Final Approval

The final inspection on the house took place in late January and the Final Occupation Certificate came through in February. The Council inspector had no issue with the hemp walls or their finish. The final only outstanding issues following the inspection were providing a certificate in relation to the waterproofing and the confirmation that the drainage was carried out in accordance with the relevant standards. The certificates for these were easily provided and final approval came through.

The Occupation Certificate

On the same day as the final inspection, the measure up for the shower screen took place and a month later Alpine Glass came back and installed the semi frameless shower screen in the wave mosaic shower.

Shower with screen

Mosaic during construction

Although the house took longer to build than expected, it always seems to do so when you are owner building, I am pleased to have finished in the reasonable time frame of 2 1/2 years, considering that we were building on weekends 3 hours away from where we were living.

There are still a few minor things to finish, such as installing a piece of door trim I lost, putting the draft stopper on under the front door, a second coat of paint on the downpipes and installing the lawn edging, but these will get done slowly.

Meanwhile I get to keep building. I have made the fit out for the wardrobes from the recycled packing crate timber that had been sitting in the backyard for 2 1/2 years. I bought this timber for the formwork, from e-bay I got a semi trailer load of timber for $130 (including transport). The OSB was used for the formwork and the pine was stacked for later use.

Pine waiting to be reused

Thinner boards stacked

The timber had greyed and discoloured from being in the backyard. But a planer and a belt sander and a lot of time, brought it back to blond. The fit out is simple, but cost nothing but time and a box of batten screws, and it reused what would otherwise have been a waste product.

Wardrobe fit out

Third wardrobe fit out

The house was finished inside but with the front yard, which operates more like a back yard, covered in boards it still looked like a building site. Over Easter we prepared the yard for the turf by removing all the boards, removing the remaining weeds, levelling the yard and adding a layer of turf underlay (a mix of sand and composted chicken poo). The boards and plastic had been put down of the area we wanted to turf to kill the weeds.

The yard covered in boards

The week after Easter Sir Walter soft buffalo the turf arrived from Turfco in 1.5m long slabs. We installed a watering system under the lawn, linked up to the water tank, the lay out the lawn

Beautiful new lawn

In the instructions I have read turf needs to be rolled to flatten it to the ground and get rid of air gaps. I did not have a roller so improvised with some large pieces of hardwood attached to my feet. It was awkward, but walking back and forward I achieved the same result as if the lawn had been rolled. Rain over the previous week and a half had meant that the yard was waterlogged, stepping in certain places you would sink into the mud, but the hardwood rolling shoes got rid of these dips and flattened the lawn nicely. 

Lawn flattening shoes

Some finishing touches have been adding pictures to the wall. The pictures are Tenugi fabric and posters we got from our trip to Japan. I made the picture frames from Tassie Oak to match the door and window timber.

Gallery in the main room

Totoro and Koi pictures

Kafkaesque Trial of Council

Council required yet more engineering information on the hemp masonry walls. So we provided them with the information. Then on 13 December, just when I thought there was a faint hope that we might get Council approval before Christmas, the response from Council was that the information provided was fine, the report referred to the performance criteria of the BCA but the engineers report needed to actually "certify" that the hemp masonry walling complied with the performance criteria of the BCA, quote the deemed to satisfy provisions and how each had been addressed. All the relevant information has been provided to Council, it seems we now have to get a further engineers report that restates and rewords all the information to fit Council's requirements. Makes me feel a little bit like a character in a Franz Kafka novel. 
   
The frustrating thing is that Lismore and Eurobodalla Councils have approved the hemp masonry walls with the same information I provided Shoalhaven Council after the first requisition in relation to the walls. Now one additional engineers report more and they are still not satisfied. Hopefully a further report in the new year will finally satisfy Council and get us approval so we can start the actual process of building. The one saving grace is that Klara from the Australian Hemp Masonry Company has been most helpful in obtaining the necessary reports.

While I did not get Council Approval for Christmas I did get water! During the last month Council - but this time the water section - installed my water meter and a tap, and I saw it for the first time on Christmas Day. I was so excited to have water that I took a photo of the water meter. The first before it was used and the second after a brief run through showing the very neat reading of "0000000".

Councils, Engineers and Swimming Pools

Mid November I received another letter from Council, it was not good news. They were not satisfied with the information I had sent them about the hemp lime masonry walling, being a report from the Australian Centre for Construction Innovation at the University of New South Wales and a Construction Manual provided by Klara from the Australian Hemp Masonry Company. Not that the information of itself was insufficient, but the problem was that it did not specifically address the Building Code of Australia.

