Browse Forums Renovation + Home Improvement Re: The 60 thousand dollar step 121Apr 22, 2012 3:13 pm Love it!! It's exactly what I want. Now you see it, now you don't! Casey + Gary + 5 kool kiddos + 1 funky Frenchie + 5 happy hens = barrels of fun in Muswellbrook Re: The 60 thousand dollar step 122Apr 22, 2012 10:48 pm great idea for the study nook Your polished concrete came up a treat https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43937&start=0 Bought a block in Golden Grove - Jan 2011 Finally finished our design, Mar 2012, *yay* Signed with ADH council consent June 12 Re: The 60 thousand dollar step 123May 21, 2012 4:47 am wow, that floor really does look awesome. Just curious about the concrete though, are you able to share contact details for the mob that did it? Or that was all handled by the builders you signed up with? We looked into the whole polished concrete thing - nobody has as of yet mentioned about pouring another layer of aggregate concrete ontop of an existing slab though......everyone has only talked of grinding down the existing - just curious if there was a reason for why your's was done that way? You also never mentioned any sort of lacquer on the polished concrete, so I assume its just honed down to perfection? All but one polished concrete group we spoke to used some sort of lacquer - both sides talk of their pro/cons. Was there also a reason why you didn't go the "whole way" with the polish concrete? I mean, you took on the wooden floors, and the tiled bathrooms - personal taste I guess....but concrete stuff just looks awesome I'm kinda trying to imagine the theme in the bathroom too i guess. Re: The 60 thousand dollar step 124May 22, 2012 1:04 pm Ellick wow, that floor really does look awesome. Thanks yes it came up a treat Ellick Just curious about the concrete though, are you able to share contact details for the mob that did it? MPM extreem floors If you need contact details etc just pm me and I can foward those to you. We went with these guys as they were a one stop shop, no other concrete polishiers would lay the concrete as well. Every company, including MPM, will warn you that there is a risk of cracking etc so it made sense to go with someone who couldnt point the finger elsewhere if something did go wrong. And for the record we didnt get a single crack. Ellick We looked into the whole polished concrete thing - nobody has as of yet mentioned about pouring another layer of aggregate concrete ontop of an existing slab though......everyone has only talked of grinding down the existing - just curious if there was a reason for why your's was done that way? There are a few reasons, mostly related to our builder having no idea what was involved and basicly forcing us to organize the whole thing ourselves. They (builder) wouldnt supply a slab with different heights, or would have with a vastly inflated variation. We wanted a lighter/white floor finish, the costs of having the whole slab this color would have been out of this world. We are really happy that we went with the different floor finishes, as much as we love the look, it might have been a bit much throughout the whole extension. Oh and of course it has to be planned for at the start, our slab was poured to account for the different flooring throughout, ie 100mm down from the finished floor height. Ellick You also never mentioned any sort of lacquer on the polished concrete, so I assume its just honed down to perfection? All but one polished concrete group we spoke to used some sort of lacquer - both sides talk of their pro/cons. There is no Laquer/eurathane etc coating on the floor, its honed which closes the concrete. They do brush a chemical onto the surface as part of that process (a secret formula lol) but there is no coating that wears off. I would steer clear of any process that coats an existing concrete floor. We have heating embedded in it as well and at the moment its toasty warm underfoot. It is an expensive floor covering, but we are sooooo glad we did it. Happy to help if you have any other questions Re: The 60 thousand dollar step 127May 29, 2012 3:02 pm Looks fabulous! I think I've just found the light I was looking for, what a piece of art!! Built the Seaview 36 with Rawson Homes - Read about it on my blog http://lamaisondemorgan.blogspot.com.au/ Re: The 60 thousand dollar step 128Jun 01, 2012 11:57 am Time for a bit of an update. After the frenetic pace of the pre-Christmas move in motivation…and financial realities have brought everything to a halt. I find myself starting several projects at once and finishing none. Even though we have been through final inspection and handover (in February), dramas with the builder continue. It seems every time I sit down to write THAT letter to the owner of the company another chapter unfolds, boy it’s going to be a long letter. So far we have decided to launch formal complaints with the building commission, master builders, the plumbing commission, consumer affairs and vcat. All of this has been