last push

Am so ready to fall into bed. This weekend has been exhausting! We set a cracking pace to get all of the final bits and pieces done to have the real estate photos taken tomorrow (and go on the market!),and we actually got there.

It was one of those days...wake up, put on washing, pick up turf aerator, have a squiz at a show home, get home, hang out washing, clean down outdoor furniture, stain back deck, iron a bus load of washing, lunch, return aerator, buy curtain rail, stain front deck, wash down driveway, move outdoor furniture around some more, vacuum, mop, dinner, hang some pictures, tidy up, clean bathroom...ughh, I'm exhausted just writing about it!

The house looks fantastic. We've never seen it look so good. There are a couple of things we still want to work on but even if we sold tomorrow (how cool would that be?), we've still got time to finish a few small things. I'm so proud of what we've done. It's enormous when you think about it, and I think it shows in the finished product.



I've got more to write but can barely lift my fingers to type so I'll add another post in a few days. Wish us luck! Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

good news

Our final inspection yesterday with council was a success. One alteration required (we knew there would be something, but this is an easy fix) and we should receive the subdivision certificate next week.

I had to laugh, after all the debate of access into the stormwater pits including ladders, step irons and australian standards...the council inspector didn't even lift up a grate to have a look inside. Oh well, it's done, it's approved and it's safe for the new owner.

Our house painting also started yesterday and already the house looks transformed. The windows have been primed but not finished. I'll post a photo when the front is completed. It looks fantastic.

The last bit of good news is that the occupancy certificate is official. This was an underpinning piece of paper required from the moving of the house (yes, it took that long!). It ties everything together for the subdivision to go through.

we're only a few weeks away

Not long now and we should be putting the house on the market. While the list of big jobs is diminishing, the small jobs are growing - it's all the detailed stuff that we've been putting off that we need to get around to.

This week I gathered the required info to finish off the occupancy certificate (necessary to move forward with council), picked up the surveys of work completed and with a list of all the construction certificate and development application criteria completed, submitted this to council, lodging the subdivision certificate.

We've got the final inspection with council this week and hoping (and praying) all goes well, it should be through council in 10 days. Judging from prior experiences, we should really allow a good 3 weeks. Then it's onto the bank, then the land and titles office to make it all official - exciting!

Hang on...did I really just say that? A subdivision is what I now consider "exciting"? Is this what life has come too??? A word to the wise: if you really want a life, if you really want to discuss other topics than the state of your house, if you really want a normal social life (that doesn't revolve around trips to bunnings or home world)...don't renovate! Get out now, before it sucks you in!!!

On the upside, the rain has eased and we've been able to get some more prep work done for the house to be painted. See how I did that? I just started talking about renovations AGAIN!!


The staining on the deck has really transformed the look of the house (scroll down for the 'before' picture). We've sanded the house back (which is why if looks a little worse-for-wear) - ready for a fresh coat of paint.

Through the survey drawings we can really see how good our structural engineer, concreter and plumber have been at their jobs. The works-as-executed drawings highlight the original plans against actual work, and they've done a fantastic job under (sometimes) difficult conditions and specifications.

Ok, am going to go and relax now...maybe have a glass of red and watch an episode of Grand Designs. Arggghhh, it's taking me over!!!

10 best tools

Ok, so you can see that I've got some time on my hands with all of this rain. With all this time comes contemplation about what we need to get done and what we've already achieved.

That said, here are the tools we couldn't have done without (I'm not sure if the order is important here):

1: My husband - yes, the joke had to be made. But in all seriousness, he is amazing. I couldn't and wouldn't have done it without him. This is an amazing project we're completing together. What he doesn't know he's willing to learn, what he does know he's already onto. Ok, enough gushing, he's in the top 10.

2: Gumboots. Simple, yet very important during any excavations / stormwater installations / muddy weekends. Worth the $20 from bunnings.

3: Drop saw. We've borrowed this from my brother and used it almost every weekend. Sometimes all weekend (sorry to the neighbours). It's been absolutely essential.

4. Paint-sanding disk attachment for the angle grinder. So much better than using the attachment on a drill (and sooooo much better than hand-sanding). The downside is the sharp flecks of paint that get flicked back into your face and eyes - it really stings!!

5. Wheelbarrow. Where would we be without it? Probably still in bed exhausted from carrying everything (including wet concrete) around ourselves.

6. New makita drill from dad. This drill gets a real workout - there's always a spare battery on charge in the kitchen. In fact, dad's been great at letting us in on the important / time saving equipment. He's helped us with nearly all of this top 10. Thanks so much dad!

7. Scaffolding. Borrowed from a good family friend, it's been so useful accessing those points on the walls and roof that a ladder would have proved very difficult. The only downside is the amount of times we've all walked into the support posts banging our heads. It really hurts.