The letter from Council stated:-
"An examination of the recently submitted documentation does not provide sufficient evidence to support that the use of such material, form of construction or design meets a Performance Requirement of the Building Code of Australia (BCA). Where an alternative masonry walling system is proposed as an Alternative Solution the proposal must comply with:
a) Performance Requirement P2.1
b) The relevant Performance Requirements determined in accordance with Clause 1.0.10 of the BCA."

The Building Code of Australia (BCA) sets out the standards to which buildings must be constructed. The BCA sets out in detail the standards required for a number of common building practises. If your method of building method or material falls outside this you are able to utilise an "alternative solution" by showing that the alternative solution meets the "performance requirements" set out in the BCA.

My problem was that all the information that I provided to Council did not specifically refer to the BCA and state that it met the performance requirements. I thought that I could go through and reference all the research and studies on hemp building and show how this met each of the performance requirements. A further phone call to Council thwarted this idea as I was advised that evidence to support the use of a material or form of construction had to be in one of the forms set out in section 1.2.2 of the BCA. Essentially I needed an engineer or similar suitably qualified person to say that the material complies with the performance requirements of the BCA and to make specific reference to the BCA.

At this point I was feeling somewhat disheartened, and could either whinge and complain about how difficult it was to get things through Council or try any meet their requirements. The latter was my only real option, although the former might make me feel a bit better. With the assistance of Klara from the Australian Hemp Masonry Company I am hoping the Council will accept that the hemp masonry walling complies with the BCA.

Meanwhile, other work in preparation for the build continued. David and Garry from Cottier Consulting were engaged to do the concrete slab design. Things were slightly more difficult than usual as the house will have a polished concrete slab, has an unusually shaped footprint, as well as having the hemp walls. David seemed to have no problems working through this and discussed with Klara whether the hemp masonry walls were considered to be articulated or not for the purposes of the slab design.

A chance mention from a neighbour that there was once a swimming pool on the block of land was confirmed when Cottiers found rubble in some of the bore holes taken for the soil classification. At this point we did not know where the swimming pool had been or whether it was an above ground or in ground pool. On the suggestion of Cottier Consulting I put in a request to Council for information and copies of the DA or plans for the pool and any removal of it. A form was completed and faxed to Council, I did not even have to pay a fee, and a few weeks later a copy of a very brief one page DA and some 1970 plans for an in ground concrete swimming pool arrived. An in ground swimming pool!!!!! At least we now knew where it once was and what size it was. What we still don't fully know is how much of it is still there underground. Our soil was classified as P. I am told that this does not necessarily mean it is a problem, but the classification does have an effect of the slab design.

With completed design details and drawings for the slab I could now move on to getting quotes for the concrete slab. I am only hoping that all of these issues do not push up the cost of the concrete slab as I am on a tight budget.

Moonlight rainbow over the block of land. A beautiful sight to calm the soul. Perhaps the east facing deck, when built, will become my, Japanese inspired, moon viewing platform.

Plans to Council

 

Once hemp masonry became my first choice of wall material I contacted Shoalhaven Council to find out what information they needed. On the basis that the hemp masonry was non structural and the timber frame met the NSW Timber Framing Code the Council officers did not seem too concerned about my wall choice. None the less when I lodged my plans I included copies of the technical drawings and technical information parts from both “Build a House of Hemp” and “Hemp Lime Construction”. It has been almost two weeks since I lodged my plans and checking on the electronic DA tracking my DA seems to be progressing normally.

I applied for my DA and Construction Certificate in the one application. As I had nominated Council to be me certifier I paid for my Occupation Certificate at the same time as my application, the application fee at $1,800 was higher than expected. Plus I still had to make my contribution toward the Long Service Levy, although I was applying for a partial exemption.

 As I was at my block supervising the removal of some trees I lodged my DA at Council in person, something that had been recommended in my owner builder course, so as not to delay things if your documentation. This was a good choice as, although my documents were all in order, I was required to fill in an extra Jervis Bay Environmental Plan form that referred to a number of maps, located on the wall adjacent to the lodgement counter, but not available on the internet or elsewhere.

In addition I paid my $110 and picked up my beautiful blue wooden peg to put in the ground where I wanted my water metre to go in.

Unfortunately, I had to have three trees removed to get the electricity on. But the boys from CT Tree Services arrived at 8am with a 60ft cherry picker, and after a period of assessment moved into a smooth deconstruction of the trees branch by branch. By the end of the day the trees were gone and by lunch the following day so were the stumps.