House Build

House Build Update 4

Our last blog was the end of March and a lot has happened since then. For the 2nd year in a row we have been lucky to have a long dry Summer which has been great for building.

We have put the odd post up on our Blackball Living Facebook page so thought I would just copy the words here as it is a bit of a timeline.

21 April – We were excited and hopeful that our roof would be going on this weekend – if the materials arrived as planned. But unfortunately they didn’t and they can’t be delivered until the beginning of May. A little bit frustrating as the weather was looking good but we can’t do much about it so onwards and upwards. We have still been busy and apart from a couple of little spots the building is all wrapped and in the last couple of days Smithy has been back to help and the ceiling battens are all up in the living area. The wrapping does help to keep out some of the rain but we will be very happy when the roof is on

1 May – A beaut day in Blackball. It was the perfect day for the roofing materials to arrive and the roofer to start. But nope Wednesday is now the day apparently – just when we expect 35mm of rain

3 May – Very excited to say that the our roofing materials arrived this morning. And even though it has been a very wet day, our roofer is a trooper, and has been working mostly in the rain prepping each sheet and says he will carry on regardless of the weather. So watch this space.

8 May We now have half a roof and the roofer has put paper on the other half. Our roofer was a staff member down so could only lay half the sheets this time (there is a lot of prep work with Tray roofing). Anyway it should keep it mostly dry hopefully. He was committed to another job so had to finish Sat and is back this Sat with a new offsider and it is supposed to fine yay! In the meantime we will work on getting the window framings dry so we can get the tape on before putting the windows in. Al has invented a cunning winch system to get the 2nd storey windows up.

So carrying on from there….

Anzac day in Blackball. It was initially very wet but the rain stopped just in time
Getting the building paper on to help keep it dry. Apparently it rains sometimes on the coast.
Smithy’s back to help Al with the high ceiling battens.
A rainy weekend so we built a bridge. Sammy has so far been reluctant to croos the bridge.
Al is happy he doesn’t have to climb a ladder to his office anymore
Moving our mobile scaffolding yet again. I think we can do it in our sleep.
Getting the cladding up on the carport roof
A tight space under the scaffolding
A view of the chimney side
Girl’s can do anything – just need a nailgun 🙂
In between we go on call and even wash the ambulance
The roof has started
Half of the roof is on. The roofer forgot it was mothers day and he was down an offside so he had to leave. He will be back.
The carport roof is going on which will means we will have a dry carport.
Thanks Dorian for helping to move the big windows. Too heavy for me!
Lower deck and Sharkey’s bar
Al’s birthday project for us – temporary stairs (no more ladder yay!)
How cool is that!
The winch setup – ingenious!
Our downstairs lap pool 🙂
Testing the system.
And it works a treat!
Al and I got the last 2 ground floor windows in ourselves. In the persisting rain with only a bit of swearing.
We did it.
Al set up a lounge in our bedroom
Smithy & Al setting up for the 2nd storey bifolding doors to go up on the winch.
An iron has many uses. This tip was a god send.
We did it all doors and windows in!
Al’s tongue in cheek photo saying a woman’s work in never done.
Essie guarding her “toys”
Our Wee old man Sammy – looking forward to letting him explore the house.
Drinks on the deck after getting all the windows and doors in.
Al taking a photo of my writing the blog lol

Between the 8th of May and Now Al had his birthday. As is his tradition he had a wee project set aside to do. So come Sunday we built the temporary stairs to the top floor. We no longer have to use a ladder to get up and down, YAY!. We now also have almost a full roof, just a few flashings to go on and all of the windows are in. There are still a few windows without glass so the building is not 100% waterproof, but very close. We have started the exterior battens ready for the cladding and should have those done pretty quickly so the wall cladding can be measured and manufactured. If feels good not having to worry about everything getting wet.

Until next update …..

Margie and Al 🙂