Alkira Homes "The Sienna" KDR Ryde (NSW) - complete

cat_dunc · Mar 04, 2015 9:30 pm

Sheilzy

I've also been researching options for our front door. I don't really like the standard security screens and came across this. They are definitely pretty but not cheap.
http://www.entanglements.com.au/shop/ca ... ryView.php

Wow! Those are gorgeous! Thanks so much for sharing. Might need to see if one can fit in the budget

deluded · Mar 05, 2015 9:14 pm

Finally! ... some photos to share of the progress (the concrete wall will be removed the week after next and I hope it goes according to plan!!) I initially had some concerns of the colour of the bricks but have realised that the Austral bricks ordered there's a front and there's a back face to the bricks. The face side is not a square edge as I had thought when I picked up the sample brick. The face of it is slightly rounded and thus having flush mortar would have "fattened" up the joins. (Tbh Forg has the same colour bricks and they looked flush but anyhoo decision was made when they started to do away with the flush joins and to use "ironed joins"

only managed to take a few photos ... the lighting is not the best. but I took these to provide some visual guidance for others and to understand what Granitgard is suppose to be

the whole perimeter of the house had bricks layed down in preparation of the granitgard, the house is on a slope so 1 row of bricks out the front equated to an additional 5 rows at the back.
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View of the backyard (did I mention that the Alfresco is my favourite? ) they are half way there and have prepped the brick post to support the steel beam above
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bit of a challenge to take a decent photo to look at the granitgard application. basically sits behind the first layer of bricks and below the frame level all around the house. The white strip is then layered above the brick and some sort of PVC material shielding the openings of the brick to prevent termites crawling up
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amazing how the colour changes when it is on house compared to the ones sitting around the house.
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trixee · Mar 05, 2015 10:19 pm

Brick colour looks great, it's amazing to see it going up. And yes the colour seems completely different now!

yvonneh · Mar 05, 2015 10:36 pm

Looking great deluded!

And must admit not understanding your granite gard although we had some material like thing added to our bricks as a termite barrier

deluded · Mar 05, 2015 10:39 pm

trixee

Brick colour looks great, it's amazing to see it going up. And yes the colour seems completely different now!

I've been on Austral bricks website and for the life of me don't know if the bricks and colour are correct.

If you look at the brick pattern from Austral the holes in the brick are very different to the ones photographed. I've inspected all the bricks as it is labelled and it says Urban one latte. the face of it is a lot smoother than the ones on the Austral website. Really don't know what to think....

since I got the same bricks as Forg .. I've compared and they look like it is the right colour... it would be an absolute disaster if they made it mistake (don't know whether to laugh or cry then)

deluded · Mar 05, 2015 10:42 pm

yvonneh

Looking great deluded!

And must admit not understanding your granite gard although we had some material like thing added to our bricks as a termite barrier

Hope the below image helps (courtesy from the manufacturers website)

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yvonneh · Mar 06, 2015 7:56 am

Do you have your sample bricks? Can you do a side by side comparison?

deluded · Mar 06, 2015 8:03 am

yvonneh

Do you have your sample bricks? Can you do a side by side comparison?

I have ... but unless the bricks are cleaned you can't see it properly ... might have to go back to Austral and get another one

at this stage of the build the brick colour seems close enough to what we had planned so as long as the next batch that gets delivered is consistent with this I'm not going to worry

yvonneh · Mar 06, 2015 8:31 am

Yeah if you like them enough not worth worrying about. There are too many other things that you can to worry about

Forg · Mar 06, 2015 9:17 am

Hey deluded, you walking past my place any time soon?

I grabbed some left over bricks, I don't have many so Every Brick Is Sacred (ie. I'll want it back

), and you can borrow one if you want one of those weights people carry while exercising ...

However, it's hard to tell. I was concerned we had the wrong bricks, at first. Even in your photos they look completely different installed as compared to on-the-pallet. And once I'd confirmed we had the right bricks, I was then worried we'd made the wrong colour choice because they didn't look like I remembered them. But when the house was fully bricked, and the tiles on top, it was what we thought we were choosing.

One thing, though; the ones our house are built with are a smoother finish than the sample was. We did a bit of umm'ing and ahh'ing over whether to upgrade to something which was smooth & which looked more modern; but we decided it wasn't worth the cost. As it turns out they're a lot closer to what would've been ideal, than the sample brick was.

