Nearly gone

Graham got someone in to remove the last of the sandstone blocks. He came in with an excavator and dug them up and took them away in a truck. It took him a day and a bit. Now all that's left is a driveway and a bit of rubble.

More forms, more money

Today I took a bunch of forms to council along with a bank cheque and a wad of notes. This time they didn't seem as organised as they have in the past. It took them a while to enter all the information into the computer, to find out how much I owed them. They weren't sure what a couple of the documents were that we'd been asked to provide. The person I was supposed to contact wasn't there. They thought I'd be able to take the approved construction certificate with me, but apparently it wasn't ready. Then when they sent me to the customer service counter to pay, I was quoted a different amount (they sorted it out quickly though). Apparently most builders don't use the council as their certifier.

Poor Louka quickly tired of the small number of Lego Duplo blocks provided to amuse kids, and she'd seen the architectural models before. But she was pretty good.

Construction Certificate Approved

I got a call from the council today. I just need to pay a heap of money and submit a letter saying I vow to conform the Basix(tm) certificate and the construction certificate is in the bag. Yay!

Drains Away

Today I spent my time removing the rest of the brick footings, the rear and side path and some of the sewer drain. The drain is sure hard work as it is buried quite deep. Interestingly it was a bit clogged from the shower and laundry but clean from where the toilet on. It was not smelly at all.

Tell Graham what you think

You may not have noticed, but over on the right there's a survey. You can tell Graham what you think of his blog, and who knows, he might even do something about it. But so far, there's only one vote (mine).

South Side Path Gone

I finished collecting my stack of blocks today - yay! I also made a healthy start on removing the concrete paths. I've mostly removed the path along the south side and managed to remove some of the brick foundations as well. I was thinking I might need to hire the jack hammer again for the foundations, but fortunately I was able to break it up with the trusty rusty crow bar.

It is getting dark early now. I had to wrap it up at 5:30pm. The Kimbriki recycling guys put me on the weigh bridge this morning - $34 instead of $11 - ouch. I was carrying 1.49 tons - just over my official carrying capacity.

One of the things about not having side braces with the gantry is that it allows one to walk it around. It does not detract too much from the strength since the feet firmly burrow themselves firmly into the ground.

The gantry and the block grab will certainly become handing in building a stone wall. I'll me able to simply lower the blocks effortlessly onto a layer of mortar.

Gantry 2.0

I though it would be prudent to ensure my stack of stones is a significant distance from the proposed dwelling. I found that, at the moment, it is probably about 1.2m away. But it does mean that I really should not consume more space with stones. This lead me to rebuild the gantry using a weaker, shorter, but less flexible 2x4 piece of timber. It worked well and my pile of stones is now around 2.1m high.



The rear neighbour has just about finished their renovations and they have put up a screen. It looks good!

Construction Certificate Submitted

Liz went to council and submitted the application for a construction certificate. It costs $1800 and it can take up to three weeks. Fingers crossed, we should get it soon after we get back from holidays.

http://www.warringah.nsw.gov.au/ecouncil/DA.aspx?cmd=3&land_no=14425&da_no=CC2009/0253

$450 stamp

Today I went to Frenchs Forest to get the council-approved plans stamped by an agent for Sydney Water. It was pouring with rain. On the way, Louka fell asleep. The address was not in the satnav system. There was no parking off the street.

Graham fielded phone calls and remote navigated me to the place, then acted as go-between for me and his contact at the agency. Eventually, after I'd sat in the car for a while waiting for Louka to wake up, he rang to say his contact would come downstairs to see me if I'd drive into the driveway. The man was very nice, and we squatted in the shelter of the doorway to stamp the plan. All of which cost us $450.

More Block Salvaging

My trolley effectively died today, but I managed to salvage it with a pine brace (cut with a pruning saw). I need to pull out my welder to complete the job - but the brace stays!

After effectively removing most of the back flat's foundations, I came to conclusion that I don't need all of the blocks and further more, I would run out of room to store them all. I have decided to keep only the outside ones. I think I have collected around half of the blocks I want to keep. Needless to say, some are really quite heavy.

Blocking

I started some serious block removal today... and I encountered a problem with my gantry. Too much load and it warps! I had to use the car to assist me in lifting one of the blocks - even though the pulley system was 1:6 ratio. The beam warped and it was impossible to move. Eventually after a few more really heavy blocks, the beam started to fail. I think this was more to do with the pressure on the stays after man handling the gantry around. This DIY block grab I made really seems to do it job. It is an easy way to move sand stone.


