what is that pile for?

It's the house!

Yes the house frames have now arrived and a long day by Crosie and i on Sunday, has meant that we have some of the house frames up - it's all very exciting!

We are a little scared at how big the wardrobe is in the third bedroom, but no worries as it will be filled with my sewing gear!

Unfortunately with the house frames up we are now blocking the view from the portacom ... lol! Perhaps we shouldn't build the house ... not likely! It's also cutting the view from the manspace out to see, but hey we'd much rather have a house!


The garage, third bedroom, laundary cupboards, part of the scullery, our ensuite and walk-in wardrobe frames are all standing and stood throughout the night - so that must mean they are there to stay.

I have to say i did a little dance when the frames arrived on Friday - it was very exciting that phase 2 was about to begin.

While we want phase 1 to finish asap, we are still progressing every day. We have some great neighbours who have 5 builders onsite, so will be well ahead of us - but as they pointed out one day on their site is 5 days on ours.

Crosie is doing an amazing job and we love him for it. He celebrated a "9" birthday on the 12th and he has started thinking about his "0" birthday next year. As one of his mates pointed out he only has 364 days to go until he reaches that milestone (see honey i have not put the number in!).

We have a toilet!

Yes we now have a toilet! OMG it is amazing what you take for granted, while it is only a bucket flush, it is far better than the spade and fresh air!

We have now run all the wiring and the plumbing in the manspace and Dad the sparky came over and moved the meter board onto the manspace, so it's all in place
Crosie has also got the mixer for the shower ready to be installed, but that won't happen for another week or so - once the manspace is clad and the building get's it pre-lining inspection.

We have the pump for the water tanks and great pressure. According to ex-firey Crosie, we have enough pressure in the garden hose to fight a fire!




Unfortunately the water that is in the tanks has a definite concrete taste, because there is more concrete volume than water, but once the fascia arrives and we get the spouting up, we will start collecting!

Windows are in!

Yes now we have some fabulous windows - thanks to First Windows and Doors.

Crosie and i managed to install them - after nearly losing the large doors due to the wind! The cat-door has proved to be a little bit of challenge for the moggies. Monty (aka the ginja ninja) took some time to work out where to push to make it work - as it is a clear catdoor in clear glass, however Rama managed to get it quite quickly!

We are just awaiting the garage door and then the whole manspace will be enclosed.

We are also waiting on the metal fascia from Dimond Industries. What an episode that has been - after 4 deliveries they still have not got the order right - in fact the brackets for the spouting arrived in a different colour! Apparently they do not like me calling them as i am too sarcastic - well perhaps they should honour their promises and i wouldn't have to play bad cop!

Crosie and i worked until 10.30 pm the other night to put up the HardieGroove under the verandah on the manspace - it looks really good, can't wait to see what it looks like once the cladding is on ... but that needs to wait until the fascia arrives so then the soffit can go on and then we can clad ....!

Roofed and Wrapped

Well things are zinging along at the moment.

Took the day off work and helped Crosie(only one argument, and if he had only listened in the first place ...) and we roofed the manspace - quite exciting that we now have an undercover area!




This week has seen Crosie wrap and put the battons on the walls and the ceiling battons inside - all go! Just awaiting the windows which should arrive Friday 5th March and the cladding - well on our way to having a place to live ....

Last weekend saw us go and buy all the bathroom bits - 3 showers, 3 toilets, 2 large vanity units, 2 small vanity units and one bath! It was a lot of fun and the team at Mico Plumbing in Paraparaumu were so much help!


We've also been busy little bees taking down all the pines in front of the section - which we are allowed to replant in natives, which will be great. Ex-firey Crosie is happier now that there is a 50m gap between the house and the first pine. Though all this was not without a casualty ... Crosie had a discussion with his big manly chainsaw! This lead us to the A&E area in Paraparaumu and 20-odd stitches later. he was incredibly lucky in that it was a nice clean slice above his knee, not a meaty chainsaw injury!


