Bad Day Revisted

The insurance company rang me up to tell me that they are finding the other driver at fault and will be waiving the excess - common sense prevails! I found out that $2600 worth of damage had be done. I suspect that is the reason why they have changed their tune. If it was only $400, I suspect they might of just hit me with the $600 excess and pocket the difference. The police are not of any help - they say it is a minor accident and that it is up to the insurance company to determine who is at fault.

window jambs finished

Today and yesterday I coated the frames in Cutek - a surface timber preservative. It is kind of meant to seep into the grain - I believe it when I see it though. I have finished all of the lower level windows except for the bedrooms and the big one in the bathroom. I will need to pre-fab these and build them upstairs - just because they would otherwise be too heavy.

I'm using a polyurethane (moisture curing) glue and boy is it strong. I had to replace one of the bottom jambs and had to resort to cutting that section in half and then pounding them down with a hammer to break off the end join. I thought end grain joins are not meant to be strong?



The basic design of the jambs is very similar to a door jamb expect the bottoms are angled by 15 degrees so the water does not sit upon them. In the corners I have rebated out about 11mm (what the depth setting had happened to be set to) on the top and bottom jambs to house the side jambs. In this way, the sides, bottoms and tops can't push in.






Our eves which are meant to be 600mm will give most of the windows a H1/H2 rating (ie out of the weather). According to a document (timber service life design guide), anything above 30 degrees from vertical from the eve line has a H1/H2 rating. This makes sense as it won't really get wet.

The best document I have found for timber service is "Timber_service_life_design_guide.pdf" http://www.fwpa.com.au/. They don't really say much about finishes other than they can't say much about them.


A progress view from the park. It seems to jut into the park a bit.

making window jambs and a bad day

I've begun constructing the window jambs.

I've being a bit depressed lately. I've not being having a good day. Somehow a neighbour's window broke and the caretaker is blaming me or the carpenters. I can't work out what had occured.

I had a car accident where some guy reversed into me when I was turning right and my insurance company has not yet decided whos fault it is - be aware never make a right hand turn incase someone decides to suddenly reverse! I suspect the insurance company would rather me pay the excess rather than chase the other guy.

Some of the house measurements are going out. I still can't work out the problem but we are talking about the high windows being 400mm instead of 450mm. The carpenter not being experienced in this construction has doubled up on the framing somehow. The posts are supporting beams He put lintels in the frame but nothing is going to be resting on these lintels. The roof is going to be resting on the beams that span the posts.

Jambs and Beams

I'm full speed ahead with my jambs. It is a case of mass production. I cut up as much timber that is available to create jambs. I have to wait till early next week for the rest.

Window Jambs

I started building the window jambs today. Here is my first one.

I was going to construct them the traditional way, but I decided that this way is best. This is mainly because of the wall cladding, how scaleable it (is in terms of adding horizontal and vertical structs) and that is is very quick to do. You can just notice the 15 degree angle rebate I took out.

Focus

This last week I have really focused on setting up my workshop to start building the windows. I finished my workbench - which is rock solid - probably could easily support a couple of tons, added a a fluoro light and moved most of my stuff downstairs.

I did manage to complete most of the utiltiy room door - I ran out of glue so I had to stop.

Frame Going Up

The frame is going up. I've installed a light in the garage and I have started to make a new work bench.

Sub Floor Complete

The carpenters have finished the sub floor - yay! I've started on the second door and added a lock or three to the garage doors. I've started to move into the dungeon.

Garage Doors Finished

I finally finished my garage doors. It was a bit a trepidation putting on the second door. Weighing around 100kg they are not easily lifted. The last thing I wanted to do is take them down again to do adjustments.

They swing easily for doors that weight heaps - there is no bias and my 3 year old daughter is strong enough to open them. The gaps are even and the doors reasonably meet in the middle - I think they are slightly out by 5mm or so. Not bad really.

I bought a lock on the way home. I'll install this tomorrow. I'll make up some door handles.

The next task is to make the utility room door.





The chippies did not come today. A father in law was sick.

Hardwood

Hardwood is sure hard, very hard.

When I hammer 2mm diameter nails in to make my doors, I pre-drill with a 2mm drill bit to the length of the nail and guess what - they still bend even when I just "lightly" try to tap them in. I found that if I drill them out two or three times, they go in much easier and are less likely to bend.

