Day 43: SLAB DAY!

Wooo, what a day! Had to get up early, as we figured we could fit in about half an hour of concrete watching before work :)


A lucky gold coin for the slab?


Concrete trucks rolled in about 7:50am. Apparently they're not allowed to get started any earlier, and with the concrete pump truck attached, it's easy to see why - it's a pretty noisy operation and lasts for hours! Anyway, they were all setup and pouring concrete by 8:05.

The crew hard at work. They started off in the furthest corner of the slab, pouring the trenches around the outdoor room, then moved towards the front of the slab. Kind of like sanding a floor - start at the furthest corner from the exit! Meter box still crooked, but obviously will be fixed as the frame/bricks goes up.

Then, we had to leave to go to work... came back in the afternoon to see this...


yaaaay! Big huge bit of concrete! Now we're really starting to see our dream take shape. Garage on left, portico at front, and rest of the ground floor behind it. It really does take up a huge amount of land (I think our plans say it's around 49% coverage), not much at the front, sides or rear! Which is a good thing - less outdoors stuff to maintain.


View from rear of the slab. Directly in front is the home theatre room, then family room, then study, then the setdown area for garage. On the "left" of the slab from this view is the outdoor room, dining room, kitchen, laundry, powder room and sitting room. Hard to visualise right now!

Today was a pretty hot day too, around 33. Fortunately the next few days will be a little cooler with some light rain, which is apparently ideal for the concrete to cure (set) properly.

And checking MyMetricon, apparently the wall frame is due to be complete by Feb 15, just 2 weeks away!

What a journey - from buying the old house in May 09, to finally getting the foundations done Feb 2010. The next few months are sure to alternatively rush by and slow down, depending on what stage the house is up to - can't wait to see what happens next!

T&T

Day 42: Waffle pods and slab preparation complete!

I like Tuesdays, as I have a day off every week! Went to the site just before lunch, and caught the tradies just as they were finishing up the slab preparation. Bought them a few 6 packs of beer as thanks for working through a pretty hot morning (about 30 degrees in the sun!)


Apparently they started early - about 7am or so? Until nearly midday to get everything done.


I've seen plenty of pics of other people's slab works, but never look at it up close. From what I can tell, they've laid a big plastic sheet over the gravel, then some spacers and a steel/iron frame. On top of this, a bunch of big polystyrene waffles, then spacers, then more reinforcement. The wood bracing is just held in place with star pickets and a few metal corner joins. Looks fairly simple, but there were many string lines for measurement - looks good to me! In the above picture, the step down bit to the left is for the garage (about 150mm lower than the ground floor slab).


This pic shows the portico area. The first floor balcony will roughly go over this bit.


This pic is from the rear of the block. The trench at the bottom of the pic is where some concrete will be poured to reinforce the outdoor room pillar. The pipe sticking up roughly in the centre of the pic is for our kitchen sink! Miscellaneous other pipes in the slab area are for the powder room, and upstairs ensuite/bathroom. Pipes outside the slab area are stormwater pipes.

And the best news? Tradies said they'd be back early tomorrow morning while the slab is being poured in case any adjustments are required! I'm going to get up early and see if I can get there for half an hour before work. I threw in a few gold coins anyway, just for good luck - in case I don't get the chance tomorrow!

So stay tuned for tomorrow night's pictures - hopefully we'll have a whole lot of concrete, and a 20% invoice for the slab very soon after!!

T&T

Day 41: SS first contact and powerpit connected

Got a call from our Site Supervisor (SS) Brian this afternoon to introduce himself - how nice! He said we'd be getting a slab this week, and we're going to meet next week - not sure what for exactly, but I have a day off and want to meet him. Brian is looking after quite a few Metricon sites in the middle eastern suburbs, so we're hoping he's experienced and got good tradies organised!

Briand is also looking after our "partner" site in Blackburn - the other Metricon redevelopment that started a week before us. We went there on the weekend, and they've just had their slab done, so hopefully this is an indication of what we have to look forward to!


Went by the site today - no work on the land, but our underground powerpit has finally been connected!


So I know - it doesn't look like an underground powerpit, right? The actual powerpit is on our side of the road on the corner of our land, connected under the road to this powerpole opposite. For months now the power cables haven't been connected, but if you look at the grey conduit running up the pole, it connects to a box under the main overhead power lines to three big cables (three phase power, right?). The good news here is that now we have a powered site, we should be getting a $1000 credit on our build as the builder doesn't need a temporary power pole.

I've said it before - to anyone redeveloping their site, if you don't already have an underground powerpit near your land, organise for one to be installed well before you plan to start building!

sarahv: not much has happened so far, but really we should only be counting activity from about Day 26 or so, as there was the xmas shutdown during that period. We're hoping that once the slab is down, then some real manic activity can start! Your newhaven is certainly moving along quickly - from what I've heard of NSW builds, M are building much faster there!

mai: Expensive way to fix your fence problem is to tear it down and replace it with a taller one. But you should enquire as to whether a trellis extension added to the existing fence is sufficient to meet the 1.8m height requirement - it's cheap and easy to add in yourself! The Nolan 50 is a maaaaaasive size house!

T&T

Day 38: more slab preparation

I didnt go to the site today, but Tina drove by to find a little more work had been done in the morning.

Not much really, smoothing out the soil, laying a bit of gravel or something, but every little bit of work that's done is a bit of work towards getting the house finished!

Day 36, and...

..and, well nothing really. Tradies took a long weekend off, so no work done Monday or today. MyMetricon still says "slab started 3.2.10", so we're hoping to see a bit of activity in preparation for the slab works.

Anyway, we're housesitting for my aunt in Camberwell while they're on holidays, so we've been having a wonderful time in their 65sq+ mansion, which was built by my other uncle who is a custom builder. Here's some pics with commentary - things you might consider including in your new home build (or not?)



3m ceilings ground and first floor, various drop bulkheads, custom laid parquetry, elaborate skirtings and cornices. The columns (and curtains) are pretty traditional, but suit this style of house (French Provincial). We've been staying in the guest room, and it's just too huge - just about bigger than the master suite we're building! I'm liking the king size bed though, trying to talk Tina into a new king bed for the new house!


Nice big open plan casual dining and family room, with big paved and decked outdoor areas. Gas fire under the tv. Except I can't figure out how to open the timber bifolds - I don't have the key! One minor commentary about this huge house - I figure the distance from the master bedroom is about 20m along the hallway, down a flight of stairs, and another 10m to the kitchen - that's quite a walk!


And finally, my favourite room - a totally decked out home theatre room, C-Bus automation including lighting and blinds, a sparkly ceiling, top of the line equipment - I've been watching 1-2 movies a day after work in here! My only criticism is that the screen could be a bit bigger.

Staying in this first class house is a bit risky, as it raises expectations a little! But our house will be our house, and nothing can top that! We also went to Highpoint to watch Avatar the other day (overhyped much?), and there's a Natuzzi furniture place there and it had some great sofas there, but with huge Italian pricetags to match - $5000 for a two seater recliner?? If anyone has any recommendations for good, well-built modern furniture at reasonable prices, please let us know! I like slimline, sleek, modern furniture - some of the usual "3 seater + 2 recliner" packages out there are comfortable enough, but just look too huge and puffy!

*sigh* is it too much to ask for building to continue 24 hours a day on our house? I always thought we'd be pretty laid back about the build time - but now impatience is starting to win through!

T&T