Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum 1 Jul 12, 2012 4:07 pm Summerleas Rd, Fern Tree, Tasmania
It's been a few years since I last posted my house on here -- back then it was a huge family home at Lower Longley. Now, it's a more modest three bedroom home at Fern Tree -- but still with the quirks and traditional style to make it interesting. Here are the plans: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ As you can see, it's a steep-pitched home with the bedrooms in the roofline. Two things I insisted upon were the home theatre room (more on that later) and the bridge across the cathedral-ceiling loungeroom, leading to the master bedroom. I'm aiming for understated grandeur... well, not really, but something with a bit of visual interest would be nice. The slope of the land really constrained the width of the house, so I've designed it to the locale. *** Re: My new house at Fern Tree, Tasmania 2Jul 12, 2012 4:20 pm Bridge building
As a graphic designer, I'm pretty fortunate that I can use 3D software to model the bits I'm not sure about. One of those areas was the lounge room: I've seen so many cathedral-ceiling loungerooms that felt completely out of scale, much too tall, or simply uncomfortable. I was pleasantly surprised when the render came out like this: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ While there's a few details missing (eg: the exposed timber beams and other bits of trim) it cemented in my own mind that the room wasn't overly cavernous, and that the bridge and mezzanine weren't too oppressive. After that, I got excited and modelled the kitchen as well: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The thing that thrills me about this isn't the cooking potential (my best "warm meals" often come from a toaster), but the full-length window at the end of the galley. Standing in the kitchen and looking through that, down into the valley and the water beyond, should be pretty special. *** Re: My new house at Fern Tree, Tasmania 3Jul 12, 2012 4:34 pm Kick off!
The end of May 2012 saw the build kick-off in a big way. The few months before I'd been simultaneously clearing the block and battling the bank for a loan (sole trader and semi-owner/builder don't look good on an application)... and when both were done there was a lot of celebrating. I promptly went out and bought a new septic tank, as people do -- an OzziKleen (not a typo, although it does drive my spell checker crazy). It arrived as the excavator began digging the foundation trenches: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Why concrete footings? In order to get the house reasonably close to the bushline, the Council insisted on a very high fire rating... and the best way to get that was ground level brickwork, extending upwards. It could be overkill (and it's certainly not the most eco-friendly build) but I will feel a little safer, hopefully... *** Re: My new house at Fern Tree, Tasmania 4Jul 12, 2012 4:41 pm Slush fund
The consequence of a Winter build, and unseasonably wet weather in Hobart, meant digging wasn't as neat as hoped. Trenches filled with water, pier holes collapsed, and we discovered a natural spring behind the proposed retaining wall (!). The spring was so bad that a drainage channel needed to be built down to bedrock, but that in itself kept filling in as the spring pulled soil down the hill: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ One thing I did learn, though: gumboots are pretty cheap at BigW. *** Re: My new house at Fern Tree, Tasmania 5Jul 12, 2012 4:52 pm Cast of thousands
I don't think I'll ever forget driving up to the block the morning the concrete was delivered. I could see the crane pump all the way down the road, and the line up of concrete trucks was enough to make any man giggle with delight. Huge Tonka trucks, as far as the eye could see... Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Things weren't all smooth sailing: the newly excavated trenches took about a third more concrete than expected, and the engineer insisted that the footing for the retaining wall was massive (to support the weight of the hill behind it). I lost track of the number of concrete trucks... until I got the bill, of course. *** Re: My new house at Fern Tree, Tasmania 6Jul 12, 2012 5:07 pm Great Wall of Fern Tree
Mid-June saw the beginning of the block laying. I'd been a little concerned about the "artificiality" of a huge concrete retaining wall... a long, straight battlement through the bushland. The brickie Max understood and introduced a beautiful, sinuous curve to the wall. About as elegant as a concrete wall can be: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The slope of the land posed a bit of a problem: how do we get the blocks down the hill? The access path was complete mush from the rain, so instead we set up long slides and had to manually slide, stack and cart each of the 5000 blocks down the hill. Some of the best exercise I've ever had... Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ So, as of today, things are pretty well on track. We're a bit over budget because of the excess concrete and labour to clear the trenches, but I'm hoping to claw that back with my own labouring. Max the brickie is working rain or shine, and I'm so tempted to buy him a radio... first tradie I've met that works in complete silence. More updates soon... *** Re: My new house at Fern Tree, Tasmania 7Jul 12, 2012 5:11 pm Amazing build there Johnson! Magical place to have a home methinks.. Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ Re: My new house at Fern Tree, Tasmania 8Jul 13, 2012 9:40 am Thanks Dee. It does feel a little daunting (especially doing it solo) but the builder is great and seems confident that every weird idea I throw at him can be done. I'll have to get up there today to take some more pics... My storybook home build: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=57987 Re: My new house at Fern Tree, Tasmania 9Jul 13, 2012 9:56 am WOW, such a unique design... very canadian/american which i love Cant wait to see it all come together Re: My new house at Fern Tree, Tasmania 10Jul 13, 2012 10:09 am A more modest home? Wow! Still looks like a palace to me! What a beautiful spot. Would love waking up to that serenity! Oooh those ceilings are beautiful! A wonderful house! Re: My new house at Fern Tree, Tasmania 11Jul 13, 2012 3:54 pm Floor level... really?
