Between the showers... another view and another slab

Ok, perhaps I was overly optimistic about the publishing schedule. Things are starting to focus on smaller and smaller details now, which don't lend themselves to (interesting) photographic journaling. Part of that focus is also due to the regular wet weather, which stops bigger things from happening...

One of the remaining main-level windows finally arrived, providing a really nice view from the back of the house onto the (eventually magnificent) garden. (I'm not sure how to make the garden magnificent, but we can dream... Suggestions welcome!)



The window itself is a beautiful circular design, double glazed, timber framed, which will be a real feature of the house. The outside of the circle will be completely bricked in, so you will only see the circle from inside, and outside, and not the framing.




Oh, and it opens too... but only to a set limit a bit wider than shown, to avoid you hurting yourself.



Inside the plaster sheeting is starting to go up, in places where the rain doesn't get to. Also, the radiant heating system is being reattached before the plaster goes underneath, and the insulation goes above. Makes it easier for the electricians, who then don't have to climb inside the roof space anymore than absolutely necessary. Of course, this is just shifting the monkey work onto the guys installing the insulation..



They have also installed about a kilometer of data cabling (Cat7 for the enthusiasts) to all of the data ports throughout the house, back to the little IT room being built into this odd but really useful corner of the house. That room also has all of the temperature sensors and switching wires for the ceiling heating, and will have the external phone/data line come in there.



Some of the internal brick walls have been rendered now, hiding the less attractive brickwork. The render isn't dry yet (what is?!) so the texture effect won't be so stark. It'll also be painted some colour. To be honest, I can't recall what colours we picked. I'm sure it'll be a pleasant surprise when it happens.



One amazingly sunny morning (actually, a normal Canberra winter's morning), an odd dragon suddenly appeared in our front yard, and stretched itself out...



One of the larger concrete pumping trucks in Canberra (a 5-stage unit!) dropped by to move a small amount of concrete (two large truckloads, 11 cubic metres) from the front yard onto our courtyard slab formwork. You can comfortably walk under its support legs, and it has no trouble parking at any of the nearby neighbours and reaching to our house...



A large team of good helpers then helped to make the slab have the right fall from the house to the edge (a 1% slope, for those still reading).



And the end result is another lovely slab, and as usual it's wet. This will be the last house slab, if you don't count the driveway which will happen some later day. The (dry) colour is 'pollen' which is one of the ninety-seven shades of 'kinda yellowy-offwhite' that most blokes can't tell apart...




This makes it a real courtyard again at last. Keep in mind that our old courtyard vanished into a truck just five months ago, and this one has a new extension alongside it and a rainwater tank (floating, sigh) underneath it.

The house has reached another crucial stage. Both our architect and our builder are now prepared to publicly admit this is their work!



We'll see if those signs stay there...

Other work over the last couple of weeks includes a large amount of guttering and eaves and a lot of plumbing for the various kinds of water running around the house (white, grey, black and rain), plus insulation in some parts of the house. Not particularly compelling pictures though, but if people want them, leave a comment.