Looking back from pool

Looking back from pool, a photo by sdabel on Flickr.

Another view of the back yard.

Complete lawn

Complete lawn, a photo by sdabel on Flickr.

Lawn is down and watered in, now it can just grow.

Almost complete.

Almost complete., a photo by sdabel on Flickr.

Lawn almost down, so easy to watch it grow!

Lawn barrow

Lawn barrow, a photo by sdabel on Flickr.

More lawn going down.

Lawn progress.

Lawn progress., a photo by sdabel on Flickr.

Looking good as the lawn goes down.

Base soil now leveled and ready for lawn.

Adelaide-20110607-00293.jpg, a photo by sdabel on Flickr.

Tree Removed

Spent the weekend cutting down a tree from next door, it was hanging over the pool and dropping leaves, the sort that clog the filter after a single cycle. Luckily the neighbour was agreeable to the tree being removed.

We also put up some screening around the pool, looks good so will do the rest as soon as we can get more screening panels.

Pool Surround concreted

Today after a huge wait the pool surround finally was concreted, looks like a very nice job.

Also installed ceiling speakers for lounge room, wiring was done during build process but only now had time to install the speakers.

Panel for dishwasher also installed after much waiting, however it is wrong size so more waiting.....

Rainwater tank delivered, still a way off before it will be installed.

Flooring sorted

So after a bit of running around and research we have signed up for flooring. Tasmanian Oak laminate floor boards in the living spaces and carpet in a mushroom colour in bedrooms and study. It does pay to shop around, we ended up over $2,000 cheaper by looking around. This will be measured up before handover and then installed just after we move in.

Friday we had a builder measure up the pool area for concrete surrounds, hopefully this will be cheaper than pavers.

Now onto our third skip! No sign of painter, this week?

Tiles almost completed

Fair bit of work this week. Tiles almost completed, and looking very nice. The light coloured floor tiles in the wet areas have made the rooms seem larger. The vertical highlight tiles also help to make the rooms seem larger. The white tiles have a slight wave to them creating a nice finish. Tiling should be completed this week and painting can start next week. The large soap dishes look impressive.

Bath is not huge, but sufficent for our needs.  No bath in the ensuite.   

The Ensuite has a slightly different highlight to fit with it's smaller size.  Again the light floor tiles really work well here.

The powder room is nice and light even with just natural light.  There will be a large mirror over the powder area making it seem even larger.  Benchs are dark brown- here still in protective wrapping.

The laundry is looking very nice!  Who would have thought it would look this flash.

The pool needed professional cleaning and more than one visit.  Yesterday the was our second visit and the pool is almost looking like new.

Pool coping finally done

Finally the pool coping is completed. Looks very nice and fits perfectly. Now we can see about getting the surrounding paved, of course that means bringing in fill to bring up the level of the ground in preparation for the pavers. Currently thinking we will get pavers to match the coping.

The surround of the skimmer box is very neat.  Pool is now very dirty, but we are used to that now.

Doors and frames also progressed today.  The front door lever set and deadlocks to all external doors went on.

Most of the internal doors have been hung, and frames installed.  Shower areas have been sealed.

Doors installed on pantry and storage room.  

Pool coping and kitchen in

Pool coping pavers

Today the pool coping arrived, this will be installed around the edge of the pool tomorrow. Then we can move on to the actual pool area surface!

Despite the hot weather (45 today) lots of work completed.

Laundry bench is in.

Today the kitchen went in, looks good and hopefull will look great with the red splash back.

Pool Coping

Today the pool coping began with steel being put down for the concrete beam that will act as a collar for the fiberglass shell of the pool. 

 

Very hard to see inside the bathrooms due to the opaque glass but it looks like the bathtub is in place.

Pool after a ton of fill

Pool after a ton of fill

Today was a busy and productive day. We had to fill around the pool in preparation for concrete beam being installed next week. Due to the narrow block this meant barrowing a ton of fill through the house to the pool and compacting it around the pool edge. Long hard day but over now. Expecting that we will have to barrow in lots more dirt for the pool paving to come.

Between moving dirt we put in the speaker wires for both living rooms, hopefully this won't get in the way of other trade work required.

We also received the plans from the landscaper and are pretty pleased with what he is suggesting.

Finally a visit to display homes we our original sales consultant took time away from the keen crowds to ask how we were going and answer a couple of questions. So we now understand how skirting boards can be tacked on in preparation for floating timber floors.

Bricks almost complete

Dropped in today and the bricks are almost complete so unless there is some disaster they should be completed by next week. Just the front and windows etc to be completed.

Still more to do on the front



Frame has been repaired


Kitchen window interior


Kitchen window exterior


Swimming pool after use

Rear completed

Dropped in today and met the brickie- a nice young guy. Pleased to see that there is great progress and the back is completed, they are up to the front rooms and hope to finish by early next week. 

The pool paving people called and hope to concrete the beam this Friday and install coping tiles early next week.

This picture is a good candidate for some photo manipulation to see how the finished yard might look with various landscaping options.

Another panorama of the rear



A small problem with damage to the frame meaning they can't work on the front bedroom, nothing to worry about as the frame people will be back to fix in a day or so.


Sliced bricks ready for windows


Rainwater plumbing to en suite



Main bedroom wall still to be completed

Laundry door and study wall looking towards front of the house

Garage wall complete

Second day of bricking and we think it looks great. Spoke to SS today and he thinks that bricks will be done in about three weeks. Even better they won't be painting the gutters and fascias 'till the very end so we have lots of time to decide on colours. Should be easy to photoshop the gutters in various colours after the bricks are up.

Meterbox

That pool is looking good!

Not much action

Not a lot more happened this week aside from the doors.   Over the weekend I connected up the pool lights and tested them after dark.   They light up the entire pool and are facing away from the house so you can just see the water glowing from the back yard.  Very cool!

Swimming Pool not leaking

Swimming Pool
Originally uploaded by sdabel

After several days the pool is still holding all of it's water so hoping that the leak is fixed. Took several hours to clean as the bottom was full of leaves from the Oak tree next door. Another week of no leaks and we will be confident enough to start on the paving.

Pool leaking continues

Well the pool saga continues.  Pool installer finally came out today.  Seems that there is now a crack in the fiberglass, this explains why the water level suddenly went down.  There is still a slow leak in the piping that caused the water level to fall, the lower water level then allowed the fiberglass shell to deform and crack.   

So the crack must be patched first and then they will excavate around the pipes to find the first leak.

Builder now advises that the frame will not be delivered before October 15 so our first delay on the house.