19th - 25th July 2010

Another week started and our builders continued to attack the new piles of gibboard. We gained walls in the lounge ...

... and kitchen ...

... and then they turned their attention to the garage.

On Wednesday, the doors arrived (lots of doors) which had to be unloaded ...

... and stored somewhere dark so they were not damaged by the light.

The builders then worked round the house installing them and fitting the adjacent gibboard. They started with the garage, which now looks much too smart for a garage.


The plumbers had returned and resited the pipework for the wetback so the lounge could gain some more walls ...

... and so did the kitchen.

Meanwhile Dave continued to busy himself in the garden, preparing the sites for the rest of the fruit trees which could appear any day.

And by Saturday lunch time, the builders had fitted 16 doors in 13 frames and they could slip off for a well-earned rest ...

... while we were left to polyurethane them all!!!

12th - 18th July 2010

After a week or so of the most dreadful weather, Monday turned into a most glorious day, and in fact the start of a most glorious week. Each day was calm and sunny and the builders and Dave even had their breaks sitting outside in the sun. A good week for outside work and everyone made the most of it.

The builders pressed on with the battens and by the end of the week we had rather a lot of stripes - everywhere ...




... even in the breezeway altho they ran out nine short of a full house load.

Oh yes, and the bath gained a frame ...

... and we gained a friendly dalek which will hopefully provide us with plenty of hot water.

Dave had been entrusted to fill in the hole into the roofspace above the breezeway to keep out allcomers, which he did

And another consignment of gibboard arrived - which the builders estimated as 5 tonnes and they should know as they carried them all from the truck into the lounge, a task that took them most of the morning before morning tea. Some of the sheets were enormous - 6m long by 1.35 metres - which are to be mounted horizontally with two sheets to fit our 2.7 m stud. They reckoned this was a similar amount to the first delivery of gibboard which was used for the ceilings and for bracing, making 10 tonnes in all. Its lucky we have a thick slab.

And Dave made the most of the fine weather by giving the cladding where the pergola is to be built a third and final coat of stain ...

... planting the rest of the feijoas ...

... and digging more holes for fruit trees that could arrive any time now.

And then of course some more of the dreaded battens arrived for his attention.

5th - 11th July 2010

Another week started with the unfortunate discovery of yet more battens for Dave to paint ...
... and a design problem as birds were still able to get into the house through the garage and breezeway roofspace. Dave was pleased to be entrusted with blocking off the hole, using offcuts from the inner layer of plywood.

Meanwhile the proper builders were progressing well, creating a bathroom ...

and some more stripes. These were meticulously done and looked awesome.

Wednesday was the day to be there, which was lucky as it was the only day of the week that I am there! And it was full of action. The plumbers came to put in the soak field for the septic tank and four of them turned up to do the job.

The pipe that had been coiled up waiting for them seemed to have a mind of its own but they eventually managed to unroll it ...

... and get it and its inner pipe safely in the trenches.

At the end of the day we were left with some rather unsightly mounds and a row of white mushrooms just next to the drive that we will see every time we drive in or out. I hope this is not the finished product.

Things were also springing up in the soon-to-be orchard with some prototype rabbit, hare, pukeko and wind protectors around our new feijoas and the first of the other fruit trees - an apple, a plum and an apricot tree.

Then the garage door man came and soon ...

... we had a rather smart door to match our windows. Pity there is no electric connection to drive it yet but it does look good.

And again the real builders pressed on with the battens though it was jolly chilly out there.

Thursday was so cold that even our tough builders retreated inside but Friday and Saturday turned out to be beautiful sunny days after the bitter cold of the previous days and by the end of the week we had a ceiling in the living room ...


... a frame for the bath ...

... and lots more stripes.

28th June - 4th July 2010

We'd spent most of the weekend cleaning and tidying and it was just as well as Monday turned out to be cold and wet as predicted and the builders turned their attention indoors. And yay, very soon we had our first ceiling.


The batts were clearly not the most popular job as Dave had several requests to help out but unfortunately he had to dig some holes for our new feijoas.

Tuesday came and so did more ceilings ...

... and more of the dreaded batts ...

... and Dave ran out of excuses and was coerced into fitting the special batts around the edges that have to squeeze under the eaves.

And having finished the ceilings everywhere except the lounge, they started on the sheets of bracing gibboard on the walls. So we nearly have some proper rooms.


Friday dawned bright and sunny which was rather appropriate for the installation of our solar panels ...

... and everyone made the most of the glorious weather to do some outside stuff - Neil and Richard worked on the battens on the outside of the garage ...


... while Dave just about completed a second coat of stain on most of the cladding ...

...and planted the first of our feijoas. This had been left in the garage overnight and had been discovered by a very large stick insect who was duly transplanted with its new home.