Anyone who has ever renovated whilst living in the house that they're renovating knows that this is no picnic....for example: last Saturday morning, around 4am we awoke to the sound of heavy rain. And dripping. On the carpet. Our newly placed eaves (without the fascia or guttering fitted yet) were funneling the particularly heavy rain back into the roof and onto the windowsill which (magically) had a small-enough crack in it to allow a good, steady stream of water into our bedroom and onto the carpet.
There I are at 4am, mopping up water with towels while my husband is outside in the rain fitting a tarpaulin in under the roof tiles. Oh, what I'd would do for finished guttering right about now.
I understand that this phase is relatively short-lived (it had better be!). It's just the lack of covered areas, clear paths ways, access to the front door, etc, etc, that really gets me frustrated with the entire process - the stuff that you usually take for granted.
Oh, and what I'd do for a sunny weekend! Why does it always f&%*king rain on weekends when we're desperately trying to get things done??? (hey, it's my blog and I'll moan if I want to!). Here we are, another rainy weekend so we've left the guttering for now (maybe the tarps around the house will begin to grow on me) and we're onto replacing the cracked plasterboard from the house being moved - there wasn't a lot, but enough to really accentuate the previously small cracks prior to the move - pretty normal for a 50 year old house.
So it's dust, dust and more dust. Sanding. Filling. More sanding. On a wet weekend with no where else to go - this is shit! Am I selling the benefits of DIY, or what? Time for clean-up and a bit of dinner and yet the vacuum has stopped working...completely. Words have failed me here *sigh*.
Breathe, have a glass of red, go to bed, get up to a new day.
Sunday update: vacuum has not gone to appliance heaven, we had somehow tripped one of the circuits in the house...maybe from drying clothes in the dryer?? Anyhoo, it's a sunny day today HOORAY!
Saturday, 30 April 2011
Saturday, 16 April 2011
things I wish I'd known before we started...
Here's the Top 10 so far...
1. You've heard of the 20% buffer for budgets? Try 50%...it's more accurate.
2. Gutters really matter when it's raining.
3. Sit down with the engineer who has drawn up your construction certificate / development application and go through every facet of the drawing. This information is gold.
4. Don't expect people in 'the know' to give you a heads-up on potentially important information (hence, point 3).
5. Don't use council as the certifying authority. This means they get to make the rules, then change them on you.
6. If you're moving your house, it's easier if you move out for a while.
7. Be aware of companies recommended by council. In fact, it's illegal for them to do so.
8. Clear paths and under cover areas are grossly underrated.
9. When you ring for a home delivery and say: "please don't drive on our newly poured concrete driveway, park on our neighbour's driveway instead", they may still mount the kerb, drive over the form work, through the safety tape and onto your driveway.
10. This is really, really, really hard.
1. You've heard of the 20% buffer for budgets? Try 50%...it's more accurate.
2. Gutters really matter when it's raining.
3. Sit down with the engineer who has drawn up your construction certificate / development application and go through every facet of the drawing. This information is gold.
4. Don't expect people in 'the know' to give you a heads-up on potentially important information (hence, point 3).
5. Don't use council as the certifying authority. This means they get to make the rules, then change them on you.
6. If you're moving your house, it's easier if you move out for a while.
7. Be aware of companies recommended by council. In fact, it's illegal for them to do so.
8. Clear paths and under cover areas are grossly underrated.
9. When you ring for a home delivery and say: "please don't drive on our newly poured concrete driveway, park on our neighbour's driveway instead", they may still mount the kerb, drive over the form work, through the safety tape and onto your driveway.
10. This is really, really, really hard.
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
driveway...done! storm water...(nearly) done!
Check out this gorgeous driveway (didn't think those words would ever come out of my mouth). We should be able to drive on it by the weekend. Council is happy (well, as happy as council can be), concreters are happy and most of all, we're happy!
The plumbers finally broke into the storm water pit, connected the pipe, got the O.K from council, backfilled and poured a new concrete path just before the lane closure finished. Phew!
Next step is to get the concrete pits poured in the ground, connected to the (already laid) pipes and backfill the trenches - then the storm water will finally be finished! I think it's going to be another tricky, fiddly job...and I don't think the plumber or the concreter want to do it. It seems our council is just so hard to deal with that no matter how much we try to smooth things over - it's just a lot of unnecessary hassle for them. Sometimes this feels impossible.
The plumbers finally broke into the storm water pit, connected the pipe, got the O.K from council, backfilled and poured a new concrete path just before the lane closure finished. Phew!
Next step is to get the concrete pits poured in the ground, connected to the (already laid) pipes and backfill the trenches - then the storm water will finally be finished! I think it's going to be another tricky, fiddly job...and I don't think the plumber or the concreter want to do it. It seems our council is just so hard to deal with that no matter how much we try to smooth things over - it's just a lot of unnecessary hassle for them. Sometimes this feels impossible.
driveway: take 2
Well the ROL licence has come through and we're onto the last bit of the driveway, pedestrian crossing and layback onto the street.
Yesterday we closed a lane for 5 hours while the concreters pulled up the old layback, excavated the new space, formed it up and put down trench mesh. Unfortunately, they ran out of time to pour the concrete within the RTA's road closure time frame and had to finish off the job this morning...
