Shellac and painted walls
While …
Posts in 'General'
Skirting boards
Wooden floor in Bedroom laid and sanded back.
This week Mark finished laying the wooden floor in our bedroom and the
walk in wardrobe. He has also done the inital sanding to remove the old
floor polish and get the floor ready for puttying.
Floor sanding is very dusty as you can see in the image below. That …
Toilet roll holder and towel ring
We found some really nice toilet roll holders and towel rings. They are
made out of 100% recycled steel and look just gorgeuous.
They arrive yesterday and Mark put them up today.
Tiling, grouting, cornices and outside laundry
Paved area for outside laundry
As you might already be aware, we have decided to have an outside
laundry as we couldn't see the point of using up indoor space for our
laundary. In the place we are renting now, we have got an outside
laundry and it has been working really well for us …
Hidden frogs
Mark prepared moved some pavers today to get ready to pour a concrete
slab with paver top for our outside loundry.
While moving the pavers, he found dozens of tiny frogs hidding in
amongst the pavers. Had to be really carefull not to hurt them moving
the pavers.
Rich harvest :-/
Mark installed a letter box a fortnight ago and we have already had our
first batch of junk mail delivered.
It is a lot less than what we received in Brisbane before we put a no
junk mail on our letterbox. I guess the next "big" event will be when …
Why just tile when you can be artistic
When the guy at the tiling shop said I could break up the grey tiles by
running a strip of blue glass tiles though the middle, he did not allow
for my imagination. I decided it should be a stylized waterfall from a
mosaic lake. For \$20 I picked up …
Progress on balustrading
Mark has been working on the balustrade again today, adding the uprights to about half the balustrade …
Firewall
While Mark kept working on the ceilings, I set to work on the fire wall
that will surround my wood stove. Mark is working on the bathroom
ceiling so no tiling until he's finished. Blocks I am using are
timbercrete blocks leftover from building. These blocks are made from
waste …
Wooden ceiling in our bedroom
Mark has been working on the wooden ceiling in our bedroom. Even with
some interruptions got it half done. Mark's shoulder is a bit sore now
from hammering all these nails in up side down.
Finishing the wooden floor
We are back working on the house this weekend and have discovered a
faster and easier method to lay down the recycled wooden floor board. In
particular we have found a great method to push the boards hard against
each other to leave as small a gap as possible, We …
Lead Lights
They are finally done. Rosalba has worked very hard on these magnificent
lead lights. Today Mark got to install them all. Thanks to Graeme Lee
for being a great and patient instructor. Couldn't have done it without
him and his workshop.
Halfway mark
We have today worked on the wooden floor in Rosalba's sewing room again
and have reached the halfway mark.
Unfortunately we ran out of daylight.
First floor boards
This weekend we have started putting the floor boards down in the
Rosalba's sewing room. The recycled …
Finished look using our home made paint
Saving Money on Heating and Cooling
Installing insulation in your home can dramatically reduce the need for
heating and cooling and therefore save you quite a lot of money. For
instance the room in the picture has been so well insulated that no
heating or cooling will be necessary. :-)
Do It Yourself Paint
We found an easy to follow recipe on the Internet on how to make your own paint. Rosalba tried it today with great success. The paint recipe is really easy to follow. Check it out yourself:
"Buy Hydrated Lime powder (I bought 1.5kg from Bunnings for about \$5) and …
Window Frame
Rosalba and Mark are working on their house again this weekend.
Mark has been working on creating a window frame from scratch for the
large louvre window in the walk in wardrobe. In the two pictures below
you can see the opening before and after installatioin of the wooden
frame …
Untitled
It's a rainy day here so not much us happening work wise. It is good
though to relax a bit, enjoy nature and reflect on what to do next.
Local wildlife checking out my work
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height="1000"}](http://www.budafoods.com.au/strawbalehouse/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/2011-02-25_15.15.58.jpg.scaled.1000.jpg)
Today I've been working on the deck again. This Kookaburra took an …
Cooking dinner together on our deck.
Rendering Upside Down How To with Rosalba
We have had a question from Mitch if there is a particular trick to
rendering upside down, which is why Rosalba is showing us in this video
how to apply a clay render upside down.
The deck is coming along nicely
Over the last few months I
have been busily working on the deck.
We purchased recycled and
new decking timber. The new decking we purchased mainly because we
couldn’t get enough recycled decking at the time.
In my experience it is a
lot nicer to work with recycled decking …
PV system is installed and we've got electricity.
In November 2010 we’ve got
the our Solar electricity system installed and we’ve now got electricity
throughout the house. It is just great to be able to use some tools now
without having to run a noisy generator.
Here are some pictures from
our PV system:
The first …
Render - the final coats
Since the workshop, Nick, Roger and Andrew (the brilliant roofer has
joined the team) have been hard at work putting on the lime render on
the
outside
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.size-thumbnail .wp-image-212 width="150"
height="150"}
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.size-thumbnail .wp-image-213 width="150"
height="150"}.
