The heat is on...

We were reviewing our plans and getting our questions ready for our PCI when we came across an issue with the ducted heating unit.

Our sales and tender documents specified a networker controller with a heating unit that we were told could be zoned for upstairs and downstairs separately. We wanted to confirm that the correct unit had been put in with our SS, and when we asked the question, it turned out that the unit that was installed wasn't actually right for the house, nor did it agree with our sales and tender documents.

We made further enquiries with the manufacturer (Brivis), recommended installers for the Brivis unit and Carlisle (builder), and initial indications from the builder were that it was too late to change the unit and Carlisle thought that the unit was appropriate for the house. That would mean that there would be no option but to heat the entire house rather than being able to heat upstairs and downstairs separately.

After several discussions via phone calls and emails, Carlisle finally agreed to change the unit to one more appropriate for the house. At a cost of course. But we thought it was more important to get the right unit in now and not regret it in winter. Carlisle's management agreed that a unit that could be zoned would be more appropriate for this house, and to their credit, they absorbed some of the cost involved in changing the unit meaning that we only had to pay for the upgrade cost. We were told that a crane would be involved, and part of the roof would need to be lifted to change the unit and the costs for this and rework done on walls or ceiling will be taken up by Carlisle. 

The ducted heating unit is being changed to a higher efficiency zoneable unit. The controller will also be different, as the controller that was originally installed was not correct as it was not one that could control zoning. 




We've just signed and returned the building variation for this, so work should commence on changing the unit and controller next week.

A close up peek

So far all of the problems we've identified and raised with Carlisle have been fixable. We noticed a few things on our last visit to the house, which may have been rectified during the site clean, but if not, we'll be raising them at our PCI (practical completion inspection).

Here are some pics of the issues we found:

The tap in the front yard was leaking

Guttering to be finished properly, and the seal around that tap is very messy

 

Uneven power points #1

Uneven power points #2. We can't comprehend how the sparky thought this was ok

Uneven power points #3. Is there any method to this madness? Not only is the spacing uneven and random, the heights at which they've been placed is all different

Gaps in the brickwork still to be sealed

Infills above the Alfresco doors to be completed. The brickwork in this area (especially in the corners) is very untidy. We're hoping it got cleaned up when the house was cleaned during the week

We have no idea why this brick is different...

Messy mortar and finishing in the top corner of the Alfresco

Gaps in the brickwork to be filled

The join between the bricks and the window frame needs further work

Guttering on the rear of the Garage roof to be completed



On the whole, the house is looking good. We managed to catch a swan swimming around in the pond. Hope it hangs around and makes a home there!

Rendered

We've got a few bits and pieces to report to cover the last couple of weeks. Some inconsiderate person dinged our car and didn't fess up, so it's currently with the panel doctor getting fixed up. And the weather in Melbourne hasn't been the best over the last couple of days, so we haven't ventured out to the see the house using public transport.

The most exciting developments are as follows:

• External rendering has been completed
• Tiling has finished
• Carpets have been laid
• Plumbing has been completed, with all taps, showers, baths, sinks, and toilets in
• Wooden laminate flooring has been laid
• And, our SS tells us, the house has been given a good clean, inside and out.

Render
The front of the house has been rendered. Our SS told us that this is one of the last things they do once the site has been cleaned up, because they have to get it right the first time, and any damage is hard to fix later on.

We're happy with the colour (Dulux Yarwood), but the finishing on the right of the balcony looks rough and uneven. We haven't discussed this with our SS yet, as we've got an inspection coming up. But it is very noticeable (and very annoying). We're not sure how much work will be needed to fix it, but we're hoping it's not too much of a big job. We do need to go and see it again though, just to see what it looks like at different time of the day and in different light.

The rest of the rendered areas (above the Garage and to the right of the house, part of which you can see in the above photo) look ok. The colour (Dulux Pale Earth) looks nice - it's probably a little lighter than we would have preferred, but it's so hard to tell when you're looking at paint samples. It suits the brick and the rest of the house though.

