Slab fixes (sort of) & plaster done

Plasterers "fixed" slab issues apparently as per SS, so I went & looked for myself and they must have only just left as it was still wet. As long as it's structurally fine as they assured me and it's just cosmetic I have to accept these repairs that will be covered with render in weeks to come anyway. They put steel at angel under one section and then filled it to satisfy our Inspector they said they normally wouldn't do this. 

The plasterers were meant to start on Friday. We had a sneak peak on Sunday morning and the entire house is done! Apparently they worked until 9pm Saturday night as per my neighbour; love my neighbourhood watch team. Time to deliver some thank you choc brownies again to them. 

Upstairs activity area

Upstairs master bedroom

Kitchen & dining room

I had to submit a building objection to council on Friday because our next door neighbours are developers dividing block next to us. Never done one before and feel bad but don't like the idea they are planting a tree agsinst our backyard fence that could grow to 12m high in their building plans. Hopefully they will move it to other side of their yard. Also they are building 2 town houses and building on boundary line in several areas with an underground car park which means a massive 3.4m deep crater will be dug 1.2m away from our new house. I'm nervous they are going to damage our slab when they dig the piers & excavate their site in the next few months. Will see what council have to say. 

Front door & review of other issues.

Forget guidelines or regulations, just do whatever suits you on a Sunday morning. That is until reality and the real world catch up with you. Site supervisor also had a laugh at placement to door lock and handle and agrees with my markings on door where lock and handle should be moved to. I'm happy to hear they have to replace the whole door now as it can't be patched up. Oops on their part. 

Sliding Door frames now all nailed correctly to abutting wall. 

Wall bracing not needed in bed 3 now, not sure why. 

Insulation finished being installed and told plasters will put last bit of insulation in under cooling heating unit; not sure if I trust this comment. 

Still need to follow up on

- Roof repairs where leak/light coming in

- roof finish edges on dining and alfresco

- hebel finish gaps in alfresco area

- air gap to be covered in sliding door in master ensuite

- missing noggin in dining room

- window/door corrections and replacements

- all toilet vent ducts should be in this afternoon

- Slab issues, meeting delayed until Tuesday (& it's now thrs & nothing)

Official Onsite inspection delayed until after plaster; apparently stairs and kitchen go in immediately after plaster. 

In a week or two house will look like real house inside. 

Hebel gap to be filled. 

Level issue of trusses, apparently now fixed. I think I have trust issues with my truss, didn't look fixed yesterday. 

Not how our slab should look, the frame should be level with slab but framer done a good job compensating for lack of slab. This is area which might need hebel frame fully repaired. 

I can fit half my forearm up this gap. Nice area for pests to live, this needs filling big time. 

Overall I'm happy with resolutions of issues so far, despite the stress roller coaster rides it's progressing well. Got a call from accounts department who were asking about lockup invoice; she agrees that for lockup to be complete one must have roof finished, and all windows and doors in, not just frames. So we happily wait before exchange of money happens and they reassured me this doesn't change or delay next stages at all. 

Still pre plaster & front door issue

Saw carpenter putting in front door lock today. The door handle seems a bit low but the lock is so high I have to stand on tippy toes to insert key - What Was He Thinking?????? I know I'm short but it's at the almost 2m height...

I said he will have to change it but he said he will leave it for now as he'd just finished. Seriously are they from another planet. 

Roof on alfresco now on but not yet finished at edges. 

Insulation finished in most areas. 

Couldn't see wet areas inside but can still see light in roof where I shouldn't. 

Some frame issues fixed and some told not to worry about as non structural. 

Toilet air vent pipes not installed yet. 

Sliding door frame pockets not nailed and when I told carpenter today he didn't even know about it despite me telling SS several times. 

Slab issues remain

Windows still not finished or replaced

I feel less angry but still annoyed with the lack of thought they have, no practical thoughts at all. 

Slab issues still here & carpentry issues getting there.

A few carpentry issues have been done. Yippee. They did our recessed cabinets at last. 

They've fixed some studs and noggins and have gone through shaving and adding things to walls to make them not bow once plaster on. 

My issue over rain was pacified by saying it was the wind that blew it in via windows, I disagreed but accepted I could be wrong. I now can see daylight through roof and know I am right, roof is leaking. 

Plumbing issues mostly fixed with all pipes (gas/water) secure and held in place nicely in roof and walls and siliconed at every entry point in stud or noggin. 

Slab issues remain. Unacceptable overhangs still not filled and gaps and holes need filling. Most issues around garage so there isn't such weight on it but it must be fixed to meet standards codes and hebel covering most of it up now. Hopefully slab supervisor can meet me on site to discuss issues ASAP. We are getting annoyed still not fixed. 

