Hi Forg,
You mentioned a little while back about getting a retractable screen door for your stacker doors, may I ask who you have used and is Alkira installing it for you or will this be done after handover.
Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Alkira Homes KDR (Ryde NSW) - Final bits 'n' pieces 181Oct 27, 2014 4:46 pm Hi Forg, You mentioned a little while back about getting a retractable screen door for your stacker doors, may I ask who you have used and is Alkira installing it for you or will this be done after handover. Re: Alkira Homes KDR (Ryde NSW) - Final bits 'n' pieces 182Oct 27, 2014 5:07 pm As it turns out ... we're not getting one through Alkira. Although we thought we were (the quote for windows was big enough!!). It was left off the quote, we didn't ask the right person the right question ("do the flyscreens need to be on this window schedule?" apparently didn't compute with whoever we asked, because that one was a different style to the ones for the rest of the windows & which are all included). Mid City Windows are the mob who supplied the windows, and we're waiting for one of their salespeople to contact us about getting a quote for the screen. Can't remember the product name, sorry. Re: Alkira Homes KDR (Ryde NSW) - Final bits 'n' pieces 183Oct 27, 2014 5:32 pm Ooh, Big Congrats!! I can't answer for our case, being CDC, but they cut/flattened the site a couple of weeks after I called them to say the knockdown & site-cleanup was complete. I think the concrete was about a week after that. Re: Alkira Homes KDR (Ryde NSW) - Final bits 'n' pieces 184Oct 27, 2014 8:24 pm So keys this week Forg? Right in time for trick or treating? Re: Alkira Homes KDR (Ryde NSW) - Final bits 'n' pieces 185Oct 27, 2014 9:40 pm yvonneh So keys this week Forg? Right in time for trick or treating? Hey Forg, I'll swing by for trick or treating j/k Re: Alkira Homes KDR (Ryde NSW) - Final bits 'n' pieces 186Oct 28, 2014 7:00 am I might have to break out the ol' automatic rifle, emblazoned with American flag, and celebrate the American practice in a rocking-chair on the "stoop" in an appropriately American way ... Re: Alkira Homes KDR (Ryde NSW) - Final bits 'n' pieces 187Oct 28, 2014 7:48 am Oh - also - I 'snuck' in late yesterday arvo to turn off the lights they'd left blazing in the house, and found they'd put the first coat of stain on the stairs. http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k124/originalForg/th_20141027_193510_FirstCoatStairs_zpsf4cc3c54.jpg It's not exciting, like some of the open-tread designs & some of the things we had intended on doing when we were first planning our custom home ... but it looks OK, and is functional (we've rather optimised the space under it, with drawers & cupboards on one side, wine-rack on the other - hopefully that'll all be done by next Tuesday). Re: Alkira Homes KDR (Ryde NSW) - Final bits 'n' pieces 188Oct 28, 2014 9:49 pm Hey Forg I think I must have walked past your house before you had switched off the light. I had similar ideas for under the stairs. Since all my IT gear will be going in there I had considered a wine fridge just under the landing and since I had provisioned power there it shouldn't be an issue. The only downside to that is the cavity would be custom and if the fridge breaks in the future I'd be limited to locating one of similar size to slot straight back in. Re: Alkira Homes KDR (Ryde NSW) - Final bits 'n' pieces 189Nov 07, 2014 1:26 pm kach Hi Forg, You mentioned a little while back about getting a retractable screen door for your stacker doors, may I ask who you have used and is Alkira installing it for you or will this be done after handover. Hi there, There are a few things to consider when screening stacker doors. On thing to keep in mind is that the screen should ideally be fitted to the mullion of the fixed panel closest the to moving screens so you don't end up screening over your fixed glass. It's more functional, better looking and cheaper. Cheers Marisa http://www.artilux.com.au Screens for Bi-fold, French and Stacker Doors. 30 years experience. 7 year warranty. Free on-site consultation (Sydney) Re: Alkira Homes KDR (Ryde NSW) - We're in! 190Nov 13, 2014 11:11 am So, a bit of an update ... we're in! We've moved about 99% of our carp down from the rental up the street (and a For Lease sign has sprouted magically there almost as quickly as the dandelions in the neglected grass). It's probably about 80% packed away in cupboards & stuff, and tomorrow arvo Optus brings the world of Internet to us ... So the handover occurred Friday-before-last. A couple of things still weren't finished; some of the stain from the stairs was splattered on the wall, and a couple of power-points needed to be added. Those two were fixed over the next couple of days, but we still don't have a man-hole cover (which is sorta my fault as I've not chased it up so I don't think anyone at Alkira even knows it's missing). Kitchen was also fixed-up around the middle of last week (the scratched panels replaced, doors re-aligned and a couple of other things). I was a bit unimpressed with how not-clean it still was. Even though at final-inspection we'd complained about paint