November 8th

The action swings along.  Today the old industrial air conditioning  unit was removed. This was a big step a originally we thought we would leave it in place as an interesting industrial feature. Then we turned it on and realised that the amount of noise it created would make feeling hot pleasurable by comparison. So the big round funnel has gone.

The quote has come in for the solar panels. It seems that  it is deemed "a waste of money" for us to install any number of panels because we will oly get three hours of effective sunlight in a day. This makes me all the more determined to go ahead. I would swear there is lots of sunlight up there. On the one hand we are choosing garden plants which can survive in desert conditions (- dragon trees, succulants) and on the other, we are supposed to be living in shade. It feels like when we first moved to Stockton. The yard was barren and we were told by many locals that, "You'll never get trees to grow in Stockton." Within three years the neighbours were complaining about overhanging branches. I think we will ignore prevailing wisdom and go ahead.

November 5th

End of the week and more progress today. Another layer of joisty things on the kitchen floor; much rubbish loaded up and distributed to recyclers and dump and the solving of a mystery...


Our neighbour,  runs the beautician's parlour next door but one. This will be very convenient for an old duck like me - beautiful aromas waft out into the street and transports passers-by into other worlds! She mentioned the other day that garbage had been left out the back in bags and that her garbage bin had been filled with carpet and gyprock. I had the feeling that she may have thought that our builders were responsible for some of it. So today, I donned rubber gloves and did an "Alice's Restaurant"...this will have meaning for baby boomers. It was the most wonderful film staring Arlo Guthrie. Early seventies. Low and behold, amidst all the kitchen waste, I found DOCUMENTS which, not only had the perpetrator's names on them, but their car registrations as well. Interestingly, the culprits were not from the leased apartments on the corner but from a professional office around the corner in Watt St. Action has been taken and if there is no result, more serious action will be instigated.

Today I have had lengthy planning chats with John, the electrician. It is slightly difficult imagining exactly where power points will go but I enjoyed the challenge. It all involves what one sees in "the mind's eye." Had a good chat with Greg today. He told me that he prefers doing renovations to new builds. Is he the only builder in the world? He is renovating his own house which is 90 years old and situated in beautiful East Maitland. Isn't that great for a young  chap. That made me feel really good.

Meanwhile, it has been raining heavily all day and the roof upstairs is still leaking. I wonder how long we wait for the neighbours in the AMP building to act???

Kitchen floor rising



Garbage leaving site. (What is that man wearing on his head?)



More beam detail for Bernie.

November 4th

Well something new happens every day! Today, as Greg was drilling the holes for the supports of the new kitchen floor, he drilled through into downstairs! Luckily, it broke through only into the surgery toilet and there was nobody in there at the time. It made a bit of a mess but Rosemary dealt with that as if it was all in a day's work - normal for around these parts!





The breakthrough hole!





The supports of the floor joists. This is the one that went through to the concrete ceiling below.



The kitchen joists were down by the end of the day; shimmering away in their crimson glory. The red covering is probably some exotic pest treatment. The kitchen will be raised primarily for easy accommodation of the utilities. The ceiling is quite high, well, extremely high, so there is plenty of room to raise the floor level.





November 3rd

 Progress on the upstairs floor and stair wall is progressing nicely. The whole upstairs area is now totally revealed (apart from one lone toilet) and I am surprised at largeness of the space. The en suite is ample in size. I now have to plan where I want light switches and power points.

Greg is keeping the downstairs door locked now - since he found an old guy rummaging through the garbage bin located inside the front door. When asked what he wanted the bloke said he was looking for the doctor's surgery! Oh boy! Is this a sign of what's to come?

30th October

Today we had our first uninvited visitor to 59 Hunter St. Lester and I opened the door and heard sounds of frantic movement, which was slighlty alarming. Warily, we peeked over the bannister and spotted a pigeon which had found its way in, (probably through the mystery window) and had obviously spent the night trying to get out. With flapping arms and nose dives over mounds of scaffolding and paint tins - that's us, not the stupid bird-  we were able to capture the poor thing and liberate it.

This is our first room! It is the wall of the bathroom/ensuite. Not quite as large as we are used to, but then that's the whole idea.