This weeks issues to chase up

- slab issues

- electrician return to wire bathrooms now recessed cabinets insitu

- roof leaking

- front door frame detached and leaning at 80degrees. 

- Front door detached and leaning

-  Sliding doors frame not all frame pockets nailed to abutting wall frame. 

- check why toilet external air vent pipes not installed yet in every toilet. 

-  Stegbar to fix all windows doors and sliding doors

- framer - Lounge Sliding door frame one frame pocket not nailed to abutting wall frame. Study - broken frame above doorway. Upstairs activity area noggin broken.  Bed 3 - west wall bracing has been removed and not reinstalled.  Master suite - entrance gaps near cavity door not closed off on floor/roof where external air flow will come through cavity door area. 

  

-  Insulation - various gaps need filling and needs installation under heating/cooling units in upper foyer area prior to plastering. 

- we want to do a sweep of internal wall areas so mess not hidden by plasterers. 

Pre plaster things continue - a big rant

Hmm, I've been pacified re issues but I will believe it is all fixed when I see it for my own eyes. 

Scaffolding down, this means render complete to upper floors, eaves, gutters complete. 

Windows not yet properly glazed and finished installing all windows/frames. Stegbar due out next week to finish the job and I've been told fix the sagging sliding doors. 

Apparently an apprentice was helping our internal carpenter and didn't do good job, he's no longer employed. So, our frame issues remain. Heard several times already they are coming ##day to fix it...blah blah blah. Plaster delayed again till next Friday. 

 Here's what I've learnt. Every trade is a contractor. They do their job and leave. If they do a bad job then it takes time to get them back because it means they're already on other jobs and it means they loose money by returning to fix issues or jobs. They are all "under the pump" to finish jobs. My thinking is, who cares how many jobs they have. Do a good job the first time like you are being PAID to do and you don't loose money by coming back to a finished job that was done shit. I WILL notice and yes I will continue to remind you it needs fixing despite it only been a minor and non structural issue and not vital in "your" opinion but still set out in Australian standards codes as unacceptable and you say it can be corrected in next stage. Seriously didn't your mother teach you to do it right the first time or yes I will ask you to do it again and again until you get it right. 

Oh just because you said you'd fix it doesn't mean it will be done, & if frame goes up and concreter will come and fill it but doesn't and then hebel guys come and cover up issue so I can't see it anymore; YES I still know it's not done and yes you still have to fix it even if yes they have to take hebel off again. Do it right the first time people. 

Ok rant over. I'm a perfectionist and don't like others not doing it right. I'm tired from stressing over it and lack of sleep. SS says leave the stress to me - as if I can leave you in control, youre so busy with other jobs and I don't trust you to remember it all. 

Ooh I think I need sleep and might have to edit this later!

Delays pre plaster

Our internal chippy has got some illness so he can't work at the moment so it's delayed our plaster now by 3 weeks so far as they still haven't fixed internal carpentry issues. Really getting annoyed now as delays continue despite SS pushing to have plaster start. He is meant to be my advocate in getting walls right before plaster hides all the errors but it feels like I am reminding him what needs doing. 

Anyway most of hebel finished and render almost finished. Scaffolding was meant to come down Friday but still there & should be down tue. 

We got lockup invoice but they haven't put dining room roof on and windows aren't complete so reminded them that I won't be paying until they are actually at lockup stage. SS apologized for forgetting that and all agree not at lockup yet. 

Bumped into concreter fixing some concrete stuff onsite, I just went back and he only fixed one issue and left the others. 

After the big storm pools of water in guest room, kitchen area and upstairs activity area - proof they are NOT at lockup stage and possibly damaging plaster sitting in floor. 

Sliding door looks like it's in an angle with bow in it

A nogging floating in air...

Here's my reminder lists (excluding plumbing reminders) 

Hebel half done & police visit

Lower hebel completePrivate inspector doing his check. Lots of walls not finished perfectly yet, Bow's in walls, few missing noggins, they were replacing a failed truss and various other things not yet finished or not yet done to standard. Why oh why did supervisor want my lock up inspection done then if he wasn't ready?  Hopefully the framer and lockup carpenter will fix it all soon. Plaster delayed now till thrs next week and a good thing as too much to do before then. 

Plumbers still have to come back and fix pipes. 

Electrician still completing things. 

Windows not yet finished in some areas. 

Range hood and oven marked in wrong spot, lucky I knew my kitchen culture plans very precisely and noticed. 

Recessed cabinets still not done. 

Fan vents need installing. 

