Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum Re: Snapshot of our OB project... 21Jan 22, 2015 4:51 pm Just checked out your build blog JB1. Nice! We have very similar tastes! Dry pressed bricks, flooring, internal and external colours, kitchen, list goes on! Will be interesting to see how it all comes together in the end. That's the thing with an owner build, there's no showroom to physically walk through.
Re: why we went this way with the Ultrafloor and suspended concrete over yellow tongue is multiple reasons. Amongst those are no timber, reduces termite risk (although we are still having termimesh installed and treated frames) and more access underneath by reducing the amount of isolated piers. We were originally looking at Bondek but it needed more isolated piers underneath. I know one reason it wasn't. Certainly not cheaper! I'm not sure of the difference with the insulation properties between the 2 building methods. Anyone? Re: Snapshot of our OB project... 22Jan 23, 2015 7:22 am gandn So the subfloor brickwork for the house is finally completed. Garage isn't started yet as it is having its infill slab laid later on in the build. We went with a solid dry pressed mowbray blue brick, white sand and off white cement. Also used quite a number of pallets of commons in the areas below ground or where they won't be seen. At almost 4 times the price and twice as heavy, of the commons, I don't want to waste the Mowbray blue bricks. Bricklayers have done a marvelous job. Onwards and upwards, as they say. In our case literally! And of course photos or it didn't happen! I was scratching my head for a minute about the Mowbray blue but then thought must be a PGH brick, would it be similar to the Bowral Blue bricks ? I think they may be the same. Looks like it will be a really nice brick, I was wanting to use that one but the cost of it was quite high through the builders. We went with a dry pressed murray grey which wasn't as pricey but nice in our eyes too. Would you mind trying uploading your pictures to photobucket.com ? and linking from there ? half the pictures don't work for me. Cheers, Re: Snapshot of our OB project... 23Jan 23, 2015 11:09 am Yes it's a PGH brick and very similar to the Bowral Blue. We liked the Bowral Blue too in the display yard but when we went to check it out in the yard it was a little too blue for us. Natural variation in the current batch at that time to what was displayed.
Really like all the dry pressed bricks, even if they are a bit more expensive. Not sure why some photos are working and others aren't. Re: Snapshot of our OB project... 24Jan 23, 2015 12:28 pm gandn Yes it's a PGH brick and very similar to the Bowral Blue. We liked the Bowral Blue too in the display yard but when we went to check it out in the yard it was a little too blue for us. Natural variation in the current batch at that time to what was displayed. Yes we noticed that too, we were told by the sales rep that the bowral bluer had become bluer in recent times. That was one of the other reasons we didn't go for it. Looking forward to watching your place come to life Re: Snapshot of our OB project... Subfloor 25Jan 23, 2015 5:04 pm gandn Just checked out your build blog JB1. Nice! We have very similar tastes! Dry pressed bricks, flooring, internal and external colours, kitchen, list goes on! Will be interesting to see how it all comes together in the end. That's the thing with an owner build, there's no showroom to physically walk through. Re: why we went this way with the Ultrafloor and suspended concrete over yellow tongue is probably multiple reasons. No timber, reduces termite risk (although we are still having termimesh installed and treated frames). More access underneath by reducing the amount of isolated piers. Plus there is probably an engineering reason my husband knows that i don't! We were originally looking at Bondek but it needed more isolated piers underneath. I know one reason it wasn't. Certainly not cheaper! I'm not sure of the difference with the insulation properties between the 2 building methods. Anyone? You must have good taste then! Lol Insulation wise I would say yellow tongue + insulation would be better than suspended slab. I suppose both have their advantages. Ko Much easier to run cables, heating ducts etc with yellow tongue but suspended slab would feel a lot more stable and have greater thermal mass. Re: Snapshot of our OB project... Subfloor 26Jan 26, 2015 3:30 