Am I crazy? OB near Port Macquarie

So more great progress. Fascias and gutters going on, rough out of plumbing and electrical for the granny flat is now complete. The plumber will come back tomorrow morning to test the gas and water lines and sign them off - he had to go and clear a blocked toilet so couln't finish that today.

Here's how it looks now.
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And I can even look like a tradie who knows what he is doing.....

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This was finishing off the wind beam wall that both protects the Bed 4 window and provides a backing wall for the outdoor eating area and BBQ. That Gorilla platform ladder has proved very handy particularly with the heights I am dealing with. But I also need to buy a mobile scaffold for the sarking, cladding, interior painting and other work.

Next steps are finishing some detail work on frames, putting on the porch roof and gutters (I was one Versiclad panel short so had to order an extra) and then onto the sarking.

Meantime, I got the quantity document for the Cemintel cladding (CSR Cemintel Territory Teak to give it its full name) back but had been specified wrongly by the local agent. So another delay.

Oh well.

And did you notice over to the right, the first tank has arrived. I need to make a pad for it from crusher dust - the ground is quite solid underneath.

The 22,500 tank off the garage will arrive in a couple of weeks. I have dispensed with the tank on the house as required under BASIX rules and it's 4500L requirement will be serviced from the shed tank. This will need a small change to the existing piping.

I will also move the shed tank further back and set it into the ground by at least 400mm, because it needs more fall from the garage gutter outlets to the input. Shifting it back will require the bank to be cut out several metres and hole dug - my trusty Kubota backhoe attachment will get its first serious workout.

I can then build a shed for the Kubota, possibly a double one for the growing collection of Jaguars!

Crap weather here today, cold and rainy. I am doing more work on frame detailing and in between times watching the Kaboodle Kitchens videos. I will probably get one from Bunnings for the granny flat. But the top will come from Edsteins Granite in Taree - real, textured and beautiful, measured and fitted for only slightly more than Bunnings engineered stone, uninstalled. A no brainer, buying granite from the masons - might also get a cheap deal on a headstone (they are also monumental masons) if the building work kills me!

Oh well, best laid plans etc..... Not only have I been having some health issues, distractions, building work, work on my subdivision plans and more, I have been trying to get my new (old, but absolutely beautiful) Jaguar XJ6 ready for rego. Oh, did I mention that I am a confirmed car nut and love Jaguars? Bought this one from an auction in Adelaide, sight unseen. Is even better than expected. Has had a large amount of money spent on it by the previous owner (I have spoken to him, he loved the car and spent lots on what was a very good original car) and drives beautifully and looks like almost new. I will be putting it on historic rego which is a process in itself, won't manage that for another month or so.

Meantime, back at homebuilding....

The cladding is going on slowly. There is a lot of detail work that has to be done in prep for putting it on. Firstly, a lower flashing is put on the bottom of the frames at slab level to hold down the snakeskin and create an airflow passage up behind the Cemintel. But this has to be level, because the bottom rail into which the Cemintel sits must be level. A check with a dumpy showed that the slab had a 16mm variation from its highest to lowest point. So both flashing and bottom rail had to be set to a level all round which allowed for this. Remember, I am building this to a precision builders wouldn't bother with and couldn't justify. I want it just right, not near enough.

Next, all the frames have to be checked for square and plumb, which we had done to a good level, now it had to be just right though, all the way to the top of the highest levels - remember, no trusses. Then we had to calculate where was the best place to make the joins and where we needed to add any additional stud pieces. Plus I needed to design a flashing for around the windows and have it made. Then and only then could we start placing the boards. It isn't an easy process when you are not familiar with it and the house/windows are not designed for it.

So here is the first wall going on.

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And finished.....
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The vertical joins get filled with a silastic-like sealer coloured to match the finish so the joins will be barely visible.

Very happy with the look.

Great progress, looks great too! We have Cemintel Territory cladding on our build also (vertical installation in dark colour) on the outer and inner walls of our balcony and even with 2 professionals doing it it’s taking ages, so worth it though to get it right.

Good luck with rest of build, setting looks beautiful:)

Yeah our guys have done quite a few installs, it’s just the way it is if you want it to look perfect I’d guess.

We actually had our builders advisory team come up from the surf coast Vic. as they were looking at a different method to install it. Anyway about 7-8 blokes discussed it, made us feel important haha, and at this stage we couldn’t be happier (not that we know too much about it as not a lot of places here use it.

I haven’t a blog or anything, I’ll get a photo of the cladding for you shortly but 👍🏻

I’ll direct message you with pic

Have seen the photos. Looks fantastic - very stylish indeed.

Was your build designed for Cemintel, or was it "made to fit" after the event? Mine was the latter which made for more challnges in how to fit it to the frame and set it into the windows etc, none of which were designed to fit to it. Lots and lots of head scratching, drawings, calls to Cemintel and a couple of informed sources and then getting some adjustments made on the fly.

If I was to do it again ............

Nope, stop that!! This is definitely my last house!!

It looks very good because you have achieved both that textural and colour difference.

There are several design elements that you can make ready to fit the Cemintel at the design stage such as windows and doors and to minimise cutting etc. However, some of those may not work with the look you want to achieve eg position of doors and windows. Frames could be designed with studs or blocks in the right place, rather than having to spend more time later planning for and fitting them. So mostly, you make it fit after the event. Mind you, using it on an inset area like yours is much simpler than doing a whole house with various angles and corners.

It is also a matter of money. I am working to a budget so have used standard windows and sliging doors, which don't actually fit the Cemintel process. Plus the skillion roof which makes the corners trickier - it would have been easier to fit the metal corner trims, but they don't look anywhere as good.

These are the things that take time to sort. But what is life without a challenge. Even a builder experienced with Cemintel would not find my build straighforward or do it to my standard. It would take too much time to be viable cost wise.

So with the outside complete, it is time for a biti of a site cleanup. Then to start on the gyprocking.

So as the last job on the outside was completing, the gyprock was ordered and duly arrived, to be plonked undercover in the carport. Next, a big cleanup inside which had become a bit of a dumping ground for, well, stuff.

Unfortunately, as we checked the inside walls, some of them were out of plumb and true. This was a result of the delays at the start where the frames sat around for a while. Some of them are quite tall which magnified the issues. And I was not so experienced on erecting them so they didn't get trued as well as they could for the Granny Flat - the house was better though. I always said that the GF was my crash test dummy.

Here's Steve working on some truing.
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So we spent some time correcting that using the laser, plumb and string lines etc. With some planing and application of many many spacers, we again had a level surface to gyprock onto. Also, some of the windows were put in by th eroof build team and were not particularly straight and true. It took quite a while to get there though as I am very fussy.

Once that was done, the insulation could go in. I am using initially Bradford Soundguard R2.5 in all walls, external and internal. I got it at a very good price so it is worth using the sound insulating version throughout. Towards the later part of the job when I ran out of that, I got a batch of Knauff Earthwool Soundguard so the GF was completed with that. Not itchy at all, but it is a bit harder to cut. And I had to do lots of cutting as almost none of the studs are stand widths apart.

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The kitchen is taking shape now and it is starting to fell like a house. It seems we have turned into the home straight.