Insulation was due to be done tue/wed. BUT last night Neighbour called to say at 930pm fri night in pitch black and bucketing rain there were people with torches in house and a trailer outside with stuff in it. Supervisor said no one meant to be there so I go to site and call police. I didn't feel safe to go in and see who was there as construction site theft common and I thought that's what was going on. Police were great, quick and didn't seem to mind it wasn't as burglars.  Better to be safe than sorry, rather than go into house unsure how many inside and what they're doing. Turns out it's insulation guys installing ahead of time. Supervisor really annoyed as not meant to come till next week. I got their details and I feel bad for them but they are going to be fired on Monday. He said this is not how PD operate and trades shouldn't be coming on site after 9pm and ahead of schedule. Unsure how this will effect fixes to frame and electrical and plumbing as most of installation installed. Love our neighborhood watch; nothing passes my Neighbour. 

Walls still not flush

Door not yet secured and is bowed in middle. 

View from Alfresco into dining room

Windows in & hebel started today

They started early onsite today with dozens of tradies doing stuff. 

- Lots of Hebel people there putting up brackets for hebel panels and our first bits of wall are on. Ground floor will take 4 days & upper level once scaffolding in place takes 5 days. 

- Most windows are in. Horrid glass glazing found on bathroom and upstairs bedroom which needed privacy glazing. They ordered wrong type and it's patterned and there is no way it's staying. Thank goodness out BC said not to worry will get correct glaze done as it's easily changed once installed (even though ours Double glazed) it's just like doing a broken window. 

- framer has corrected some of the frame issues that were still pending (unsure if all done, our inspector will check this on thrs) 

- electrical wiring started, at least I hope they're coming back as I see some power points and cabling still not there. Also discovered he had old plans, advised him of corrections and he seemed fine with it. 

- plumbing looks good, just have to move one drain to align to sink. 

- main roof now sealed/finished and solar hot water panels insitu & so is evaporative cooling unit. Now roof should be water tight. I hope as plaster starts Monday. 

- cooling heating units and vents and temperature panels in right spots

- sliding doors mostly in and oh how I wish we'd notice how narrow garage back door was. 

- insulation ready to be installed, soundscreen all there too so nice to know all correct types there as asked/paid for. 

Our site supervisor is lovely and I really do hope we keep him for whole of build. 

Now for some photos 

Some building a Sandringham house have wondered what closed stairs will look like, be creative with imagination & this might help you. (Photos taken at 8pm, ie poor light)

Outside front door

Leaning against front door inside house, plenty of room past stairs

Standing next to base of stairs and door to under stairs will be on my right, again plenty of space. 

Standing at back window looking to front door. 

Panoramic pic of back living and kitchen area. 

Big fridge space which will have shelf above it. 

Review of our changes to standard plan & extras we did or wished we did

Thought I would add this here as someone asked on Homeone forum and it could be useful to others building a Sandringham 45 with PD (or any build really).
List is random and not in order:

