17th - 23rd May 2010

Another glorious week of autumn and the builders continued with their work on the suffits, the ceiling of the breezeway and the preparation of the windows. This seemed to be a 2-man job and, as Dave had finished the first coat of paint on all the sheets of cladding, he had to look around for other things to do.

The pukekos had been becoming even more of a nuisance and had started to dig up the potato plants. Fortunately they weren't interested in the potatoes underneath so we could still enjoy them.

So we had had a family challenge to design the most effective bit of a scarepukeko which was very fine and scary but unfortunately did not have the intended effect.


Dave has spent many hours digging out gorse bushes from our 'front lawn' and reckoned he had finished the job there. Unfortunately, I think there are still a fair few there though!

He also tidied up the rubbish and sawdust in the backyard and inside the house so it all looked much smarter. It certainly impressed the men who delivered the windows who reckoned it didn't look like a building site at all.

Wednesday and the progress continued on the windows ...


... and the breezeway ceiling was complete and painted.

And yay, the windows arrived. The ranch sliders will be glazed in situ ...

... while the windows and doors were already glazed.

The pukekos attacked the potato patch with more gusto and almost completely flattened the second area ...


... and for some reason, after 6 months, decided to dig up all the cardboard and grass clippings used to mulch the flax plants, to make the area look more like the council rubbish tip.

Friday, and big excitement as the first window was installed. This was a very complex exercise involving flashings and rodent strips and angled supports ...




... but at the end of the day, it looked awesome. Yay!

10th - 16th May 2010

Another week and the weather remains awesome. The roofers returned and replaced some of the iron from the garage roof with laserlite panels to let in more light. The builders worked on the soffits ...

.. which are looking quite smart, if the colour is a bit variable.


And the plumbers started to install the water pipes.

Tuesday, and the house is transformed. The builders add a pretty white layer to the walls and a white rodent strip to keep any visitors out of the future cavity.

Meanwhile the water pipes are multiplying.

Wednesday and the cavity battens are added but everyone seems to have forgotten about the windows.

And the septic tank arrived. This was a bit of a problem from the start as the man and his digger arrived bright and early but found that the walls of his hole in the sand collapsed when he took his digger too close ...

... so he had to jump in and dig the bottom bit by hand.

All a bit difficult especially as the tank itself with the man and the measure didn't arrive as expected mid morning so he wasn't sure how deep to go.

When it did arrive, it came on a truck without a crane and looked rather too heavy to be manhandled. So it was taken away again ...

... and then reappeared with another truck that did have a crane. It was duly transfered from the first truck to the second and taken round the house to its new home.

All looked good ...


... and the hole was the right shape and the right depth ...

... but the digger driver got too excited when refilling in the sand and drove over the top of it and smashed one of the lids and its rim. This fell down on to the base of the tank which may or may not have been damaged too.

Thursday and the builders carried on with the external walls ...


... but did rather spoil the views from inside.

3rd - 9th May 2010

Well, it was lucky we did so much on Sunday, as Monday really was action day! The builders were there of course but they were joined by the roofers to work on the garage and the plumbers to put up the spouting. This was much anticipated as the iron on the roof had created a wall of water during the few showers we had had and, as well as soaking everyone within reach, splashed up lots of sand and made a terrible mess.

The plywood coat was getting more complete ...

while the roof appeared on the garage ...


... though it was a bit tricky in the wind.

And the spouting looked rather smart.



The action did not seem to deter the pukekos who have developed a taste for new broad beans, though we still dont understand why they didn't attack the earlier sowing.

And just so Dave didn't feel left out, his next load of external plywood arrived.

Tuesday was another awesome day and showed off the amazing progress of the previous day.

Dave moved his 'paint shop' from the office to the newly roofed garage and organised everything to maximise his rate of production. His estimate of 5 sheets a day has evolved into 10 a day though even this must have seemed too few as he made an additional drying rack.

The soffits were added to the gables.

Wednesday and sunny again. Dave decided to clear all the bits of scrap iron and wire off the roof so they wouldnt find their way to our water tank, while the builders huddled for shelter under the eaves.

But that was only a temporary respite from his main job of the day (and tomorrow and the next day ...)

Thursday and the soffits are looking good ...

and even better on Friday.