Sheilzy · Mar 06, 2015 9:48 am

Looking good D!

Bricks are very deceiving! I wouldn't pick the colour without seeing them on a house. IMO the images on the computer screen or brochure don't really give you a good indication of how the colour will come up in real life.

We went with Austral Whitsunday 'Orpheus' and we wouldn't have considered it had we only relied on the image on the Austral website. The picture on the website doesn't even come close to what it looks like on a house. Even the sample brick we took home is a lot lighter. So we only locked in the decision after stalking a few houses on the list provided by Austral.

To give you a visual, here's a comparison of the Orpheus.

Top pic is from Austral website, bottom pic is what our house looks like

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yvonneh · Mar 06, 2015 10:27 am

Sheilzy

To give you a visual, here's a comparison of the Orpheus.

Top pic is from Austral website, bottom pic is what our house looks like

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Oh my that is super different!!

deluded · Mar 06, 2015 11:23 am

So.... I'll post up some pics later, but have just found out why.

The bricks are from Adelaide as the urban one latte in Sydney they have run out. They already have allocated all the bricks required for my build so colour matching is not a concern.

Because it is made elsewhere the face is smoother than ones made in Sydney as well as it has a rounded edge.

So if I was to use bricks to build other stuff I better buy a pack of these and put aside.

Forg, thanks for the offer ... now you know that your set of bricks may be the last ones be very selective on how you use it as you won't be able to get anymore. You might want to check where they were shipped from

TheBigHouse · Mar 06, 2015 12:02 pm

FYI I think the PVC material you describe earlier is the damp proof course material to stop rising moisture. There should be one in a low layer regardless or termite protection material.

deluded · Mar 06, 2015 12:40 pm

TheBigHouse

FYI I think the PVC material you describe earlier is the damp proof course material to stop rising moisture. There should be one in a low layer regardless or termite protection material.

oh... it makes sense ... the initial course of bricks at the back of the house had a black sheet run across it and as it got close to leveled the white pvc was laid. So i suppose they are the same?

yvonneh · Mar 06, 2015 1:48 pm

deluded

The bricks are from Adelaide as the urban one latte in Sydney they have run out. They already have allocated all the bricks required for my build so colour matching is not a concern.

Because it is made elsewhere the face is smoother than ones made in Sydney as well as it has a rounded edge.

So if I was to use bricks to build other stuff I better buy a pack of these and put aside.

My green-ness is having a heart attack over the "food miles" the bricks have traveled.

deluded · Mar 06, 2015 1:54 pm

It's still Australian made

...

Building4my3tots · Mar 07, 2015 10:08 pm

It's funny how we know so much about bricks and mortar ... (Tradies talk) once we've gone through this journey. All the jargon and lingo just makes me sound so professional when I go into Bunnings now. I use to quote things by the metre now it's all by 'millimetres' 7000mm! Shadowing, square set, cornices, floor joist, studs etcs...haha. My new word this week is assumed datum and AHD (Australians height datum), since we've hit an issue with the contour surveys

.

Yikes! Totally deluded by the planning and building process

deluded · Mar 07, 2015 10:47 pm

Building4my3tots

It's funny how we know so much about bricks and mortar ... (Tradies talk) once we've gone through this journey. All the jargon and lingo just makes me sound so professional when I go into Bunnings now. I use to quote things by the metre now it's all by 'millimetres' 7000mm! Shadowing, square set, cornices, floor joist, studs etcs...haha. My new word this week is assumed datum and AHD (Australians height datum), since we've hit an issue with the contour surveys

.

Yikes! Totally deluded by the planning and building process

I know what you mean!... I've learnt a lot about the whole building process and no matter what industry you're in the right hand never talks to the left hand. When they do you know they are to be respected as they know what they're doing (and that's rare!!)

deluded · Mar 07, 2015 10:54 pm

ok .. so finally I have a chance to upload some pics! ...

The below is just to highlight the difference in the bricks. The one on wall are the Sydney batch (no longer available) and the sample is from their Adelaide yard which is where the majority are being shipped from. A couple of notable differences:

* rounded edges from the Adelaide batch
* technically a little darker but on photo it looks lighter (also it needs to be cleaned)
* the face is a little smoother than the now obsolete NSW batch

The ones currently being put on the house are the Adelaide bricks.

The ones displayed at the yard
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Comparing the 2

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