Straw Has Started!!!!

What a surprise to find that the straw has started - found out later that the engineer wants to see the tie downs as part of the framing certificate so its up with the straw.  It is kind of a bittersweet moment - something that Cath and I have schooled up on and wanted to really do ourselves is now not an option - but that's the way it goes.  Hopefully we will be able to do some cobbing as I'm sure Paul does not want to be left with all of that.

Start of the living room wall.  When they moved the straw from under the tarps where it has been for 12 months there was some trepidation as to what was living there.  We already knew there was a Red Belly (thank you Baxter the dog) but what else?  Thankfully the boys only saw a couple of field mice, but the worker in the shed had a meeting with afformentioned snake when it bolted out of the straw and into the shed!! 

Paul making a start on the Nothern Living room wall.  Some of the straw has been lost to the weather and a few of them will need to be handled carefully as the string has relaxed a bit - but it aint gonna fall down - not once the tie downs are there.

Pile of straw waiting to be put in

Electrician has already roughed in so hopefully those snap decisions we made on Wednesday will work out.

Solar Panels today - plumber on Monday....

Framing along

We went out there last week to see some of the framing and bracing on around the rooms - we had a quick dash over to the bathroom place to select a bath so we needed to see if the one we wanted will fit in the space.  We will have to back over the bathroom list so we can see if the other stuff will fit.

This is looking at Ollie's room- bracing done and the window starting to be framed.

The bathroom framing has started - with the toilet being framed.  We also have the the framing done for the walk in robe.

The kitchen with the window framing done.  This window is going to be a sliding window and screen allowing for this to be used as a servery

Cath and Ollie looking out of the ensuite.

Additions to the dam.  Where possible we are going to try non chemical ways of dealing with with different issues with the block - one big issue is the mosquitos - so we bought 20 Pacific Blue eye and put them in the dam, with the hope that they will bring down the Mosquito population.



And the rest of the roof is up

So we went out the week before last and we have the roof done. They have also cracked on with getting the framing completed.

This shows Oliver's room - you can also see the framing has started for the master bedroom.

From the front - Cath and Oliver having a sit - you can see the framing for the loft is almost complete.

View up from the living room looking out to the east.  This is how the living room roof will look.  The framing for the sliding doors can be seen below and they have also framed for the louvres and windows.

From the living room looking up to the loft they have framed for the storage room on the left and at the front you can see that the frame for the railing has been done - where there is no rail is where the spiral staircase will go.

This is looking from the South.

So its all starting to get a crack on - spoke to the builder last night and Paul said the kitchen people are keen to get their stuff done and he expects that we will have a kitchen in 4 weeks!  Also means that gyprock and flooring will also have to be done.  We will go out there this weekend to hopefully see most of the framing done.

Makes us both happy when we go out there and see progress - the house has a presence... and I think that with the position of the road where you wont really see the house until you turn the corner will work really well.
Cath and I are keen to get started - we have the permaculture plan and we hope to start building gardens in the next month - but not before we overcome the elephant (or should I say mud )  in the room.  We have to sift the clay to get it ready for rendering.  And as each day brings rain I just hope we haven't left our run too late for this....

Half the roof is on

Since the build has started again there has been a flurry of activity as Paul pushes to get the roof on before the storm season starts up. We went out there a couple weekends ago and there was good progress.  So last weekend we arrive to see that half the roof is on!.  This photo is taken of the northern end so the granny flat and the outdoor area.  You can also see the ampelite sheeting that will sit over the outdoor dining area.

This is from the western side and you can see over to the right that there are still battens to put in.  You can also see the trusses for Oliver's room in the foreground and some wall framing for the master bedroom.

You can see here the insulation sitting between the roof and zincalume - this will be the finished look with the cross beam, exposed rafters and zincalume sheeting.

View from the loft looking out to the east.  Again, this is what the roof will look like - from the loft we will also see some of the view as above the sliding doors there are three panels of clear glass.