Hamptons inspired architect design with attached granny flat

Well spotted darb74, yes they are! They are for a couple of the bathrooms.

That’s painful re your doors. Are the manufacturers arguing the frames are acceptable? We don’t have any sliding doors in our design, just bifolds and French doors.

Thanks for the reply. We have all awning windows, with main areas in magnum (616 series) and the rest of the house (bedrooms, bathrooms etc) in the 517 series. We went from 516 to 517 for those rooms because of the larger 102mm frame....and the winder mechanism sits totally within the frame which looks better).

Re: our sliding door, if you check some earlier photos in my build thread you should find some pics of the door frame. In these situations we try to be reasonable, but not only does it look terrible (mostly frame joins) but I can feel air literally flowing through those affected areas. I’ve simply told the builder we want it sorted out properly....the window people (local AWS fabricator) came back once and simply filled the gaps with caulk. Not accepting that as caulk is not a permanent solution to seal aluminium frame that were cut and joined incorrectly.

Did you find all your window and door frames all fairly well joined?

darb74, from what I could see the window frames looked fine. Then again I’ve not been able to inspect them thoroughly yet as they are stacked against each other in the garage. A few of the upstairs ones were in when I visited the site today. I’ll post a couple of pics.

I went and looked at your thread and the photos of the faulty frame. That’s really not acceptable. You’ve put so much effort into extra insulation and ensuring all gaps are covered, and they give you a leaky door frame! I hope you can get that sorted.

More of the upstairs windows are being put in today, and this was the easiest one for me to get to, to inspect. This isn’t a particularly big window, but the mechanism is wonderful. Smooth operation, both panels easy to open and shut, has a really solid feel. Heavier of course than a single glazed of the same size, but that weightiness adds to the sturdy feel of it. Compared to the single glazed windows in our current 30 yr old volume build - it’s like chalk and cheese!

The windows and glass doors were through AVS Windows. Our builder said they are pricier than some others but the difference in quality makes it worth it. I’m really pleased with the windows so far.

You might notice the gap above the window. This is indicative of a typical occurrence in one-off builds I think - when despite the best efforts of the architect (and her software!) there are still some things that do not translate from paper to bricks and mortar. This window is in the MBR’s WIR. In the MBR we have a raked ceiling and when building the frames for it the carpenters realised that the central beam would not be in the middle of the room. So it was decided on the spot to shift everything over to centre the beam, and that meant that the WIR window had to be made shorter as the revised roofline of the MBR would interfere with it otherwise. And also the same had to be done to the en-suite window next to the WIR, as it would have looked odd to have windows of differing heights next to each other. These changes are not a negative, IMO, just a reality of this type of build.

And when it comes to volume builds, I can see why seemingly small changes can cost so much, as everything has potentially a knock on effect.

Below are the velux skylights above our main bathroom. One is for the toilet and the other for the vanity area (it’s a three-way design).

Windows again. I’m pleased with the sight lines of most of the windows, especially the high ones. After all, the reason they were used was to provide privacy without having to shut the blinds.

MBR (NE)


En-suite (West)


Downstairs GBR (South)


BR2 (NE) I’m thinking to put blinds in that can open top down as well as bottom up


Ditto BR3 (NE)


Main bath (W). Will get builder to add film to bottom half of top sash which is currently clear


Downstairs study nook (S)

Tried to get a photo of a completed cladded wall. It’s turned out rather ethereal, but it was really just the sun glare in my eyes!

This photo includes the orange tree we wanted to keep, so had to build the retaining wall to go around it. When we get the landscaping done, I might get the guys to prune the tree right back, so it doesn’t drop oranges and leaves on my lovely surfmist roof and stain it. On a separate note, it’s freezing here today, but good for those oranges on the tree. Makes them sweet.





And more windows again...

Kitchen (S)


Rumpus (S)

BR3 (S)

All the upstairs windows are in now, with the exception of two curtain walls one of which is yet to arrive.

Some of our solar panels are being installed today. We have 40 going in, in total, facing North, East and West.

Squeeeeeee! Gable windows have arrived, although one still MIA. Can’t wait to see them up!





And the French doors (x4) and bifolds (x2) for the “glass corridor”

“Some of our solar panels are being installed today. We have 40 going in, in total, facing North, East and.....”

Nice sized system. What inverter setup are you going?

We are initially going with a 6kw system, but with east and west roof both able to take an extra 20 panels each. Honestly I think we may never expand beyond 6kw? But I have installed the noggins, conduit etc for a 2nd inverter just in case. The Fronius inverters can be linked together so they act as one master feeding to the smart meter.

Our panels are REC around 320w from memory (black series). I think they are similar to your Q cells in that the panel is divided into two separate sections? Better for shading I am told?

Hey Hillsbuild...because I am still not happy with some of our door (& window) framing when you get a chance could you please show a pic or two and comment on a few of your own ‘frame joins’? Sort of where the vertical and horizontal bits of frame meet. Some of ours have pretty bad gaps.

Also I am interested to compare the glazing rubber seals. A couple of pics of the external corners of the window sash...in most of ours the rubber bead seal in the corners are lifted...so there are gaps in the corners. My concern is water maybe getting into the glazing pockets. Maybe I’m being too fussy though so would be great to see some closeups of yours.

Hi darb74, I must admit the solar panels I have left to my husband, but I will try to answer your questions as best I can!

We are also using the Fronius inverters. We tossed up between those and the enphase, but decided that since our roof gets very little shading, the linked Fronius would be fine. I believe with the number of panels we have it’s close to a 14kw system, but the inverter limits it to 10kw?

Are you getting a battery? We won’t be yet - we will have 2 adults at home during the day, so I’m going to try to change our habits and eg run dishwasher and washing machine during the day, then there’s pool heating, electric hot water heater...and I guess sell some back.

I’ll try to get some pics of the windows for you next week. Did you just want ones of the awning type windows? Otherwise we also have sliding and double hung windows and French doors installed. I don’t think the bifold will be in yet.

Hi we are holding off on a battery setup for now.....will see what happens with pricing etc in the next year or two. Our 2nd 6kw system (if installed?) will likely include a hybrid Fronius inverter to charge the batteries. But for now we are just getting 6kw of panels and a 5kw Fronius 3 phase inverter.

Re: the windows....just a couple of pics of the awnings, focusing on the framing joins (several of ours have quite large gaps where the aluminium pieces meet). Also if you look closely in the corners of the glass let us know if the rubber seal is pushed right into the corners....several of ours have the corner beads not actually into the corners so I am worried about water going in somehow?

Thanks, also your build looking good, and look forward to see how it all comes together.

darb74 here are the photos of our awning windows. I took pics of the two that I could reach.

In this first one, I thought there were gaps in the corners, but on speaking to the builder and zooming in the photos, I can see that it’s actually some sort of black material. Builder says when all the doors and windows are done he gets the AVS ppl in again and they go through and trim all that stuff back so it’s not so visible

Thanks very much hillsbuilds. That is definitely helpful to me. Your images show very neat framing and yes those black 'bits' are actually good in that you know your windows are properly sealed.....we appear to be missing this material on many of our own!

Our builder appear to be in agreement with us and as far as I know they have instructed the window fabricator to sort the issues out. I was getting concerned though, as they are now all bricked and architraved with no word as yet on any proposed fix.


Anyhow earlier today though I've had a very positive response on our issues from themselves. I sent through some photos and they are now arranging an onsite inspection/meeting with ourselves and their local fabricator to go through all our windows/doors. Yay!

As I said to them today it's difficult for us to know if we have valid issues or we may be just too fussy? But impressed within 24 hours the company representative has contacted me to discuss our concerns and are now arranging this onsite meeting.

That’s a good response darb74. Fingers crossed for you for a good fix!

Three of the 4 French doors installed.

Looking good hillsbuilds!

Hey gogo65, where are you at with your build? Have you found a builder yet?

Not yet.
Received one tender yesterday, should get another this week. Meeting with another on the weekend.
Have had plans drawn up but it’s too big.., trying to cut the size a little.
Just got back from 3 weeks in Europe, while I was there we were given notice registration not expected till mid November (they have extended the sunset clause, but that’s it they can’t extend any further), so we’ve got a little more time on our hands.

Looking good Hillsbuilds. Are they aluminium or PVC window's?