Tiling and Carpets
The floor tiles, feature tiles, and bath tiles have all been completed, and when we saw the house last weekend, the carpets had started to be laid downstairs. Our SS tells us that the carpets are all done now. Unfortunately we weren't able to get into the house to see the finished tiles and carpets, but we managed to get a few snaps from the outside:

Excuse the shadows in these pics! This is the Laundry, fully tiled. The shelving in the Walk-in-Linen is also in, and that gave us a good idea of how much room there is in there. On the whole, it looks light and bright, and it looks like there's enough room in there for the washing machine and dryer to sit side-by-side.

This is still the Laundry - we noticed that one of the spec downlights had come crashing down onto the tiles, leaving a pile of glass. Mental note - check for chipping of the tiles in this area. These tiles were a bit of a luxury upgrade, so we won't accept anything less than perfect!

This is a view from the front lounge, looking into the house. The entry hall is fully tiled, and the Lounge, Study, and Theatre have all been carpeted. The carpet looks darker in this pic than it really is. The caret we chose was Quest Sunday Dawn, with platinum underlay. Looking forward to testing this with bare feet when it's all done and cleaned!

Taps
The only tap we were able to see was the kitchen tap:

We were a bit worried about the height of this tap as there are overhead cupboards above it. It looks as though we've got a space of about 10-15cm between the top of the tap and the cupboards. The tap needs a bit of room to move, so we'll need to check its functionality when we go through our inspection. We did raise this issue with our SS before the cupboards and tap were installed.

We haven't been to the house since the laminate was done, and also haven't seen it cleaned up. We get our back on Monday, and have an inspection coming up in a couple of weeks, so that might be the first time we see the finished floors, tubs, tiles, loos, and the cleaned house.



Grand Designs Melbourne

We visited the Grand Designs Live show at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre last weekend. We've been watching the UK series of the show with Kevin McCloud for a while now, and became more interested in it when we started thinking about building.

The main focusses of the show were in the kitchen, bathroom, outdoor living, and media/lighting areas. And of course there was a main theatre stage on which Kevin McCloud and other celebrity designers presented.

Kevin spoke mostly about his own 'grand design', the Triangle - a community housing project in Swindon, UK. It was good to see and hear him up close. He was, after all, the star of the show.

The exhibits were slightly disappointing and probably not as helpful as the other home shows that are on during the year.

Miele put on a good display of their kitchen products. Fisher & Paykel also had a display of fridges and other stainless steel appliances, all of which you can see at good old Harvey Norman anyway. They did have an impressive BBQ on display though. Hmm... is it too early to dream about summer barbies?

 

The outdoor living displays were pretty good. We came away with some gardening ideas that may or may not make it into our back yard.

 

 

And there was another special guest - the Dulux dog! He is an Old English Sheepdog, and his fur feels like cotton wool. Very cute.



Grand Final Fever

It is Grand Final time in Melbourne and the two best performing teams in the AFL this season are in the last game of the season today. It's the Sydney Swans against the Hawthorn Hawks.

 

The traditional Grand Final parade was on yesterday with the supporters making their way to upper Collins Street despite the weather. Let's hope for a cracker game at the MCG today!

All tiled up

It's a bright, sun shiney day in Melbourne! We headed out to do a routine weekend check on the house.

Our street is starting to look more like a neighbourhood, with more and more houses being started or completed each time we go to see ours.

Since we found an unlocked door last weekend, we had high hopes today.

For the most part, the outside looks the same - the rendered areas still haven't been painted, and there are still a few loose roof tiles and some rough brick work. The most exciting change to the front is the garage door that has now been put in, and the colour matches the front door - Colorbond Dune.

We found a few unlocked doors today and the garage door was partially open. The front door was unlocked so we used that (for the first time!). Since we found the house unlocked, we thought we should check that everything was safe and sound.

All of the floor tiles have been laid. The skirting and some of the corners need to be tidied up. Tiling in the Bathroom, Ensuite, and Powder Room are also nearly complete, including tiling around the bath tubs, vanities, and mirrors. Feature tiles in the showers have also been laid.

Tiling almost complete. We're glad the tiles contrast with the whiteness of the walls.

Looking in from the front door. The stairs are yet to be stained.

