Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum Re: Am I crazy? OB near Port Macquarie 31Aug 23, 2018 8:46 pm Ok, so things have moved along a bit while I have been busy down in Sydney in my un-retired state. Cameron finished off the bathroom and set about cleaning up the site and putting in the driveway. Here's how things looked after that. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ House slab in the foreground, granny flat at the top of the tarseal driveway. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The Canvas Castle, in which I have been living on and off for the last 2 years including some traveling around the bush, is over in front of the house slab. Oh how I look forward tot hat bathroom being ready! At this point I was waiting for the shed power and lights to be finished off. Wayne the sparkie had done a very neat job on the conduits and cabling, fitted up the shed board and power was live at the board with a double point there. The follwoing week he fitted up the powerpoints (lots, to support my hobbies) and the lights. I went over the top with lighting - 2x150w LED floods in the centre raised roof area, three dual LED tube flouro-style highbays down each side and two 50w LED spots to fill corners. I haven't seen it yet but he tells me its very, very bright inside. That will enable me to easily work on cars and other stuff at night. Plus a twin LED sensor flood on the front and one over the side door/rainwater tank pump etc. There are also 15A and 10A powerpoints outside and 15A powerpoints inside the door, for charging my camper. Did I mention lots of powerpoints? Glad I am paying by time and materials, not a standard price per point! Here is the bathroom, still awaiting the shower screen, connection of the HWS and me to connect my washing machine. Plus paint the walls. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Cameron's tiler did a very neat job for a shed! Neighbour came in and said he had exactly the same tiles in his bathroom in his recently completed house! Mine were less than $10 sq m on special though. Taps were cheapos from Bunnings, look and feel surprisingly good, cistern too - it was just $97 complete, yet it feels far from cheap. In fact the ceramic bowl and cistern quality and solidity of the lid feels similar to the one in my flashy Meriton apartment I am staying in Sydney at. Shower rose was a quality euro one I got by chance at a clearance in Sydney for $18 instead of over $100 - I bought a second one, with a matching mixer tap for the granny flat. Top buy! There is a a laundry sink in the left corner which will double as a vanity. Re: Am I crazy? OB near Port Macquarie 32Aug 23, 2018 9:54 pm powerd Ok, so things have moved along a bit while I have been busy down in Sydney in my un-retired state. Cameron finished off the bathroom and set about cleaning up the site and putting in the driveway. Here's how things looked after that. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ House slab in the foreground, granny flat at the top of the tarseal driveway. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The Canvas Castle, in which I have been living on and off for the last 2 years including some traveling around the bush, is over in front of the house slab. Oh how I look forward tot hat bathroom being ready! At this point I was waiting for the shed power and lights to be finished off. Wayne the sparkie had done a very neat job on the conduits and cabling, fitted up the shed board and power was live at the board with a double point there. The follwoing week he fitted up the powerpoints (lots, to support my hobbies) and the lights. I went over the top with lighting - 2x150w LED floods in the centre raised roof area, three dual LED tube flouro-style highbays down each side and two 50w LED spots to fill corners. I haven't seen it yet but he tells me its very, very bright inside. That will enable me to easily work on cars and other stuff at night. Plus a twin LED sensor flood on the front and one over the side door/rainwater tank pump etc. There are also 15A and 10A powerpoints outside and 15A powerpoints inside the door, for charging my camper. Did I mention lots of powerpoints? Glad I am paying by time and materials, not a standard price per point! Here is the bathroom, still awaiting the shower screen, connection of the HWS and me to connect my washing machine. Plus paint the walls. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Cameron's tiler did a very neat job for a shed! Neighbour came in and said he had exactly the same tiles in his bathroom in his recently completed house! Mine were less than $10 sq m on special though. Taps were cheapos from Bunnings, look and feel surprisingly good, cistern too - it was just $97 complete, yet it feels far from cheap. In fact the ceramic bowl and cistern quality and solidity of the lid feels similar to the one in my flashy Meriton apartment I am staying in Sydney at. Shower rose was a quality euro one I got by chance at a clearance in Sydney for $18 instead of over $100 - I bought a second one, with a matching mixer tap for the granny flat. Top buy! There is a a laundry sink in the left corner which will double as a vanity. That's the way to do it! Re: Am I crazy? OB near Port Macquarie 33Aug 23, 2018 10:10 pm Thanks KKS. Got a bit more to tell, but I will do the next instalment over the weekend. I can't wait until I start putting up frames and getting a roof on. Stay tuned as I fill up my lovely big shed! Re: Am I crazy? OB near Port Macquarie 34Aug 25, 2018 11:24 am So I took some time off from work and whipped up north so I could get my stuff out of storage after two years in a container and a half at Port Macquarie. The guys arrived with the first container at 8.00am sharp, as promised and we started unloading. One of the challenges was that Wayne the trusty sparkie still had some work to complete so needed the walls left clear (about a metre) and the centre as well. But I had lots of stuff to spread around, and was trying to sort it into groups of the things I needed access to. But the removals team were really quick and helpful, emptied the first container, went off and had an early lunch and brought the half container back. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ All unloaded by 1pm, and I set about some further reorganising and setting up a bed for me when I was on working on site. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ My comfy little corner...... Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Fridge going with some essential supplies....... Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Finally, all set up and looking neat....... Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Then back to Sydney to keep on working and pay for some bills. In the following week, the sparkie finished off, the plumber hooked up the hot water service, so this stage is now complete. Re: Am I crazy? OB near Port Macquarie 35Aug 25, 2018 11:40 am I am working full time in Sydney until end August, then part time as required over the following two months. During that time I'll come back and put in the order for the frames. I have lined up some friends to come and help me put up the frames. Its a task I have never done before so I need their experience as owner builders as well as their muscle! I need to buy some tools such as extra levels, a laser and much more on top of what i have already. I'll also line up the roofer for early November and prepare the order for the Versiclad roof panels. My mates and I don't want to work much at heights - we are mindful of our age! Plus the roofer and his team, with a crane, will get the house and flat Versiclad roof panels on in just a couple of days, without flashing and gutters, so it is worth paying for that. The alfresco dining area needs a conventional roof section built out from the living area wall top, including fixing of steel uprights, which is going to require more capability than we have. Around mid October, the frames should arrive on site and we will erect them over the following two weeks. Then the roof on early November. At least that's the plan......... Re: Am I crazy? OB near Port Macquarie 36Sep 08, 2018 11:35 am Well, I am back on site now, having finished up my full-time work in Sydney. I still have a couple of trips back for completion activities, but now at least i can get to work on preparing for the build. I submitted the RFQ for the frames yesterday, will take up to a week to come back to me. If I don't have a heart attack when I see it (have done a ballpark figure based on a rule of thumb given to me by their estimator. See how I go. Will take 3-4 weeks to build. Meantime I am organising all the boxes and furniture in the shed and setting up a workshop are with all my tools available etc. Speaking of tools, my Bunning Powerpass came in handy yesterday buying an AEG 11 piece 18v toolset. Plus two Pro 6Ah batteries by redemption. Not only was the redemption part of This will add to my AEG hammer drill, impact driver, angle grinder and two 5Ah batteries I have already. I now have duplicates, but I don't want my mates who are helping me (for free, just because they are great people, travelling up from Canberra too) to have to use their own tools, if possible. Also, they had a 254mm AEG sliding compound mitre saw on a very good special so Picked up a Bosch Blue Laser measure as well. I love buying tools! All are good quality trade level tools so I should be able to sell off any duplicates I don't need when I am finished with them. I already have a good compressor and nail gun, most other tools tools, gadgets etc that I need. Just need to find them among all the boxes labelled "garage"! I am tentatively considering a laser level to assist with a variety of building tasks - not necessary, but a couple of tradies and the Bunnings guy I spoke to reckon it speeds things up - at $799 for the Bosch Blue I would hope so! Have used one while helping with the levelling of the shed and water tanks pads and it was fantastic, but not sure how much time it would save me and how much it would make things easier. The one I am looking at is a Bosch GRL300 HVG set. Anyone got any experience to pass on and help me decide? I am spending the weekend opening boxes, finding tools, fixing in some towel rails, hooks, racks etc into the shed washroom. Hooking up the washing machine, setting up my workbench and some tool cupboards and shelves. So much to do, and I haven't even started building yet! But I am looing forward to the work. Re: Am I crazy? OB near Port Macquarie 37Sep 08, 2018 1:01 pm I bought a green beam cross hair level ( CL101G) from Sydney tools. It also has plumb lines up and down. I've been using it to set out my slab and also levels. With a detector, it's good for up to 50 mtrs and at night the beam is easy to see 30 metres away and beyond. You can also fix the beam for stairs and the like. It's about $250 and I think has more ongoing use than a rotary beam as you get vertical and horizontal beams plus plumb. You don't get a 360° beam but it's easy enough to move it around once you have your first level. Seems to be well made and accurate. I'd be interested what others think. Re: Am I crazy? OB near Port Macquarie 38Sep 08, 2018 1:19 pm Right now Amazon are your friend for a simple, use it for the project and throw it away laser level. Thing that surprises me about these laser levels of all quality is how the accuracy standard at, say 25m, varies so much. Re: Am I crazy? OB near Port Macquarie 39Sep 08, 2018 7:06 pm Thanks kks and s4s. I think I will do more research and try and work out what i need it for etc. I was told this Bosch has a good accuracy level and is the one most tradies buy from Bunnings. It is self--levelling too, within +/-5%. But I have no idea whether it is worth spending the extra money on, or how much I would use/need it. I made good progress today - got most tools unpacked and found most of what i needed. But more to do on that score yet. While I tried to sort them as the removalists brought them out of the containers, I am sure there are some more garage boxes buried under "Bed2", "Laundry" etc. Re: Am I crazy? OB near Port Macquarie 40Nov 09, 2018 8:46 am Now that I have finished work down in Sydney, later than expected, I can get stuck into work on the house. I expect to be working more or less full time on the house and granny flat, apart from a few essential trips away. I aim to get the granny flat ready to occupy around February-March next year, the house somewhere around mid year. But, as always, no fixed schedule or cost, so I can't be late or over budget!! I will also update more often now as building progresses. Step one has been getting the frames and windows built and delivered. After some initial problems with the window makers I finally got a quote and the windows schedule. I had chosen the maker earlier and all windows were standard catalogue items to keep cost down and simplify things. The delay was frustrating but I am sure there will be more of them. However, that delay had set back production of the frames as they were waiting on the windows schedule to confirm apertures. The framing company had planned well and as soon as I confirmed my order, they had set about having all the brackets, posts, beams etc, bought in or ordered. A number of these items were custom made and would take a little while to be delivered, so they wanted to ensure everything was ready for the expected delivery date. It's a large job (house and Granny Flat) and there is quite a bit of one-off stuff involved. I can't speak highly enough for the helpfulness and service of the framing company. Anyway, the first batch of frames and arrived a week ago, the second batch is still to come. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Finally, a sense of progress towards getting the house structure up. Well these guys are not looking good... I sent them a written enquiry last week and they have not yet replied. If they cannot respond to a simple… 4 10636 It is in lake macquarie area and dimensions are width 14 m and depth 8 m and the slope is 1/5 going down from the road. 1 7090 I looked into it a few years ago and my conclusion was to just build a carport that will support panels and get a system installed separately. The company I looked at had… 1 6483 |