.

We had to move our fireplace yesterday and needed the tractor to pick it up. It weighs just over 400kg. It took us half an hour to maneuver it out the door, aided by using lengths of steel pipe as rollers. I built it 25 years ago and it needed it's quarter century service ie.. welding some cracks in the steel and a few modifications.

http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s493/RuffTuff2/Moving%20fireplace_zpsek5q6bfz.jpg

And then last night we had our first fire of the season. So nice to have that wood fired warmth....not that it was very cold.

http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s493/RuffTuff2/Fire%20lit_zpszmafagkx.jpg

I do not recall seeing a heater like yours in any of the heater showrooms I visited.
It looks like it might have been a boiler in a previous life.

Two of my neighbours bought tractors when they were building their houses but I did not.
As a consequence unloading and moving materials has been a real challenge for me.

Now that winter is nearly here & overnight temperatures are between 3 to 5 degrees, I have fired up my wood burning heater.
It weighed 160kg so I had to resort to pre-biblical Egyptian pyramid building techniques to unload it and move it into position.
It is nothing like RuffTuff's bespoke custom built steampunk heater but it works and provides a nice enjoyable way to spend the evenings (after working on my build) with a glass of wine in my hand looking into the glowing embers.

That's great. We've had our wood stove in the house going non stop for the past 5 days and you just can't beat the natural warmth it brings to the whole building. I'm hoping to get the new fire place installed into the studio in the next few days. Wish we have a glass front like yours.

Looks fantastic Beetaloo. Your combustion heaters are gorgeous.

It is now near the shortest day of the year. My build site is characterised by brilliant warm sunny days and crisp cool nights.



However as an owner builder I can choose which tasks are important to me. The crisp cool nights have turned into freezing cold nights, typically with frost on the ground, so in order not to be reminded of how cold it is outside and to create a nice warm cosy feel inside I have now installed curtains.

If they are thermal blinds then you will have upped the R rating of your walls considerably.

Stewie

The curtains are as wide as they are (they almost completely cover the walls), so during the day I can pull the curtains back and leave the windows completely clear to capture all the winter sun. It actually works, as within a couple hours of sun up, the main living area is 18 ~ 20 degrees even though it may only be 10 degrees or less outside. (you just don't want to have to get up before sun up)

So did you make the drapes too Mr Clever-and-able ?
Looking nice and cozy!

No, I did not make the drapes. The curtain rods came from Ikea and the curtains were ready made selected from the specials bin at Spotlight.

That's the way ...

[snip] Cleaning up some unsolicited pollution

Your place is stunning

Its been a while since I have had time to return to my build due to other things happening in my life and I can't be in 3 places at once however I did return to my build last weekend. It was freezing with bitterly cold strong winds. It was so cold I gave in and lit my fire at 10.00am.

This little fellow spent most of the morning looking through the window at the log burning fire wishing he (or she) was inside. Either that or he was eyeing my bottle of Rocky River red.
12 months ago (before the house was at lock up) he or she and extended family would have taken up residence inside, now all they can do is shelter from the wind outside and reflect on what was last year.



I went over to my neighbour in the afternoon to sample his vintage of Rocky River Red and when I returned a herd of deer had moved in to shelter from the weather.

Not much to report on the building front this trip, only managed to finish waterproofing the main bathroom, painted the bathroom ceilings and sealed, painted and hung about half my internal doors. Apart from that, spent my evenings mulling over a glass of Rocky River Red in front of the fire and asking myself - When's Summer Coming?.

Awwwww dear little critter ... Bet he/she wants summer to hurry up too!

Love the update Beetaloo.

Just caught up. Love reading your posts!!
Still in love with your place

Gorgeous little furry friend!

I have not updated my thread for sometime now as my local ISP was taken over by a national ISP and I have been unable to upload photos.

With warmer days now that summer is nearly here, my resident the snakes have been more active.
This one is quite territorial and could not be scared away. I think it was looking for a place to lay its eggs.
It circled around the house looking for a way in for about 40 minutes. Whenever it saw me though a window it would rear up and strike towards me. Unlike most snakes that run away when they see me, this one has an attitude problem and thinks it own my place.
Eventually it found a small gap between the weatherboard cladding (which I have been meaning to seal up for about a year now) and slithered inside the external wall of my house. It reappeared about 20 minutes later so I will now have to wait about 2~3 months to see if it did lay its eggs inside my wall when I may have 20 baby snakes slithering around my bedroom..

An hour earlier I was sitting here drinking a cup of coffee

Do you know what type of snakes they are?