I don't need to block clamps, there is no way the clamps mark the timber.

In summary, hardwood is tough, but if you want to use fasteners - you need to pre-drill - you might as well use bolts.

Bearers and Garage Door

The carpenters have put up some of the bearers.



I have completed one of the garage doors. They are really really heavy.

The gate hinges I are using (G1 goliath) are rated at 1 ton, so it should be ok.

Floor Progress

The chippies have really started to get into the floor. They have added the front posts and started to joist.



I'm working on the second door to the garage. It is very very strong. I put all my weight on a swinging door and it did not sag at all. Mind you, if you check out the bracing - which I hammered into place, you can see why -sub millimetre tolerances. The carpenter conviced me to put the bracing this way. I've still got to clad them with the spotted gum toungue and grove. It is all lapped jointed with construction adhesive.



To check the half lap joints, I simply used by new dewatt sliding drop saw with a depth stop to cut a few groves (every 2cm or so). Then I would use my hammer to knock out the waste (I love this bit). A chisel to do a bit of a roiugh clean up followed by a belt sander to get rid of the high spots. I ended up using by trusty rusty calculator to calculate the angle of cut for the bracing - that worked fine :) Trust me, you don't want to use a router of F27 or F34 grade hardwood - it would take like forever.

To try to maintain my weight, I've restored to eating junk food - mostly chocolate. Anyway, I gave my daugher a piece (she vistited me today) and the I asked her whether she wanted some more. She said no. Come on, she is three! Three year olds are meant to love chocolate!

One Door On

I managed to build and hang one of the garage doors. I'm quite pleased as it swings with no bias. I'll need to trim a few of the sides to make sure everything is square - it is out by a few millimetres. There is enough in the frame (140mm wide) for a lot of trimming :).

I'll put some cross bracing and liquid nails to get everything together.

Rain and Deck Finished

It rained pretty heavily last night so the place had water everywhere when we arrived. They still managed to mostly finish laying the back deck. I've started to make and install the barn doors the the garage. All I have done is attached the jambs to the blockwork. I'll be making up the doors proper using the timber I salvaged from the old house. Of course I am really slow. I'll initially make up the doors with plywood for security.

That F27 is sure hard. The guy has a full on air compressor driven huge nail gun and when they are driven in perpendicularly, they are still proud by about 5mm. Diven in at an angle they just tend to deflect. The rear deck bearers are 240mm x 45mm every 1.8m - really chunky design. The deck is rock solid to walk on though.

The Chippies Have Started

After a week's delay, the chippies have started. Up go the posts out of the rear deck. And they have placed the ant cap and wall plates of the wall. Then it started to rain. The posts required 3 guys to put up.

The secret of getting the holes aligned for the post holders is to drill from each side and then use a hammer to strike them through. Some of them required more force than others.

To place the wall plates and capping, they pre-drilled the wall plates and then masonary hammered through the ant cap and into the blockwork. They drilled the holes for the nut a bit too small so they needed to go around and route the out a bit bigger.

I tried to fix up the steps with self leveling concrete. I textured it as it set.

Ready For the Next Level, More Mistakes Found

After a furious three days, I am now ready for the next level.

I eventually managed to fill up the sides with 30 cubic metres of gravel. I've got a tiny bit left that is still out the front - but it will not be in the way of any trucks delivering timber. It is sure tiring work. I noticeably slow down as I got through the day - there are limits to my personal drive. I suppose it would help if I stopped for lunch and drank more water - but it all takes valuable time.

I did a basic tidy up of the site and I took a load of rubbish out to the tip. It contained some concrete cow pads that I said I would take to the concrete recyclers. It was a good idea as the council run tip only charged me $25 instead of $45 for the load.

If I have time on Monday I will sweep out the garage and try to get rid of some of the water from the bathroom.

I've finished leveling the blockwork - those guys were so dodgy. I used this non shrink grout to do the topping. The reason being is that you can lay it 10mm thin and being non shrink, it should not become drummy or develop any cracks. You can't really lay that thinness using normal concrete as initialy and over time it will just break up. It looks good to run your eye across the top - it looks pretty much perfectly level within a couple of millimetres. I troweled the top smooth and flat, but the sides are a bit crazy. You will not see them, so that is fine.

