"Minafon" - week 7, Wednesday

Troubles getting the blog out tonight  - got the computer back this afternoon supposedly fixed but have no e-mails, canon utilities won't work, can't get my music program again, office not working "invalid"............... If anyone from Microsoft  gets to read this blog, may they know their Windows 7 program is just dysfunctional rubbish - at least that's the public description!! Do I sound totally frustrated and annoyed???????

Back to the house which thankfully is going very well. Just popped over this afternoon to take some photos and hopefully be able to do the blog but........ - aircon guys have been busy and all the electrical and plumbing for the three units is in. The plumber has finished everything for the bathrooms, laundry and external plus gas lines for kitchen. All good.

Solar power people are due next Tuesday to do all the wiring for the solar panels. I did some research via the tablet and phone today re the possible use of solar lights instead of the skylight(s) and have come to the conclusion that we will have neither. Reason being that we already have LED lights in the laundry, hallway and kitchen (the possible locations for skylights or solar lights) and the electrician advised that you can just have those on all day if you wish for virtually no running cost and well below the cost ($800+) of installing either skylights or solar lights - and we will have 10 solar panels on the roof powering them all day anyway. Made sense to me.
Will do another update (hopefully with photos!!!) when the doors go in which we reckon will be a highlight - hopefully this week.

study with aircon and electricals wiring, plumbing

gyprock ready for installation

the "utilitarian" western side of the house - aircon, gas, plumbing, hot water etc

"Minafon" - week 7, Tuesday

No pics to accompany the blog today for two reasons - windows7 crashed again so PC is back in the repair shop and there was not much to take photos of anyway today in spite of the place swarming with workmen. Just LOVE windows 7 !!!!!!!!

Plumbers everywhere inserting copper piping and also the air-conditioning guys in the ceiling and under the floors running their pipes everywhere as well. Plus gyprock and deck ceiling lining was being delivered and all placed in the kitchen area so when we were over there it was a bit crazy!

In the process of getting quotes for the supply and transportation of the grass pavers which we are going to use for the driveway. Also chosen the colour for the garage panel-lift door and the storeroom rollerdoor as they had to be ordered as well.

Trying to get some information on solar powered led lights which we might install instead of the skylights originally planned. They operate from a solar panel and basically provide internal light in daylite hours instead of having a skylight e.g.laundry and perhaps kitchen. Could be worth investigating so we'll see what happens.

More action anticipated later in the week with doors, cladding and internal lining so more updates then - hopefully via the PC and with pictures!

"Minafon" - week 6, Saturday

Took a ride over today to check on the plumbing and wiring just to make sure everything was going in where we want. All good. Steve had been very busy yesterday stapling all the insulation onto the external frame, putting in the bath, doing the bulkheads in the main bedroom, doing all the cut-out bits for soap-holders, shaving cabinets etc. Took Russell and Deb our neighbours from 2 houses up for a walk through. Oh, and we even have our solar hot water panels and "whirly birds" on the roof! Big jobs next week are timber door/louvre assemblies get installed by Graham and the external cladding gets done "if it arrives on time" -not much can hold up the process now!

We even have a bath!!

View out from TV/Library with fireplace to go between doors

Deck towards our bedroom/ensuite

"Minafon" - week 6, Thursday

Back again!!! After having computer away for a week to be re-loaded with windows and then spending 3 hours re-loading canon utility and finally getting back into the blog site (grrrrrr) - we're back!  I hate technology.

So what's been happening? As you can see from the pics, the roof is now on and the windows are all in. We met with David the electrician yesterday and did the walk-through to identify where all the power-points, switches, lights etc are to be located. Also met with Matt the air-conditioning guy to do the same with the air-con outlets. In the afternoon we met with Steve and Scott (builders) to sort out locations for towel-rails, vanity units etc. Busy times. And also met with paint shop yesterday to finalise internal colours!!

Electricians and plumbers will take over for the next few days and then the doors go in next week. Builders then return to start the external cladding and internal (gyprock) lining. Current estimate is to be finished around the end of October.......and we still think that building is fun!!!

louvres and casement windows and fixed garage windows installed

roof now complete

"Minafon" week 5 Friday

Sorry folks - there will be bit of a break as the PC  software has decided to go on the blink and will presumably be in for repair for  a few days. The joys of windows 7!!!
 No photos today which is a shame as the roof went on today and looks great.

Hope to be able to update next week sometime!

"Minafon" - week 5, Tuesday

Not  a lot to report today - cyclone bolts went in yesterday and today the fascia, guttering and roof channel sheeting went in. Tomorrow the scaffolding goes up for the roof installation but there is a strong wind warning for the latter part of the week so if that occurs, they can't do the roof and it would have to wait until next week.

Interesting reading the real estate article in Saturday's "Australian" paper. Referring to Brisbane, the article said that "people are being attracted to the riverfront, larger land sizes and proximity to the CBD.....the northern aspect over the river is attracting multi-million dollar sales" .....seems we have all of those attractions apart from the multi-million dollar sales!!!!  never mind.

not much change but fascia/guttering(and cyclone bolts) now added - colour is "ironstone" and roof will be "shale grey" (Colorbond)

"Minafon" - week 4, Wednesday

Only action on site today came from the pair of magpies who seem to be using bits of our house to make theirs!!  No further action anticipated until early next week when the roof/guttering gets under way.

"Now that should be handy for something"

"Minafon" - week 4, Tuesday

Roof trusses now almost complete and now the finishing off of frame & truss bracing is under way. Roof, guttering, fascia and insulation has been delivered and should all be done circa next Tuesday.

Spent a few hours today with the cabinet makers finalising bench tops, cupboards etc for study, bathroom, laundry and ensuite, kitchen lighting -  and hopefully it all looks terrific when in place!!

too late if we want  to change the colour of the roof! - it's all here

street view

hopefully the "P" doesn't refer to building qualifications!

"Minafon" - week 4 (!!!) Monday

Hard to believe that we're into week 4 of the build but equally hard to believe how much has been done in that 4 weeks!

Today the roof trusses started going up and Scott says they will be finished tomorrow, followed of course by the chanelling, guttering/fascia then the colorbond roof. Because we are 800mm off the ground and have higher than standard ceilings, we exceed the "workplace health and safety" heights for working on the roof so they have to scaffold around the outside of the roof! Incredible.

shaping up - starting to look more and more like a real house!