Insulation and Gyprock

Today the gyprock sheeting commenced  - upstairs. There is still some insulation to complete downstairs.

The gyprock finish will be square set as opposed to cornices. it gives a more streamlined look.

 Regarding insulation, in addition to the normal ceiling and wall insulation, we are also insulating between the floors - primarily for noise and so are using 75mm R2 acoustic insulation.

 The balustrade on the terrace has also been installed.

Exterior painting

The exterior painting has started. The upstairs is almost done. The scaffolding is down. The remainder of the first floor will be completed after the ground floor roofing is complete.

When the Red Terra was first put on, it seemed really bright but after a while the colour darkened to a more earthy look and with the vertical slivers of Deep Ocean it all balances out and goes well with red and blue tones enfused throughout the brickwork.

The red definitely stands out in the neighbourhood which has the grey/cream theme dotted throughout - this seems to be the current trend apparently.

They have also started cleaning up the ground (it was a bit of a mess) and in the process the northern fence was "bumped" so have had to call in the fencing guy to fix this weekend.

Roofing and cladding

The first floor roofing is on now and cladding (Scyon Stria) has also commenced.  Here is the curved roof over the garage.

 Standing on the scaffolding, I was able to take photos of the colorbond roofing (Deep Ocean) on the first floor curved roof.

 Here is the cladding outside Bedroom 5.

 And here is what the painted finish will look like.

View of the garage curved roof and the cladding from the south west.

Aerial view of Wright

 Here are two aerial pictures of Wright. The first before any development and the second I guess would have been around November 2011 (zzomed in to Cotter Rd).  Waiting for Google to update their satellite view for once the houses are up.

Here is a photo sourced from the Molonglo Valley website of an aerial view of Wright in June 2012. If you look closely you can see my untouched block with my western and northern neighbours well under way.

Update in mid-November 2012, I realised that Google have updated their satellite view of Wright.  In this photo you can see that the frames of the house are up.

Dulux Paint

They have started painting the house, starting with the fascia (Deep Ocean of course). If you see the photo above the dark blue fascia is the painted part whereas the light blue is unpainted.

They need to paint this before they put on the guttering and the roof.

They are using Dulux Paint throughout.  Incidentally I have had to use timber fascia throughout because of the curves in the roof.  Now you can cheat by using colorbond fascia but that means you use multiple straights to make it look like a curve.  To get a real curve you need to use timber.  So the curves have to be timber.  The straights can then be colorbond but it would then look odd and inconsistent. So we decided to use timber for all fascia.  The downside is that at some point you will need to repaint it.

That's why the next point is so important.

The first floor will have Stria cladding.  On the Hardietex Scyon Stria cladding website it states that if you use Wattyl paint on the Stria, then Wattyl gives you a 15 year warranty on the paint. Now this is important to me as painting the first floor of this place is going to be a major hassle.  This is the wording on the website:

Not only does James Hardie provide a 25-year product warranty on Stria cladding, but Wattyl® Australia Pty Ltd feels so confident it has given a 15-year paint warranty on Wattyl Solagard® when used on Stria cladding.

The bad news (or so I thought) is that my builder is using Dulux.  So I had a look at the Dulux website on what their warranty is on their exterior paint.  They do have The Dulux Weathershield Promise which is as follows:

We're so confident our product will not peel, flake or blister in any weather condition that if it doesn't deliver - we'll replace the product free of charge*. That's our promise to you.

For any claim or query, call Dulux Customer Service on 13 25 25. Proof of purchase is required.

There is caveat:

*This guarantee does not cover paint failure caused by any breakdown of coatings applied previously, where Dulux Weathershield is applied over coatings not specified by Dulux, or in the event of substrate failure or faulty application. To claim, you must be living in the house you have painted with Dulux Weathershield.

But this won't apply to me as its new paint on unpainted material.

Now this doesn't indicate exactly how long the warranty lasts so I rang the number above and was put through to the technical department where the gentleman there advised me that its for lifetime, meaning whilst I'm living there I'm covered. Well that means if it peels, flakes or blisters Dulux will give me the paint free of charge. I'll still have to arrange for it to be repainted though :-(.  

So I rang the builder and asked him to provide me with the receipt. I don't think anyone has ever asked him this before so he referred me to the painter, Adam, who said he would. 

Considering wall decals

Watch "Decor Designs on Etsy Wall Vinyl Decal Designs" on YouTube

Exterior colour scheme

Our exterior colour scheme will be similar to this picture (but I think the finish will look different in the real world).

Elements are:

Brick - Boral Classic Horizon Leura

Roof, Fascia, downpipes, terrace balustrade, windows - Colorbond Deep Ocean

Upstairs Harditex - Stria - painted Dulux Red Terra - all except on both sides of the walls that come out on western side of bay windows at the front of the house which will be painted Deep Ocean. 

Garage doors to be Colorbond Deep Ocean

External doors to be painted Dulux Red Terra

Pillars will be painted in a colour similar to Deep Ocean with a Tuscan affect. 

Omega cooktop and oven

We will be installing Omega cooktop and oven.

The cooktop is Omega OG92XA 90cm stainless steel gas cooktop. Key features:
- Good controls, 
- easy to clean
- flame failure device - ensures the gas does not run if no flame
more specifications here.

The oven is Omega OO971XN 90cm stainless steel fan forced oven  Key features for us was:
- double-glazed door
- Cavity cooling
- Full automatic cooking

More specifications here.






