Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum 1 Dec 14, 2009 2:06 am Well despite all sorts of setbacks over last 2 months with health probs and numerous other distractions, the last 2 weeks have been hugely busy on the site & i have booked "occupancy Inspection" for thursday last week we finished the french drain/ grey water recycle & got final approval for septic, all vents are thru the roof for bathrooms & kitchen extracter. Today i finally got manholes frames up in the passage ceilings & covers made up but these need painting sometime over next few days. Floor coverings went in last week & planking get sealed tomorrow morning. Tuesday plumber & electrician will be on site together to commission solarhart & instantaneous HWS. we've had goodness knows how many probs hooking tile fire, solar & booster - all changed since i last did it 25 years ago - that many safety relief & tempering valves i wonder if anyone still gets really hot water????? wednesday i'll be spreading hay mulch around outside edge of verandahs to stop sand blows till we get some garden beds started in the new year. Occupany inspection Thurs avo. Unfinished work that will have to be done after we move in (if we get the "occ cert.) is:- i) shower screen has been a hold up...... don't know if this willeffect occ cert?? ii) the pantry selving has to wait, iii) i expect a call any day from a joinery works who have been have thickness a 3m X .300m sheoak feature plank to go on the devider between kitchen & family room and some other sheoak planks for top of wood box - again won't be fitted till after xmas. iv) cornice around 2 walls of the storeroom/garage not complete, but isn't in living arera so hope this won't hlod things up. v)diveway into garage has to wait - i'm exhausted!!! so its fingers crossed for thursday, as family starts ariving Saturday ready to occupy new & old house for our last family xmas dinner in the old house & family tea in new one we hope!!!! hope everyone else is progressing along - i'll get pics done when my daughter I/L is here over xmas... its been a hectic 18 months, but i'm very pleased with the outcome to date - have just hated this rushing to finish....i'd have been happy with an easter move, but Mrs V is in a moving in frame of mind!!!! cheers tony Re: Our Last Week!!!!!(i hope!!) 3Dec 14, 2009 8:49 am Oh wow Tony. I am really looking forward to seeing your photos. Hope all goes well on Thursday. Have a wonderful Christmas between the 2 houses. Re: Our Last Week!!!!!(i hope!!) 4Dec 14, 2009 11:28 am oh tony thats great news so excited for you and the mrs i cant wait to see pics i know your house will be amazing MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY AND SAFE NEW YEAR stay safe happy building Re: Our Last Week!!!!!(i hope!!) 5Dec 14, 2009 3:56 pm Congrats Tony! It's wonderful that you may be able to move in for Xmas . We were hoping for that too, but no such luck..... Chris My father rode a camel, I drive a car, my son flies in a jetliner, his son will ride a camel.Saudi saying Re: Our Last Week!!!!!(i hope!!) 6Dec 18, 2009 2:19 am Its all legal - we can move in tomorrow. but heres a couple of tips from my experience.:- shower screens : weren't installed - rule here in WA is that u don't need a screen if its a fixed shower head thats more than i think 2 m from nearest power point. we had a double hand held in bath1, single hand held over bath in bathroom 2. to get passed he disconnested the hand held over the bath with a temp bung, just leaving taps for the bath, & put a shower head on one of the hand helds in bathrm 1 and temp bung in second hand held. that was accepted as "legal" till screens r installed then we can go back to 3 hand helds. decals on doors - window supplier left these for me to do, in the rush i forgot....have to go on straight away - should go on as glass doors r installed!!! verandah extension - originally verandah wasn't along all the back wall, but when we were doing the verandah i reconned it was silly not to do the lot. forgot to advise council. now i have to lodge a second plan for an "extension" to existing building to make it all legal (cost $55 fee) thats OK as he was happy to let me do the drawing myself - fair call all round. so Mrs V is in second heaven moving bits in, i've got a couple of days tractor work, putting lawn in and covering with old mulched hay to stop sand blow....... sheaok sill features, shower screens & pantry fit out will be done after Xmas at my leisure. the due north installation of the solarhart is giving wonderful results for a semi cloudy days down here, certainly no need for booster - can't wait for first wet day to try out tile fire heat exchange to soarhart!! - new solarhart is far superior to my old system that faces east - theres been some good development done over the last 20 years. i'll get some pics done over Xmas - big sleep tonite....tanks for the kind comments - i wish u all well as u progress. cheers tony Re: Our Last Week!!!!!