What a reception ...

Well its been 15 weeks of action and today we finally got back a decent TV reception. It has been a testing time while the TV reception has flickered in and out, polar bear in a snow storm, crystal clear, polar bear. Today, now that the roof is finished, we had an antenna installed. Giddy up, kids are happy!

Friday was a mixed day of action. General clean up around the house, removing and fixing scaffold so that the gutter man can come back on Monday (so the rain starts!) and concreting of the front veranda ready for waterproofing.

The boys also put insulation and sarking on parts of the second floor in preparation for cladding once the first floor roof has been finished.

The air conditioning upstairs is neater now, there is tubes going everywhere.

In daylight, you can see the second floor pushing up into the sky.

So after 15 weeks, at least from the outside, how has the house changed. The front ..

The rear from the back of the yard ...

We have a roof!

The roof is now finished on the second floor. Celebrations all round, giddy up, yee haa! This was the photo this morning from the rear of the house and you can just make out that the ridge capping was still to be completed.

Tonight it is all finished! Have to wait for the morning light to get a front shot.

Yesterday the air conditioning people came and started roughing in the air con. Just slightly surprised at the size of the ducting, not that I had given any thought to the size of the ducting though. The below is the Wednesday effort. Today they cut some of the ducting and ran the piping from outside and connected up the coil in the ceiling. Will wait for the daylight to get a better photo of the efforts.

Peter and Phil finished the work at the rear of the house, and it is looking nice, can't wait for the roof to be over it.

Today Peter and Phil put the support pole on the front veranda into place, have to wait for daylight to see that. The next task is to bring down the height of the scaffolding so that the gutter man can come back on Monday as the roof men are scheduled again for Wednesday to finish the roof. We can only cross our fingers for that. 

The profile at the rear of the house is looking so different. You forget what has taken place over the last 15 weeks. Just as a reminder ....

Wind - No friend of mine!

This morning I was able to get a photo of the roof work on Monday.

A quick conversation with the roof guys about the weather given the warmth of the morning revealed that they expected a North Westerly to blow in during the day, which was not good conditions to be up trying to install a roof. As it turned out, they were on the money with strong winds coming in around lunchtime, which was also about the time that they packed up for the day! Again, the morning light will allow for a better view of the progress.

Peter was on his own today as Phil had to attend to his sick father. Can you spot the work today?

Yep, the plastic blocks have been removed from the doors. No, the start of the cladding up the side of the door.

The scaffolding across the back of the kitchen had also been removed and the cladding put up all around the kitchen window.

Looks quite good, the whole of the ground floor is now nearly finished being clad. 

Hopefully the wind dies down and the roofing can continue as until that is complete, it will start to hold up the progress upstairs. Last reports the air conditioning people are coming in to start roughing in the air con so I'm not sure how an incomplete roof will affect their work. Guess we will wait and see!

We have roof off ....

Week 15 started positive, being introduced to Nathan the 'young gun roofer' and his 2 workers. The roof was starting today! Yea. Tonight, bit dark to get a good view however there has been progress, one side of the roof completed. Quite a bit of work involved from the reports of Chief Blogger and children 1 and 3 who were home for the day. Will try for some photos in the morning light.

Peter and Phil were also kept busy, completing the cladding down the side of the house. They then moved to the new family room at the back of the house.

They weren't finished there though ...

Yep, the sliding doors onto the alfresco area were put in place. At this stage they are sans glass which is to come later, which is good so we can enter easy as the back is our front door at present. With the cladding in place and the doors, is starting to feel like a room.

Sam the electrician was also back running more electrical upstairs and out the back. Still haven't worked out the hot water system though, much to the frustration of the kids who get a luke warm shower at night if it has gone off.

Da Roof, Da Roof!

Well, week 14 has come to an end and while the residents were hopeful of a bit of roof action, sadly it has been delayed another day till Monday. There was further work over the remainder of the week though. 

Firstly, the cladding continued down the side of the house. As you can see, the entrance way is finished and it shows the raised front door while most of the wall behind the dining/kitchen has been completed. 

A quick tour upstairs shows the windows are now all in place above the stairs.

The bedrooms are now looking sort of like rooms. Joel's at the front.

Marissa's in the middle.

Brendan's on the end.

In the light of day, the perspective from the back yard now.

Let there be light!

Today we had the surprising return of the electrician. Surprising as we were not expecting him until next week however the electrical cable from the street to the house had to be moved so that the guttering could be continued on the ground floor. The bonus of this is that the lights in the dining room have been hung! You beauty, doesn't sound like much but not having lights while you eat tea has become a little annoying. While the electrician was on site, the second floor was wired up, another small step ..

