Insert flooring innuendo about "getting laid" here...

The stars aligned this week and Ben managed to have his RDO scheduled on the day that flooring was due to be installed, so he was able to be on site to watch the magic happen (and even lend a hand as a temporary apprentice).

For those of you who need a recap, we have organised our own flooring through Masterfloors, who are the supplier for Premier Homes. These 'firestreak' boards are one of the first things that we loved about the Premier homes, and even though they are vastly more expensive than just laying tiles or timber laminate flooring, we feel that this extra money is well worth it. Ben jokes that he bought me floorboards instead of an engagement ring...

Big pile of boards ready to be laid

Arranging the boards in the kitchen

More board arranging in the kitchen

Boards being glued and nailed down

Family room complete

Hallway

'Scarring in' the final board for the kitchen (Ben has picked up the jargon!)

Kitchen all done

The contractor was nice enough to leave us with the leftovers, which Ben is going to fashion into a coffee table for the family room.

In other news, the plasterers have been busy 'stopping' the garage and installing the cornice this week. Now that the flooring is done, they should be back tomorrow to start sanding.

Ben made a call to the cabinet maker for some measurements, and all going well, the cabinet maker should be on site tomorrow or later in the week to get started...yippee!

Also, the fretwork has now been installed on the verandah, although there are still a few boards to go on the deck.

Pretty! Although the moat grows larger each day....

Close up shot

Next Monday we have our contractor from Sneddons coming to install the hebel brick firebox, so soon after that we should see the installation of our fireplace.

Stay tuned...

More plaster than Paris can poke a stick at...

Ben was working up North again today, so we have a special mid-week update! And what an update....we have plaster, and lots of it! Not much to say, I'll just let the photos do the talking for me:

Kitchen

Looking at the study and walk in pantry

Dining area

Master bedroom (with pretty ceiling rose in the corner to be installed later)

Another shot of the master bedroom - this is the framing for our future fireplace

Looking from theatre out into family room (fireplace won't be plastered until we get the
 hebel brick firebox installed in a few weeks)

Looking into theatre and family room

The chippies have also been busy working on the verandah. At the time of Ben's visit, the verandah decking was almost finished, and the front fretwork was being installed:

Wide board Jarrah decking

Fretwork waiting to be installed (complete with moat out in the front yard!)

Ben has been waiting a long time to see this fretwork go up...

The plasterers are aiming to be finished by the end of the week, and then we have our flooring contractors scheduled to come in on Monday. Can't wait to see that beautiful floor go down...

The steps of progress are little but many...

Luckily Ben has been working up North each week for the last few weeks, so has managed to drop past the house on weekdays when there is actually someone working there so he can get a look inside.

In terms of progress since the last update, still no plaster, but we now have external and under-floor insulation fully installed:

Theatre room

Family room

Master bedroom

Close up of the underfloor insulation

The original ducting for the heating has been ripped out and replaced with larger ducts to handle both heating and cooling:

Cavity sliding doors for the pantry, study, walk in robe and en suite have been framed up:

Pantry and study

Walk in robe and en suite

Progress has not just been happening internally - we have also seen external progress too. The gable over the kitchen window has now been fully framed and boarded up:

Cement sheeting has been installed in the roof of the front verandah:

Corbels have been installed above the garage door:

We also have our solar panel on the roof:

Not too obtrusive from the street view...

Close-up shot

The cornice and plasterboard has now been delivered on site, so we should be seeing the plaster installation happening this week! Can't wait to see what that looks like then!

Big pile of cornice ready to be installed

Duck, duct, goose!

So plastering unfortunately didn't get started last week, but we did get some progress anyway with the delivery of some of our plumbing fixtures:

Bathroom shower base

Bathtub in main bathroom

En suite shower base ready to go in

The other big change this week was the installation of the ducts for the heating. Every time I hear the word "ducts", it makes me think of this really cute Brivis ad:

"How do the ducks keep you warm?"

"They're stuck in the ceiling and they blow out warm air!"

However, it was a surprise to see the ducts in the roof cavity given we had specified them to be installed under floor. Turns out that there just isn't enough room for them underneath the house, so we don't have much choice. 

There is an upside though - we were originally going to be organising our own cooling post-handover, however now that the ducts are already there, we have decided to get Keogh to organise it now for us instead (especially considering there is no plaster to get in the way at the moment). The heating and cooling guy will be back on Tuesday to upgrade the unit to handle both heating and refrigerated cooling. We also decided to upgrade to a zoned system, with separate zones for the living areas and the bedroom areas. All of this will run through the one ducting system and will be controlled by the one unit, so the entire roof cavity won't be taken up by the ducting system. The only downside is that this new system will require a return air (the old system just had a return duct), so we have had to sacrifice the cupboard in the study - but better that than cutting down the linen cupboard (I have a LOT of sheets and towels)! The "server cupboard" might have to go in the garage instead...still thinking about the logistics of this.

Lucky for the heating guy, no plaster yet to get in his way!

Electrical, Plumbing and Insulation - Oh My!

I hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend so far, despite the cold and rainy weather. 

This weekend, we were responsible for organising the insulation for all the internal walls in time for plastering to start this coming week. Earlier in the week, Ben went and got a couple of quotes for supply-only versus supply and install of the insulation. As it turned out, it was only a few hundred dollars extra to have the professionals come and install the insulation, so we decided to take them up on that option and take back our long weekend! Glad we did - the installers turned up on site at 7.30 am on Saturday, and by 11.00 am they were done - it probably would have taken Ben and I the whole weekend. We are also very pleased with the overall job the guys from Hutton Insulation did - they were very quick, tidy, and friendly, and we would gladly recommend them to anyone.

The other positive point is that the room sizes did not appear to shrink noticeably once the insulation was installed (as we had originally feared) - plenty of light coming through too.

Big piles of insulation ready for installation 

Walk-in robe and en suite done

Bedroom 2 all done

Kitchen

Pantry and study - still loving the size of the pantry!

Bathroom

Theatre room

In terms of Keogh's progress this week, we have now officially reached lock-up stage! The electrician and the plumber have both been in and done their stuff, although I think that we may need to get the plumber back again as it looks like the shower-head in the en suite has been put on the wrong wall.

Front shot - front door installed and panelling finished above the bay window

Close-up of the panelling above the master bedroom window

Front door with overhead highlight glass

No rest for the wicked...

Sorry about the lack of updates over the last few weeks, but luckily the builders haven't been resting on their laurels during this period - we are now a hair's breadth away from lock-up.

Over the past few weeks, all of the weatherboards have now been finished and we even have our beautiful turned posts installed on the verandah.

Lots of pictures to show you this week:

Front shot

Garage shot

Close-up of the pine strappings on the garage that Ben had changed at the last minute
 (was previously just going to be weatherboards)

Eaves have all been boarded up too

Close-up of the turned posts

North side of the house all boarded up - love the dappled
sunshine coming through those kitchen and dining room windows

Garage plastering has started in preparation for lock-up

Chipboard all laid inside ready for floorboards to be laid on top

Future kitchen

The wild and wet Melbourne weather is not slowing down the progress this week either - currently, the electrician is on site roughing in all of our electrical needs. 

Then, Ben and I are going to have a very busy long weekend installing our internal insulation in time for our AV guys and the plasterers to start next week. Flooring is booked for the week of the 25th of June, and then we should have the cabinet maker on site soon afterwards. Full steam ahead!