Getting some skin on

To assuage the fears of our loyal readership, especially the Queensland branch, please be reassured that things are still going ahead, that photos are still being taken, and that the garage loft could become a nice sewing room if we, or a future owner chose to. Your intrepid correspondent tries to post every week, but at worst fortnightly, depending on what's being happening, and how visual it is.

This last fortnight saw the rainwater tank being connected to some of the downpipes, which of course encouraged it to stop raining. We've also done a lot of planning around the kitchen joinery, but our joiner has been a bit sick, so that's had some further delays. Mark has ordered our spiral staircase at last! and that should be here in a few weeks time. That determines the positioning of landings on all three levels, and the deck, so it's one of those crucial elements that holds a few things up. We've also ordered our first 26 light fixtures, which is about half of the total. Some of the remainder will come from our collected vintage lights, others we have yet to find.

Onsite, we've had the attack of the red dust. It's everywhere. It's due to using an angle grinder to strip the old bagged/painted bricks back to raw for the external render to go on.

The raw bricks don't look too bad, but are better suited to a different style of house.






Then the render goes on, which ties a lot of the house together, rather than the 3-4 different bricktypes that actually make up the walls. The render is still very fresh in some of these, so will need to dry before it's brushed and painted.



Oh, our new meter box is in as well. About twice the size of the old one, it has everything in one box, with room to grow.





The newer parts of the house are reverse brick veneer, with the bricks inside, and cladding to go round the outside, to match the texture of the render on the old brick walls. Around the stairwell the two types meet, and we'll have cladding outside, plasterwalls inside, and lots of insulation in between. The first skin is a simple foil sarking/waterproofing membrane. This is not the final colour, in case any of the neighbours are worried...



Inside is also getting more skin. Our ensuite is now an enclosed space, behind the new built-in cupboards.



And remember the vanishing window? It had been plastered over. It's now back again...



On the 'landscaping' front, the backfill around the walls is close to done, making it much safer and easier to walk around the house now. The pipe here is the stormwater overflow from the rainwater tank.



They've also started excavating the footings for the back stairs, to meet the back door at a more dignified level.



Slowly, slowly, it all comes together.