Front door... best laid plans...

We had planned on sourcing a big old, recycled timber door for our front door, instead of having some blah new thing.  It seems that this plan has to go out the window because of the abnormally large dimensions of our front door.  Michael specifically designed the place with HUGE doors for aesthetics and air flow.  Some of these we got rid of earlier in the design process to save on costs, however, the front door dimensions are still the massive version (2400 x 920) so it has proven difficult trying to find a recycled door to fit.  What I really don't want is a big poncy/showy/grandiose monstrosity!!!

We might just end up having something new.

Renegade dumpers... Bushwalking nearby... And Timber framework goes up.

The builder has had to install a security camera at the site because someone is dumping their rubbish into the skip bin!  Who would drive all the way up there just to dump rubbish?!  Bizarro!   Benji and I were "caught" on tape coming along the drive on the Easter weekend.

After checking out the new wall framework we stayed at Grammy's, then early the next morning set off to do a bit of local exploring.  After a little drive and a bit of a bush walk we ended up at the Lower Portals.  The water was beautifully freeeeeezing and deep enough for a decent swim, thanks to the recent rainfall, but too cold for Grammy and S!   That evening we headed to the Dugandan pub for a bit of lawn soccer and a pub meal - a superb day!

 



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Annnnnyway house-wise.....Everything seems to be moving quite quickly now.  Every time we go out, great big obvious physical progress seems to have been made.  At the moment most of the framework for the walls and much of the decking is in place.  So we can walk through knowing which room is which... but it's strange: it is still really difficult to gauge how the house will feel in terms of space.  I sometimes walk through and think... Is this enough room?  Do we have enough space?  (Earlier on I was worried it was too big!!!!)  To alleviate my worries Benji measured up our current rental house and marked it onto a set of plans for the new place...   And it turns out, the new place is huge compared to our current, funny, little, Queenslander cottage, so I'm sure we'll be just fine.

--ooOoo--

 



Joists for what will be our lounge room floor... this will open up with big sliding doors onto the deck which you can see is just being framed up.  The joists "I-joists" seem to be pretty cool... made from engineered timber, supposedly super light weight, super strong, and more sustainable because they're made from bit and pieces that might normally be thrown away.  The things you learn!

 

 

 Good progress!  A view from up the hill a little, looking south.  That water tank is temporary only (for the builders to use).

And now looking sort of north east from a little way down the hill:



Exposed Beams... LVL versus milled timber

As we go along there are issues small and large to be addressed.  It seems building is never really straightforward.  At the moment we are having to decide what to do with the exposed beams.  The issue is that our exposed beams are long.  Too long for milled timber to be used without requiring some kind of join (either bolt plates or some other kind of joining plate which has the potential to look dodgy according to Michael, the building designer).  So our other option is using LVL instead of the Victorian Ash/Spotted gum we'd planned on . 

LVL (Laminated veneer lumber) is an engineered timber, similar to plywood, with multiple layers of timber glued together.  Apparently it is stronger and less likely to warp than milled timber and is more sustainable.  And in our case suitable because it can be produced in longer lengths so we won't have to have joins in our exposed beams. 

There are a couple of things to consider:  
1. Weather/durability:  Our beams run all the way through to the external parts of the house (i.e. onto the deck) so whatever we use has to be ok out in the weather. Scott, our builder assures us there is an LVL product which would be suitable for our external beams. 
2.  Aesthetics:  We just can't help but worry that LVL will be a bit too modern looking, as opposed to a nice big chunk of milled timber...  It's difficult because I guess I don't really know what LVL really looks like "in the flesh".


So I've been trying to google some images to see what LVL looks like, here is what I've come up with:

Eclectic Living Room by San Francisco Media & Bloggers California Home + Design

Contemporary Kitchen by Chicago Design-Build Firms Revelation Design Development

Contemporary Dining Room by Portland Architects & Designers Donna Wax, Architect

 

 

Anyway... as with most of these sorts of things, I think whatever we choose will be fine and we'll probably not even think about it after a few weeks/months/years of living in our house.

 



Rammed earth walls ... looking good!!!

                     Fireplace wall...looking south.  The cut-out with the bevelled edges will house the combustion wood heater; the other will be for firewood storage.  The small bench on the end allows a view between living and dining rooms and is a place for storing bits and pieces too.

Each of the three bedrooms will have a rammed earth wall, and of course there's the fireplace wall.

 

 

 

A close up of the rammed earth.

The little grasstree we're hanging on to!

 

 



Rammed Earth Walls are up!!!

Some of the rammed earth walls are in place!!!  I asked Mum to go and have a look to see if they had started... When she got up there, the rammed earth guy, John, ended up calling her in for a good look and to take some photos... So according to Ma's texts I think they're all done, except the fireplace wall.... Photos to come - watch this space!

Meanwhile we are going through all the colour/tiling/tapware/door fixture/etc etc etc selections just to finalise everything... a painstaking process!  It's insane to believe that even after all this time we are still making changes and debating the pros and cons of the finer details of these selections.  Euughhh!  I'm worried about colour selections in particular... I don't think we can really be sure about paint colours until we see them on the walls!

In our other news:
- BP made their announcement about Bulwer Refinery Closure today... I'll leave it at that.
- I'm 23 weeks into my pregnancy.  Lots of jumping around in there as I type.