July 2017

July 10, 2017

The best Christmas present in 2016 was moving from temporarily living down stairs to the completed top floor of our light filled home and being able to sit outside on the very high south eastern deck looking out over the town through the trees.

We slowly unpacked our stored belongings over the summer and autumn, build external steps in the garden, planted a lot of native vegetation to repair the site damage and got used to living near the top of the tree canopy around us.

Catching up with ongoing work was another important part of this period. Needless to say there was not much time left to update the website. We are now beginning to feel like normal human beings with time for doing things other than making decisions about the choice of fittings, colours, the layout of kitchen cupboards and type of decking.

Sitting area , looking South West to clothes drying deck area

Eating area looking into reading /tv area

Compact kitchen, solid Macra Carpa benches

South East  upper deck — South East upper deck

Window seat to Bedroom East elevation, sawn Macra Carpa cladding

East Elevation, curved high level windows

8 November 2016

November 08, 2016

A fast forward section of the Blog to catch up with what happened over the last months.

These photographs are covering the "wrapping stage" finally keeping out the relentless rain this winter.

7 November 2016

November 07, 2016

After further delays and then loss of access to the internet for a long time the reporting of progress was halted untill we managed to get a temporary replacement for the NBN connection recently.

Of course a lot has happened in the meantime and after the main roof was completed and the framing wrapped like a Christo installation, the lower storey of the building was made habitable and safely accessible. In the meantime the building is being completed above our heads. The weather has improved greatly and everything is drying out and warming up. 25000 ltr rainwater filled the water tank to overflowing in a very short time ! Some winter....

Not having a site that allowed easy access to northern light, one of the main concerns from the beginning has been access to direct sunlight but the continuous high level windows are proving to be far better at providing sunlight than expected. With the white undercoat now on the walls upstairs we are convinced that we will live in one of the most light filled homes in town, without having to resort to acres of very expensive and large double glazing. It also means that we need very few curtains or shutters because the high level windows provide a great deal of privacy even in the middle of a suburb.

30 JULY 2016

July 30, 2016

After the wettest 3 months on record in Tasmania the weather allowed some more framing to go up and this morning at first light the whole top floor structure glowed in the first sunlight, wiping off a lot of accumulated frustration. The continuous narrow high level windows to the east and west walls will result in a light and sunny home, even though the living areas are all to the southern end.

Privacy, usually only achieved with curtains or blinds in the suburbs is protected by using the 1700 mm high external walls with larger windows only towards the South and East, This opens the home towards the outside only where it is really important to us. The 'two spin off ' windows in the kitchen and above the window seat in the bedroom can now be seen in the external curved wall framing to the East, breaking the continuous 2m. high ribbon of vertical external timber lining on the upper floor.

Nearly all the internal walls are up, as well as the ceiling / roof framing of the living areas and with a bit of imagination this gives a good idea of how these rooms will look when lined. We are much looking forward to seeing the roofing in place which will stop the rain from further drenching the framing timbers and saturating the flooring. We are also glad to have chosen plywood for this, because any other flooring material would have been severely damaged by now.

10 July 2016

July 10, 2016

Finally the weather allowed for some continues building and this resulted in the "twisted" carport floor being poured, with some comments from passers-by :That 's not straight" to "Did the boxing sag".... all to the amusement of everyone on site.Then a major job in the positioning of the scaffolding, especially on such a steep site.Looking up from the south at the construction it looks embarrassingly massive. We will be glad when it can all be taken down and the completed relatively small (by local standards) building will be visible.However access all round is now much safer and it will speed up the building process dramatically. Two days ago the plywood working flooring on the upper floor was fixed down and sealed . This means we can walk around the floor we will be living on most of the time and adjust the final position of the proposed windows to make the most of the sun, trees and distant views. The next stage will be the framing of the upper floor and roof when we will be able to see the full extent of the building.

June 27, 2016

27 june 2016

Since the last update there have been more delays in the aftermath of the North Tasmanian floods, but suddenly things started to happen : the lower floor framing went up and we could start to check the orientation and height of windows. We were very happy that most window openings showed what we expected. More steelwork bracing and beams were put into place and in the last few days the Bondek TM arrived and was positioned ready for the garage slab . Then all the first floor Hyspan TM joists came on site and on Saturday were placed on the lower floor framing, showing the extent of the upper floor, especially the high cantilever for the external decks and nook, very satisfying. We can only hope that the weather remains reasonably kind in the coming weeks allowing more rapid progress.

WHAT WENT BEFORE: New home in an older suburb in Launceston Tasmania

April 26, 2016

In 2016 we moved to Launceston to build another experimental home in an older established suburb on a steep, rocky and narrow block, sloping towards the south with very limited access from the road to the north. An interesting design challenge which involves providing adequate access to sunlight, while maintaining maximum privacy. This home is now under construction.This is week two of the construction

The design is now finished, the documents have been approved and the clearing of the building footprint, including removal of weeds and dead vegetation has been completed a few weeks ago. The lower part of the land will be replanted with native vegetation to supplement the existing native trees on the land and the adjacent lots, once some paths have been established and the wet weather has somewhat improved.

Footings have been dug, rock ledges exposed and boulders moved to safer locations in the first week. All the footings have been poured last week and we are now waiting for the steelwork supporting the floors before framing can be started.

May 20 -2016

After a period of waiting for the steelwork and sustained rain, which transformed the site into the equivalent of a clay bath, the weather cleared and the top surface dried out enough to level the building area. This allowed time to spread enough gravel to provide a stable base of rock and gravel for the large water tank, which will collect all roof water. Rolling down a large empty tank on such a steep site took four people and a great deal of care to not damage the galvanised corrugated surface.

At the same time a new water main was installed under the road surface and this allowed us to fill the tank enough to prevent it from blowing away and rolling down the hill during some rough weather the next day: It is a very different experience building in winter or summer.

Most of the steel posts are now bolted down to the footings and it is easier to visualise where the floors will be, looking at the tops of the posts. Next week some of the steel beams will be installed and framing of the lower floor can be started, weather permitting.... again.

cutting the road surface to position the new water supply line

7 june 2016. After some more wet weather and other unavoidable delays the steel beams have been welded to the posts , since then the floor framing for the lower floor and seperate storage /workshop floor have been positioned ready to receive the flooring. Just before a very large weather system tried to wash out Eastern Australia and finally Tasmania, the plywood flooring was glued to the lower floors and sealed a day before the rain and flooding started. We are very glad that we are on a hill side and not near river flats, seeing the destruction lower down. We now hope that once the rain eases off, the wall framing can be started for the lower floors, when the home will actually start to take shape.