Week 10: House gets new clothes

This week, the house has really taken shape (at least from the outside!). Most of the windows got installed first up.

New double-hung windows in the kitchen and dining rooms

Large window where the stove alcove used to be
(plus currently terrifying possibly head-injury void where future stairwell will go)

This was followed by insulation, waterproof sarking and finally some of the cladding has begun too.

New windows and sarking!

We've gone with a cement composite weatherboard - Scyon Linea. The benefits of a cement product over a traditional timber weatherboard are that it is less prone to warping, water rot and termite damage, and should need painting less often (hopefully 15-20 years vs 10 for timber). Downsides are that it is a reproduction of an original look, which bothers some people (we think it looks great however) and it is more difficult to cut and work with. Cost-wise we found during quoting that the products ended up being roughly equal, when the raw costs are weighed against labour costs.

There are many other brands of cement weatherboard out there, all with different specifications. And if you're building a new, modern home, without town planning restrictions, there are all sorts of cool cladding options out there. These include multiple cement products, aluminium, vinyl, composite hardwood etc.

OK that's it for this week! The coming week may possibly bring the new roof (scaffold got adjusted this weekend for the roofers, so here's hoping). Love to hear your thoughts on progress so far!

Week 9: Roof chat

Hello all! Another busy week on the reno, with lots of bits & pieces in preparation for the insulation, sarking, fitting the windows and re-cladding. No massive changes but will put up some piccies below for comparison to previous weeks.

Our deck got roof trusses! After this, the scaffolding has gone back on to allow the roofers access to the deck.

Upstairs has been a big focus this week with lots of work on more demolition and finishing up the framing before the house can be re-clad. You can see the difference between the photos above and below - this space is where the glass stacker door will go.

Internally, the 'cut-out' above the staircase was cut and framed up, and some beams placed to make up for removal of nib walls. More plumbing and electrical work has happened, as it's easier to run everything now than when the outside walls are back on!

This week I have been researching roof materials, namely Colorbond and Zincalume, both products of BlueScope steel. Not only do we want a metal roof, but town planning restrictions dictate that we must have one. So what's the difference between the two products? They are both steel dipped in a zinc-based product to give a protective coating. The main difference is that colour is 'baked' and bonded to the Zincalume to make Colorbond. Both are well suited to harsh Australian conditions, Zincalume may be slightly cheaper than Colorbond depending on the supplier, and there may be restrictions on the use of Zincalume (due to its reflectivity) depending on which council you are under.

Colorbond - available in various colours

Zincalume - silver only

Currently, we have some not so attractive pressed steel tiles in a heritage red colour (see some of the deck photos above). Inside the roof, currently it consists of pressed metal, trusses, battens and the ceiling. No waterproofing and no insulation, so this is our opportunity to get a roofing blanket put in (consisting of a foil-backed insulation) as well as a roof which will hopefully last us 20 years plus.

The question I wanted to answer was - what is better for deflecting heat, Colorbond or Zincalume? Thermal data for the Colorbond colours is relatively easy to find after a quick Google - see link here. Funnily enough, light colours absorb less solar radiation than dark colours, but what surprised me was by what degree. Night Sky for example absorbs 3 times as much solar radiation as Surfmist.

When it comes to Zincalume, this data is surprisingly difficult to find, as it behaves differently to a painted surface due to its reflective nature. The best resource I could find was from Bluescope's Southern Africa website - see pdf link here. This basically sums up that Zincalume performs somewhat like a mid-range Colorbond colour (see last page of the document).

Well that's enough roof chat for today! Thanks for reading, and comments welcomed as usual!

Week 8: Check out our big deck

This week, construction began on the only 'extension' we have as part of this renovation - the BAD (or big-arse deck, for reasons which will become obvious below). Our block has dual access, and is small, so the deck is also forming the carport. This meant that we had to make it big enough to cover 2 car spaces, and big it is!

The footings and stirrups went in last week, so first thing this week, composite hardwood posts were bolted into the stirrups to form the basis of the deck. One top of these, three 200kg LVLs (laminated veneer lumber) were hand-lifted into place.

Next, the joists were added...

And then some more posts, followed by the lovely spotted gum decking. The finish of the spotted gum was a really pleasant surprise, it looks great. 

Many of the windows also arrived this week, although not yet installed. We've both watched enough 'Grand Designs' to know that window arrival often holds up a build, so it's good to have them ready to go.

Decisions this week? Nothing major! Jobs to do during the coming week are to purchase a rangehood and lock in our manufactured stone order. I also want to go and check out some handles for the kitchen drawers and cupboards, and check for neutral clashes (again), this time for the bathroom (tile, paint and benchtop).

On site this week, hopefully the roof for the deck will be constructed! Stay tuned. Thanks for reading and don't forget to comment! :-)

Week 7: The chaos before the re-build

This week, preparation continues for the facelift which our house will receive over the next few weeks. Upstairs, electrical rough-in continued, the windows have been removed in preparation for the new ones, and more demo has completely exposed the back part of the house.

Future living area, open section will be stacker doors to the deck

Another exciting development was demolition of the floor of the original kitchen, opening up where our staircase will be. It's going to be a welcome double height space in an otherwise compact house, complete with gorgeous feature light which Michael snapped up for 30% of the retail price off eBay.

Future staircase

Our front patio was also opened up this week, which will completely change the look of the front of the house (obscured by scaffold at the moment). The house would originally have been in the form of an asymmetrical bungalow with a gable and porch, but the porch had been built-in at some stage in the past to form a study/sleep-out. 

Federation and Inter-war asymmetrical bungalow (image courtesy Queensland Museum)

Reinstated front patio, looking forward to polishing up that lovely original hardwood floor

In addition, the footings for the deck were concreted in, and there has been timber delivered for its construction. 

What did we choose this week? Our biggest purchase was a couple of timber benchtops. We had originally wanted a timber benchtop for the powder room (which is a sink separate from the toilet and shower upstairs). The price and quality of the benchtops we found were so good that we purchased one for the laundry also as it is coming in a little cheaper than laminate (and we think will add some interest and warmth to the space too). Am happy to share the details of our supplier if anyone wants them!

Thanks for reading :-) Questions or comments welcome of course!

Week 6: Naked house!

Despite the Ekka Day last week, week 6 was another busy week. Sometime in the 1970s, the original chamfer board covering the house was removed, and it was then re-clad in a lovely (!) 'weatherboard' made of vinyl. While low maintenance, it's not the most attractive house cladding. This was nailed over asbestos sheeting, and had stayed this way until last week.

Monday and Tuesday saw the professional asbestos removal team come in. They removed all the vinyl cladding, and the asbestos underneath. So now our little house is a bit naked - with the internal VJ walls on display for now!

Vinyl cladding removed, asbestos visible

Asbestos off! That's the internal walls you can see there

Going for the breezy feel

Thursday and Friday saw more framing work, and plumbing & electrical rough-in. Basically the cables which will supply our lights/power points etc are being run, and pipes for the plumbing.

Cables!

Pipes!

What else did we decide upon this week? Well we braved the public holiday crowds and ordered our kitchen from Ikea. Every piece bar one was available and delivered the very next day. All 500kg of it! We also got a hot tip on another manufactured stone place to check out, and found they have a range that contains a veined option very similar to our top Caesarstone pick, BUT with a lovely white base (the Caesarstone range seems to have a creamier or greyer base). 

Ikea workshop

And finally, we started to assemble the Ikea base cabinets on the weekend. Shout-out to one of Michael's good mates for giving us a hand. 9 cabinets down, about a million drawers to go, haha.

Thanks for reading, comments welcomed! Until next week! :-)