specks & drips being all over the tiles (remembering the floor is 100% tiles), nothing had been done about it. And still grout on some of the tiles too. The cleaners were absolute rubbish, basically. We have a Karcher floor-scrubbing cleaner with about a 20L water-tank, it could only do probably 5 to 10 square metres of floor before the water effectively turned to mud & needed cleaning again. I think picking paint drips off the tiles will be a lifelong project ... Anyway, having cleaned up a bit, we started moving gear in, and Betta Wardrobes installed our built-in and walk-in wardrobes. Also a built-in desk in the "study" (which is really another guest bedroom). Took them two days to install 5 ceiling-high cupboards (between about 2m & 4m long I guess) which includes out pantry, the WIR, the small wine-rack under the stairs and prep the space for the drawers & cupboards under the stairs. I'll grab some photos of those when they're done ... we should really be getting a call soon to get that under-stairs stuff finalised. A couple of photos of the cabinetry; the WIR (RHS from the bedroom, and the other side looking back from the ensuite) and the built-in desk. I'm finding it hard to get photos without a wide-angle lens ... http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k124/originalForg/th_20141104_173616_WIR_RHS_zps2d102d83.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k124/originalForg/th_20141104_173631_WIR_LHS_zpsc5f6b3f5.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k124/originalForg/th_20141104_173859_built_in_desk_zps8131292d.jpg Before the cabinetry people came in, however, we thought it'd be a good idea to put down some protection on the stairs, to try & avoid any damage from stuff being carried up & down, which also includes delivered furniture & removalists. Thought I'd take some photos of the "stair nappies" we installed, because frankly I'm amused by it being a little anal ... http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k124/originalForg/th_20141104_173317_Ready_For_Removalists_zps965a3069.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k124/originalForg/th_20141104_173343_Tread_Protection_zps966ad0f5.jpg Also got a couple of photos of the new couches in the lounge-room (called "media" on the plan), sorta panning from left-to-right (with the Ikea TV-cabinet being assembled): http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k124/originalForg/th_20141104_173503_Lounge_1_zpsc53ccd4b.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k124/originalForg/th_20141104_173411_lounge_2_zpsdddc7fba.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k124/originalForg/th_20141104_173435_lounge_3_zps184ae44f.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k124/originalForg/th_20141104_173431_lounge_4_zpsbb3263af.jpg I'm still fiddling with wireless & wired Ethernet, hopefully have all my switches & routers etc organised by the time Optus plugs us in tomorrow afternoon. Next steps are the driveway & landscaping; although I also have to seal the floor of the shed properly, everything's gone into the garage for the moment (which is also full of ag-pipe, drains, lumber for retaining-walls etc). Re: Alkira Homes KDR (Ryde NSW) - We're in! 191Nov 13, 2014 11:27 am I am in love with your WIR - all those drawers!!! How did you find their pricing and service? We (well I) want mostly drawers for the boys' built ins (boys don't need acres of hanging space like girls do) and I'd like a built in something (could I get more vague?!?!) for the home theatre. Yours look fantastic! Congrats on the move in, but bugger about the cleaning. That's terrible to leave a brand new house so filthy Follow my Coral Daydream 28 build: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=72384 Re: Alkira Homes KDR (Ryde NSW) - We're in! 192Nov 13, 2014 11:33 am Great news Forg. I don't want to jinx you but am hoping the best for the Optus install. Your wardrobe install has me thinking that a faux built in book shelf system could be done with some moulding plus a built in from a wardrobe company hmm... what are the stair nappies made of? (can't tell in the photo). Don't worry don't think you are anal as I'm Chinese background which means plastic covered remote controls were something I grew up with (but don't have myself) Re: Alkira Homes KDR (Ryde NSW) - We're in! 193Nov 13, 2014 1:09 pm Mellywil I am in love with your WIR - all those drawers!!! How did you find their pricing and service? I was pretty happy. There's a lot of sawdust involved, pretty messy if you haven't already got a bit of mess (dust just gets everywhere - including nowhere near where the guys were working, they cleaned up their areas). I don't know if Betta is a franchise, but one of their stores told us they couldn't do the full-height cupboards & yet the store we ended-up using did it. Quote: That's terrible to leave a brand new house so filthy Our housemate has a few friends who are builders, she's rushed over & helped them make new houses spotless for handover. I don't know whether our SS would've delayed handover if we'd complained enough; but given how bad the cleaners were, it was only going to result in damage if they came back