melissapardoe

A lot has happened (finally). December was HUGE…

So much has happened in December – it’s looking like a house!

Cladding install isn’t bushfire compliant

We were really happy with the way the cladding was looking, but as I’ve mentioned before we were a little worried about having colorbond flashings. Turns out that the plumber didn’t think that was a problem, because he WASN’T ADDING any more. The maxline panels clip onto plates that have a removable foam covering onContinue reading “Cladding install isn’t bushfire compliant”

Batteries

Finally got round to adding to the Offgrid Technical section with a write up on batteries – capacity, lithium versus lead acid. Batteries…. I was feeling good about the house finally making progress, so took the time to start writing down our research…. Finished it, because I was depressed. I guess I’ll add that postContinue reading “Batteries”

The cladding has started

It’s been a big week – the plumbers turned up and started cladding on Wednesday! Fantastic – we should absolutely be at lockup by Xmas! And we installed the slab for the backup generator and the poles for the automatic gate system. I can’t believe I’m excited by that. At the beginning of the year,Continue reading “The cladding has started”

The house is (mostly) insulated – pink & fluffy

Despite the cladding and flashing not being installed, the builders went ahead and installed the insulation. R4.1 Pink batts to the ceiling, and R2.7 pink sound shield to the walls. This level of insulation gave us a 7.5 star house, so we decided that spending more money to upgrade it to a higher level justContinue reading “The house is (mostly) insulated – pink & fluffy”

Nexteel vs Colorbond…. More delay!

We chose to clad the house in Maxline using Nexteel, a rival paint system to the ubiquitous Colorbond. We thought Colorbond Night Sky was too harsh against second hand bricks, and while Monument looked good, in some lights it has a real greenish tinge, which we don’t like. We did the shed in night sky,Continue reading “Nexteel vs Colorbond…. More delay!”

And still we wait – our fingers are crossed just a little more tightly

Just been notified that we’re back to the original building supervisor who was swapped out because he was too busy to manage the build. The new building supervisor has just been laid off – financial pressures. Quite worrying when you hear of so many companies going under. We’re assured that it will be all OK,Continue reading “And still we wait – our fingers are crossed just a little more tightly”

Crashing through the bush

We camped out at the block the night before the septic guys came (since we had an early start), and were startled by something crashing through the bush, making a helluva racket. By the time I got my phone, he’d climbed part way up a tree and was bellowing. Looks a little demonic.

Septic Tank & Sand Filter – Valley Septic are legends

To get approval for the house we had to get a Land Capability Assessment (LCA) done – a survey done by an engineer including soil samples to determine what type of water treatment is required, and what the water distribution field should look like – size and method. The engineer who did our LCA determinedContinue reading “Septic Tank & Sand Filter – Valley Septic are legends”

The Brickies are finished – finally

So about 4 months after the house was ready for them, the brickies finally finished their part of the build. They came randomly for about a month doing a little bit here and there, using rainwater collected from the shed roof into an ex-honey containing IBC (hopefully the mortar won’t attract ants!) and our petrolContinue reading “The Brickies are finished – finally”