Browse Forums Building A New House Re: First home build with Dale Alcock in Aveley: DAY TWO 1001Dec 02, 2014 9:33 pm Did Dale Alcock do your letterbox or did you get an external tradie? Re: First home build with Dale Alcock in Aveley: DAY TWO 1002Dec 03, 2014 10:42 am TheTurleys Did Dale Alcock do your letterbox or did you get an external tradie? Hubby and his dad constructed the letterbox out of bricks, including leftover pavers. Note: render doesn't stick to concrete so the parts where the pavers were had to be painted with Bondcrete to ensure the render would stick. Lesson learnt. Hubby then drove around the neighbourhood until he found someone who was rendering a house and doing a decent job of it. He then agreed to render it for us on his way home for cash in hand ($280 I think). The benefits of living in a new housing estate - there are tradies everywhere! This guy was also the one who told us about the concrete. He popped down to Bunnings to get the Bondcrete and took care of that for us. He also did a really good job with the finish so we were more than happy. DAH had already offered to paint it as they were coming back to re-do the portico. We just had to make sure it was done before they returned so it was a weight off our minds to have it finished. Both hubby and his dad suck at rendering so they really didn't want to have to do it! Building with Dale Alcock Homes in Aveley Our thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63880 And yes, my pants are indeed fancy. Re: First home build with Dale Alcock in Aveley: DAY TWO 1003Dec 03, 2014 12:52 pm bradster181 Before grout.........looks like there was NO grout....... Looking good now though That's because he had to dig it all out. It was quite soft and crumbly so came out with relative ease. The grout in the kitchen could be partially poked out by finger nail! Apparently the shower recesses will be trickier because the water hardens the grout. I anticipate plenty of dust. Building with Dale Alcock Homes in Aveley Our thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63880 And yes, my pants are indeed fancy. Re: First home build with Dale Alcock in Aveley: DAY THREE 1004Dec 03, 2014 5:14 pm DAY THREE OF MAINTENANCE (OR Having lunch at the cafe down the road): Today was essentially a continuation of re-grouting and ensuite repair efforts. It was also a RDO for hubby so we left the tradies to it and went for an early lunch at a new cafe that has recently opened in the neighbourhood called Mecca. FYI - great chicken parmigiana and BBQ ribs. There was more good progress made today and our ensuite tiling was completed in anticipation of the wall tile re-grouting happening tomorrow. It's starting to look more like our good ol' ensuite now. Fingers crossed that the glass will go back in on Friday and we can move back in to our bedroom over the weekend. Building with Dale Alcock Homes in Aveley Our thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63880 And yes, my pants are indeed fancy. Re: First home build with Dale Alcock in Aveley: DAY FOUR 1007Dec 04, 2014 5:33 pm DAY FOUR OF MAINTENANCE (OR We're over the half way mark!): Well, by this time next week we should have our house back! I can't wait! It's great to see the progress that happens every day and everyone has been very nice but it's exhausting having to accommodate strangers in your house every day. And the dust! Oh my goodness the dust! The dust is why bathrooms and kitchens are supposed to done BEFORE floors and furniture go in. Tiling and re-grouting is finished in the ensuite. I think there may be some caulking still to do as many of the edges here and in the other areas around the house need neatening up. I'll ask the supervisor. He's been elsewhere for that past couple of days but should be back tomorrow. So tomorrow is the last day of work for this week and we get a break for the weekend. Hopefully the glass will go back in tomorrow and the shower will be functional and flooding-free. I'm also looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday morning and finally getting rid of some of this dust with some serious mopping. There's only so much a vacuum cleaner can do! Building with Dale Alcock Homes in Aveley Our thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63880 And yes, my pants are indeed fancy. Re: First home build with Dale Alcock in Aveley: DAY FIVE 1009Dec 06, 2014 12:19 pm DAY FIVE OF MAINTENANCE (OR The reality of repairs): The ensuite is complete. The damaged vanity top, floor tile and wall tiles have all been replaced (although why you'd install damaged goods in the first place is beyond me??). A slope has been added to the shower recess to direct water back in to the shower and the doors have been moved slightly. http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/IMG_4512_zpsd0cb9fba.jpg It needs a really good clean but I can't bring myself to do it just yet. One, because I want to make sure all of the caulking, grout and silicone is completely dry. And two, because it's hard seeing our perfect ensuite full of 'repairs'. The tiles never quite line up like they do when they are laid all together. The floor grout isn't quite the same shade as the old stuff. The caulking isn't as neat as the original. I'm sure that most people probably won't notice these things (at least I hope not) but to me they are blindingly obvious. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the effort that the maintenance team are going to in order to try and repair all our issues, but seeing the repairs just reminds me of how much I really do resent this whole situation. We just keep adding more and more imperfections to this patchwork quilt of a house. It doesn't help that the original tiler did a brilliant job. He cut and laid those tiles so very well. Corners are perfectly straight. Edges line up. Spacing is immaculate. His work is so impressive that the grout repair guy said he would be shocked if the tiler had made a mistake mixing the grout. He thinks that for someone who takes that much care and clearly knows what he's doing its far more likely that he got a suspect batch. Perhaps one that had been sitting on the shelf for too long and the contents had degraded. That makes me wonder about the chipped tiles too. Were they chipped when he put them up? Or were they result of careless tradies throwing their tools around? I know at least one of them was. I guess in the end it doesn't really matter. The outcome for us is the same - repairs, repairs, repairs. At least there are benefits to living so close to the Swan Valley. I'm off to find a winery/brewery/distillery to drown my sorrows on this fine summer's day. Luckily for me, there's about 30 to choose from! Building with Dale Alcock Homes in Aveley Our thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63880 And yes, my pants are indeed fancy. Re: First home build with Dale Alcock in Aveley: DAY FIVE 1010Dec 06, 2014 12:40 pm Glad to see it all coming together properly now fancy pants! fancy pants At least there are benefits to living so close to the Swan Valley. I'm off to find a winery/brewery/distillery to drown my sorrows on this fine summer's day. Luckily for me, there's about 30 to choose from! Amen to that! That's what we will be doing as well lol... Our Build Thread: The "Extended" Marina by Visionone Homes Our Inspirations: Frank Lloyd Wright | Houzz Re: First home build with Dale Alcock in Aveley: DAYS 6+7 1011Dec 10, 2014 12:15 pm DAYS SIX AND SEVEN OF MAINTENANCE (OR it's all just blending now): So there were a few minor issues with the work that needed addressing. The supervisor came out to inspect and get the touch ups rolling. http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/faucetgrout_zpseb3f47a6.jpg The tile behind the laundry faucet had to be replaced. The faucet started leaking and caved the grout a little. The leak has been fixed and the grout patched. http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/crackinggrout_zps1da7e8f3.jpg One of the chipped tiles in the bathroom had been replaced on Friday and was already showing cracked grout. You could imagine how much my stomach sank at seeing this. It looks as though it's been repaired and is holding up so far. Aside from these minor issues the bathroom, toilet and laundry look like they are well on their way to a complete repair. The grout has all been removed and replaced and appears to be drying well. We're now just waiting for the shower glass to be re-installed in the bathroom and a touch up to the painting around the laundry door and these three rooms should be complete. http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/toiletborder_zps8bd9e76e.jpg Toilet is complete. The neat border around tiles is a blessing. Where the white tile meets black is where we first had chunks of grout cracking and falling out. It looks so much better now. http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/laundrytile_zps52ca5265.jpg http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/laundryborder_zpsb41b7e62.jpg Laundry tiles look great too. Again, relieved to see such a significant improvement to the border tiles. Please ignore out bathroom stuff. We've been brushing our teeth in the laundry trough and the kitchen sink while the bathrooms have been worked on. http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/bathroomborder_zps1d6403bc.jpg Bathroom waiting for the glass to be reinstalled. Now our ensuite has been another situation altogether. The reconstruction has made a significant improvement to keeping water in the shower recess which is fantastic, but it's just been a bit of a mess. Let me illustrate. http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/tapgrout_zps17d83fbe.jpg Really bad grouting around taps and faucets. Turns out the grouter couldn't get the rings off. It looked terrible! The supervisor finally got them off (turns out someone tried to silicone them in place at some point) so he could make it look better. It still needs work in that some of the silicone needs to be cut out so the gap it fills can be filled with grout. It's on the list. http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/waterproofedging_zps1a2d2d31.jpg