on the advice of consumer affairs. The latest drama was uncovered when we applied to have our asset protection bond returned. The inspection revealed that our newly installed storm water was deemed illegal. At 1st we thought it was council being ridiculous, and making a fee grab. The problem being our existing storm water/downpipes feed directly to a right of way, which has a bluestone gutter that feeds to the street. Council wants us to underground the new and existing storm water claiming the current setup is a ‘public nuisance’. Our contract states that the builder is to provide storm water to connect to existing systems so it could get interesting as to how this gets interpreted. Especially considering an existing system is deemed illegal. My feeling is as a full service builder they should have been aware of any and all regulations and not installed an illegal storm water downpipe in the 1st place. On a happier note I have finally installed My housewarming present to myself. A very expensive home theatre projector. To all the boys out there I know it can be tough convincing the DW the need for such a toy, but if you can sneak it in while she’s not looking, install it, and spring it on her after the sun goes down I guarantee all will be in agreement ‘HOW COOL IS THIS’. To be honest I always had the projector planned into the extension, if you look closely at some of our pics there has been a hole in the ceiling since the plaster went in for the mount. First feature on the wall was apocalypse now, wow. 1st 3d feature (yes it does 3d) was Puss in boots, great fun. Yes it’s a massive indulgence but we call it gold class Yarraville and have had some great family movie nights now. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: The 60 thousand dollar step 129Jun 01, 2012 3:02 pm Aaargh!! Darn builders! Hopefully the complaint letters will force the builder to be compliant. What is the asset protection bond? I haven't heard of it. In our house it is more likely to be me convicing DH to put in the projector. Now how will I manage to get a hole in the ceiling without him noticing Looks like you have his favourite big screen/surround sound movie on though https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43937&start=0 Bought a block in Golden Grove - Jan 2011 Finally finished our design, Mar 2012, *yay* Signed with ADH council consent June 12 Re: The 60 thousand dollar step 130Jun 03, 2012 10:10 pm Congrats on the house, looks amazing and hoping you are enjoying the west! You picked a great suburb. Its a shame that the issues you have had with the builder have had to steel some of your thunder for a great renovating experience, I'm hoping to embark on my first next year and hope I don't encounter the same issues you and DW have had to endure. Out of interest, how did you go with budget, they say you should budget to have 10% up your sleeve for unplanned work? Re: The 60 thousand dollar step 131Jun 07, 2012 7:47 pm mrsbucket1909 Out of interest, how did you go with budget, they say you should budget to have 10% up your sleeve for unplanned work? budget shmudget I think i mentioned we blew our contingency in the 1st week with the restumping disaster. I think if everybody was really honest...or thorough budgets usually get shot by around 40%. We were aiming at around the 250k mark all up. I had a spreadsheet going where i itemized EVERYTHING, from a $2.00 widget to 15k in concrete. I stopped adding to it when the figures soared past the supposed budget a couple of months from moving back in. I guess all you can do is be very realistic and plan for the inevitable overrun. We managed to source many bargains and save heaps by using our own tradies etc but in the end you haemorage money untill its done, so the quicker you can kick everyone not related to you out of the house ... the sooner the wallet gets snapped shut. In answer to an earlier question an asset protection bond is imposed by council...essentially to protect the street and footpath from damage. If the naturestrip etc is a mess when the tradies leave you lose your bond. Re: The 60 thousand dollar step 132Jun 07, 2012 8:48 pm Quote: In answer to an earlier question an asset protection bond is imposed by council...essentially to protect the street and footpath from damage. If the naturestrip etc is a mess when the tradies leave you lose your bond. thanks for that, I thought it might be but hadn't heard it referred to in those words. We received our full building consent from council today and there is a page in there about crossovers and stormwater to the road. https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=43937&start=0 Bought a block in Golden Grove - Jan 2011 Finally finished our design, Mar 2012, *yay* Signed with ADH council consent June 12 Re: The 60 thousand dollar step 133Jun 11, 2012 9:24 am sceen7 We have heating embedded in it as well and at the moment its toasty warm underfoot. It is an expensive floor covering, but we are sooooo glad we did it. Happy to