Erecting the Framework

At the end of August 2006 we finally got to build with some timber. So sick of concrete and steel. Finally got to get an impression of what the house will look like. We decided to use the termite treated timber just for added insurance. Still been very wet while we have been doing this frame work. Now looking forward to getting a roof and keeping dry.

Building The Basement

Its May 2006 and it has been alot of hard work to get to this stage. It was a huge job digging out the hole for the basement and then erecting all the retaining walls. We are now building up the block walls. The exterior walls are 200mm core filled concrete blocks. On the outside of this wall there is 100mm limestone wall. Horizontal rebar reinforcing had to be laid every 400mm and the vertical reinforcing every 200mm. This stage of building is in the middle of winter so subsequently I had to pump a fair amount of water out of the basement on a regular basis.

Once all the masonry work was done I had to "tank" the walls with a bitumin sealer. This was then covered with a plastic protector board and then finally all that was covered with a plastic membrane. Ag drains were put around the exterior walls and then backfilled with gravel. Once the steel I beams were in it was time to lay the bondek & steel reinforcing. Finally ready to pour the main house slab.

The start of our new house

At last - we have started building our new house. There has been lengthy delays getting to this stage. Getting final council approval took a lot longer than normal. Whilst the main living area is going to be smaller than our current house we decided to include an underground cimema / pool room. The underground room is 5.5metres x 14metres. The decision to do this room has been a major factor in the time taken to build. (Plus we will be doing most of the work ourselves on our days off!!)