Raining

The construction has been moving on well, until the rain, which has brought the build to a halt. Although it's only light rain it's getting a bit unpleasant and slippery moving up and down the ladder, I'm getting risk adverse since I squashed my thumb almost flat, stupid accident just as I was thinking "that beam looks a bit unstable", it fell and... I must admit I did say "bother that hurt!" an number of times.

I have just had a email from some friends who are comming to stay, It will be great to catchup and have a few days 'leave' visiting some of the local vineyards and tasting a few wines.

Half a House

My environmentally friendly builders 4 wheel drive is always parked nearby.

This took 6 days to get to this stage, the next project is to fit the floor so we can lift the 1st floor up(that's what's in the white parcel on the right). This should be 'exciting..

Instant House Kit!

The frames were 'unpacked' and moved to their allocated position.
They are really heavy. so it was pull, push and grunt all the way.

At this stage I was feeling a bit concerned how I was going to put these up by myself but I had a plan - the plan was to buy a boat winch, which I got at the local el cheepo car accessory store.
It worked!! an electric model with a remote control that connected to the tow bar of my car.
It was like having 2 big fellows to help!

The pad

The concrete pad is completed, ready for the frames, which will be delivered tomorrow (Friday).

A surprise that I wasn't expecting, they were due later in the month, this means we are now ahead of schedule in the build!

Foundations

The building inspector passed the foundation formwork and site footings.

So today was concrete day, an early start, 7.00am, the sun rise was brilliant with a heavy frost on the ground, but with a frost you normally get a great day.

We weren't disappointed, the temperature got to about 17 degrees and a clear still day, (midwinter!) global warming?

The Avenue

Sometimes you need the help of some heavy machinery to get things done.

I did for a fleeting moment think I might be able to do it with some hire machinery but sense prevailed...

The Trenches

The trenches were dug, average of 2 meters depth, the cables and pipe laid and then filled in, never to be seen again, I hope!

Catchup

Have come to a halt in the construction, rain, hurricane force winds of 140km/h, so it's a great opportunity to catch up with the blog.

The trenches have been dug for the drainage, power and telephone, the drive has been constructed, together with the entrance so now there's no excuse for delays due to access.

The drive is looking good with the Almonds, Beech and Poplars that we have planted over the last couple of years, although I think we will remove the Poplars as they have a bad habit of sending out very long roots searching for water, bad mistake.

The concrete pad/foundation will be placed next week, I will need to wait for about two weeks before I can start building the frame.

I will post some pics of the progress later.

Onwards

On with the project...

I dug the foundations out for the concrete pad to be placed. It never ceases to amaze me how the dirt expands when you are digging a hole.

I think it worked out that I moved about 25 cubic meters of earth.

For a secure pad for the foundations to sit on, I had delivered 30 tonnes of metal base course (stones and sand) that's 3 big truck loads, it arrived on Friday my birthday, hurrah!

Had a very entertaining day spreading and leveling the site, I was a little tired, but still had the energy to celebrate. We both went out to a local bistro for dinner for 'the birthday' and the start of stage 1 of the build.

The food was brilliant, happy time, and like all 'responsible' adults, decided to walk home as we both had drunk a 'number' of relaxing wines.

The Grand Plan

We have decided to sell the current house as I need more space to be able to continue with the artistry, my painting technique can become a a bit untidy and I tend to fill the available space, so a dedicated area would be great.

The current house is in the corner of the plot (section), we will still have about 4700 square meters to use for the new construction.

The design will be in two stages, the barn which will house our bedroom, studio/office and living area (this will become a small gallery when stage 2 is completed), while the build of the main section of the house is completed.

The barn will give us a place to live while we sell the existing house, giving us the $'s to build stage 2.