I was a little surprised when visiting the site today: the blockwork is going well, and apparently it's almost at floor level... at 3.7 metres tall on the far side...! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Sloping plots are so deceptive -- I had no idea the wall would be that tall on the downside, and apparently neither did the builder (he's ordering more blocks as we speak). The engineer has also insisted the walls be core-filled with concrete, which means bringing in the concrete pump again before the floor can go on. One good thing is the space under the floor -- it'll be relatively easy down the track to add one or two new bedrooms, with the staircase winding down from under the main stairs above. Ummm... bonus? *** Re: My new house at Fern Tree, Tasmania 12Jul 13, 2012 7:05 pm Yes- bonus! Mancave? Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ Re: My new house at Fern Tree, Tasmania 13Jul 13, 2012 7:21 pm Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ Re: My new house at Fern Tree, Tasmania 14Jul 13, 2012 8:37 pm Pop some windows in now...for the future. Call it storage, council will never know your evil designs. Re: My new house at Fern Tree, Tasmania 15Jul 15, 2012 11:53 am kiwi Pop some windows in now...for the future. Call it storage, council will never know your evil designs. Nice idea -- problem is I need to source the BAL29 fire rated windows from Stegbar, and they won't be here in time. Future cut outs! Re: My new house at Fern Tree, Tasmania 16Jul 22, 2012 3:04 pm Tanking time
I was out on site this weekend, tanking (with waterproofing paint) the upper face of the house sub-wall. Things are progressing nicely: the inner piers are now done, and the brickie's moved on to the sub-walls for the studio (to the back in the picture below)... Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I can't help but feel a little daunted. The size of the walls, the amount of concrete, the excavation that's been required... all very exciting, but so involved. I guess everyone has these feelings when things get started? *** Re: My new house at Fern Tree, Tasmania 17Jul 31, 2012 2:21 pm Singing in the rain
The delivery of the timber and batts for the floor went like clockwork, but the weather's refused to play ball... near-blizzard conditions at Fern Tree forced everyone to pack it in (even the bricklayer, who reminds me of Jack Palance in City Slickers)... Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I did manage to get my Green Tape down on the home theatre room joists. The tape's made by the same people that do Green Glue, and apparently very good at isolating the floor from the rest of the house (to stop any resonance). Expensive stuff, but from all reports it's well worth it. *** Re: My new house at Fern Tree, Tasmania 18Aug 09, 2012 11:46 am Taking shape
After a bit of a delay due to the weather, the first floor walls are finally going up. An interesting process... the builder and I marked out the wall locations from the plan, then rejigged them a little to resolve some of the dimensions (eg: the pantry space was *tiny*; and the proposed linen cupboards were far too narrow, so they became built-in bookcases!). Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Another thing: the wet rooms look remarkably small at this point... an optical illusion? Although the height of the living areas (2.7m ceilings) seems to be enormous. No doubt this'll resolve itself as the walls are enclosed... *** Re: My new house at Fern Tree, Tasmania 19Aug 09, 2012 2:13 pm So we dont have linen or a pantry anymore? Re: My new house at Fern Tree, Tasmania 20Aug 09, 2012 4:15 pm kiwi So we dont have linen or a pantry anymore? Heheh... the linen cupboard's now "moved" (well, it's now being shared with the bathroom cupboard). The pantry's now about twice the size, with a little less drawer space in the kitchen. Easy fix! Hello. I just bought a few acres in Habana, Mackay, and my horses seem to love hanging around under this tree. I would like to name the paddock after this tree. Can… 0 9528 Fellow Perth dweller. Looks like pruns nigra. It's a dark leaf flowering plum. Doesn't get massive and is easily trimmed deciduous tree. Very popular in small gardens in Perth 7 2759 |