help if you have any other questions Hi. I had started a thread about floor heating here but someone else mentioned that you had installed underfloor heating in your reno. Great reno! I was wondering if you would share some of the details of what type of floor heating you chose, why and maybe a ballpark figure of cost? Thanks! Peta 2010, June : Land bought (1700sqm, battleaxe block). That's it so far! We're in the design phase .... Re: The 60 thousand dollar step 134Jun 15, 2012 12:43 pm OMG OMG OMG you "step" is amaizing. I am completely in love with it. Love your choice of sink, how do you find it? I have one too, but its sitting in unused in a box waiting for benchtops to be installed. Your shower screen is delicious, did you go with 10 or 12mm glass? Re: The 60 thousand dollar step 135Jun 17, 2012 7:31 pm Pete_n_Pet I was wondering if you would share some of the details of what type of floor heating you chose, why and maybe a ballpark figure of cost? Thanks! Peta The type is hydronic...sorry if thats not what you meant but ive had a few queries about electric floor heating etc. Rehau piping laid at the polished concrete stage (most people have the pipes laid at slab stage ...but we are nuts). Baxi lumina boiler (gas) hooked up to a partition unit that manages the different temps needed. We have five panels in the front of the house which sits on stumps and the slab heating throughout the extension. As for cost, the slab heating is actually cheaper, we paid around 13k for the system, but had quotes up to nearly 20k for panels throughout. The only thing I would do differently is upgrading to a condensing boiler, more expensive but would pay for itself in gas savings in no time. Re: The 60 thousand dollar step 136Jun 17, 2012 7:38 pm alt0160 Love your choice of sink, how do you find it? Its great, silky smooth to the touch its almost organic, but still very tough. It will scratch if you smack it with a big pot etc but unlike stainless the marks dont stand out. alt0160 Your shower screen is delicious, did you go with 10 or 12mm glass? Definately 12mm and even that seems a little thin to me, its a huge piece of glass and took four of us to get it in. A good whack and it goes off like rolfs wobble board, but Stegbar approved it so its all aussie standards etc. Re: The 60 thousand dollar step 137Jun 17, 2012 7:50 pm sceen7 Its great, silky smooth to the touch its almost organic, but still very tough. It will scratch if you smack it with a big pot etc but unlike stainless the marks dont stand out. Oooh brilliant, thanks for that. I was hoping dings wouldn't show up too much. Our cheap stainless sink is a mess after 4 years. I think I had better be careful with my knives still. sceen7 Definately 12mm and even that seems a little thin to me, its a huge piece of glass and took four of us to get it in. A good whack and it goes off like rolfs wobble board, but Stegbar approved it so its all aussie standards etc. Sweet, thankyou for that, will definitely go with 12mm over 10. It was really smart of you to add the bulkhead adds a lot of support and looks great. Re: The 60 thousand dollar step 138Jul 06, 2012 10:39 am wow, wow, wow. Another poster pointed me to this thread to look at your Trubridge Coral pendant. And I must say - WOW!!! I love it. What size is yours? It looks huge (and I know the Coral comes in about 5 sizes...). SunshineT's Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34585 Designs start: 4/12/09 DA: 5/7/11 Demo: 22/12/11 Slab: 24/2/12 Keys: 31/8/12 Re: The 60 thousand dollar step 139Jul 07, 2012 7:00 pm SunshineT wow, wow, wow. Another poster pointed me to this thread to look at your Trubridge Coral pendant. And I must say - WOW!!! I love it. What size is yours? It looks huge (and I know the Coral comes in about 5 sizes...). Yeah its the 1 meter Coral stained black. I think there is a 1.2, but we saw this size on display in a room of similar size to our room so thats why we settled on this one. Still love it and the size has really grown on us.... might even have gone bigger if we had to do it again. Re: The 60 thousand dollar step 140Jul 07, 2012 7:36 pm fantastic. DH and I made a special trip across town to check out a Trubridge distributor today. Definitely like the Coral. 1m is impressive! For us it will go in a stairwell, so likely to settle on the 600 dia. Great to hear you love it so much. SunshineT's Build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34585 Designs start: 4/12/09 DA: 5/7/11 Demo: 22/12/11 Slab: 24/2/12 Keys: 31/8/12 the step up is 30mm and wanting it to be flat . how much does the concrete have to be lowered .we plan on removing bath and lenghten shower and adding seat. the old bath… 0 11837 Do I need to concern about this pattern of crack? Is this crack showing some signs of bigger problems? Thanks for any suggestions! 1 1919 Take a pick with a level sittingo n the slab and a pick with a level sitting on the sill please. This will help us diagnose the issue and therefore a solution. RE,… 8 9402 |