Waterproofing peeking through the grout. Also visibly chipped edging. http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/chippededging_zps9656c3f7.jpg Black stuff through the grout. Perhaps from the grey grouting to the new floor tiles? Chipped edging visible again. Someone is going to come back to re-do the join between the wall tiles and the floor tiles in the shower recess. Third time lucky? I think it needs to be completely scraped out to get rid of any discolouration etc. and then redone with a suitably thick strip of grout to make sure the jagged edges of the tiles are covered. http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/caulking1_zpsd947030b.jpg Messy caulking. Quite disappointed here. The original bench top had been damaged prior to handover and had to be replaced but when re-doing the caulking no one bothered to clean off the remnants of the old caulking from the tiles first. As a result we have the remnants of the old caulking peeking above the new caulking. Too tired to fight about it. We'll replace it ourselves at some point. This brings me to the biggest disappointment, our silicone. It looks like it was done by a four year old. With poor motor skills. And a visual impairment. We found it everywhere! http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/benchtop_zpsae064b1f.jpg On the bench top. http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/silicone5_zps65d7be33.jpg On the sink. http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/silicone4_zpsdbd270ec.jpg On the shower glass. And on about three different tiles near the nib wall. http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/silicone3_zps00c006dc.jpg We also found it in the places it was supposed to be but it really wasn't the best job. The guys came back to clean off the silicone from our surfaces and try to plug the gaps in the silicon (it looks much better from inside the shower) but we will need to do a fair bit of tidying up. These pics were AFTER they'd been back: http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/silicone2_zpsd3b29265.jpg http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/silicone1_zps3ee0ac07.jpg Is it just me or does this look like there's silicone on the wall? It looks like they've touched up the paintwork but it hasn't stuck because the silicone is underneath. Please note, this was not re-installed by the original glass company. As there had been alterations to the tile work and nib wall in order to deal with the leaking issue the maintenance crew who made the alterations put it all back in place. Clearly they need a bit more practice with silicone. Again, too tired to fight about it. Hopefully some acetone and/or a sharp razor will help us clean up the appearance a bit. So the outstanding items we have are: re-installing the bathroom glass (this is being done today be the glass company), re-doing the shower recess join, replacing the kitchen tap (a manufacturer issue) and finishing the touch ups to paint around the laundry door. I'm hoping we're definitely in the home stretch now. Building with Dale Alcock Homes in Aveley Our thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63880 And yes, my pants are indeed fancy. Re: First home build with Dale Alcock in Aveley: DAYS 6+7 1012Dec 10, 2014 1:59 pm Gosh my patience would be wearing pretty thin if I were in your boat... and I'm quite a patient person. Hope its not to much longer before everyone is out of your place and you can finally enjoy it properly. My New Home Build with Dale Alcock - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=66662 Landscape Design Thread - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=71784 Re: First home build with Dale Alcock in Aveley: DAYS 6+7 1013Dec 10, 2014 7:14 pm That's a bit disappointing. Seems to be taking longer than it should, hang in there it shouldn't be too much longer. Hopefully! viewtopic.php?t=72683 Re: First home build with Dale Alcock in Aveley: DAYS 6+7 1014Dec 11, 2014 12:56 pm We knew it would take about two weeks so it's pretty much on schedule. The last tradie has been scheduled for 8am Monday to finish the painting and the tile joint. We have Lifestyle Wardrobes coming Tuesday to fit out our WIR. I'm really hoping that Caroma can supply a new kitchen tap and the plumber can fit it next week too. It would be great if the work could all be done once and for all by the end of next week. We have so much cleaning to do I just want to get on to it asap! Building with Dale Alcock Homes in Aveley Our thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63880 And yes, my pants are indeed fancy. Re: First home build with Dale Alcock in Aveley: DAYS 6+7 1016Dec 11, 2014 1:44 pm Good to see that things are moving along but I have to say that I could not believe the number of minor issues that you've encountered and/or had to have redone when you are using Dale Alcock and paying for "quality finish"? They need to step up their game it seems... Our Build Thread: The "Extended" Marina by Visionone Homes Our Inspirations: Frank Lloyd