I'll take a finished picture at lunchtime - they should be finished by then!
The plumbers found a whole new set of problems including a disused water mains pipe sitting directly under the current water main - right in the path of our storm water connection, turning a 1 day job would turn into 2 day marathon.Check out the video of the plumber cutting through the cast iron pipe and his apprentice knocking through the storm water pit.
(section of the old cast iron pipe cut out by the plumbers)
Yesterday we closed a lane for 5 hours while the concreters pulled up the old layback, excavated the new space, formed it up and put down trench mesh. Unfortunately, they ran out of time to pour the concrete within the RTA's road closure time frame and had to finish off the job this morning...
I'll take a finished picture at lunchtime - they should be finished by then!
The plumbers found a whole new set of problems including a disused water mains pipe sitting directly under the current water main - right in the path of our storm water connection, turning a 1 day job would turn into 2 day marathon.Check out the video of the plumber cutting through the cast iron pipe and his apprentice knocking through the storm water pit.
(section of the old cast iron pipe cut out by the plumbers)
Sunday, 3 April 2011
the abyss...
New water for the new lot...how much should I budget?
One of the reasons I started this blog was to get some info out to other newbies. Info that's hard to find, info that might save you some $$$ (or help you budget a little better). Here is one the biggest budget blow-outs we've found so far:
One of the many conditions of our development application states "a Section 73 compliance certificate under the Sydney Water Act 1994 must be obtained". It also states that we must go through a Water Servicing Coordinator (WSC) and that the Section 73 is required prior to release of the plan of subdivision.
In a nut shell, we contact a WSC (listed on Sydney Water's website) and ask them to act on our behalf in liaising with Sydney Water - you cannot do this yourself for some unknown reason.
The WSC tells Sydney Water that we want to subdivide and Sydney water tells the WSC what we have to do to make this happen in relation to water / sewerage connections (called a Notice of Requirements).
Sydney Water application fee = $368
WSC to lodge the Section 73 to Sydney Water = $495
Am starting to feel a little ripped-off already!
The Notice of Requirements states that we need to have our building plans checked by a Quick Check agent and we need to get another water meter connection for the new property.
Quick Check of building plans = $26
Water meter connection consists of:
Digging and locating water main in nature strip in front of property (including backfilling and materials) = $750
Let me just say now, this is a massive 2m deep pit around an enormous pipe - it's a huge job!
Water drilling fee (by an Sydney Water accredited driller) = $770
Now that the Notice of Requirement items have been completed, the WSC inspects the water meter connection (basically, they drive out and check that it's actually there)= $660
WSC let Sydney Water know that we have completed all of the Notice of Requirements and ask for the Section 73 compliance certificate = $330
And what do we have after all of this, you ask?
Check out our brand-new shiny-looking (well, it's been a little spattered with concrete) water meter!!!! Totally worth the $3400!
Honestly, we're thanking our lucky stars we didn't have to dig into the road...or across the road to connect with the water main (I shudder to think how much that would cost). We're lucky we have such a good plumber and we're lucky we made it within the Notice of Requirements time frame (or it's application fees all over again).
One of the reasons I started this blog was to get some info out to other newbies. Info that's hard to find, info that might save you some $$$ (or help you budget a little better). Here is one the biggest budget blow-outs we've found so far:
One of the many conditions of our development application states "a Section 73 compliance certificate under the Sydney Water Act 1994 must be obtained". It also states that we must go through a Water Servicing Coordinator (WSC) and that the Section 73 is required prior to release of the plan of subdivision.
In a nut shell, we contact a WSC (listed on Sydney Water's website) and ask them to act on our behalf in liaising with Sydney Water - you cannot do this yourself for some unknown reason.
The WSC tells Sydney Water that we want to subdivide and Sydney water tells the WSC what we have to do to make this happen in relation to water / sewerage connections (called a Notice of Requirements).
Sydney Water application fee = $368
WSC to lodge the Section 73 to Sydney Water = $495
Am starting to feel a little ripped-off already!
The Notice of Requirements states that we need to have our building plans checked by a Quick Check agent and we need to get another water meter connection for the new property.
Quick Check of building plans = $26
Water meter connection consists of:
Digging and locating water main in nature strip in front of property (including backfilling and materials) = $750
Let me just say now, this is a massive 2m deep pit around an enormous pipe - it's a huge job!
Water drilling fee (by an Sydney Water accredited driller) = $770
Now that the Notice of Requirement items have been completed, the WSC inspects the water meter connection (basically, they drive out and check that it's actually there)= $660
WSC let Sydney Water know that we have completed all of the Notice of Requirements and ask for the Section 73 compliance certificate = $330
And what do we have after all of this, you ask?
Check out our brand-new shiny-looking (well, it's been a little spattered with concrete) water meter!!!! Totally worth the $3400!
Honestly, we're thanking our lucky stars we didn't have to dig into the road...or across the road to connect with the water main (I shudder to think how much that would cost). We're lucky we have such a good plumber and we're lucky we made it within the Notice of Requirements time frame (or it's application fees all over again).
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