...then we just got the best plucking ever!
Thursday, 30 June 2011
Sunday, 19 June 2011
how was your weekend?
It's the question I ask / I get asked every Monday morning.
Short answer:
Great, got lots done around the house.
Long answer:
Up early on Saturday morning, had breakfast and put on a load of washing. Picked up wacker packer from the hire place (for more paving preparation) and stopped in at Bunnings for some supplies. Back home, hung out washing and set up high pressure hose. Lifted and cleaned 200 pavers. Lunch. Back to cleaning pavers, wrists and back starting to hurt, 400 stacked and ready to be laid. Pulled in washing. Went inside to get cleaned up for dinner out. Home by 9:30pm, got to bed early like an absolute nanna.
Sunday morning up and 2 loads of washing on. Raced to get last bits of crushed concrete packed before returning to hire place. Hung out washing. Start laying pavers (please note, this is my first attempt at it), realised I was paving askew, have to pull up 50 pavers and start on string line again. Lunch. Finish pavers, sigh of relief. Help cut small pieces to pavers to finish front path, looking awesome. Inside to clean up, vacuum house, wash up and mop floors. Am so stuffed, am writing this blog in slow motion. Ordered in dinner and collapsed on couch.
...so how was your weekend?
Back path in progress...
Back path mostly done...
Front path (see pix from last week's blog) finished...
Short answer:
Great, got lots done around the house.
Long answer:
Up early on Saturday morning, had breakfast and put on a load of washing. Picked up wacker packer from the hire place (for more paving preparation) and stopped in at Bunnings for some supplies. Back home, hung out washing and set up high pressure hose. Lifted and cleaned 200 pavers. Lunch. Back to cleaning pavers, wrists and back starting to hurt, 400 stacked and ready to be laid. Pulled in washing. Went inside to get cleaned up for dinner out. Home by 9:30pm, got to bed early like an absolute nanna.
Sunday morning up and 2 loads of washing on. Raced to get last bits of crushed concrete packed before returning to hire place. Hung out washing. Start laying pavers (please note, this is my first attempt at it), realised I was paving askew, have to pull up 50 pavers and start on string line again. Lunch. Finish pavers, sigh of relief. Help cut small pieces to pavers to finish front path, looking awesome. Inside to clean up, vacuum house, wash up and mop floors. Am so stuffed, am writing this blog in slow motion. Ordered in dinner and collapsed on couch.
...so how was your weekend?
Back path in progress...
Back path mostly done...
Front path (see pix from last week's blog) finished...
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
two steps forward...
...two steps back. It feels like we're standing still. I know the big jobs are done and it's down to the smaller details but I'm finding it hard not to bogged down (literally) in the rain and the mud, and hurdles we keep encountering. Oh, and the bills...they never stop! I swear we should have shares in Bunnings!
Last weekend on Saturday we got heaps done. I lifted (from the old driveway) and cleaned down 400+ pavers. The boys formed up and created a path bed with road base and crushed concrete, then packed it down with a 'wacker packer'. They then began to lay the pavers and start excavating another path for the back door. The system worked really well. Awesome day, feeling really excited to get one path down.
Saturday night it rained...and rained...and bucketed down some more. Sunday morning before returning the wacker packer to the hire place they tried laying the road base and it all turned to slush. The wacker packer sunk itself into a messy, muddy hole. Devastated. Nothing to do but clean up and get dry. This rain is not going to stop until next weekend. Back to the sanding and painting inside. Oh how I want this to be OVER!
Last weekend on Saturday we got heaps done. I lifted (from the old driveway) and cleaned down 400+ pavers. The boys formed up and created a path bed with road base and crushed concrete, then packed it down with a 'wacker packer'. They then began to lay the pavers and start excavating another path for the back door. The system worked really well. Awesome day, feeling really excited to get one path down.
Saturday night it rained...and rained...and bucketed down some more. Sunday morning before returning the wacker packer to the hire place they tried laying the road base and it all turned to slush. The wacker packer sunk itself into a messy, muddy hole. Devastated. Nothing to do but clean up and get dry. This rain is not going to stop until next weekend. Back to the sanding and painting inside. Oh how I want this to be OVER!
Friday, 3 June 2011
I can see it coming together
Though the list of jobs seems endless (tiling, painting, paving, landscaping, fences, gutters, downpipes and so on, and so on), the big jobs are done.
The house is moved. The driveway is down. The stormwater is in. I can't tell you how good this feels - a big weight has been lifted.
Now the race is on to get the house finished, ready for subdivision within the next few months. I don't feel like we can move at any other pace than fast. It's not like I would imagine most house renovation jobs: done in stages, one thing at a time - this needs to get DONE.
My Dad (a.k.a miracle worker) completed 90% of the decking prior to going back home. We just need to finish some of the footings and the top decking. Check out how it's looking!
The rain this last week has made things a bit soggy, including the carpet in 2 bedrooms, one wall and some treasured possessions but everything seems to be drying out - and gutters will make a huge difference once we have them installed (they've officially moved up the list of priority items).
