OB Newcastle

Hi Everyone,

Just sharing some photos of our progress on our owner build in Newcastle. The Stramit bearers and Joists went up really nicely, and the frame is nearly done and then ready for fascia/gutter then roof. Lots of time and money spent of excavation as everything had to be bored down to rock because of H class soil.

Looks good so far. Can you describe the piers and footings including price etc. Something I've yet to get a handle on.

Hi, the piers under each post are all 450mm diameter, approx 1.2m deep down to the rock base. Some posts are chemset to the pad footings and some are cast into concrete pier (for bracing purposes on the small posts). Piers under the garage raft slab are shown on attached.

Costs including GST were:
Excavator hire with auger attachment -$420 per weekend
Total concrete for garage slab and piers - 18.3m3 at $202/cube - $3700
Reo - $950
Concrete pump - $700.
Concretor for garage slab - $1200
Plus some other miscellaneous stuff eg plastic for under concrete slab, formwork pegs etc.

Thanks for the info Tim. They look like ezipiers? I'll be building on a large slope so only steel flooring for me. It'll be a while before I get near that stage but I'd hope it's something I can arrange and do myself.

They're similar to the Spantec Ezipier. I used the Stramit Flooring System which uses Steelmax post fittings. I used the Spantec Ezibrace rather than the threaded rod cross bracing. It is definitely something you can do yourself, especially easy with the screw adjustable post tops and a laser level. I hope your build goes well. Cheers, Tim

Thanks Tim. A bit sad I've only been doing research for a couple of months but already can spot bits of metal on a post from 30 metres away
Still probably a couple of years till I'm hands on building as everything takes so long to organise (and pay for).

Im starting my build in 6-8 weeks did you consider lvl joists on the steel posts and bearers im laying hardwood floorboards so easy fixing, what floor covering are you going with

I did use LVL's and timber smart joists for the upper storey, but decided on the steel for the bottom floor. LVL's would have worked well for the bottom floor also, but in my case the steel came in cheaper. I was also able to get good spans with the steel and had it all delivered cut exactly to length ready to install. The supplier also provided site specific engineering certification and all engineering drawings / pier layouts etc.

I used the Laminex termite treated yellowtongue for flooring, and Secura for wet areas. I will be carpeting and using tiles and floating timber floor over various parts of the house. I was able to shoot the particle flooring down with a special nail gun and hard point spiral nails straight into the steel joists. I will still be putting some screws in as I don't trust that the nails won't pull out over a long period of time with floor vibration etc.