The rendering of the internal walls is now done, and drying - you won't be able to see the brick lines once it's dry and painted. And has some magnificent art work, or a large TV, hanging in front of it.
More insulation has been slotted into the ceiling, and the heating panels have new wiring on them. With the roof now completed (except over the stairwell and garage), this will allow the plaster ceilings to go up, or under it all. I'd probably have started with the plaster and let gravity actually help me with the rest, but then again, I'm not qualified.
The posts for the roof deck are in place and waterproofed and the roof is complete. The deck will extend about a meter further to the left of the leftmost posts, and have a nice glass balustrade around it. At the back is the stairwell, waiting for some scaffolding to go around it so it can be enclosed and roofed, and also waiting for the spiral staircase to go into it. All the doors and windows for it are on site at least.
The skylight is now framed, and the north-facing louvred window is in. As a solar chimney it will let controlled amounts of light in, and vent hot air from the house in summer. Obviously it can do that right now, but it's a little too open to the elements for our liking.
The guttering and eaves are nearly finished, with some temporary drainage arrangements, and some temporary scaffolding arrangements.
We're even starting to see some of the joinery arriving with the first cupboards on site, ready to be installed.
And even our first shower is moving ahead rapidly!
Hmmm, maybe not.
I have seen a lot of spiral staircases (thank you grand designs!), so I feel quite knowledgeable on the subject. What is yours being made of? Steel? Timber? Does it get slotted in by a crane through the roof? Is it a tight squeeze to fit it in? Did you need to wait until the stair well was built and measured to order said staircase?
ReplyDeleteAlso, a question about home orientation. So North-facing is the best, and I get why, but doesn't that mean one whole side of your home doesn't get any sun at all? Isn't that sucky if your room is on that side of the house? At least if your house faces East-West you spread the love around...
ReplyDeleteRe the spiral, it's been a holdup, dealing with various providers, and working out the right way to make it turn and meet the various landings facing the right way - some height changes in construction made it a little trickier. It's a modular steel frame, which we'll get with timber treads and a steel handrail. They can put it in by hand once it's all enclosed, just a great big lego puzzle, and the stairwell is much larger than the spiral. Check out enzie.com.au for the various possibilities. It'll probably be the last thing to arrive, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteRe orientation, it depends on what you're after. In Canberra it's heat gain in winter, and the bulk of that comes from the sun during 10am-2pm, when the sun is mostly north (and at a decent altitude, which is the key factor - low sun is weak). The gain before 10 and after 2 is a lot less, especially in winter. So you put the bulk of the living spaces on the north-facing sides. Other rooms that don't need heating as much (or can be heated other ways) you put on the south; our only southern rooms will be the stairwell, bathroom, laundry (sort of) and study (sort of).
ReplyDeleteEast and west windows are great for light, alone, but provide extra heat in summer, as the sun comes in under the eaves. So you limit them. Plus where we are, they look on the neighbours.
South windows in Canberra are only good for views really, and in our case that means the garden and the northern Canberra skyline.
So it's one of those interesting balancing acts... If the house had been built on a long east-west line, then every room would get equal good sun love. There are (just) a few houses like that in Canberra. We're basically retrofitting that idea to our what-was-mostly north-south house.
Thanks Markus!
ReplyDelete