Update:

Choice, in their test of cooktops, gave Omega OG92XA the highest rating of 83%:
http://www.choice.com.au/reviews-and-tests/household/kitchen/ovens-and-cooktops/gas-cooktops-review-and-compare/page.aspx

Good points:

• Excellent for cooking white sauce, stir-frying and melting chocolate.
• Wok trivet provided.
• Layout of burners is good for a five burner.
• Spill catchment area deep enough to contain any spills and separated on each side as is the wok burner.

Bad points:

• Only 4 pots fit comfortably at a time.
• Controls are positioned at the front allowing easy access for children.

In their test of ovens, the Omega OO971XN came out second (top was Westinghouse POR883S

 Good Points:
• Very good grill performance 
• Excellent oven performance.
• Controls are easy to use and basic.
• Grill trays roll out smoothly. 
• The grill element can be lowered for easy cleaning.
• Catalytic liners on sides and back wall.
• Exterior reasonably easy to clean.
• Surface temperature label on door.
• Relatively cheap for a 90 cm oven.

Bad points:

• Grill rack does not accommodate small items.
• No shield over grill element.
• Glass cannot be removed from oven door for easy cleaning.
• Larger trays can be very heavy with a load.
• Larger area to clean internally and externally.
• Trays and shelves are awkward to clean in a domestic sink.
• Enamel can be difficult to clean if grease baked on.
• No half grill, defrost or warm mode.
• No child lock.

Schweigen Rangehood

We have opted for the stainless steel Schweigen DS3170SP VERA 90cm Wall Canopy rangehood with the Isodrive Power System.

The main advantages of this system was its efficient suction to draw the fumes etc out of the kitchen and then out of the house.  

The main feature of this system is that the motor sits on top of the house near the roof and sucks the fumes out rather than blow them up from the canopy. Hence its silent operation.

Dishwasher

We have chosen the following Dishwasher
BOSCH SMS63M08AU  Freestanding dishwasher
http://www.bosch-home.com.au/appliances/dishwashers/freestanding/SMS63M08AU.html

Key features:
- 14 international place settings
- 4.5 Star WELS water rating, 12.3 litres per wash
- 6 Wash Programs:
- RackmaticPlus - 3 stage height-adjustable upper basket




Update:

Choice have just carried out a test on dishwashers.  Link is below if you have membership.  They rated this dishwasher 76 (best rated dishwasher was 78).  Not much between them.  Size, efficiency and flexibility were key things for us. 

http://www.choice.com.au/reviews-and-tests/household/kitchen/dishwashers/dishwashers-review-and-compare/page.aspx

Good points:

• Excellent drying and water efficiency.
• Very quiet.
• Has a small-light item holders
• The sensor program works well.
• Has a moveable cutlery basket that can be placed anywhere in the bottom rack.
• Top basket can be height-adjusted even when fully loaded.
• Cheap to run.

Washing performance was "OK" so not stellar.

Scaffolding and Upstairs

Yesterday the scaffolding went up so today I was able to cimb up to the first floor (one up from the ground floor!). From the balcony there is a clear view of the Black Mountain Tower and in the distance, the flagpole of the Parliament House.


 Here is the upstairs hallway.









The upstairs storage area (above garage).






View from the hall down to the family room.








The Blue Stone rock wall with the western wall finished and the northern wall still to complete.






Bedroom 6 - likely to be Jumanah's room.

Rock wall and front pillar and letterbox

We have started the blue stone retaining rock wall on the western side of the property.  We had to do this earlier than anticipated because our neighbours have moved in and it was important we had the wall and fence up as soon as possible. 

We have Rocco and Giuseppe doing the wall. I had a look at their work in Forde and Bonner before going with them.  So far so good. Real craftsmen - as Rocco says - this art.


The upstairs windows have been installed on the north side and the frame for the balcony is in place.






The front pillars have been built with the built-in stainless steel letterbox.

Going Up

Frames have (mostly) been put up on the First Floor.  We have a better sense of the overall shape of the house.  What will make the shell complete will be the roof trusses (the most complex part of this house).

 Here we see the bay windows of the upstairs bedrooms.  This photo was taken from the living room (so when finished there will be a ceiling here).
View from family room to the upstairs hallway from the family room/meals area.

 Where the stairway will be.


Garage and the storage area above.

 View from the street.

Upstairs Bedrooms 5 and 6.

Beams on - ready to go up

Things have slowed due to issues with some of the windows.  That has been rectified and now the beams have gone up ready for putting the joist on as the platform for the upper story.  

Here we see the rear (north side of the house) which will have full height windows on the ground level and a set of fixed windows on the upper story to allow light in to fill the void. 

At the front of the house we have beams at the front and also in the garage to support the storage area above the garage.

View from the side street of the rear of the house.

Ground floor frames

Yesterday Muhsina and I visited the building site and walked through the ground framework of the house. Below is a 15minute video of the walkthrough. Although we get a better sense of the space now, I don't think we will appreciate how large or small the areas are until the gyprock walls are installed. 

 The south east "bull nose" of the house (Lounge room).

 Muhsina's bay window

 Prayer and Lounge rooms

Sliding doors and windows waiting to be installed - hopefully Monday.

Frames and Kitchen design

The frames have been delayed slightly due to complications with the complex roof design.  Whilst we are waiting for the frames to be put up (hopefully start tomorrow), I thought I'd share the kitchen design with you.  Taha from Tradeco Interiors put this design together and will be building the kitchen, laundry and the custom vanity in the main bathroom.