Electrical, Insulation, pine lining and garden developments

Having installed the windows in the doors, we could continue the work inside the house. One of the jobs that is now virtually completed is the installation of all the electrical cables. We are lucky enough to have a good friend who is an electrician, and he is also happy for us to stretch all the cables. He will then come and install the switchboard, the light switches and power points so that everything is according to the Australian regulations.

We won't bore you will pictures of cables throughout the house, but here are a couple just so that you can see how things are being installed.

All the cables coming into where the switch board will be located.

Brackets in place for a single power point on the left and a network cable on the right.

Cable for the stove coming out from the wall. The pipe in the picture is the gas pipe for the stove.

An example of where we are putting a power point on both sides of the wall.

The other big job we now have started is installing all the insulation materials. We have decided to go with a polyester based insulation - basically  made from recycled plastic and has much the same feeling as a fleece jacket. This is a bit more expensive then glass wool or rock wool, but much better to work with and as mentioned, a recycled product.

As can be seen we need quite a lot, especially as we are installing R 4.5 in our ceiling space. The polyester insulation is not available in anything above R3.5 and as such we are using one bat of R3 and one of R1.5 to make up the value we want. This ends up being about 25cm of insulation which should be more than enough for the Tasmanian climate.

In order to hold the insulation up where it should be until we get the lining in place, we are using baling twine which is stapled to the rafters. This works really well and is quick and easy to install, as long as you  have a good staple gun.

Installation finished about dining area - part 1

Installation finished above dining area - part 2.

The next job that has been finalised is the installation of the clerestory windows. These have been on the ground for a while now and it was really good to get them up. We had to do this before putting up the lining and since we had a day with good weather on Friday, it was just as good to get it done.

The two side windows are a bit different than the middle ones as they can be opened.

Next job that has started, but not yet completed is that of installing pine lining in some areas of the living room. We will have pine lining in our raked ceiling parts, that is, above the dining room, in the living room, and in the music/movie room. In the living room we also decided to use this on the sides of the triangles that hold the clerestory part of the roof up.

Pine lining installed in one of the triangles above the living room.

Installation in progress. The clamps hold a plank in place in order to get the right level between the rafters.

Installation partly finished.

We will come back with some more pictures once all the pine has been installed and the insulation is well hidden. Also, the pine lining will actually be white washed in the end, but this will be done a bit later in the building process.

Finally, we come to the gardening work that has been happening since the last entry. As readers may know, we are building up an orchard and a nice big vegetable garden. However, as we have both rabbits and possums around, these will have to be fenced in. We participated in a fencing workshop a while ago and decided that we would not want to dig all the holes for the posts. Two main reasons: firstly it would take forever, secondly, the result would not be as good as if we got a tractor with a post driver. So, we went for the more expensive option and had a guy in for 12 hours to put in all our posts. This is now done for both the fencing and for the trellis system that we will be using in the orchard and for our berry bushes.

Posts in place around the reed bed. This is not for rabbits and possums, but to keep other living creatures out (read: humans).

Fence posts around orchard - 1

Fence posts around orchard - 2

Fence posts for future pailing fence around vegetable garden - 1

Fence posts for future pailing fence around vegetable garden - 2

Posts to be used for trellises - so that we can grow berries and grapes.

And now to the planting: yesterday was not the nicest of days in respect of weather, but Jodie managed to get all the fruit trees into the ground. We have now planted 6 types of apples, 6 types of cherries, 2 plums, 2 pears and one nectarine. We will also source a couple of apricots soon and put them in as well.

Jodie finalising fruit tree planting (taken today - we had a bit nicer weather)

Cherry trees all in place

Close up of apple tree, with lots of cow manure around.

Today we also planted 20 raspberry bushes which hopefully will give us some good  harvests in a few years time:

OK, that is it for now - take care everyone !

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