23/09/20 To recap what is left to be done: heating & cooling (vents, controllers, refrigerated cooling unit outside), shelving (pantry, store room, linen, cloak, bedrooms 2-4), bathroom & kitchen fittings (e.g. taps, sinks, bath, shower heads, toilets), electrical (switches, powerpoints, lights, ceiling & exhaust fans, security, networking), door fittings, window furnishings, and carpets
25/09/20 The aforementioned laundry chute is fighting back. To quickly recap: the designers & engineers really did a number on the poor builder by failing to account for where the laundry chute drops into the laundry. Had the designers & engineers talked the simple solution would have been to reduce the Lounge room wall abutting the Laundry by 30cm. But obviously a cylinder wasn’t firing somewhere in the machine. The proposed work-around a week or two ago was to knock out a wall between the chute & the ensuite basins to get a better vertical space to have the chute go straight down. That sounded good until we got a message showing us a picture (below left) of the newly ordered & built chute cupboard, and simply asking what sort of door we wanted on there. After seeing the new ‘hole’ for the clothing, the discussions about ‘door’ were rightly set aside. Although not large, the original melamine chute of 27cm x 27cm was reasonable. The ‘new’ chute is only 27cm x 12 cm …. You’d basically have to shove your socks in there 1 by 1, and you can forget throwing any bulky clothing or sheets down there. Apparently there are safety regulations at play too … sigh. First world problems, I know! Back to the builder to see what else they can come up with. To his credit he gets straight onto it.
26/09/20 Vents for ducted heating & cooling were installed. Not sure we’ll use it often enough to justify the additional expense but I pushed for refrigerated cooling as opposed to a ‘swampy’/evaporative unit, mostly because it’s the humidity that gets me more than anything. Although the system is capable of 4 zones, we have just a 2 zone set up (upstairs, downstairs), and given the open stairwell, and large open area downstairs that will probably suffice.
28/09/20 I thought shelves would go in much later, but they went in already. For the master bedroom we’re doing our own, but for everything else in the short term we just took the ‘standard’ option for the pantry, store room, linen, and other bedrooms. As you can see it’s pretty basic. For the 2 linen cupboards that’s probably all one needs. Later on maybe for the pantry, store & bedroom cupboards, if needed, we’ll try install a more functional & versatile solution e.g. Elfa system etc for the bedrooms, pantry & store room but in the meantime we have some space to put stuff as we settle in & figure out how to use the new found space.
29/09/20 The last downpipe was done
The plumber had also come around. Outside, they mounted the (3) taps against the house. Inside, they also made a start inside ….
Unlike the last 12+ yrs I look forward to having a shower that I can stand under or a bathtub I can actually sit in. For those who’ve not seen what we had, imagine walking into a bathroom, and asking why the sink was installed on the ground.
Laundry & kitchen sinks & mixer taps
05/10/20 Concrete pad was poured for the refrigerated cooling unit (below left). This is the southern alley, viewed from the laundry sliding door looking towards the backyard. The pipes sticking out of the wall will be the location of the instant hotwater system. Further along the wall is where we intend to put all of the pool equipment. Yes, it’s further away from the pool (on the northern boundary of the backyard ~ 15+m away) however it frees up the backyard for usable space, and hides the ‘unsightly’ equipment. Just one catch …. I thought I was being pretty clever during the design phase to include a 40amp junction box for pool heating equipment, 10amp junction box for pool lighting, and yes, even a spare data cable in case the pool system required it (below middle). At that stage I was hoping to shove the equipment in the back corner behind the pool (fence corner) so naturally added these points to the back corner of the house closest to the pool. Well, these are now on the wrong wall!!! – as Robert Burns might say “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men Gang aft agley”
Anyway, that’s another day’s problem – more things were happening inside … sparkies had started pulling the wires through the plaster ….
Glad I didn’t become an electrician … getting a headache just looking at that
Some of the fittings started going in. Before Just a quick summary of what we decided to do for electrical/lighting:
- Exhaust fans for all toilets & showers.
- All bedrooms, and main family room will have ceiling fan lights.
- Downstairs the hallway, dining area, lounge, kitchen & family areas will be lit by downlights.
- Bathrooms we have a bit of an overkill because above each shower is an exhaust fan, but also the fan-light-heater units in the ceiling, and let’s not forget the floor heating, and heating ducts. Let’s just say no one will be cold, or steamed up. The sparkies are probably thinking that we’re trying to plant drug crops in the bathrooms!
- Dining, Powder, Toilets, Laundry, & Rumpus rooms will just have the cheap batten lights as placeholders until we move in & figure out what sort of fitting will work for us.
- Stair lights
- As mentioned in a previous post – a ton of powerpoints, and several datapoints, and entertainment sockets, wireless access point for each floor, and the lounge will have speaker wires pulled through for us to fit out later
You may recall from a previous post we went with the ‘Iconic’ range, mostly because of the adaptability. The plate you see (the ‘skin’) can be changed if needed, and so can the ‘mechs’ (the green inserts you see below) from normal switch, to a Bluetooth mech for example to create a timer-switch, which then can be paired to their app to be configured and/or programmed, e.g. to have a porch light turn on & off at certain times. The geek in me can’t wait to play with this
06/10/20 Electrical work continued … Fusebox installed inside the garage.
Around the outside the weatherproof powerpoints & junction boxes got installed. Below left is for the refrigerated cooling unit & instant hot water system. Right some junction boxes for an electric gate, and garden lights and data cable for intercom. Have more junction boxes at the back of the house per the aforementioned pool requirements.
Outside lights went in. Bottom left there are a few double flood lights (2 at the back of the house, 1 down each alley), plus a single motion sensor one on the garage. Standard pillar (up-down) lights on the porch.
Inside the electrical continued … just a few more thousand power points. Never heard someone complain about too many powerpoints. Below left the hole is where the multisockets will for e.g. data, tv, point, speaker wire return etc. This will be done later by a separate electrical team.
07/10/20 Didn’t go inside because they had cleaners coming through vacuuming up the saw dust & debris. Outside someone was cleaning the lower level windows, peeling off the protective plastic from windows, labels etc. However someone did put a panel over the garage door (below left – before, right – after)
08/10/20 door handles were added. Again, kept it simple, and uniform. Someone also did the pilot hole for the taps
Flyscreens were installed on every openable window.
With everything clean, and views now unimpeded by protective plastic it was good to look around & see how things were taking shape …
Below standing in the family room looking towards the kitchen area, the big windows (whilst a bugger to keep clean) will let in lots of natural light. The hope is that once fencing is done that landscaping & planting can begin. The aim being to have lots of foliage in front of the fence so it feels green & natural.
Standing in the family looking out the triple stacker at the pool. We’ll look to smooth out the neighbour’s masonry wall either with render/paint/panelling, and like all the boundaries, have trees/creepers in front of it.
Facing the other way, standing at the rear triple stacker, looking back towards the front door. Dining area on the left (and yes, we’ll look to get proper dining table lights once we settle in). Study on the right. The void in the wall (between study & family room) will have louvres (same stain that will go on the stair treads). The tiler really did a terrific job. Will stop the post here. Next week there will be caulking, and apparently carpets will go in. Will also be catching up with the cabinet maker & builder to see what can be done to resolve ‘chute gate’ …. I might start the meeting with “My wife had ONE request with this house – the chute. If it can’t be resolved I will be clubbed to death, and you two will be next …”
Chat soon.