Achievements:
Brick work continued, more than 50% of brick work for 1st floor finished. 3 of 4 alfresco brick post finished.
Unplanned expenses:
Builder tried to ask for extra $800-900 for sewer connection, still fighting for it...
Issues:
1. Steel beams in Alfresco been joined instead of one full piece, painted with orange paint. Not sure if this is structurely sound and safe
2. Found a hole on the floor board of bedroom above garage
3. 2 "Noggings" in frames of bedroom above garage damaged
4. Sewage pipe (in front of property) broken
5. 1st floor main bathroom windows was installed with clear glass windows instead of obscured/glazed ones
Thursday, 15 November 2007
[Progress.068] First floor gutters completed
After 2 weeks of continuous rain, we finally have some beautiful weather this week. We noticed some materials for gutters been delivered on Tuesday morning. When we drove past on Wednesday afternoon around 2pm, the gutters for first floor were all finished and there's another few trades person working on the safety fence for roof. As shown below, this was late yesterday afternoon where all the roof fences were also finished. Quite amaze how much they can achieve in one day.
This one taken from the back.
A closer look showing how the roof truss/frames were connected to the gutters.
According to our supervisor, they will finish the roof tiles for 1st floor, wash the bricks, and then lower the scaffoldings. Then repeat the same process for ground floor roof (for garage at the front, kitchen and alfresco at the back). Looks like we can have all the roofing finished before Christmas, and no more worries about the rain!
This one taken from the back.
A closer look showing how the roof truss/frames were connected to the gutters.
According to our supervisor, they will finish the roof tiles for 1st floor, wash the bricks, and then lower the scaffoldings. Then repeat the same process for ground floor roof (for garage at the front, kitchen and alfresco at the back). Looks like we can have all the roofing finished before Christmas, and no more worries about the rain!
Saturday, 10 November 2007
[Progress.067] Thanks to brick layers for lowering the arch in front of the porch
It was raining again on Wednesday (07/11) afternoon when I drove past our site. As shown below (photo from my mobile) I noticed the curve board previously been used for the front porch arch was back under the arch again. Why? I thought they already finished the front porch ages ago??
Spoke with wife and she said she noticed the brick layers removed the whole arch in the morning when she drove past, and she already spoke with the brick layers about that. When the brick layers were finishing their work, they noticed the front porch arch was too high and part of the arch will be blocked by the eaves when it's been installed. That's why they removed the arch and re-do it again.
I quickly searched through my old photos, and found the following 2 for comparison. The first one was taken on Sunday (04/11) from camera, the second one was taken on Thursday (08/11) from my mobile.
By using the garage door (vertical ones on lower left hand side) as reference, you can count the bricks and clearly see that the arch has been dropped 2 bricks lower. Really appreciate the brick layers for picking this up now, otherwise this would be really difficult to fix when the roof & eaves were all done.
Spoke with wife and she said she noticed the brick layers removed the whole arch in the morning when she drove past, and she already spoke with the brick layers about that. When the brick layers were finishing their work, they noticed the front porch arch was too high and part of the arch will be blocked by the eaves when it's been installed. That's why they removed the arch and re-do it again.
I quickly searched through my old photos, and found the following 2 for comparison. The first one was taken on Sunday (04/11) from camera, the second one was taken on Thursday (08/11) from my mobile.
By using the garage door (vertical ones on lower left hand side) as reference, you can count the bricks and clearly see that the arch has been dropped 2 bricks lower. Really appreciate the brick layers for picking this up now, otherwise this would be really difficult to fix when the roof & eaves were all done.
Tuesday, 6 November 2007
[Progress.066] Windows sills done
It started to rain again yesterday and when I as on site late afternoon, I noticed the front windows on 1st floor were finished, even the windows sills were done as well. But as shown below, the windows sills for front bay windows on ground floor still wasn't finished yet.
This one is from the back of the house, quite happy to see the last alfresco post finally finished. Even the windows sills for the bay windows at the back were also done.
This one is the kitchen window, again windows sills done.
When I checked again this afternoon, all the front windows sills for the front bay windows also finished. Looks like they will be on schedule to finish all brick work in the next few days!
This one is from the back of the house, quite happy to see the last alfresco post finally finished. Even the windows sills for the bay windows at the back were also done.
This one is the kitchen window, again windows sills done.
When I checked again this afternoon, all the front windows sills for the front bay windows also finished. Looks like they will be on schedule to finish all brick work in the next few days!
Sunday, 4 November 2007
[Progress.065] Brick work almost done, new issue with alfresco drain pipe
It has been raining for the last few days and we even have a wild thunderstorm last night. The brick work was almost finished, if we can only have a few days without rain... Well, the rain did stop today, but today is Sunday! We need a non-raining week day to continue the brick work. Hopefully everything will be finished this week as they said -- as usual, only if weather permits...
As shown below, we only have very little work left at the front, see if you can pick it up from this photo.
This is a closer look, yes, it's the top part of the front middle window. Also, if you look at the right hand side, the windows sill also wasn't finished. Actually, all windows sills weren't done yet. There's also some brick work left in garage and the last alfresco post.
Talking about the alfresco post, we had a chat with one of the brick layers on Friday. He mentioned the reason for delaying the last alfresco post was because they have to wait for the concrete footing to be fixed -- and it has been done. They will finish the last post once the rain stops... Based on this, I start comparing all the previous photos for that area this weekend and found a new problem -- a drainage pipe on the ground for connecting down pipe from the last alfresco post was missing!
The first photo below was taken on 15/9 when the frame was half done. You can see the drain pipe right next to the concrete footing/piere highlighted in red.
.jpg)
The second photo was on 20/10 with brick work half done, the pipe was still there.
.jpg)
The next one on 30/10, the pipe disappeared! And you can see a few bricks been half buried next to the concrete footing. May be this is the "fix" the brick layer mentioned --- the original concrete piere probably wasn't in the right place and they need to dig a bit extra side wise, put in the concrete, and then support it with some bricks. That's probably why the pipe was removed -- to give way to the concrete pier.
.jpg)
This is another photo taken on 2/11 (Friday). The way they place the bricks around the footing doesn't look quite nice to me. And since they removed the drain pipe, hope the underground underground wasn't affected, and I wonder how are they going to connect it back??
.jpg)
The last photo was taken today, I found this poor little fellow been dumped under one of the scaffoldings --- yes, this is the drain pipe that's been removed. I can recognise it as it has this special cut on the top. From the length looks like the builder will need to dig quite deep (around 250-400mm ?) to connect it back (or replace with a new one?). Well, as long as it's fix, I don't really care how are they going to do it...
As it took me a while to scan through so many photos during this incident, I was discussing with wife about the idea of using our video camera instead of digital (photo) camera to record all the things happening at our site.
Main reason is, with digital camera you can only take photos of a small area at a time and it's almost impossible to cover every angle. Also sometimes it can be a bit difficult to identify which area was the photo taken (try to compare 10 close up photos of bricks or frames...).
With video camera, as long as you don't move too fast, you can sort of "scan" through the whole area, wall by wall, windows by windows, frame by frame. Only issue I can think of, is with digital cameras you can use the flash lights during night time, it can be a bit difficult for video cameras at night or during poor light condition... Any way, will give that a try next time if possible.
As shown below, we only have very little work left at the front, see if you can pick it up from this photo.
This is a closer look, yes, it's the top part of the front middle window. Also, if you look at the right hand side, the windows sill also wasn't finished. Actually, all windows sills weren't done yet. There's also some brick work left in garage and the last alfresco post.
Talking about the alfresco post, we had a chat with one of the brick layers on Friday. He mentioned the reason for delaying the last alfresco post was because they have to wait for the concrete footing to be fixed -- and it has been done. They will finish the last post once the rain stops... