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Sunday, 21 December 2014

Final Touches December 21 2014

The Fossil drone (who reports to SWMBO)  had a spectacular fall during his exercise class and landed on his tailbone against a hard floor. Nothing broken but  his activities have been somewhat curtailed during the last few days so the final tasks will need to wait until after Christmas.


We managed to salvage some large pieces of granite slabs from the kid's renovation. Here is the frame that will support a granite top 1700 x 900mm. Another top which is about 2400 x 600 is destined to become a potting table mounted along the east wall. The granite tops are a honey colour with flecks of black. All the railings have been made from mat black epoxy coated tubular steel section and will be fixed in place early January. The basic planting has been completed with a variety climbers and bushy shrubs designed to screen the street side wall to eye level. Visually it should give the illusion of sitting in the middle of Delta Park. 
  


The study / filing room - Small but everything is conveniently located. Every inch of space represents a major achievement. Currently under construction at the Fossil Works is a low cabinet (window seat) to house the communications gear and a mail/web server - Enough room to swing a cat provided it's a small pussy.






The great room - a rather "lived in" view. Scheduled for early January is the skimming and painting of the bulkheads. The wall was designed and dimensioned to fit some solid oak cabinets purchased from a deceased estate. We have made provision for 5 pendant lights above the kitchen island, over the dining table, and in the living room area but the light provided by the LED tubes incorporated into the bulk heads may render these superfluous or decorative only.










The table seats 8 and there are 4 Bar chairs at the kitchen counter. The majority of our paintings and artwork have been hung with a few pieces still to go.


Another view from the front door. The Great room is very spacious - we like it that way - so I have to restrain myself from visiting too many second hand furniture stores.


Monday, 1 December 2014

December 1 Getting stuff off the floor

The next stage is to get everything of the ground and off the surfaces. Bulkheads need to be completed, skimmed and painted to match the walls. About 2 thirds of our paintings have been hung on the walls.

Part of the great room
 The two leather chairs at the end of the great room are together with four bar chairs our latest acquisition. These where purchased for a song at our local second hand furniture store.
The great room is entirely lighted by LED tubes above and below the bulkheads and by under counter kitchen cupboards.
 This is the "office" surprisingly there is enough space to keep all of the business files and to house workstations for yours truly and SWMBO. Now that I have repaired my table saw I am going to make a small cabinet and locate this underneath the window to house all of the communications gear, Domino Server and file server out of view. Today I located two second hand three draw pedestals (goning for a song) that will complete the under desk top storage

 Collection of signed Keith Joubert prints and a Russell Flint on the great rooms internal wall
 The bedroom - artwork will be added to the wall shortly
 The bedroom looking into the great room. That black spherical object is a pilates ball. The Pilates ball is for ces mois to exercise in the periods between when SWMBO is thinking of things for me to do,
 The patio which we paved using rough stock bricks and just some of the pots which we brought from our old house. A slab of granite 1700 X 900 will form the top of a table which will be installed in the patio on top of a frame work made from 100X100 tubular steel.



Friday, 17 October 2014

Finishing Touches



The Great Room viewed from the kitchen door
Ok we are just about done. All we need is the light fittings and for our belongings that are in storage to be delivered. That and a bit of carpentry here and there.


The Bathroom - waiting for the shower panel

Shelf above the bed head

Planks painted with a mixture of Carboleum and Raw Linseed oil

Earthworks


Unfortunately we were unable to use a Back Actor or Skid Steer without causing damage so all the earth and rock moving was  done by hand.


View from the south side of the house

Retaining wall to be planted

We terraced the bank using stone found on the property

What it looks like with most of the rubble removed


Most of the rubble has been removed and except for connecting the Solar Power system to the main distribution board and putting in the light fittings we are ready to move in. Our appliances and some of the contents of our previous house - currently in storage are being delivered on Wednesday.

The earth has been shaped and terraced ready for some strenuous planting.