I put a brick on one of the stones to give an idea of how big these stones are.

I decided to build a simple tripod to replace my gantry - lift and place on trolley.

Unfortunately the really big ones cause the trolley to bend. I think I have decided to just leave the big one for the bobcat to move. You can also see todays progress - one of the rear rooms.

DA modification approved

Today Louka and I had to drive up to Dee Why to collect the approved DA modification. Of course, Louka fell asleep on the way, so I had to drive around to find somewhere to park and wait till she woke up. Then we had lunch. Then we headed back to council to pick up the documents. Fortunately that was quick and easy.

Gantry

Today I finally finished off removing the bricks - yay!

I also experimented with my block grab. Initially I tried it out with my crane. It worked well, but it was quite troublesome and it had it's short comings.

I decided that a gantry was the go. I built one out of the timber I salvaged. Quick calculations suggest I should not come close to the wood's rupture point.

Assuming a 1" x 8" beam that is 4m long, strength rating of S4, it should be able to handle 1 ton before breaking - yes well in theory.

I'll probably find the gantry more useful in stacking the stones. Here is my stack of stones...

Timber floor removed

I finally finished removing the rest of the timber floorboards, joists and bearers. I ran out of time, so I didn't get to try out my new stone grabs. I did find out they are not wide enough for the entire width of the foundation, but that should not be a problem as I will probably only use it for individual stones (half the with of the foundation).

The picture below also shows how close we are to the park.

Jaws

This week, in preparation for moving the sand stone blocks, I welded up a "block grab".

Initially I had heaps of problems with the mig welder wire getting jammed. I fixed the problem by re-seating the gun cord into the main unit and it all worked fine. I have one of those Lincon 180c mig welders. I really recommend it.

It is a very simple device made out of 2mm thick 50mm square section. It has been designed to lift around 200kg. You can't see it, but the pieces of wood are resting on a metal lip. I'm going to use it in conjunction with my 900kg rated crane. Almost as good as a Probst Block Grab TSZ Uni grab ;)

Luckily I don't need to get Workcover approval or any sort of engineering certificate for my $40 device. I'm sure people in the industry would shake their heads saying it should not be allowed.

Foundations Exposed

Yesterday and today was spent removing concrete, more bricks and floorboards. Floorboards are really time consuming buggers to remove. I estimate I've got another 8 hours of floorboard removal - arg. I did manage to remove all of the rear concrete slabs.

I'm pretty focused on removing the floorboards as I may bring someone else in to remove the foundations. Knowing me, I doubt it.

Jack Hammer

As an act of spontaneity, I took the day off today to work on the house. I've really being thinking all week about what is next. I considered that I will need to start breaking up the concrete soon and this is something I should not do during the weekend. Having said that, it obviously didn't annoy the hordes of people in the park. On week days, different local schools use the park as a play ground. Oh the din!

Anyway, I hired a 15kg jack hammer from Kennards and got to work. The front bathroom was the hardest so I did that first. It was a suspended slab re-enforced with star pickets and scrap metal. The rest was relatively quite weak and easy. The surrounding paths were too weak and all the hammer did was put holes in it.

Almost there

I have taken down the front wall. I suspect this was my last full day of wall demo. As Mike said, almost gone.

A lady came by and asked what was happening - apparently she remembers living in it in her childhood. She told me it was the end of an era. My mum might read this so I better say "How Sweet".

I have not had much time to spend on the house recently. Last weekend it was Liz's and Louka's birthday parties and the weekend before Dad came over for a lightning visit.

I guess I can now say home demo is not dangerous.

More Demo

I took the day off. Nothing interesting...Spot the difference.

I use a crowbar to demolish the bricks that have gaps in the mortar. It is probably quicker than a hammer and it does not generate much dust or mortar fragments.

A front end loader at the tip almost backed over me yesterday. I used my ninja skills and quickly accelerated away. The next time I came back, a tip guy spoke to me about the incident. I explained that I thought he had stopped to let me through. He recommend that if I see a loader, take a different path.

Modification to the DA

On Tuesday I lodged the modification of a the DA....

http://www.warringah.nsw.gov.au/ecouncil/da.aspx?cmd=3&land_no=14425&da_no=mod2009/0051

Fingers crossed there are no issues.