Wright | Houzz Re: First home build with Dale Alcock in Aveley: DAYS 6+7 1017Dec 14, 2014 11:32 pm Glad to seem something have been fixed! I hope the rest is sorted!! We had the same issues with the sealant around our sinks, I think I could have done a better job! and once we moved in I realised it was all over our bench tops and sink, didn't notice it initially as the bech and sinks are white! took some work to get it off! but seriously how hard it is it to seal neatly and without making a mess and spreading it everywhere!!!! Re: First home build with Dale Alcock in Aveley: Almost done 1018Dec 15, 2014 11:34 am Althom What problems did you have with your Caroma taps? We've had nothing but leaks, levers coming loose etc. I'm thinking about ditching the lot Our kitchen sink has a tap and faucet in one which has been constantly leaking and is now covered in water stains. The lever is forever coming loose because if you tighten the tap fully (using the allen key) the lever can't fit back in properly but once you loosen it enough to accommodate the lever it loosens more and more every time you use it. The plumber took one look at the water marks and said it was an issue for the manufacturer. We're still waiting to see what happens. I want them to replace the whole thing because it's now permanently marked by the water. http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/faucet_zpsc1c0f22a.jpg Hootie Good to see that things are moving along but I have to say that I could not believe the number of minor issues that you've encountered and/or had to have redone when you are using Dale Alcock and paying for "quality finish"? They need to step up their game it seems... Quality finish? Hahahahahahahahahahaha! Good one, Hootie. fmac Glad to seem something have been fixed! I hope the rest is sorted!! We had the same issues with the sealant around our sinks, I think I could have done a better job! and once we moved in I realised it was all over our bench tops and sink, didn't notice it initially as the bech and sinks are white! took some work to get it off! but seriously how hard it is it to seal neatly and without making a mess and spreading it everywhere!!!! Or if you do, how difficult is it to clean up after yourself? I can understand not seeing silicone on white surfaces (we didn't see it at first on most of our tiles) but on glass the smears are really obvious. I'm glad to hear you did get it off though. I have hope! http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/tyremarks_zps1310899e.jpg If anyone can offer advice on how to remove a tyre mark from our driveway, I'd really appreciate it. It looks like one of the tradies had to slam on the breaks a bit quickly. The good ol' hand scrubbing with warm soapy water has done nothing except ruin a sponge. The paving is sealed but we're hesitant to use a solvent in case it damages the sealant. Should high pressure cleaning do the trick? Is there a solvent that is paving safe? Dale Alcock. The builder that keeps on giving. Building with Dale Alcock Homes in Aveley Our thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63880 And yes, my pants are indeed fancy. Re: First home build with Dale Alcock in Aveley: Almost done 1019Dec 15, 2014 9:39 pm high pressure wash it off. Re: First home build with Dale Alcock in Aveley: Advice plea 1020Dec 16, 2014 1:09 pm Would you be happy with this? It's where they've had to chip out the really hard grout in the shower recess. Looks like the chiselling has damaged the tile edging. It's not glaringly obvious because we have white tiles and white grout but once you see it, it can't be unseen. And it's all over the shower recess. I think we need to organise yet another chat with DAH and see what they say about it. But where do we go from here? How do you repair this? By replacing all of the tiles? Would you just accept this as an appropriate finish to your tile work? Ugh. This has taken up far too much of our time as it is. We were so damn close. http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/tileedging_zps810fdaca.jpg http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/tileedging5_zps38acd463.jpg http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/tileedges_zpsa6139411.jpg http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/tileedging3_zps2b490376.jpg http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag10/pants_de_fancy/tileedges2_zps7001babd.jpg Building with Dale Alcock Homes in Aveley Our thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63880 And yes, my pants are indeed fancy. So it looks like we finally have some movement on site! Definitely later than expected, but I'll take any progress at this point. I'll drop by over the weekend to get… 5 27689 hi guys. Please be nice. First time home builder in Qld. I would like some feedback please on whether I should build my granny flat first before my main house at the… 0 4587 Hi We have finally decided to complete a KDR on our corner plot in NE Melbourne suburbs. Given its a corner plot approx. 400 sqm just a standard design may not fit the… 0 8556 |