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Published: September 18th 2009
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Drains, diggers and dirt!
You are looking at what will be Tristans bedroom, the laundry and bathroom! Living in the garage is now entering the sixth week and we still have a few more weeks to go………………..
In all building renovations you really need to double the estimated time to complete a job in order to get a better idea as to what you are in for. Well in true form everything has had to be chased for quotes and meetings and then arranging a time to start, not as easy as you think especially as many of these small contractors are managing three or four other jobs at the same time and cannot commit to one! We hope this is not the beginning of many false and delayed starts?
There has been a lot to learn about building regulations in Australia and we have discovered that where we thought there would only be one hurdle to cross we have encountered two or more to achieve the end result. It seems to be jobs for the boys especially where Brisbane City Council are concerned.
Kevin is now making the last adjustments to the house design before the specification is sent out to tender. We keep making changes to the design and have long discussions about
electrical lay outs and position of staircases in relation to the deck and veranda and the pebble detail in the concrete slab under the house…..and so it goes on and it has been a great exercise in watching the house evolve into what we hope to be a wonderful family home.
We have just had the drains laid and what little grass we did have has now been up turned and it looks like giant moles have been excavating the ground leaving huge soil mounds amidst concrete debris, not helped by the rain which washed through in torrents under the house and filled up the holes around the poles. It will take a few days to dry out now, the sooner the concrete slab goes down the better. Then true to form the guys punctured the copper water main pipe outside the front gate and we had a huge 6’ fountain of water spurting up into the air. It took 2 hours to get an emergency callout and then eventually the leak was finally stopped at 3am the next morning. Fortunately we are not having to pay for the lost water on the meter!
It is so
All very cosy!?
Note the polystyrene walls, they make excellent notice boards for birthday cards! the wardrobe feature is pretty cool too! very exciting choosing a new kitchen, cream and chrome with mocha terrazzo worktops and deciding on cupboards and drawer units, fridge and oven. The shopping list is endless as we trawl bathroom and tile shops, window and door frame showrooms, wardrobe and flooring companies. We have just ordered an oven and double door fridge in the sale so look forward to using them. We shall just have to start printing some more aussie dollars to pay for it all!
The boys have been very patient and have coped well with the restrictions of living in the garage, we have re-watched pretty much all of our DVD collection on the small portable TV and cooked our evening meals on the two ring camping gas burner outside under the shade cloth in the garden! Washing up is a challenge with boiling kettles and filling the buckets with water from the mains water stand pipe in the front garden! Showers too have been problematic but in true British spirit the boys have braced themselves to showering under the garden hose on the grass when the sun shines at weekends and then sneaking a warm shower at the gym or before work at
Kitchen arrangement in the garage
One good thing...there is very little house work! school. It is surprising what you do when you have too?!
We have also been very fortunate this week and have just taken up the opportunity of a house sit for three weeks for a colleague at Kevin’s office on the west side of Brisbane. It is a modern design house with all mod cons and it has been a joy to wake up in a proper bed that we don’t have to fold out every night, shower and have an ensuite toilet along with a fully equipped kitchen and laundry room, how much we took for granted, not realising quite how much we had until we lost it! Still, we shall appreciate everything so much more when we have reinstalled them.
Our hope had been to have the house sorted in time for Christmas but if our track record is anything to go by we will still be trying to get a builder to commit to the job!! Everything is very laid back and slow and despite the recession there are few builders available, Murphy’s law you might say. It is a good lesson in being patient and getting used to the way things are done Down
Open air shower room.
Nothing like a cold refreshing shower to wake you up in the morning! Under!
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