• Smoke alarms on own circuit, we did this because we plan of putting lights on a timer & all will turn off at certain times.
• Moved heating and cooling vents in downstairs open area so not so close to each other over kitchen bench.
• MAKE kitchen window as BIG as you can. we did 600mm*3m. looks great so far in the frame. We missed that it wasn't centered in the area but can live with that as wont be noticeable once kitchen in use.
• I would get rid of the double opening doors in master bedroom downstairs and upstairs and just do one big one which makes location of the lights switch easier to decide on.
• Glad we added sliding doors to entrance to ensuites and WIR areas, laundry and TV/kids rumpus room downstairs
• Close off study feature openings so more bookshelf area and better concentration zone
• PD doing our fireplace rather than doing post handover, one less drama
• Make sure you get Sliding robe heights increased to 2400 (or 2340) and wasted space otherwise
• I would get wider sliding cavity doors on all rooms.
• We love the upstairs master bedroom option
• We lowered the pitch of the roof on our added alfresco and dining rooms which then allows us to have much bigger windows in upstairs bedrooms at rear 
• Custom dining room was an enclosed alfresco (see our plans to understand)
• R1.6 Soundscreen insulation between upper and lower floors (for sandringham 45) cost us $2490
• Also did R2 soundscreen insulation in internal walls where possible.
• Double glazing on every single window possible, note that the upstairs front windows can't be double glazed because of the design of windows its too long and corner window Stegbar can't do them. Laundry door and front panel of glass at front door also not double glazed as stegbar cant do.
• 600mm eaves to roof looks much better than nothing there and also protects render and stops a lot of rain on house or in windows. 
• We did awning windows for entire house so windows can be open even if its raining outside and im not home to shut. Also make sure all windows are centered in the room (stuff the look of outside in my opinion).
• Bedroom 4 window had to be glazed because of overlooking issues so we increased the window to 12*27 & apparently after handover and council signed off on build we can replace window if we want (i know we wont though). 
• Depending on orientation of your house i would add window to bed 2 and bed 3 on the side of house (we didn't)
• Add a sink to the WC upstairs, why anyone wouldn't want a sink with toilet is odd, we also moved the location of toilet, see our plans on blog.
• We reduced size of WIR in guest master room downstairs so we could have another cloak closet in hallway
• Door into garage/hallway.
• I so wish I had increased the door from garage to back garden in width, didn't notice its only 820.
• Increase ceiling heights downstairs and upstairs.
• Increase door heights downstairs (didn't bother upstairs)
• Top opening awning windows in family area not standard awning opening
• We made lounge/tv room doors into a window instead.
• Increased size of kids bath
• Sliding Robe doors we made them the mirrored type instead of standard (makes room feel bigger & brighter and now i don't have to buy mirrors)
• Showerscreens grange inline semi frameless instead of standard
• master ensuite shower screen removed and just doing a panel of glass This actually SAVED us money not added it!! Took them until after Contract to finalise price despite asking pre tender. Good decision to take a gamble and do it.
• Enclosed stairs and made door for storage, only just noticed they aren't putting any flooring on it so it will be concrete in there unless the floor people have some off cuts of flooring i can use and DIY after handover.
• Niches in showers all added, large one for upstairs master ensuite
• Kitchen we went all out as this is the center of our home 110% as we entertain a lot (hence the huage dining room as extension to kitchen too)
• Island bench 4m long, the stone will have a join mark somewhere on it
• Cupboards on bar stool side a must for craft and cookbook and random storage.
• We have double of everything and lots and lots of storage; extended the entire kitchen 2m more to fit more in. 
• Fridge moved into kitchen area and not in WIP area, that will be shelved and they said they are adjustable.
• water tap in fridge area added for modern fridge with water/ice (this will be on the for the future budget list)
• Got an heating outlet in master bedroom ensuite too, yippee warm bathroom.
• Fireplace very excited about as its such a luxury item I never thought I'd have
• Stairs we did traditional option 4 but all that said i still don't know what it will really look like!
• Carpet on stairs we decide for, unsure if its a runner or full stairs anymore
• Top grade underlay of carpet to also help reduce noise and increase comfort of carpets
• Tiles about vanity height in ALL toilets (4 boys in house equals lots of foulness that's easier to clean with tiles)
• Artesan Laminate flooring, hard like tiles but less noisy in open areas. We really didn't want the noise bouncing off tiles and glass walls making it unbearable when house is full.
• Setback of house we asked council for 8m instead of 9m, got approved = very happy me = 1m more in back garden.
• Happy we did Evaporative cooling as I dont think a/c really needed in Melbourne if house orientation good and insulation best possible and window design thought about, as well as, adding good sized eaves too. I hope we get good passive airflow. One thing I might have done was do prewire for fans in rooms as I may not be able to get that done post handover or get  electrician to do us a favour onsite and lay wire unconnected.
• Water tank, happy we have it but unsure its in best location for us as planning veggie patch in front garden not the back.
• We got hot and cold capped water points out the back on wall so i can put a future outdoor shower so kids dont need to go into house after swim to warm up.
• PD dont waterproof the entire floor of wet areas and only do bath shower area, we are waiting for our variation form to come back for price but if you happy to trust your tiles and grout to waterproof the area for you dont waste your money. Our kids flood our floor daily so I am getting this done.

Ok thats it for now. 

Will drive passed site this afternoon to see if anyone on site doing anything.

Getting ready for hebel

Hebel preparation started. Will start one day next week. Apparently if slab ledge not square or adequate they don't worry at all as hebel is screwed to frame and not 100% dependent on slab like bricks. They just add extra brackets; I don't truly understand but it was the Hebel guy who said all this. 

Our slab hasn't been fixed yet but supervisor waiting for steel bracing order to fix overhang of steel beam in alfresco area. He said PD engineers happy to putty it but to satisfy our independent inspector he will steel brace it. I'm very happy we have private inspector to keep them to a high standard. 

I've read many blogs and keep up to date with online chat groups on homeone forum. A great one is this one and I've just read a fantastic blog entry of his and recommend anyone to read it. 

http://bendigowaldorf.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/guide-to-building-home.html?m=1

Plumbing in already. 

Hebel next week will go up over a few days. 

Electrician will start too. 

Unsure when insulation starts but the lockup carpenter has to make all modifications to frame still required. Building coordinator still doesn't have report from 2nd inspection for frame. But I know the frame for our recessed shaving cabinets haven't been done, nor have the noggins we requested been done. Hopefully I am allowed onsite this week to see updated frame. 

Also looking into waterproofing wet areas as just discovered they only waterproof shower bath and sink area, not floors in those areas. Unsure if this is normal or required?

Also our water meter fixed again but our original tap point is covered now by dirt rock hard, under if SS aware, another thing to point out next week. 

Solar hot water pipes insitu.