The first and second coats were pumped on using …
The Render Workshop - Mk II
Kat Gawlik (www.forgreenies.com) not only made plenty of pictures at our rendering workshop but has also made a very professional video as can be seen below:
Thank you Kat for your professional coverage of our rendering workshop.
The straw is a-coming!
{.alignleft
.size-thumbnail .wp-image-193 width="150"
height="150"}As
you can see from the photos the roof is going on at a rapid rate due to
the powerhouse known as Andrew (the roofer). On Wednesday, March 10,
2010 the straw bales will arrive from Nanango. On Saturday 20 and Sunday
21 …
Old wood stove
{.alignleft
width="216" height="288"}Rosalba and I have recently purchased a wood
stove, a Crown No 7. When we got it, it had a few cracks which we got
our neighbour, Pancho, to fix for us. We have now installed the stove in
our shed temporarily, until the house …
Interview in The Ottawa Herald
Rosalba and I have recently been interviewed by a very nice lady that writes for The Ottawa Herald. The interview has now been published and I'll re-create it here linking to the article at The Ottawa Herald would not be very productive. The Ottawa Herald seems to remove articles from …
Our Blog as Won an Award
{.alignleft
.size-full .wp-image-125 width="200" height="200"}Solar Girl from the
"Solar Energy - Green Lifestyle for
You" blog has given
our blog an award. Wow, how special is that!
Thank you very much Solar Girl.
These are the rules for “I Love Your Blog" award:
1). Add the logo of …
Retrofitting LEDs into a desk lamp
{.alignleft
width="288" height="216"}I changed a desk lamp I already had to use LEDs
instead of the CFL tube. I mainly did that because I wanted to do
something "crafty" and because I like LEDs and how their light comes
with almost no heat.
Of course the LEDs …
Merry Christmas
{.alignright
width="240"
height="162"}Just
a quick message to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
I reckon 2009 will be a most interesting year for all.
On the house front: Our house plans have gone to a certifier and we hope that early in the …
Secret Santa
Kin
on the Aussie Bloggers
Forum
was so kind to organise a Secret Santa for forum participants.
Yesterday my secret Santa present arrived and it is an absolute hoot. The bits I received were pretty cool (see image on the right), but the message, which I share with you below …
Strawbale Building Workshop in Yandina
Last weekend Rosalba and I attended a Strawbale Building Workshop in Yandina. This workshop was part sponsored by our Architect WD Architects. Other supporters included Rockcote, Wildlife Warriors, and the Sunshine Coast Regional Council.
Our tutors where Lance Kairl, and Chris and Colin Newton.
Lance is South Australia's most experienced …
6 Things You Don't Know About Me
Jean over at the The English Armchair Abroad has tagged me for a post about 6 things you don't yet know about me. Well, let's see what secrets I am willing to give away ... :-)
- I absolutely adore cats.
- The first cat I can remember got run over by a car …
And The Winner Is ...
As August has now finished we have closed the competition for the book of house plans and have drawn the winner. But before I announce the winner I'd like to explain that we have also drawn a runner up and a second runner up in case the winner is not …
Six Word Memoir
About a week ago Journeyer has tagged me for a six word memoir. I thought initially that's going to be easy... I know better now.
Well, here it goes:
"Playing, Working, Searching, Moving, Marrying, Sustainability"
Then again, I'm not so sure about the above. Maybe try the next one instead …
Training for Moving House
Rosalba, Remy (our son) and I have just moved house this last week from a largish 4 bedroom home to a reasonable sized 3 bedroom home. Foolishly we decided to do most of the moving ourselves.
I think one of our friends upon hearing this has put it best: "You …
My Meme
Jess at Sustainable Suburbia tagged me for a meme so below is my reply…
What were you doing ten years ago?
Well, that's a long time ago. I'd like to concentrate more on the present and future as we can't change our past. My near term future obviously involves doing …
Reasons to Build a Strawbale House
My friend Neerav has asked me recently to write an article for one of his blogs about our strawbale house. I was deeply flattered by his request as Neerav is one of Australia's top bloggers and I consider myself as an amateur blogger, having only just started.
Neerav has since …
Discount at Bunnings for Owner Builders
Reading through the current edition of The Owner Builder magazine I have found a small article on page 36 about Bunnings Warehouse offering discounts to registered owner builders.
In most states you need to obtain a permit to be an owner builder. Such a permit can be obtained by sitting …
Should we include a "Truth Window"?
Rosalba and I had a discussion yesterday whether our home should include a Truth Window. A Truth Window is a section of wall were the straw is covered by a glass plate and a frame instead of render to show unbelievers the truth about the our walls being built out …
What's this about then?
Welcome
The purpose of this blog is to track the progress of the strawbale house that my wife and I are about to start building with the help of some professionals, friends and family.
The image in the heading of this site is the view that we'll be having out …