Awesome Joinery!

The joinery has arrived and I'm ecstatic!  It's made from kwila hardwood and the craftsmanship is excellent.  They're so beautiful I don't want to paint over them. But I'm advised that oiling or staining them is too hard to maintain.  Either way, I'm very, very happy with them - they look great!

There's 6 casement windows at the side.

The Raked Ceiling

So that the ceiling is legal height, but also to give the feeling of more space, the ceiling will be raked.  The beam at the front of the photo is a load bearing beam and will have to remain.  It'll be a...feature beam!

(Hi Corey)

Tradesman's Entrance ;-)

This will eventually be the back french doors.  Corey has started enclosing the sections that were originally windows.  

Framing Up

With the slab well and truly cured, the builders have started on the outside frame.  The section on the left will eventually be the bedroom.

Bargain Tapware

I had to get the mixer for the bathroom shower because the plumber is doing the rough in as part of the first stage.  Brett recommended going to Highgrove Bathrooms in Woolloongabba and they were a treasure trove of bargain bathroom and kitchen supplies.  Most things were at least 30%-40% off RRP compared to Bunnings or other places.  And most of the items were from Italy.  I ended up getting the shower mixer, basin mixer, shower rose and kitchen mixer (pictured) so they all matched.  Very happy customer :) .

Slab Day!

Here's the slab prepped for pouring!  They started at 6.30am and it was pretty much poured by 7.00pm.  I was pretty impressed by how quickly and how smoothly it all went.  The concrete truck only just fit through the gates, but other than that, all went fabulously!

Slab curing!

Polishing the slab?

I have no idea what Corey's doing here, but he was doing it by 2pm that afternoon, so I'm amazed how quickly this stuff dries. It was still wet-ish to touch late that afternoon so we were lucky that the dog didn't leave her paw prints in them.

Prepping for the slab

The shed is jacked up and the builders are preparing the slab for the top up.  This is Brett and Corey. Brett used to be my next door neighbour at my last house in Sherwood.  In a bizarre twist, he has also done most of the renos on the house.  

The jacks propping up the house are much smaller than I thought they'd be. I was expecting some sort of scissor lift action, but nope, just a few poles with springs.

I've also decided that a conventional size door would be more practical - it would make more space in the granny flat, and also aesthetically it would look more pleasing.  So the guys have taken the whole front panel off and will move it to the right when they put it back together.

Bring on that Contract Variation...my budget is blown already!

Bargain Handles

I was at Bunnings before work even started on the granny flat and these handles were on a clearance table for $10.  I didn't know if I was ever going to need them, or if they were even the rights ones for what I was building, but I thought for $20 I could just throw them on eBay if they weren't right.  

Turns out I could use them, on the bedroom and bathroom doors, but I also needed one for the french doors, so rang around to price them. They're $64.95 each RRP.  So I'm pretty happy with my bargain :) .

The answer...

1066. That's how many bricks were in that pile.  And it took Josh and I a couple of days to move them to the back fence.  I would never have thought there was that many bricks in the pile, it looked so much smaller.  I paid him $10 for his efforts...that's probably comes down to $2/hour...slave labour ;-P .

Guess how many bricks in this pile?

This pile of bricks has been sitting against the shed since we bought it.  The built in section underneath the deck on the house is made from these, and I know the guy who lived here in the 60s built it.  So they've possibly been sitting here for 40 years. I have no idea how many are in the pile, but Brett said we need to move them so they can get the jacks in.  No problem.  There's maybe...200 or so?  A pocket money job for the 11 year old methinks.

What's back here?

This is the back of the shed.  The windows will be turned into french doors.  Originally I was going to make it a sliding door, but there simply won't be enough room for the kitchen.  Eventually I'll put a little back deck on there...when I have money again.  Could be a long wait ;-) .

Building - Day 1

Building Day 1! So the trusty builders, Brett and Corey have arrived.  The immediate plan is to cut the way timber section away from the slab and jack it up.  The slab needs to be topped up by 100mm, and ant capping and termite proofing will be added.

I'm still undecided about the double doors.  To keep costs down, Brett was going to keep them, and just clean them up a bit.  They're in relatively good condition, just need some repair and repainting.  Because of their size though, and because they open inwards, they do take up valuable space in the already small living area.  Will have to think about this...but the builders say I have to make a decision soon!

A clean slate

We had a stack of stuff (read: crap) stored in the shed and seeing as it needed to be empty to start building we had to have a garage sale.
We sold most of the stuff that day and in the days after, so now the shed is empty and ready to start building.