Small jobs taking a  long time

Another one of those three week gaps between entries. Sorry, but the last two weekends just disappeared - somehow. Anyway, we have been able to do more work and we'll try to run through some of the things that have been completed.

First of all, having finalised the pipes for the ducted vacuum cleaner we could complete the internal straw bale walls for the music/movie room. These walls have just been standing for a long long time and it was now time to get them finalised. As the room has a raked ceiling it created a bit more work in terms of finalising the top of the walls. Generally this means a lot of stuffing of straw under the wire to make it nice and tight. We also had to install some more power points in the strawbale walls, as well as a light switch, and also some ducting for all the cables being used for the home cinema. Since the projector will be fixed to the ceiling we had to run conduit for both the power cable to the projector and the signal cable between the projector and the DVD player.

The blue cable also seen in the picture is a CAT 6 networking cable that runs to other rooms in the house. We did not bother putting this in a conduit as it will just stay where it is and there is not danger in respect of heat etc.(being encapsulated by the insulation that will fill the space). We decided to put CAT 6 cable to all the rooms where we might need an internet connection immediately. We have opted not to go for a wireless solution in the house as some of the internal walls are strawbale. These being covered with chicken wire causes problems for the signals and as such, wires were the best option. The price is also not too bad - only $35 for the full house lot.

Geir was a bit lazy with the photos when the strawbale walls were built so we only have pictures of the actual walls being completed with one coat of render. Sorry about this, but then again, there are lots of pictures of strawbale walls being built on other diary entries.

Strawbale wall between the music/movie room and the hallway to the main bedroom

The north eastern wall in the music/movie room. The little truth window will be covered with a couple of small wooden windows we bought in Beijing when working in Korea.

Eastern and part of southern wall in the music/movie room

Then we move to the southern and western wall

And finally the western and part of northern wall.

Having completed the straw bale walls the next task has been to finalise the doors so that we have lock up stage on the house. We have now received the double glazed window units. These are made up of 4mm toughened safety glass, and 8 mm spacer and with argon gas in the gap. They are produced by a window factory that is only a few km from here, which is also the only one in Southern Tasmania making double glazed units.

During the last week we also got all the door handles and locks and these have now been installed. At the same time we also put in a third hinge on all the doors, just to make them a bit safer than using two. It would have been easier doing this immediately, but such is life.

As for the door handles and locks we opted for a solution on the double French doors where we have a passage set (basically the door handle) and a separate dead lock. The deadlock is placed on the inside of the door and does not have a key hole on the outside. This saved both a bit of money and a bit of work, and we really do not need to have a key hole on the outside for these doors. for the other 3 external doors, i.e. the main entry, the laundry exit and the door from the office out on the veranda, we went for a traditional door handle and deadlock which can be opened from both the inside and the outside.

Door handle installed on the double French doors. Note also the lighter timber in the window opening. This has been put in place but has not bee oiled yet, thus the difference in colour. We are hoping to install the glazed units this coming week.

French doors on the inside, with the deadlock installed.

The main entry door completed, with door handle and deadlock.

And the outside as well. The window on the side has also been completed since the last entry. We made the frame out of 140mm x 35mm hardwood and the glazing is from the recycled windows we brought with us from Norway.

Another big job we have completed - of which the is now visible result as of yet - was to measure up the whole house for the various materials we have to purchase to finalise things. Firstly the plasterboard which will be used in the ceilings and on all the internal stud walls. Then we measured up all the wall and floor areas for tiles, then the insulation requirement for both the ceiling and the external stud walls. Finally we also measured up all the floor areas which will have wooden floor boards. So now we have quite a bit to work with in order to get in quotes etc. We have already started receiving some, so hopefully it won't bee too long before we can do more on the inside.

OK, that is it for this entry, but another one coming now on some nice nature pictures.

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