As I should have anticipated I was required to address some further matters for Council. My eaves gutter was too close to the boundary on one small section. The house was more than the required distance from the boundary and the eaves gutter complied with the BCA setbacks but not with Shoalhaven Council’s own LEP. The total distance I was out was 225mm. So this issue was resolved by moving the whole house over by 100mm, shortening the eave by 100mm and putting a 25mm smaller gutter on.
Secondly I had to put all my BASIX information on the plan. I had misunderstood the requirements on the BASIX certificate where it indicated that certain matters needed to go on the plan that this included the specification. This matter was also easily solved by adding a number of extra notes on my landscape plan which now became my “Landscape and BASIX Plan”.
Unsurprisingly the third requirement was to provide more information to show that the hemp lime walls complied with the performance requirements of the Building Code of Australia. I was a little worried about this, but this was solved by a quick e-mail to Klara Marosszeky from the Australian Hemp Masonry Company, who I am sourcing my hemp and binder from. Klara promptly sent me a copy of the report prepared by the UNSW Centre for Construction Innovation and her Hemp Lime Construction Manual. This information previously satisfied Lismore Council, so I sent it off to Shoalhaven Council.
On a beautiful warm late spring weekend we headed back down to Culburra to meet up with Nowra builder, Glen Roulstone, who will be providing us with some advice and assistance with the build. Unsure how to find a local builder willing and able to assist an owner builder, we put an add in the local paper and Glen fitted our requirements.
The weekend provided excellent swimming, further confirming why we had chosen to build at Culburra, and as a bonus two whales and a calf put on a spectacular show tail slapping and fin waving just off Culburra Beach. It was as if the whales were having as much fun in the water as we were.
Back on the building front preparation continued, obtaining window quotes, frame quotes and roofing quotes.
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