As promised yesterday, daylight provided a better opportunity for a photo of the bad language.

Today Peter and Phil were busy. The cladding on the lounge room wall was finished and they started work on the eaves.

They also raised the height of the front door to get ready for the new floor level in the lobby area.

It is all happening. I would imagine more eaves work tomorrow, not sure whether the gutter man is coming back, we can only hope. There is also on the lawn out the front the colourbond roofing. I must say, I am rather looking forward to the roof going on. That just seems like a real progress step so I'm desperately trying to keep calm whilst waiting for a piece to be put in place!

Enough of the gutter talk!!

Well folks, after days of the new gutter sitting on the front lawn, teasing us every time we walked past and the roof plumber being harder to secure than a tarp in a hurricane ..... today was the day!  Yes, there was a new ute out the front and a stranger on the roof. Could only assume he was the phantom roof plumber.

Tonight, the second story has a gutter in place. Whoa baby, calm down, watch the language ..

Photos are not the best so we'll have another try in the morning.

Peter and Phil continued their productive work on the cladding around the ground floor. After a halt on Monday when they had to correct the frame for the roof down one side of the house, today it was action stations. The old lounge room, now acting as Marissa and Joel's room had new windows put in place and cladding put up most of the wall. The entrance way was half completed.

The weather has been perfect with bright sunny skies the order of the day. The pattern is set to continue for the rest of the week so fingers crossed there is more progress over the rest of the week.

End of Week 13, a new front!

We've reached the end of week 13 of building. While the house still looks like a giant circus tent, the front of the house has taken on a new look. The window in our bedroom was installed and the cladding started on Wednesday.

The next day the cladding was finished around our bedroom window, and so we turn to Friday.

Rain! Leaking like a tap in the laundry with an errant tarp quickly fixed by Peter and Phil. The weather meant that the roof plumber did not arrive however the boys still worked and after putting in the new sliding door onto the veranda on Thursday, they worked on the veranda and completed the cladding on the front of the house. It now looks a little more like a new house.

The wider view ....

So, the end of week 13. While we thought we'd see the roof started, new windows and the front of the house cladded, most of the windows on the second floor in place and sarking, it has been another busy and productive week. Praying for the rain to stay away so we can start getting the roof in place!

A bit here and a bit there.

There has been interesting developments over the last couple of days. The frame as we have documented is ready for the roofing to start however the roofing plumber is being a little difficult to pin down. The boys spent an interesting couple of days constructing the frame for the roof over the new entrance way, managing to construct it around the scaffolding. It is now ready for the roof as well.

It is a little hard to get a great photo of the handy work however you get the idea. The above is post Monday's work and the below is the finished piece on Tuesday.

There is no photographic evidence at this stage to support the claim however upstairs the windows have been placed in all the kids bedrooms and one window over the stairs. Further walls have been 'blued' and bracing has been placed in the walls.

Today the main bedroom had the new window put in place, but the blind removed so we are now a little 'exposed' when the light is on. Cladding on the front of the house has also been started with the new window, reaching about half way up the front. All good progress.

The guttering and fascia arrived today so we can only hope that the roof plumber is not that far away!

I always thought our family was a 3 ringed circus!

Driving home from work the other day, my suspicions were finally confirmed, yes our place is a circus!

There before me was a huge circus tent on our roof.It sure brings a new meaning to the phrase "Do you live in a tent?" I guess the answer is now yes!

All of our roof has now been removed and the framing has gone up for the new roof line. It seems to be moving slowly, but at least it is still moving.

Week 12 down, bring on the roof

The end of another week of building, week 12 so we are either half way there or well on the way to completion. The end of the week also means that the ban is lifted on the shower. Thank goodness as driving to friends houses for showers is not really that convenient, but thank you anyway friends (you know who you are). Now the en suite is complete, if you don't count Deputy Blogger having to paint the window frame and architraves!

  The back of the house has been readied for roofing.

Deputy Blogger has been away on a conference for a couple of days, rather convenient when the shower was off limits, and has come home to see the front of the house looking very close to being roofable (is this a word, well it is now!)

Closer inspection of the veranda area shows the framing work up inside the roof space. It is a spaghetti-a-thon up there mixing the old frame and the new. Appears to be a little more work to finish it off which is good as hopefully the roof is starting next week.

Well, 12 weeks down, and with spring starting this week and the weather becoming a little more mild, the comfort level of the house is improving. The best part is that we can really start to see the outline of the finished house upstairs, the new roof line and the outdoor area. Still a lot of work to go, but we are getting there!