Rain and mud, but timber stacked

Heavy rain mid way through last week turned our building pad into a giant mud pie, resembling the Somme more than the south coast. This has delayed the removal of the remaining tree stumps and the commencement of the concreting.

One of the benefits of the block was that it had two accesses, one down the battle axe driveway and the other from a back lane. However, there was still half a truck load of timber in front of the back gate and our concreter was wanting to make use of the back lane access.

Blocked gate

We put in a weekend of work and cleared the access to the back gate, stacking up a large pile of timber to use in the build. We did not quite clear all the timber, but another day of work will finish the job.

Clear gate

Status of the site

Preparation, Excavation and a Semi load of timber

Tuesday the surveyor pegged out the building. A slightly more difficult job than normal due to the odd shape of the building.

Friday the excavator arrived and began to cut and level the building site. Unfortunately he could not finish Friday as some large tree roots were found that needed a larger machine to remove them. Hopefully he will be able to finish on Monday. Another unfortunate surprise was the concrete foundations for a wall around the old pool. The excavator easily removed them, but they now need to be disposed of.

Removing the grass

Unexpected concrete

Checking the levels

Almost done

 Tuesday afternoon also saw a semi trailer load of recycled timber arrive. It was unloaded in my absence so I got quite a shock when I saw it. I bought the timber on e-bay for $10 (transport cost an extra $120) as I wanted the OSB for formwork for my hemp masonry walls and a little bit of pine would also be useful for forming up the walls. But I think I have more pine than I need. At least I am making good use of a product that would otherwise be thrown out.

A semi load of timber

A lot of timber

I asked them to unload it at the back of the block, near the garage but away from the survey pegs. Unfortunately I arrived on site Thursday night and saw one of the pegs surrounded by timber. I started work moving, sorting and stacking the timber, working to 10pm and starting again the following morning at 6.30am. Working throughout the day I moved enough timber to access the, previously surrounded, peg and allow the excavator to clear and cut the site. By half way through Saturday I had moved about 1/3 of the timber.

Before

After

Stacked pine

Stacked OSB

Ready to Start Building

During the week the Development Consent and Construction Certificate paperwork arrived from council confirming that I really do have approval and  to start the work I faxed my "Notice of Commencement of Building" off to Council giving them the required two days prior notice to commencing building work. I have appointed Council as my Principal Certifying Authority. I was not sure how a private certifier would go with the hemp masonry walls. At least with Council I have already provided them with all the information and reports on the hemp walling.

In the week since I got Council approval, I managed to organise the surveyor, excavator, concreter and plumber. The surveyor will be on site tomorrow to do the building set out. The excavator will arrive Thursday or Friday to cut, level and prepare the site. The concreters will be on site next Monday to start and my plumber is able to work in with the concreters timing.

The only thing I was not able to organise was the trenching for the power and water. My excavator was booked up, but was able to rearrange a job to fit me in so that the site would be ready for the concreters. Since the long trench beside the battle axe driveway to for power and water was not as urgent I will have to organise it to be done another day when my excavator is available and I can hopefully line it up with my plumber and electrician connecting the power.

To add to a busy week I bought two toilets and a bath. This way I can give accurate set out distances to the plumber. I found the products and prices on e-Bay. The products were "Buy it now" and "pick up only." The bath was a better price at another seller, but I phoned up Tiles and Bathroom World at Granville where I was buying the toilets and they agreed to match the price on the bath, saving me a trip to another supplier, and I was able to buy all the items from their shop. All three items only just fitted in the car and I brought them home and added them to my collection of the two bathroom vanity units and sinks and a bathroom mirror that I had purchased from Ikea earlier. The Ikea items are flat packed, but the bath and two wall faced toilet suites are taking up quite a bit of room. 

I have also organised Owner Builder Construction and Liability Insurance with QBE through insurance brokers FD Beck. Their policy was the easiest to read, gave the best cover and best price of the three different owner builder insurance quotes I got.

Over the Easter weekend I secured the site and erected my owner builder sign. Thankfully all I needed to do this was a front gate across the driveway - the solution definitely has the look of a building site. My Easter weekend was also spent cutting back the vegetation that had regrown along the fence line and clearing enough of the vegetation beside the driveway to allow the fence to swing open.

Along with the work we also enjoyed a hot summery beach day at Culburra's Tilbury Cove on Good Friday and a pleasant walk from Honeymoon Bay to the deserted Silica Cove for a picnic lunch on Easter Sunday. Some chocolate eggs were also found amongst the long grass at the block.

Silica Cove, Jervis Bay