Hopefully it will be dry enough this weekend to do some more work on the deck and pathways. If it rains, it's painting and tiling inside. Plenty to do, there's no shortage of jobs.
The house is moved. The driveway is down. The stormwater is in. I can't tell you how good this feels - a big weight has been lifted.
Now the race is on to get the house finished, ready for subdivision within the next few months. I don't feel like we can move at any other pace than fast. It's not like I would imagine most house renovation jobs: done in stages, one thing at a time - this needs to get DONE.
My Dad (a.k.a miracle worker) completed 90% of the decking prior to going back home. We just need to finish some of the footings and the top decking. Check out how it's looking!
The rain this last week has made things a bit soggy, including the carpet in 2 bedrooms, one wall and some treasured possessions but everything seems to be drying out - and gutters will make a huge difference once we have them installed (they've officially moved up the list of priority items).
Hopefully it will be dry enough this weekend to do some more work on the deck and pathways. If it rains, it's painting and tiling inside. Plenty to do, there's no shortage of jobs.
Tuesday, 24 May 2011
how to build a stormwater pit (a rough guide)
Step 1:
Dig a really, really big hole and put in pipes.
Step 2:
Build custom formwork for concrete pit.
Step 3:
Pour concrete.
Step 4:
Remove formwork and reset for next pit.
Step5:
Place grate on top and backfill trenches.
On a slightly more detailed (and serious) note, most steps took over a day to complete - there's about 7 days labour in each pit and we have 3 to pour!
We employed a plumber to dig and shape the trenches, lay the pipes and connect to the stormwater main - he did an amazing job considering all of the hurdles.
As the pits themselves were incredibly over-engineered (council specs), it became difficult to find someone to take on the project and actually get them in the ground (both the plumber and concreter refused).
We owe everything to my Dad who gave up countless days to design the formwork, piece it together and manage the process - including negotiate all sorts of setbacks like tight spaces and council inspectors (sometimes wishing the council inspectors would fall in the tight spaces).
Thanks Dad.
Dig a really, really big hole and put in pipes.
Step 2:
Build custom formwork for concrete pit.
Step 3:
Pour concrete.
Step 4:
Remove formwork and reset for next pit.
Step5:
Place grate on top and backfill trenches.
On a slightly more detailed (and serious) note, most steps took over a day to complete - there's about 7 days labour in each pit and we have 3 to pour!
We employed a plumber to dig and shape the trenches, lay the pipes and connect to the stormwater main - he did an amazing job considering all of the hurdles.
As the pits themselves were incredibly over-engineered (council specs), it became difficult to find someone to take on the project and actually get them in the ground (both the plumber and concreter refused).
We owe everything to my Dad who gave up countless days to design the formwork, piece it together and manage the process - including negotiate all sorts of setbacks like tight spaces and council inspectors (sometimes wishing the council inspectors would fall in the tight spaces).
Thanks Dad.
Thursday, 5 May 2011
it's still a mess...but it's our mess
With a few days to simmer down and catch an update on how some of the QLD flood victims are slowly pulling their lives and homes back together, it's a good wake-up call that we chose for all of this to happen. The move, the mess, the stress - we took it all on for a larger goal. I know I'm terrible at 'seeing the forest for the trees' at the best of times - lucky I have such a supportive (and forest-seeing) husband.
Here's a little snapshot of where things have come from...
This is the lounge room when we first started renovating a few years ago (prior to even contemplating the whole house-moving thing). Love the 70's firebox!
It's amazing what a lick of paint, some sanding of floorboards and some gorgeous flowers can do! What a transformation.
When moving the house, we had to make a decision about the fireplace. Upon moving, the exterior brickwork would no longer be stable and coupled with a rusted-out flue, we decided to take it out completely.
This involved demolishing it from the inside-out...
...putting in new structural beams to secure the house...
...and re-covering the inside and outside walls.
We're not finished yet - there's still more sanding, priming, and painting to go, but I guarantee you'd never know there used to be a fireplace in the house when we're finished. I'm just looking forward to the 'finished' shot now!
Here's a little snapshot of where things have come from...
This is the lounge room when we first started renovating a few years ago (prior to even contemplating the whole house-moving thing). Love the 70's firebox!
It's amazing what a lick of paint, some sanding of floorboards and some gorgeous flowers can do! What a transformation.
When moving the house, we had to make a decision about the fireplace. Upon moving, the exterior brickwork would no longer be stable and coupled with a rusted-out flue, we decided to take it out completely.
This involved demolishing it from the inside-out...
...putting in new structural beams to secure the house...
...and re-covering the inside and outside walls.
We're not finished yet - there's still more sanding, priming, and painting to go, but I guarantee you'd never know there used to be a fireplace in the house when we're finished. I'm just looking forward to the 'finished' shot now!
Saturday, 30 April 2011
renovating: what it's really like
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!
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!
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