80% of house structure completed

It is now 5 weeks since we started building the house (not including all the slab work, etc), and we have about 80% of the structure completed. We have completed all the walls, except for where the shower will be in the second bathroom. In addition, all but one roof rafter is in place. What is left are the outriggers on 6 different walls, the metal strappings, and then the battens that will be used when we fasten the colourbond roofing. We also have to do the framework for the veranda, the walkway between the garage and the house, and the little roof above the laundry exit. So, hopefully by the end of the coming week we will be able to measure up the roof and order the colourbond.

More trees have also been planted since last time. We wanted to put in another 3 rows of threes to the north of the wastewater system (but far enough away for the sun to still do the necessary work with the water - i.e. UV rays, etc). Jodie went up to our nursery supplier to get around 30 trees, but as it was the end of the season, she ended up coming back with about 70 which has meant that a few extra holes had to be dug, and there are now trees being planted around the water tanks, along the driveway, and as the originally planned windbreak.

A few new pictures to see some of the changes that have happend since last week:

Seen from the west side, looking east.

Seen from the north.

The most complicated part of the roof, where the east-west part of the house, meets the north-south part of the house. The blue tarp is there to protect a laminated beam underneath.

The hardest beam to put up. This ridge beam consists of 2 pieces of 190mm x 45mm, both of which were 4.5 metres long. The were lifted up on the top plates, nail plated together in the middle, then lifted up at each end and finally propped up with the struts underneath.

Clerestory windows, part 1

Clerestory windows, part 2. Outriggers will be installed on either side, so that the roof will have a 50cm overhang on either side.

Bedroom, now with ceiling joists in place

As usual, we will be back with more pictures next week.

And here is a PS for all our friends from North Korea:

We think that it is really bad of John Dunne to travel all the way to Tasmania without even giving us a call and coming for a visit. Even worse that he then goes out and breaks the law whilst he was here! We found this in the paper and we are really not sure if we should call the police or not......

Any problems, please email webmaster. This page was last updated 24/07/2008