Drywall

The building inspector has passed the internal framing and plumbing so it's full steam ahead on fixing the Gib (drywall) a tricky little job as some of the sheets are 6 meters long!

We are doing the walls first then its the ceiling (not looking forward to that job).

I have installed my little stereo so I can listen to some music while I work and not the radio which only has wall to wall gloom a doom on the economy - have also stopped watching the TV news.

Maybe I'm sticking my head in the sand but it looks as though the only organisations that are enjoying themselves, is the the media who are wallowing in a sea of bad news.

We are about to help the retail sector, we have now decided on the audio/home theater system we are going to buy.

It's incredible the ammount of cable tha a modern house has excluding the power supply, media, audio, coaxial, hdmi and some very expensive fibre (Mrs DIY dosen't know about the last one!)

Banking Final

At last I have been able to speak to a real person at the bank, a nice lady called Robyn, who was able to resolve the challenges I was having with my stolen card (identity?).
This event has been a real lesson in keeping your card info safe, and making sure you record every contact you have with your bank, mine is now verging on paranoia.

Probably a good thing...

Insulation

The horrible job of installing the fibre glass batts is now underway with Mrs DIY aka the 'bat lady' all covered up to stop the sharp fibre from getting at any exposed skin (itchy!).

When this is completed we can get the building inspector to give the OK to start putting up the drywall, this really means we are at last getting near the finish of the build.

Bankers...

The drama goes on with MasterCard (See Oct 2008) they still cannot answer my letters (5) and phone calls (about 6) on why I'm still being charged for some crook who is using my credit card around the world.
I've just received a dispute form re the disputed items, this is the 3rd time I've done this, maybe 3rd time lucky!
What a bunch of incompetent nits, maybe they need to be awarded the order of the bin liner!

Update

The build is progressing quite well at the moment, with all the external doors and windows fitted, so I can now lock up the building, this means I don't need to put my tools away in the container.
This little exercise usually took about half an hour, which was a real drag at the end of the day.
The roof spouting is fitted so any rain now gets diverted.
We should be able to start the internal lining by the end of next week - this will be another milestone.
Had last Saturday off... my aunts 100th birthday! had a little party at the retirement home, she got her message from the Queen congratulating her on reaching 100, my sister had come over from Perth, it was quite fun with all the residence joinng in (really just sitting there and eating BD cake).
So as well as sis seeing M & F and the Birthday party she was able to check on the building progress personally, great to see her and PJ (husband).

More

The roof is done together with all the doors with the exception of one sliding panel.
This has been promised for Monday, again!
It a relief to know that I don't have to be working high off the ground, I know I will need to do some final touches but they are minor projects compared to the last effort.

The Doors (Not Jim Morrison)

By popular demand I have included the antique french doors, that we have been restoring, they are almost 3 meters tall and weigh a ton.

They still need some more work on them and a lot more wax and elbow grease - wax on, wax off!

The sitting-room area has been turned into a builders workshop, Oscar has just rescued some poor defenceless plastic bag and now expects a biscuit.

Design Feature

As we have gone as far as we can go until the doors are delivered - promised tomorrow which is a local holiday! so don't expect them until the middle of the week.
To fill in time we have been repairing (restoring) our very old antique doors and sanding back the old railway sleeper that we will be using as a mantelpiece.
Dust and more dust the whole site was coated, little red eyes but the doors are now looking great.
I had to make some major repairs to the jambs replacing damaged and termite eaten timber, we have oiled and waxed the timber to get it back it's natural patina.

Slow Progress

Although I have been working full time there doesn't seem to be much visible progress, the cladding has gone as far as it can, until the doors are fitted this task cannot be ticked off.
The cladding gets nailed at 150mm centers so it's a bit of a challenge to make sure you dont stick a nail through a power cable or water pipe.
To date I have managed to spear one water pipe and one cable, luckily no power or water was connected so was able to repair quite easily, I getting a bit paranoid about doing it agian and have drawn a layout of the cables and pipes on the outside walls.

Progress

The roof is now on, we only have a few tidy-up things to have it complete - what a mission.

I would not have been able to do it without Mrs DIY who overcame her fear of heights.

We were able to get the new kitchen working for Xmas Day, so we were able to cook the turkey, it was a little like camping but it was better than cooking on the BBQ.

Although all the windows are in, we have only one of the big doors installed, this was a exciting event, after the joinery company fitted it, we were standing discussing the locking system and the middle section fell out! gulp!!

Luckily no breakage, only a bent steel bracket (the fixers hadn't tightened it correctly)