Greg spent  much of yesterday preparing these vertical, structural metal beams to be trimmed to floor level. These steel frames are the old fashioned way of making sky scrapers but we are not that ambitious! It was noisy work and the tenant downstairs had the nerve to ring me up and tell me how noisy it was. So I told him...get back to work so we can pay the bloke who is making the noise. I hate to think of the noise the angle grinder will make as it trims these beams.

Bernie, this is for you. You were asking me to describe the detail of the beam and the joist. I hope this answers your query adequately.

Streets and Lanes? Hopscotch? Innovative floor design? No, just the battons in place for the floor boards to be laid.

29th October

I spent yesterday battling the traffic to Cardiff to choose floorboards at Marshall's. There was a distinct atmosphere of gloom about the place as old Mr Marshall had died the previous day and floral tributes abounded. I felt quite frivolous concerning myself with the attributes of ironbark vs blackbutt and trying to remember old forest varieties so as not to support "immoral" industrial practises. I eventually settled on blue gum which is, ironically, red in colour.

I also spent hours at Roverts, choosing light fittings. I was completely out of my depth in the wattage department (too many numbers) but finally decided on a simple industrial style. The lights will be so unobtrusive that they will not be noticed which made me wonder why I had spent so much deciding on them! The problem had been providing light for such a large area so it came down to continuous fluros  for downstairs and led downlights for upstairs. And of course, Kristina K reduced the solar energy subsidy yesterday so we will have a re-think about our panel and hot water roof installations. I imagine we will still go ahead with it - as a matter of principle.

We watched Grand Designs Australia last night. A young couple built a very small and tall house in Surrey Hills. Apart from the fact that their budget blew out by about $400,000 (that won't be us!),  we had a few laughs at similarities to our build; the large kitchen bench, downgrading on taps to afford the tree on the roof garden, black frames on windows and doors and internal sliding room dividers. We are just such trend-setters - or perhaps that's trend-followers! I am sure they were all my ideas!

The parking problem continues. The official Works Zone signs have been in place for a couple of weeks and still people continue to park in the spots much to the ire of Steve and Greg. A hapless tourist mini-bus, whose occupants were off having a nice coffee, was caught there by Steve yesterday. As he pulled out his mobile to phone through the rego to the rangers, a burly driver ran up, explaining that they were the Federal Police on a trip from W.A. -  where Federal Police can park where they like. Undeterred, an inflamed Steve told him that he didn't care who they were and what they can do over the other side of the country, that he has paid thousands of dollars for that park and that they should get back on their bus etc. etc..(in builders' language of course.)  Off they went...!  Warning: Steve can be pretty scarry - rabid bulldog - if you park in his work zones!

27th October

Lots of action, noise and decision making today.  Early in the morning two Genie Lifts arrived and were manoeuvred upstairs by Greg and Richo in order to raise the three steel beams. By the end of the day that awful job was completed, with help from Steve who happened to arrive just in time for the installation of the largest one and before his appointment with the physio.

I have been concerned that we are not doing enough with the roof garden area. We initially thought we could figure out that space ourselves but since the room has opened up with the demolition it has become apparent that this will become a really important living area and needs specialist thinking. So we have called in David (landscape architect) who is very familiar with the vagaries of the building. Today we all met on site, with his concept and discussed the features of fake grass and soft-fall rubbers, planter boxes and Porters Paints (which are particularly lovely ...and of course expensive!)

We have stepped up our campaign to get the neighbouring/ adjoining wall repaired by the owners with the aid of a solicitor's letter. I have tried to photographically capture some of the rusty and loose bits of the wall which threaten to fall.

This evening I bumped into our new neighbours and old friends in the street, (indeed one of them is soon turning 55 and will be elegible to move into a retirement village as of next week) - Ann and David. Couldn't join them for a quick pasta tonight at a local eatery but assured them that we will be keen to do so once we have moved in.

 I tried to capture some of the detail of the rubble on camera today and tries to get a bit arty...

 The beam lifter

 Three beams in place by the afternoon

ARTY SHOTS

 Richo and Greg hard at it

Bits from the neighbouring wall

Here are two of the 3D models of the garden. (That's Lester in the cool street wear at the barbie and I am the buxom young wench on the deck, admiring the view!)