Showers are tiled. The dark feature tiles need a good clean to get the real colour coming through.

Tiles around bath hob almost complete. They go well with the floor tiles and the vanity.

Ensuite shower with the same colour scheme as the main Bathroom.

There was also a noticeable addition, and removal, that has added a different dimension to the house. The temporary floor/ceiling that was covering the void from the front entry to the top floor has been removed, and the railings and balusters have been fitted. This has opened up the whole front of the house nicely.

With the finishings now being done to the house, we are also keeping our eyes peeled for damages to any of the surfaces, omissions, errors etc.

This hole in the wall is from the front door handle slamming into the wall.

Some of the tile joints are rough and there is still a bit of work to do to tidy the tiles up.

Stainless steel kickrails in the kitchen

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Missing tiles around the bath hob. The same tiles are missing on both baths, so there must be a valid reason...

Randomly placed roof tile that doesn't seem to be doing anything.

Timber splitting on the outside of the Balcony door.

Rough finish to the mortar. We noticed this on most of the higher corners of the house.

Fireplace provision still hasn't been tiled.

Inside the fireplace provision...

Gaps in brickwork. We have to check with our indpendent inspector what the tolerance level is for this.

Not so locked up...

We had a great weekend!

We flew up to Sydney on Saturday morning to see a new born niece and her two year old brother. Very cute and a really worthwhile weekend. We made the most of our 24 hour trip.

We arrived back in Melbourne on Sunday afternoon, and it was a clear, sunny day, so it was still light when we left the airport.

We had planned to drive out to the house, knowing that there wouldn't be any tradies on site so we would only be able to see the outside of the house, take a few more photos, and then drive home.

Fortunately, we were wrong!

When we parked in front of the house we noticed a small sign by the front door so of course we had to investigate to see what it said!

The sign said something along the lines of 'wet tiles...' Our SS had told us a few weeks ago that the house would be completed about 4 weeks after tiling started, so seeing this sign meant that tiling had started and we were looking at moving in a lot earlier than we initially thought.

We decided to have a quick walk around the house and see what else had happened. The site had been cleaned up a bit and there was less rubble around so it was easier to get right around the house.

When we got around the back, we thought we'd try one of the sliding doors - and to our excitement, one of them was open! So of course, we had to go in...

What we saw inside got us both really excited. The kitchen was almost complete - all that was missing were the appliances, which are installed in the last week or so before handover, and the splashback. The Caesarstone had been put in, and all of the kitchen cabinets were done. We also noticed that the internal painting was almost complete, except fort he few areas where we arranged feature walls.

Oh and the other thing in the kitchen that excited us was the soft close drawers! We tried them all. Overall, we're glad that the colours and look we pictured in our minds work well in the actual kitchen.

We ventured on through the house. Tiles had been placed in the hallway from the front door to the main family area. The tiles are looking really good. We have chosen a very white paint for our walls, and were hoping that the tiles wouldn't also be too white. But they've come out really nice and break up the whiteness of the walls.

Caesarstone, basins, and vanities had also been completed in the Powder Room, Ensuite, and Bathroom. All of these rooms had also come out really well, and tiling had been laid here as well. We spotted boxes of tiles in the Theatre Room, and had a peak at our feature tiles for the Ensuite - shiny silver mosaic tiles. Can't wait to see what they look like on the wall.

There were a few things that we noticed that we'll need to follow up with our SS to make sure they are properly fixed up. The Theatre Room cavity sliding doors aren't flush when they close, there are a few gaps/holes at the cabinet joints which will need to be filled, making sure that the feature walls are painted per our selections, all taps, appliances etc are per our contract.
Lots had been done, and we were surprised to see that tiling had started, but having walked through the house we realise that there is actually quite a bit left to do. We think it will take a bit longer than the 4 weeks from tiling that our SS told us.

So we had a great weekend overall! Good to see family and the cute kids. And great to see the house coming along nicely.

Enjoy the pics!

 Driving up towards the house

 Side view with the sun setting in the west

The kitchen has come out nicely

Kitchen again...  

Tiling being done

Upstairs 

Bathroom vanity 

Rear of house with bricks cleaned up