The weekend was pretty much dedicated to getting to getting the new windows in. There are 4 more to go - but that will all come in the coming weeks as the wet areas (bathroom, powder room and laundry) are getting a bit of a rejig. The other thing was the barrier that was built up to protect the inside of the house from the elements came down, this gave us a sense of how big the space is. It feels like a new place!
All the windows ready to go:
Old windows out… you will also see how much I cleaned up the bricks.
New double glazed windows in…
And here is the best pic I got of the new space. Back wall will be the kitchen, dining in the middle that I was thinking a 6 seater dining table… but now thinking 16… the space is huge!
Yeah, thats a good thought - we do want a bit of a gym space, so we will talk to our builder and see just how much stuff we have left over and how we can utilise it better rather than giving it back, selling it on.
So this weekend was spent doing the last of the grinding of render - I had a beer to celebrate. I also did some brickwork to prepare everything for the brickies to return so just ‘saw toothing’ the edges of the bricks so the brickies can continue on with their standard brick pattern.
Whilst that was happening the inside walls for the bathroom, toilet and laundry were removed. These will be replaced with new timber as parts of the old walls were rotted from water leeks.
We also managed to chuck in our new windows for bathroom, toilet and the new laundry door. Pretty happy with the laundry door!
New flooring in the wet areas is in, basically we took most of the flooring out and replaced it with more heavy duty beams (the yellow timber stuff). We are putting a water proof floorboard down and the floor feels very solid, the old floor had a bit of bounce in it but now it feels like a concrete slab. Very stoked that it has becoming such a solid, better than new, building.
Sunday was spent putting all of the sarking (Thats the green stuff) up around where the brickies will be enclosing today. It was pretty frustrating with the surface being so uneven and it was getting pretty slow going as I had to dig out the ground to make a solid surface for the ladder. By about 3pm I was hating this whole renovation process and got a little negative about how slow I was getting things done.
We also put in a little recess in the external wall for the hot water system. Thats the galvanised steel box near the ladder. This just hides the system and all the wires to it - t’s the little touches like this is what is pretty cool that not many people will notice.
From an outsider looking in, it looks and sounds amazing, and I’m taken aback by how much you get done every weekend. That and you’re so hands on, which a lot of people don’t have going for them these days. All they can do is ask for tradie recommendations on The Riotact
I have an enormous amount of respect for you Ezy. I like how honest you are about the darker moments of the reno, but you still report back here with good words and photos. If it was me I would be knee deep in concrete cursing the very world, let alone tapping away on the forum. Great work!
Thanks guys - at the moment I am a bit dark on it. I have been sick for two weeks and working hard during the week, I am exhausted with no time to really recover. There are a lot of decisions to be made that I am getting a bit overwhelmed on and half of them I don’t understand. I am putting on a bit of weight from not riding and not eating too well, but sometimes I do get that sense of excitement about the future and living in this new place that gets me through it all.
The local community are very friendly and welcoming, people are always walking their dogs and stopping for a bit of a chat to compliment us on how it is all gaining momentum at the moment. A few people have actually told us “Wow, it’s looking good - we were worried for a while about how bad you were making it look”.
The brickies have been and gone. They will need to come back tomorrow to complete the job - but essentially thats it.
Where they have stopped we will be adding corrugated colourbond cladding in a contrasting colour to the render… its something a bit different for an older style home. But hopefully it will work.
All the brickwork is complete and the render will begin over the next couple of weeks.
My job over the weekend was taking this pile of insulation that came from the roof, and shove it underneath the floor. It wasn’t the best job and my shoulder blades are quite bruised from wriggling around on them all day. But it had to be done. The upshot is that we will be warm and I also get space back in the garage.
Whilst this was happening, Ivan was inside putting up all of the remaining internal walls up and fixing a bit of a rise in the floor.
With all of the walls now up it really gives us a sense of the new space. We are all getting pretty excited as from here on in, all progress should bring pretty big visual changes.
Busy weekend preparing the house for rendering over the weekend. Vee got stuck into pressure cleaning all the bricks and removing all the dirt and dust that has built up over time. She is pretty proud of her new red gumboots.
While that was happening, I was digging a trench around the outside of the house to make sure the rendering guys could get access to the lower bricks. Ivan got stuck into cutting a section in the exterior wall for the new power/fuse box. I told him to replace it with a window so i could serve up take away coffees.
We will be getting all of the site mess cleaned up next weekend - it is a bit unsightly.
We also got the new door frame in after an undercoat. I don’t have any pics of this though as we got it in pretty late last night. The front concrete landing will be remade, so we removed a section for the renders to fill in. We had a bit of a bush doof going on with our new found fog machine.
We also got the linen press built up and will install it next weekend.
I spent yesterday afternoon with the jack hammer removing the old plumbing which was all concreted in - pretty cramped conditions, but I got it done. Also found some beautiful untouched Canberra Red Bricks to add to my collection. I see one of these being built in the backyard using the bricks.