8. Tarpaulins. They start at $2 each and can be used in any circumstance. As a roof, as a floor, as a wall, for covering building materials, windows, tiles and even as a massive make-shift tree pot. What a bargain.

9. Gloves. You do genuinely get what you pay for in work / garden gloves and they will inevitably wear out but they are absolutely essential. I recommend having a spare pair for when you saw through yours with a tree saw. Oh, and a first aid kit too.

10. The internet. I could be sappy and say writing this blog is cathartic (which it is) and makes us realise how far we've come, blah, blah. Seriously, the internet has helped pull so many things together...council provisions, material suppliers, finding out the difference between the eaves and soffit (still not sure on that one).

so much to do...so little time

For months now we've had a white board listing all of the jobs we need to a) get through to subdivision stage and b) onto the market to sell. Every week I take great joy in crossing one or two of these off (or four when dad's around), making the list look smaller and smaller. The only frustrating thing is the big jobs (like painting the house) that take weeks of work to finally cross them off. There's no satisfaction from the whiteboard until it's finally done.

Here's what we've crossed off in the last 2-3 weeks:

A small win from council (these are like hen's teeth) meant that we didn't need to get the (overkill) termite protection on our 81 steel piers - the ant capping and steel piers was enough. This saved us close to $2000. Ok, ok, so this is an easy job to cross of the whiteboard but in the mean time council have asked for further information on the carport - setting us back time to have drawings made up. It's swings and roundabouts, I guess.

We installed the orifice plate and trash screen into the stormwater pit, ready for completion. For those of you who didn't know (or care) what a stormwater pit was until I started banging on about them in this blog, an orifice pit restricts the the flow of water into the main stormwater pipe (so it isn't bombarded by everyone's stormwater run-off in a large storm) and pushes it back up into our O.S.D causing it to flood like a small grassy pool until it slowly retreats. The trash screen ensures no leaves / sticks / rubbish flows into the mains. The only thing left to go is the ladder debate with council and I should have news next week on the outcome.

Our dining room is now a dining room (and not a room full of boxes / sporting equipment / christmas decorations / etc.). We re-claimed the space and packed everything into storage with lots or room to spare for our extra furniture while we move the minimal amount when building our new house.

The slats around the bottom of the house (so you can't see in under the house) are now completed all the way around the house. Unfortunately the rain this weekend is preventing us from staining the slats and deck (maybe next weekend I'll have something else to cross off).

Jobs still to cross off include:

Occupancy certificate with council
Surveyors drawings for subdivision
Lodgement to council and final inspection on all works.
Paint house

This doesn't include the million other little jobs to get the house finished like: attach the kickboard in the laundry, hang the mirror, get rid of building material, repair that crack in the wall, put up a gate, etc, etc, etc.

Go away rain, we've got work to do!

everybody loves a laundry montage

The original laundry used to be outside in the garage. So when it came time to demolish the garage to make way for the house move, the laundry moved inside. Originally, this wall housed shelving for cook books, wine, etc. Now we have our very own inside laundry - love it!

I can see the goal posts now

With thanks to my Dad for another visit, we've got heaps done and we're on the track to finishing this place.

Last weekend we got the side of the house sanded, filled and painted in time for the carport to go up...and it looks great. We love the house color and the carport is in use already. Just a little concreting and painting-in of the old car port and that entire side of the house is finished.

Our house painter also stopped in and discussed our time and $$$ dilemma and he agreed to paint the house if we completed all of the prep work - a fantastic compromise. Guess what we're doing this weekend? Sandpaper anyone?

Check out the handrails on the deck and slats around the base of the house. It needs staining but you can see what it's going to look like with a little more finishing.



Lots more bits and pieces have been finished thanks to Dad, including a new drain pipe in the shower, stink pipe re-fitted, dryer exhaust installed in the laundry and a long term storage solution for all of our stuff (currently residing in the dining room as there's no room in the shed with our mountains of tools).

The O.S.D has been turfed which now creates a boundary line for the two properties. This has made another (simple, yet) dramatic difference to how the house looks. Being able to physically define the house makes it look even more spacious. The grass is going to look great in a few weeks. We just need a few trees and plants in behind the O.S.D brick wall to really bring it to life.



Next step? I'm arranging the the jobs to be completed for the final inspection. Did you know they charge per pier for termite protection? With 81 piers, this isn't coming cheap! I'm also fighting a council condition to install ladders in the storm water pits - it's against national standards but they just won't budge. Another good reason never to appoint council as your principal certifying authority!

There's lots of behind the scenes work to do but I'm certainly enjoying the weekends where we kick so many goals (nice pun, hey?). I almost can't remember what it's like to have a relaxing weekend.