 



Thursday, 25 September 2014

Gas Cupboard






Gas Cupboard On its plinth in the courtyard side of the house. We will paint this to blend in with the walls. We should be able to store a few 118KG gas cylinders.

Bathroom




The bathroom has been tiled. You can see the shower portion at the end complete with bench. Today we are installing the bathroom fittings.






Laundry enclosure. Washing machine underneath and spin dryer on top with space for a few Pullouts









Vanity unit 1200 mm with two basins.




Tiling complete, Grouting complete.




Tiling complete, Grouting complete. The Pivot door and sliding doors go in next.

Gas standby water heater - Installed


This handy little gas heater sits between the solar geyser and roof mounted hot water tank. Its function is to heat the water is it passes through but only when the water is less than 65 degrees centigrade. Which hopefully will happen very infrequently.

Friday, 12 September 2014

Friday 12th September





Late afternoon Friday 12th September.
There has been lots of activity at the Fossil Pad and the cottage should be ready for occupation by the end of the month.
However we are going to spend an extra two weeks rectifying any imperfections. Commonly called "snagging".













The exterior has been painted completely (except for a few reveals)










The steps from the future patio leading up to the Great room









The battery / Gizmo Room
  Control units against back wall and 12 deep cycle batteries. The Photovoltaic panels have all been mounted on the roof.

The kitchen  waiting for its granite counter tops and back splash
The kitchen island is under the soft board.



Sunday, 7 September 2014

Steady Progess on several fronts

Windows and door installed on South side.
Looking at the pictures not too much appears to have been accomplished. Everything looks to be in a half state of completion because we are working towards completion of several tasks simultaneously.
Bedroom Full Height Windows - North Wall


The windows and doors have started to arrive  and as each batch arrives the units are immediately fitted and plastered into their openings.













Dry Wall Partition




We have erected a drywall partition between the great room and the living area as dictated by SWMBO and this is in the process of being skimmed and painted. Large areas of the inside walls have been painted with plaster coat.







Tiling the floors is well underway. About 120 square metres of tiles need to be laid. The gas stove and extractor fan have arrived and are stacked against a half high wall that will form the spline of the kitchen Island



And we are plastering the ceilings in the one section of the house.




Friday, 29 August 2014

Progress Friday 29th August

The roof and all its layers are in place. Barge boards and gutters will be installed shortly
The roof and all its layers is in place.
The walls have been given a skin of Rhinolite.

That means that a lot of tasks can begin on Monday.

On Monday all of the machines in my workshop will be installed in the house so that I can complete the interior carpentry in short order. On Monday we also install the windows.

This gives you some idea of what the vaulted ceiling will look like.
The Area above this wall will be clad with dry walling. The wall has been given a coat of Rhinolite.


All of the walls have been skimmed with Rhinolite

Thia will become a walk in closet hopefully during the next week 

Tuesday, 26 August 2014

Raising the roof

Most of the cement ceiling panels are in place

The bedroom wing
The roof is almost done.
It consists of several layers.

Layer 1
Concrete 9mm ceiling boards are nailed to the trusses. We pre-painted the ceiling  boards on one side to make the final painting less of a hassle.


Layer 2
Then purlins are nailed to the trusses through the ceiling boards and a 70mm thick insulating blanket is laid between the purlins.

Layer 3  
On top of all that is laid a layer of sisalation which acts as a vapour barrier and has insulating properties as well.


Layer 4
Finally the layers are covered with Chromadek sheeting which has the colour of the roof (dove grey) baked into the surface of the metal. A capping piece is fixed to the apex of the roof.

Gives one an idea of what it will look like from the inside
The importance of completing the roof is that most of the interior works can be multi-tasked.

We will also be able to install the Solar Geyser and Solar power panels.

The next two weeks should be quite eventful.
This in not an old man,s Meccano set. It will become a Battery Rack for the deep cycle batteries