Busy!

In case you've been wondering where we have been....

We are having a well-earned break on the stunning Sunshine Coast!!!

So much has been done on our place and I promise we will get up to date posting after Christmas!

Love Kirst

Retaining it all - Part Two...

 The foundations for the front retaining wall were laid about a week after we moved in.

The bricks were laid and the centre cavity filled with cement.

The back of the wall was covered in a waterproof membrane for protection before the whole wall was rendered. The rendering happened after the concreting was finished.

What an organisational nightmare it all was, getting the timing and availability right. Cam was the mastermind and head organiser and did an amazing job!

There will be grand reveal of all the finished front in a few days... stay tuned!

Kirst

Retaining it all - Part One...

Quite a while ago work began on retaining the boundary of our property and creating some paths down each side of the house. It was an absolute mess when we moved in!!!

So we engaged Ben and his team from Daviscapes to assist us with the retaining walls. We found Ben through "Service Central" when we posted a job to quote on our concreting. He responded, quoted on the concrete (didn't get that job), but Cam liked him so much that we decided to get him to quote and subsequently engage him as our hard landscaping guy :)

This is the side path with the sleepers in.

  

The join between the front and back. Sleepers are behind the gate and brick rendered retaining wall out the front as it looks nicer.

The put plastic on the backside of the sleepers to protect them a bit more (even though they are treated pine). 

They they filled it up with rocks for drainage. (not yet done in this pic)

Backfilled and then stained. In this case it has one coat of Merbau stain on it. I stopped him short of a second coat as I dont really like merbau and our decking is all gorgeous spotted gum.

It was capped with aluminium in Colourbond Monument (same as out gutters, fascia and garage door). They also filled the gap between the wall and the path with pebbles (which are a little bit dirty in this pic). My brother ferried wheelbarrow upon wheelbarrow of topsoil, compacted it and then added another layer. He's a gem!

Finally Lachie and I planted some vegies and herbs to enjoy. We have climbing beans, baby carrots, tomatoes (my boys eat cherry tomatoes like they are going out of fashion!!!) rocket, coriander, basil, thyme and parsley.  All currently tended to by Lachie (with Mummy and Uncle Cammy's help of course). Since this photo the vegie garden has gone nuts! The plants are so tall. It must have been great soil :)

REVEAL : Concreting Part Two

Driveway all prepped and ready for pouring

Ready for concrete

Cam watching as they put the finishing touches before the trucks arrived.

The concreting begins

Starting the driveway part with the storm water grate covered up. The pace at which these guys work once the concrete arrived was amazing!

This was a big hit with our boys... the MIXER truck!

From the street

It was an early start (6:30am on Saturday morning). But Lachie was so keen to see it all he was 'supervising' in his pjs and dressing gown.

All poured, levelled and waiting to be exposed.

Before exposure.

As per the previous post, we thoroughly recommend Rory at "The Concrete Firm" www.theconcretefirm.com.au


Stay tuned for more photos with the final finished driveway, retaining walls and front facade reveal soon!

Kirst xx

REVEAL : Concreting - Part One

It has been a while since our concreting was finished and it is time for a grand reveal...of the pathways anyway.

About 6 months ago I posted a topic on the HomeOne forum looking for a concreter in Melbourne to do an exposed aggregate driveway and pathways for our new house.

I was contacted by Rory from the Concrete Firm

http://www.theconcretefirm.com.au/

Rory was a pleasure to work with. He was prompt with returning emails and phone calls and came out to give us a quote quickly. His quote was incredibly competitive but included higher strength steel reinforcement and better thickness of aggregate. He also uses Mentone Pre-mix who are the best in the business in terms of exposed aggregate colour selections.

When it came time to pour the paths and driveways, Rory and his team, Sylvain and Courtenay, worked tirelessly and with great attention to detail on getting the preparation right before the concrete was poured. They encountered problems along the way with drainage and plumbing done by the plumbers employed by Metricon but took it in their stride. Whilst at our home they were courteous and friendly with us and our children.

The result was fantastic! We absolutely love the driveway and paths that they did for us. They look sensational! 

We cannot recommend them highly enough. Please contact us if you require more information about The Concrete Firm. We would definitely use them again...

This is the path at the back of the house before it was exposed.

With so many 'workmen' around, there is always plenty for our boys to look at! Here Sylvaine was exposing the pathways.

What the back pathway looked like after exposure.

A closer look at our selection. Mentone PreMix "Montquartz" (I think that's what it was?)

Tomorrow... a look at our finished driveway : )

Building a man cave...

THe back corner of our block falls away quite a bit and instead of filling it up with loads of dirt, we decided to put Cam's shed AKA the Man Cave there. It will be stepped down from the rest of the backyard.

Cam built these retaining walls a few weeks ago and then with the help of my lil bro (also called Cam!) they have brought in some sand and will be paving it this weekend before putting the shed on it soon.

Around the edge they have put black plastic and stones into slotted pipe to improve drainage

Here is the Site Manager, Hamish

THe lackey boy, my brother Cam 

Supervisor Lachie, who barked orders and shovelled stones.

More pics soon...

Kirst

Cutting out the cleaning...

The day we moved into the house I spent the majority of the day protecting our brand new glass and tile surfaces with a product recommended to us to reduce cleaning time. 

Introducing Enduro Shield for glass or tiles. Once applied it lasts a lifetime :)

Tile and Grout shield

Cleaner, Enduroshield, gloves and lint free cloth

Enduro Shield for Glass. You use the cleaner with the steel wool (only use it wet or it will scratch) to clean the surface to start with. Our showers were obviously quite clean so it didn't take much time at all. Then you apply the Enduro Shield and rub it all over the glass until streak free with the lint free cloth. I guess this took a the longest (longer than applying the Enduro Shield on the tiles). Then you leave the shower to dry for 8 hours. All up the application took me 3 hours for the en suite and 2 for the main bathroom.

Grout sealer and the best invention ever! A bottle with a paintbrush on the end I found in Bunnings. Took a fraction of the time. All of the tiles surface have now been grout sealed to protect from dirt and scum. The sealer lasts for about 5 years.

I purchased the grout sealer, and both Enduro Shield packages from Beaumont Tiles. The Enduro Shield packages were $60 each and the grout sealer a bit cheaper. However, I am really impressed so far with how they have protected the glass, tiles and grout so far and cleaning has been minimal. So in my opinion, worth every cent.

Kirst

Note: this was not a sponsored post. All products were paid for by myself and all opinion are my own.