I discovered a new problem, one of the internal walls is out of plumb - around 5cm difference between the top and bottom. It is in the stairwell so I don't know whether it will be noticeable. To be honest, if I had noticed, I would not have paid them until it had been fixed up. Lessoned learnt I suppose. You don't want to mess with me when I get stroppy! Fortunately it does not present a structural problem. Unfortunately I don't have the time to take it apart and get it relaid.

On a different tangent, not that I am a fan of the big corp, but Bunnings employees seem to have more product knowlege than other hardware shops. The other hardware shops just seem to know about things they sell, but in bunnings it can be "yeah I know what you are talking about" or "we use to sell it, but.." where as the others tend to look at me blankly -looking confused. I guess there is an inherit conflict of interest between someone that owns a store and is the sales person. Foremost they want ot sell, where as in Bunnings they are not on commission and are just focused on giving good service.

Questions, Belt, Blockwork and Grout

The first couple of times that people have come up to me and asked me what I am building, I thought how quaint, how friendly and fair enough and I said "a house". Now it is getting a bit of a worry - what do people think I am building - I mean come on, what are the options - an airport?

I got so fed up today with continuously pulling up my pants so I could move properly without my pants getting caught on my thighs and I made the move and drilled another hole in my belt. Liz (my wife) is worried that I might start loosing too much weight.

The blockworker came yesterday and "fixed" up the blocks. To make them straight (within 10mm) he had to really noticably offset the blocks. Oh well at least the problem is confined to the corner. To my absolute annoyance, the guy told me he knew that there was a problem when they were laying the blocks and told someone and yet no one elected to tell me - I suspect the worse. And to think that when I initially complained about it, the boss man said someone must of lent on it. I just lost some trust in trades people.

I took a laser level over the blockwork and I found that the difference between the minimun and max is 50mm. I'm using expensive non-shrink grout to level off the blocks - apparently the min thickness is 10mm. I formed it up using planks of pine lined with foam. I laser level the planks and then screed off them. The foam creates a tight joint between the pine and the blocks. I tried using F clamps to hold the pieces of pine against the block wall - I found my 12" G clamps work much better. I mixed the mortar in my wheel barrow using a garden hoe - much easier than a shovel - something I learnt from the blockworker who came yesterday and asked me to mix up some mud for him.

I don't understand these blockworkers - I mean the concretor (who recommended them) knows what sort of job they did and the carpenter (who was recommended by a blockworker) also knows.

I have kind of finished the backfill - there are however some significant low spots to fill. A total of 30 cubic metres or 42 tons of gravel.

I also got a spinter yesterday and I tried to remove it using a toothpick - not a good idea - all it did was just drive it in. I ended up gouging it out with a sharp knife.

Cohesive Fill

The engineering spec called for non-cohesive fill around the outside of the retaining wall. In removing some of the plywood, I found that the sand was keeping it's cohesive shape.





It has being very dry over the last month or so. Not bad for winter.

Side Backfill

I finished off the north side back fill. I've only got the south side to go :). I think I will need to order another 10 cubic metres of gravel. I'm onto my second load now and I have almost finished moving it. It is not too bad considering I can carry about 0.1 cubic metres in a wheel barrow - only 100 trips. Interestingly that is about 3000 shovels.

I have worked out that I can confortably move a 14 ton / 10 cubic metres of gravel in 2 days - via wheelbarrow through the park.





The block layers did not come to finish off the job today. I'm a bit disappointed. He promised me that Doug will come on Tuesday.

Stairs and Backfill

I got the concretors to put in the stairs. I was a bit tricky as the last step was like a hob. They are re-inforced and the concretors assure me I will have no problems. The width of the hob is just 80mm. The rising and going is a respectable 170mm and 270mm. The minimun opening into the utility area is a good 940mm - more than enough for 600mm wide wheelie bins.

Here is the formwork of the stairs. They hammered nails into the mortar joints and was able to brace everything against other walls so as not to put any holes into the concrete.

The concrete truck driver came along with 0.5 cubic metres of concrete. It was wheel barrowed over 10 or so metres in about 5 loads in my dodgy wheel barrow. It was meant to be 80mm slump but it was more like 120mm. As a result, it took ages (3 hours) to go off enough for the guy to strip the formwork and rub everything down (to give it texture) and fill up any voids behind the formwork. Next set of stairs, I might just do it myself.

I have almost finished the backfill of the rear wall.