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.

Master Bedroom/Ensuite Reveal...

I know it has been a long time between posts and before we handed over I told myself I was going to make sure I kept the blog up to date as we moved and settled into the new place.

But life gets in the way and things never seemed finished enough to post photos. BUT enough is enough and I decided to post anyway. I have drafted half a dozen to share over the next few weeks and this is the first...

Welcome to our large and luxurious master suite! Just the upholstered headboard, better bedside tables, and new lamps to go and its finished. 

Our lovely sheer curtains with block out behind. I absolutely love them!!!!!

The sheer fabric is Maurice Kain "Aston" in "Metallic" colour. Sue from Regent Window Furnishings was the most delightful lady to deal with. More on window furnishings in a later post.

White bedlinen is Vue (Myer).
European pillowcases are "Verity" from Sheridan.
Chartreuse throw is "Ripple" from Kas,
Chartreuse cushion is Morocco Mondrian by Rapee
Black cushion was bought off eBay for about $6 including postage.

The en suite in all its glory.

 Soap dispenser and cup Seattle Collection by Jayson Brundson for Myer

Just need to add something to the wall here and also some towel rails but otherwise I'm loving it sooo much!

Hope you enjoyed the piccies :)

Kirst
xxx

Hardscaping has commenced

Its been a little while since our last post and its safe to say the exterior has been the focus.

All the hardscape works has commenced with all in varying stages.

Well the landscapers arrived driving an excavator and with jackhammer in hand. It doesn't take long for them to get into it, moving a huge amount of dirt so the concrete footings could be poured.

View of the Bob Cat in our front yard digging the footings from our balcony.

The first stage is the building of two retaining walls with appropriate drainage. One of the walls will be rendered brick running along the side of the driveway then across the front of our house continuing down one side to where our side gate will be. On the other side of the gate will be a sleeper retaining wall. They have just about finished, so more informative photo's to follow this weekend.

Stage 2 is the concreting which is progressing very well. The first pour being the pathway from the rear door to our garage down to the rear of our house to the deck area, also down the other side of our house. The driveway will be cut, filled with crushed rock etc etc and poured this weekend (weather dependent). These guys know their stuff and have been very helpful through the process. Photo's to follow shortly.

Stage 3 is the decking at the front entry and a huge rear deck area as shown below. These decks are being build by a mate of mine and will be finished off in lovely Spotted Gum. The photo doesn't do it justice but the rear area is massive and will look awesome when finished.

The rear deck area is extending to the fence line to give it the 'larger' feel.

During the process we have discovered (& discovered is an appropriate expression here) a number of very questionable to illegal plumbing pipes and joins. Just glad our landscapers and concretor made us aware of the problems. More on that in another blog.

Lots of machines, lots of noise and lots of dirt.... It always gets messy before it can be clean and tidy - so they say.

Hopefully all finshed within this month.

Cam

QA vs Independent Inspector

Interesting issue this one, everyone has an opinion and one I have been wanting to ask for awhile.

The builders say they aren't required and not worth the money while the inspectors say its worth it if only as an insurance policy for your investment.

Each are paid by opposing parties, so have vested interests in opposite directions and it appears each has varying degree of attention to detail.

So the M employed QA guy went through our place weeks ago and obviously prior to handover and rated it a 98.3%. How the hell that is worked out is beyond me, but a pretty good score none the less.

Our engaged Independent Inspector found quite a few obvious issues that was over looked by the QA guys including,

• A window lintel was not painted at all,
• The fire box was still not to code - frustrating given he raised it in April at his early inspection,
• The heating duct was not connected to the outlet - ok if you intend to heat and live in the roof space,
• Insulation wasn't correctly installed in all places,
• The carpet still had visible lines through it which needed replacing, and
• Two of the 5 ceiling mounted vents / fans didn't have dampeners which are required for the star rating.

Excluding paint imperfections and other tidy ups, the above are a couple of really obvious, easy gets if your inspector is on his game and / or has a quick look through the manhole into the roof.  Our independent inspector did. Not so sure about whoever did the QA.

With a mark of 98.3% - which is a great score - I can't help feel like I was copying the paper of the student next to me and really deserve a score less than awarded....

I must say M fixed all remaining items without fuss (although at their leisure), so we are really happy overall with our house but the question remains - QA vs Independent Inspector ?

Cam