pm Happy Australia Day all. Great Australian dream to be building on your own parcel of land! Inching closer to a slab now that the ultrafloor B & J's have been installed. It certainly was a great sight to see, and fast too! 2 trucks, 1 crane, 8 men, tonnes of concrete and a few hours later it was done! Bring on the slab! Photos to follow! Re: Snapshot of our OB project... Subfloor 28Jan 28, 2015 11:16 am Looking good. I'm wondering what's happening with all the plumbing sewerage etc? I don't see any pipes. And is the concrete slab cut for each waste? I will definitely consider this suspended slab for my next project. Can you please PM the cost of the suspended slab. FYI, I didn't use dry pressed bricks. Boral who I used, don't supply dry pressed bricks in Victoria. Re: Snapshot of our OB project... Subfloor 29Jan 28, 2015 11:47 am JB1 Looking good. I'm wondering what's happening with all the plumbing sewerage etc? I don't see any pipes. And is the concrete slab cut for each waste? I will definitely consider this suspended slab for my next project. Can you please PM the cost of the suspended slab. FYI, I didn't use dry pressed bricks. Boral who I used, don't supply dry pressed bricks in Victoria. Sorry must of confused part of your build with someone else's! I'm stalking a few The plumbing was supposed to be started today but....sigh... It's raining AGAIN!!! I'm beginning to hate this stupid weather! We didn't want any of the plumbing getting in the way of the Ultrafloor or getting damaged so chose to have it done after. Hopefully won't be any issues. The infill panels between the B & J's just pull straight up at the moment. They are only there to support the mesh and concrete when it's poured. Once the plumbing is in it will proceed to slab like a "normal" build LOL. Re: Snapshot of our OB project... Subfloor 31Jan 29, 2015 10:55 am subfloor action looks AMAZING! And just saw that you are building in [removed]. We use to live in [removed] so know the area well. Must be pretty amazing doing an OB in that area! And yay for the sunshine! [moderator edit - location details removed at request of OP] Re: Snapshot of our OB project... Subfloor 34Jan 29, 2015 8:34 pm you can't have it all! Today was almost perfect. Not too hot, not too cold, not rainy... When have you got the slab scheduled for? Re: Snapshot of our OB project... Subfloor 35Jan 29, 2015 9:04 pm Can't schedule the slab yvonneh till the plumber has been and finished so at the moment it's like how long is a piece of string. Unfortunately the rain put the plumber behind (story of my life!) and so now we wait....again. Re: Snapshot of our OB project... Subfloor 36Jan 29, 2015 9:43 pm I thought about OB for about 2 seconds. I'm a project manager so should be able to do stuff like this but it's the lack of knowledge about sequencing that would drive me batty and then the constant reliance on weather, availability etc. My hat off to you! Let's hope your plumber is able to get it all sorted quickly! Re: Snapshot of our OB project... Subfloor 38Feb 24, 2015 8:42 am agree... what's been happening gandn? Re: Snapshot of our OB project... Slabbed 39Feb 25, 2015 4:52 pm hi yvonneh and kavehman. Not a lot happening on the home front so to speak, hence the inactivity on the forum. We did manage to get the plumbing done but had about a 2 week delay waiting for the slab to be poured. Longest 2 weeks ever! But.... I can now report that we do finally have a slab! Has been really good weather for it too with this drizzly rain. No photos to show yet though so you'll have to be patient and check back later Feels good after 4 months to finally be at the stage most people start at!
Re: Snapshot of our OB project... Subfloor 40Feb 25, 2015 7:02 pm yay for the slab! Boo for being patient! Once the slab is done it is a major milestone. As long as you have access to brickies all should be OK for a little while! (Until you need tilers apparently!) Hi I live in a 100yr old semi and my neighbour added an additional floor last yr and our architect has advised that we can knock down our semi and build a free-standing… 0 37681 Hi all, We are looking to build a new two storey house in western Sydney. Can anyone recommend a smallish builder to go with? We are trying to stay away from the big… 0 12110 Looking to tile the facade pillars rather than rendering. Builder is quoting 2500$ laying cost for upto 10msq. The 2 pillars come to be 16msq. So laying costs are 5000$… 0 7524 |