Started with the Balustrading
Today I started with the balustrade on the front of the deck. I am using recycled hardwood that we picked up yesterday from a demolition yard.
As you can see we are already using the deck as our "camping" kitchen.
Posts tagged 'pictures'
The Render Workshop
Awesome community-minded people turned up to do the workshop. The picture below shows the Saturday group. Some of these also came for Sunday's session and some new people turned up on Sunday as well. Nick gave a great teaching session about clay and the formulas required for the different coats …
Thank you to all Helpers
The straw bale wall raising weekend was an unqualified success. All the bales, except for the last row, were in place at the end of the weekend. Our bedroom wall was one exception with the determined Andy smacking in the last row on Saturday afternoon (video to come). Perry and …
The deck, the roof and then...
Nick and Roger are amazing. In the last 4 weeks they have managed to do the deck, have the roof completed so the roofer can start and all internal walls are up as well. If you are ever considering building a straw bale house these are the guys to get …
Kurilpa bridge? Nah, these posts are straight.
Nick and Roger are making great progress with the framing (left). Lovely straight posts adorn our slab and define where our straw bale walls will be. The Kurilpa bridge (right) is a pedestrian bridge in Brisbane that looks like a steel spider web with twigs in it. Interesting engineering!
It's …
Walls not straw bale
In the wet areas and as thermal mass, it was decided to use timbercrete: waste sawdust, cement and sand which is formed into blocks/bricks and air dried. The beauty of this product is that it can be nailed into and cut like wood, it is lighter weight than similar …
The only way is up!
We now have a slab with rods sticking our where the bales will go. Next week (from 9/11/09) we are going to start putting the frame up with the assistance of a local carpenter, Johan.
Timbercrete blocks (for wet areas and feature walls) have arrived and need a …
More bits and pieces
We are trying to keep our impact on the environment as low as possible, so we are constantly on the lookout for second hand items. Ebay has been great for the doors, windows, pavers (heaps) and some timber.
Some items I thought we were stuck with buying new i.e …
The Building Process Begins
We have got our plans approved and we have now started building.
We have found a great concreter and block layer (Mike Pascoe from Witta) that is doing the foundations work for us. Once Mike set out where the concrete pad will go we realised that the one retaining block …
Door Handles
John, one of our friends, has given us some free door handles for our new
home. John is a locksmith and has told us that these handles would have
most likely been thrown out.
These handles have come of some doors where the builders installed the wrong type of handles …
More Bits for Our New Home
Rosalba and I have started looking around for bits and pieces for our new home. We have purchased the main entrance doors a while ago.
This week we were lucky enough to win an eBay auction for some nice french doors as shown below. We are planning to use these …
Front Doors
Rosalba and I went to the Sunday market in Chandler today to get organic fruit and veg as we do most weeks.
While strolling around looking for some laundry baskets we walked past this stall with beautifully carved solid wooden doors. There were some stricking designs on display, many of …
100% Renewable Energy Used to Write This Article
Rosalba and I are spending the weekend in the shed on our land where we are going to build the straw bale house. On the picture you can see me editing this article using 100% renewable energy from our small solar power installation on the shed.
On the shed we …
We are meeting the Architect today
We are meeting the architect for the first time today, so both my wife and I are really excited.
As a treat for everyone, I have included a bigger picture of the view from our house site:
If you click on the image you can see a bigger version of …