Lorri's One day House in Cradoc Tasmania-- update. 5/6/17

Frustrating in the extreme. Did he leave the keys in the backhoe?

Haha the backhoe is hubbys toy, he has been making tracks with it and other stuff, having fun with it.

Trouble is we can't do anything around the house site, or will get into trouble. So we are keeping away from the house area. I am worried the dirt they have piled up for the pad will not be stable, the house will have piers and drop beams from what i can gather, but the soil/clay is just loose not been compressed, on the sides of the cliffs it is just like loose clay balls, that just roll down.

Trying to work out where to make terraces or benches whatever they call them these days at the back of the house on that slope. don't want it falling down on us, the 1.1 battetr is very steep and nearly 2m high is some areas, n#the builders said you dont need retaing walls with batter, they better be right!

Cheers

We have progress at last, a new drive done and a huge area cleared up on the flattish bit of land up behind the house. Also the digger guy came back today and dug the agri drain trench, the pipe and gravel was delivered after he left and the guys who markup where the house will be are due tomorrow, after all the waiting we have done am so glad to be on the move with it all.

Looks like you'll still need a 4x4 to get up there when it's wet?

Yes it is a bit steep, they just put the base layer down. Just got an email from the builders asking for a 19 day extension because of the delay putting the driveway in, what a cheek! Their the ones who said the access road was fine, then built it up like the white cliffs of Dover then said oh we can't get onto the pad. Couldn't even just ramp it up.

Things are happening at the block, some piers were put in, and slab framing has started.


Should this tree stump be removed before they fill cement in? Doesn't look like they plan to. will be going for a look later today to see what other things have been happening.

Slab finished on Monday and framing started today.

Conslabulations!!! Great to see progress!

Thanks , yes it's good to see things getting done now, went there today and there was a lone guy there measuring up bits of the frame, he said it is all done on site, no prefab stuff done and his sidekick will be there tomorrow helping and that it should take about a week and a half if there's no rain to delay them.
So here's hoping!
Cheers

Is it close enough to where you live to visit site daily?

Yes it's close by, only 5 minutes down the road from where we are renting, we pretty much go there every day except if it is raining. We are clearing an area on the next level up where we put a poly greenhouse and plan to use as the veggie garden area.

Bit hard to see it all on this photo.


The view from level two.


Greenhouse.

That view is amazing

Yes we love the view too, one of the main reasons we bought the land, can't beat it. Well the framing guys were hard at work today, amazing how fast they are going considering they are cutting every piece to size, no pre fab here. Photos taken at the end of today, still thinking the rooms are too small but hubby says they are fine , he hates open plan so every room is separate.

Re room size, at least 3m by 3m is good so you can move a queen bed around and still have room at the end. Smaller and it limits bed choice or location of bed in room. Bigger if no built in robes.

The build looks good they did a good job boxing up the slab edges from what I can see. Build moves very quick to lockup stage then it slows down.

Get extra timber added to frame where u will mount towel rails, wall mounted tv, toilet roll holders and things like that. If in doubt just get more timber added.

Yes the edges do look neat, will work out if we need extra wood like you said.
No work done yesterday, weather was fine and raining today so sure none will get done today either.
We have to move a huge amount of piled up trees that will be in the way of the septic trenches, no fun to be had there!
I still have to work out what we are doing with landscaping etc, not going to pay for one ,so we have to come up with our own plan and do it all ourselves.
Also the front of the house pad has like a 2 m drop off, so what on earth can I do with that?

View from the back


Side view
A couple of photos from today, tomorrow is truss day if all goes to plan.

The top photo shows the house in its siting really well. Lovely spot. Sucks that you have to move all those trees, make sure you work out where they can stay before you move them so you don't have to do it again

The framing is going well, the guy said it takes him around 3 hours to put the trusses up but our house will take 2 days as it's not a basic one they normally do, so might finish it this afternoon or be back tomorrow morning.
A lot of those trees we will be saving to make terrace edges, so will be moving some roughly where they will be going and the other make a new stack to use later and the smaller ones cut up for the boiler.

Bet it's good being able to get a feel for the design of the house now all the walls are up. Does it all flow how you hoped when you walk through?

Looks like the quality of workmanship is good too

Hi , yes it feels good so far, happy with it but once the inside walls are up will see if it's the same. The workmanship seem good, I look at the joins etc and they all look great. The guys will be back on Tuesday to finish the trusses, off elsewhere today, then public holiday on Monday.

Wondered when the builders normally make the slope away from the house, will have to ask them.