Facade Brickwork

The common bricks are nearly complete on our facade, just a few to add above the front door and window. The colour isn't all that pretty, but it will be once the moroka is eventually on. Today the rest of our glass was also installed, including the frosted glass to our bathrooms and the big picture window. 

We spoke with our SS today to find out if we would have an opportunity to walk through and discuss the position of the light switches and apparently our pre-lining walk through will be toward the end of next week. He also gave a rundown of the plan for the next few weeks and it sounds action packed. Bricks are due to finish next Monday, carpenters start Tuesday, plumbing on Wednesday and a brick clean should also happen. Gyprocking will then start around Tuesday 11th Feb. It's all happening!

   

   

Brickwork Day 7

This week our house is really taking shape and we are breathing a sigh of relief that our external colour selections seem to be working together beautifully. The sides and back of the house now have complete brickwork to the eaves and today they added commons around the garage and toward the front entry. I looks like the bricking on the facade will be done by tomorrow and then the bricks under the windows, and the front columns should follow on Friday. 

I really had my doubts about the silver Urban One bricks. Some of the houses on the list Austral gave us had a horrible yellow tone and looked as though the colour was bleeding into the mortar. Our bricks  on the other hand look to be a lovely subdued silver in the shade and a sandy shade in the light. There is quite a bit of natural variation and some bricks look like a pale latte in colour, but overall it really adds to the beauty of them. 

   

   

    

Electrical Rough In

I have to start by saying....

                                 
                                             

Wow, I am blown away with the number of people following the blog and stopping by each day. Thank you for your interest, lovely comments and for reading my ramblings! 

Despite today's public holiday we had tradesmen on site, including our ever faithful brickies and an electrician. The complete electrical rough in was finished and the wires hanging all over the place are a testament to my exuberance at the electrical appointment! We were surprised that the electrical went in so soon. Most of the work looks good and all of the lights are marked out exactly where we wanted them. There are a few power points and switches in spots that we wouldn't have chosen (like the bathroom switches being moved out into the bedroom), so hopefully we can discuss a having them relocated with our SS. 

Wires, wires everywhere!

Brickwork up to the eaves nearly done on one side.

More Bricks! (Day 4)

You guessed it, I have even more photos of bricks to share. Brickwork has been by far the most exciting part of the build so far. The brickies are putting in a truly heroic effort given that there are only two of them. As the mortar is drying the bricks are looking even better - very glad we went with off-white instead of natural coloured mortar, especially with white windows.

   

   

Brickwork Day Three

I know I am probably going a bit wild with the photos, but I am just too damn excited not to share them! More great progress today even with a few torrential downpours of rain. All of the window frames are now installed, just waiting on glass for our bathrooms and super sized picture window. 

   

   

   

   

Brickwork Day Two

Today it felt as though I worked as a meteorologist given the time I spent checking the forecast and rain radars. We had a torrential downpour right on starting time for the tradies this morning and I was certain that they would have a wet weather day. You can imagine my absolute glee at discovering that not only did we have more brick work but we also had our windows delivered! 

Many of our windows have now been installed, along with the stacker doors. The joining stacker doors to our alfresco are really a highlight, they look even better than I had hoped. 

The most impressive progress has come from our brickies, who are doing a truly wonderful job. The workmanship and attention to detail in the brickwork is exemplary and they have taken a lot of care to blend the natural variations of the bricks. In the past I have thought of bricks as a fairly mundane material, yet the work on our alfresco columns shows that it is an art indeed.

The lovely alfresco columns.                       

                           

Brickwork creeping up the media and living room walls.

      

Our stacker doors to the alfresco.

     

Alfresco from a distance.

     

    

Our first set of Balinese resort style windows installed.

     

   

Brickwork Commences

Following last week's lull on the building front, this week has had a much busier beginning. Our brickies arrived on site yesterday to do some prep work and I had an opportunity to meet with them in order to discuss our mortar joints. We had (somewhat randomly) chosen to have flush joints for our brickwork however the brickies explained that previous cases of using a flush joint with the urban one bricks have resulted in cracks and an unsightly finish. They also mentioned that raked joints are more likely to attract mortar wasps. As a result we switched to ironed joints, which is apparently what Austral recommended for the urban one range anyway. We were very pleased that they took the time to explain the different options and suggest a better alternative. 

Today brickwork on the side wall of the garage commenced and is finished all the way up to the eaves. They also started a single row around the bottom of the house. Tomorrow our window frames will be delivered and hopefully installed so that the brickies can keep working upwards. Thunderstorms and rain are forecast all week, so I hope the weather man was way off the mark with his forecasts!

We are very happy with the look of our bricks, they are wonderful even before a clean. 

                      

                      

       

Brick Delivery

This week has been a bit slow and I've been trying not to be disheartened by having had nobody on site despite the passing of three perfect, sunny working days. We haven't heard from our SS since before Christmas, but our neighbour spotted him on site today (not much goes by unnoticed in our street) and a few hours later our bricks were delivered! 

We counted 17 pallets of urban one silver and 4 pallets of commons for under the moroka. We found brick selections really difficult, especially because we needed exposure grade. We spent a small fortune adding stacked stone to our facade, so we really wanted to stick with a brick that wasn't too expensive. The silver urban one bricks were one of the very few colours that complimented our roof and have also recently been re-coloured so that the interior is closer to the exterior colour if they chip. I think that the inside looks darker, but we aren't that worried given that they won't be on the facade of our home. 

No sign of our windows yet, I'm dying to see them installed! We also got plantation shutter quotes based on our plans today and were very pleasantly surprised. We will now be doing shutters on all but one of our windows and are debating between PVC or basswood. More decisions! 

     

      

  Hopefully they don't chip too easily! 

     

Roof Complete

Our house now has a hat! We are very happy with the roof and the colour. Paperbark is unusual in that it is quite neutral and muted in shade, yet in the sun it is luminous. It fits with the coastal feel of our house and neighborhood, plus has the benefits of a lower solar absorption meaning a cooler home on those hot summer days.

Isn't she a beauty!

   

This photo is a little overexposed, but the brightness in direct sun is more obvious here. 

   

The grande alfresco at the back is now looking like a great area for entertaining.

The facade is really starting to have a 'balinese resort' feel. 

    

   

Raising the Roof

At the risk of overloading the blog with too many photos, I'm excited to be posting the first half of our roof installed! We had the carpenters finishing the framework and the guy doing the roof followed them around the side and back section. In a few short hours he completed around half of the roof. We are now realizing that our house is one of the tallest in the street due to the higher roof pitch and ceilings. You certainly can't miss it! 

We authorized our next progress payment today, and are half way through the payments now. It is coming along nicely!