The difference in the view is incredible from when we first began to now. While we didn't see the tsunami wave, we saw its effects quite clearly with a very muddy line along the coast. Crosie was supposed to go out fishing that day, but was stopped at the boat ramp - all exciting and odd, as we had been talking about tsunami's the night before - around the time the e/q struck Chile.

Framed and Trussed

Yep we are now framed and trussed, well for the workshop at least.

Crosie has been working hard, and even calling me in to help lift the frames of the workshop. So we now look as if we have a buidling onsite - very cool!

Our little love shack is proving ok - while a little rustic in terms of no toilet or running water - we do have digital tv, braodband and a telephone!

the four-foots have handled the move wonderfully, with Monty securing his first kill of a hare, and Rama proving that he is a mighty mouser with 5 in one day! as we have limited indoor space they are bringing their prizes only to the door - one hopes that this respect for the indoors continues when they have more permanent lodgings!

Back to the building process. We have had the window men up to do a measure, the roofing has been ordered so it's full steam ahead!

We have water!

Tuesday 27th Jan saw the arrival of our septic system and our water tanks - oh my goodness the amount of fill that came out of the holes for them to be buried was more than we both thought. However we are just enjoying the fact that the tank guys, Wright Tanks, had a 7-tonne digger with them which meant Crosie and I did not have to hand dig the holes!!! (I hate to think how long and how grumpy we would have been at this!).

So the tanks are in, and do have water in them, it's just missing the pump and the power!

    

Meanwhile i got off the plane from warm Honolulu on sunday 24th Jan and we basically worked all day and the next moving bits out of the house and into the lock-up, up to the building site or around to Trish's (who is an amazing friend and is in happy possession of the big tv and the second Sky decoder!!). She is also letting us use her shower when required!! Thanks Trish!!! My poor workmates will have to deal with me being grumpy and smelly until I've had my shower when i arrive to work!

We are renting out our house, and have tenants moving in on Friday 29th Jan. Which was a little event in itself. We listed on Trade Me and within two hours had people looking at it, within 24 hours we had narrowed our list to 2 couples out of the 15 that looked at it and then offered it to one within 48 hours - very painless!

So instead of a 3 bedroomed home, we are now occupying a space that is 6m x 3m! It does house our bed, two tall boys, a fridge, table, a makeshift pantry and the all important TV with Sky TV - all the important things are catered for! Alas bathing and toileting are not to be done onsite - unless one has a bucket (for either!!). All a little adventure really!!

So one male, one dog, two cats and a lady will be residing there.

Pics of the ponderosa shortly ...

After all this hectic activity what did we do? we went to Hawea to help Crosie's parents celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary. Had a lovely weekend of talking and eating - it was fantastic!

Back Row - L to R: Callie, Paul, Glen and Crosie
Front Row - L to R: Gaye and Tom

We arrived home on Tuesday morning in the very wee hours only to be greeted by complete dessimation of our veggie gardens! Someone who shall remain nameless did not put the gate up and the little white four legged thingees thoroughly enjoyed my lettuces, strawberries, herbs, capsicum etc - oddly they do not eat mint (!), potatoes, tomatoes or artichokes!

What a difference a week makes

Dear wee Crosie had a big week begining the 18th Jan, alas i was not there to help ...

So last week it poured .. lots and lots of cement, in fact 52.8 cubic metres of the stuff! so we now have floors, just need the walls, windows, roof, cladding .....

But this was a huge milestone in the building process, well i think it is anyway. Unfortunately, while this was all happening i was attending a conference in Honolulu, so couldn't help Crosie with any of it (hehe).

I did however, offer moral support by calling him every few hours to see how it was all going. Big ups to the Crosie however, as the concrete placer - Brent - said that his (Crosie's) boxing levels were spot on, in fact he hadn't seen them that good in some time.

Here is a pics of the concrete being poured

Now some of the finished product

Studio / Workshop House Pad

Now the differing views Crosie and I had during that week!

However that wasn't the last of the excitement - we became owners of a temporary building - thankfully temporarily!