again, so we thought it best to suck it in & do it ourselves. yvonneh what are the stair nappies made of? A few hundred bucks spent at Clark Rubber ... I know it's a lot, but not as much as fixing damaged staircases or tiles. We bought 10 rubber stair-edge covers, and I think about 8 linear metres of this stuff they call "workmat", soft rubber stuff which (as an unexpected side-effect) is a bit sticky & traps dirt too. We put the stair-edge covers only on the two landings & at the top of the staircase; and also at the front-door & garage door (we could see things being wheeled in on trolleys & those trolleys resulting in chipped tile edges). Re: Alkira Homes KDR (Ryde NSW) - We're in! 195Nov 14, 2014 6:58 am Woohoo! Congratulations on moving in Your built-ins look amazing! What a timely post as I'm planning our built-ins at the moment. I'll give Betta a ring. Did you use their Drummoyne or Pymble centre? What a great idea using stair nappies! Don't mind if I borrow that idea when the time comes. You should patent it Re: Alkira Homes KDR (Ryde NSW) - We're in! 196Nov 14, 2014 1:08 pm Congratulations on moving in !! the stair nappies made me laugh!:lol: Re: Alkira Homes KDR (Ryde NSW) - We're in! 197Nov 18, 2014 6:56 am Sheilzy Your built-ins look amazing! What a timely post as I'm planning our built-ins at the moment. I'll give Betta a ring. Did you use their Drummoyne or Pymble centre? I'll check, but I'm leaning towards Pymble ... the Drummoyne display centre is in Birkenhead Point, innit? When we asked at that display centre they told us we couldn't get full-height floor-to-ceiling doors, so I doubt they'd have been up for the wine-racks & wonky-shaped cupboards under the stairs; yet Pymble the people we got to do it did all that stuff. And I'm really happy with the job they did, especially as it was 2/3 the price of the next closest quote and half the most expensive one (and those other quotes didn't include the stuff under the stairs). I've taken a few more photos of the kitchen, more finished this time. The way the colours looked in the last photos I took were somewhat IN YOUR FACE, but it's less loud for me now ... maybe I've gotten used to it, or maybe the photo colours weren't quite right. http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k124/originalForg/th_20141114_125111_zpsaaff772f.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k124/originalForg/th_20141114_125243_zps75ccb041.jpg Also took one with the lights on, more for my interest to see how the colours change (the differences are more marked in this photo than in person, I think, but it does show how the warm colour-temperature LED lighting affects colours). http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k124/originalForg/th_20141114_125313_zpsc4946352.jpg Re: Alkira Homes KDR (Ryde NSW) - We're in! 198Nov 25, 2014 11:06 am Hrm. They handed the house to us without flyscreens, it's one of those things which IMHO could wait 'til they got 'round to it rather than us paying rent elsewhere while they did it. Plus I figured I could fit the ones on windows at least, although I thought I'd leave the adjustment of the door ones up to someone who knows what they're doing. So all the downstairs window ones were no problem, but upstairs I just couldn't do it. Tried removing various bits of window hardware - no dice, too tight, and because they're the security ones that are also designed to stop stupid people falling out of them (dumb gumbyment regulations) they don't flex enough to squeeze them in without damaging something. Or so I thought, but I was hoping maybe someone who knew what they were doing would get them in. But no. The guy came today - the upstairs window screens are too large & don't fit. Additionally the screens on the doors are too small, they leave a gap where they don't fully shut, and the frames themselves are bowed & awful. So again waiting, this time for the manufacturer of the screens to come out. My guess is they'll try to force them in, but there's no way to get them out again if they do that. And they'll have to re-make the door screens for downstairs. I'm hoping we can get this sorted before the list we give to Alkira to fix at the 13-weeks-after-handover mark. Re: Alkira Homes KDR (Ryde NSW) - We're in! 199Nov 25, 2014 4:19 pm interesting about your fly screens ... were they something you added to your tender? we were going to do flyscreens after we got the house and also to work out how to put flyscreens on a cornerless ... I have stacker doors now instead of the bifolds which adds a small amount of complexity Re: Alkira Homes KDR (Ryde NSW) - We're in! 200Nov 25, 2014 4:31 pm deluded interesting about your fly screens ... were they something you added to your tender? we were going to do flyscreens after we got the house and also to work out how to put flyscreens on a cornerless ... I have stacker doors now instead of the bifolds which adds a small amount of complexity I like those retractable ones They should work on a stacker cornerless (they are exy though!) 3 6960 Hi, I am looking into doing a KDR in Melbourne and am contemplating using Kialla Homes. I am looking for feedback on them from others who have built with them. 0 14357 |