(i hope!!) 7Dec 19, 2009 1:10 am WOOOOHOOOOO CONGRATS MRS IS HAPPY YOU WILL BE HAPPY LOL CANT WAIT FOR PICS stay safe happy building Re: Our Last Week!!!!!(i hope!!) 9Dec 28, 2009 8:20 pm Good on you Tony. Satisfaction sets in pretty quick regardless of the negatives during the process do you agree?. Nearly there ourselves and thanks for the motivation throughout the year. Have a great 2010. Cheers Brett Re: Our Last Week!!!!!(i hope!!) 10Dec 28, 2009 9:51 pm That's fantastic news!! Great to hear the positive outcome of owner building. Like the others, I look forward to seeing some pics. Congratulations!! "A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality" -John Lennon Re: Our Last Week!!!!!(i hope!!) 11Jan 14, 2010 3:24 am wheres our pics lol im guessing your busy decorating now enjoy mate and ty for all your help stay safe happy building Re: Our Last Week!!!!!(i hope!!) 12Jan 15, 2010 1:35 am Hi All & thanxs for all kind wishes - yes well we've had the odd drama since last post & haven't got pics done......!!!! 1) unexpected illness in the family (not me this time) - not life & death just lots of interuptions. 2) old timers tooth trouble again for me.....had all the prelim work done for a special implant job then tooth cracked in half!!!! had the lot removed today - very sore puppy tonite..... 3) solarhart HWS is working reallllllllly well - just too well. we have never had so much hot water, then last week on one particularly hot day safety valve released all the hot water thru o'floww pipe, & wouldn't shut off!!!!! overflowed the PVC drain pipe under cement verandah & 300ltre of boiling water was too much heat in one place pvc expanded so much it caused hairline crack thru verandah we could only keep HW in by turning inlet valve on & off during the day . when plumber came out he found faulty mechanism in the valve (3 weeks old!!!!) got replaced under warranty & alls good again but crack verandah is there forever .... just one of those things. 4) total disaster with rain water tank.....tank was full of 90,000 ltrs rain water then came out one morning to find water flooding out from under tank - moulding fault in the liner & it split - again under warranty - but lost all our rain water - luckily we designed a dual flow system of rainwater/scheme water back up right thru out building - so we r now running on scheme & taking rainwater from old house over to make decent cuppas!!! 5) didn't want to do pics until i had the lovely sheoak benches in which we were going to do over Xmas, even if just temporary to do pics ...... wouldn't believe it the 3.3m long feature piece all polished up & wouldn't fit by 3.5mm!!!!! 6) similiar with pantry, thought i could get enough done for pics to show layout, didn't get to it & then carpenter we had lined up got held up & can't start till Feb. .....so hopefully things settle down a bit now ......when the above is done & under control we will get pics done...... we r finding that all the work we did on building design for north / south orientation is working outstandingly well in climate control in the house!!!!! also finding that 18 solar panels r providing a wonderful summer excess of power & hope we will have sufficient "grid power credits" to help us thru cloudy winter at almost nil power bills we've had a couple of very hot days & temp has been very comfortable - insulation is working a treat. HWS as mention is fantastic never had so much HW on hand & despite 4 cloiudy days haven't had booster on since we moved in. our final choise of main flooring area was "art select" vynil plank with 2 coats of sealler - the finish is outstanding look, so far very easy to keep clean & its lovely to walk on, temp is very stable despite us worrying & buying mats to put on each side of bed (simply not needed). all in all despite above upsets we're very happy its not a perfect world but overall its been a good project - but definatelyt the last - pics will come soon..... cheers tony Hi Everyone I learned something this week that I thought would be worth sharing. In NSW a lot of developers of subdivisions put covenants on the land which normally… 0 4998 of course there are legal avenues. You've already mentioned it. Sue them. I find it odd that lawyers wouldnt be willing to take on the case, given CCT evidence and… 1 14606 "Losers" "humanity" "off time" "your" "top notch" "love symbol" Sounds like ponzo is done using other people's toilets 37 14039 |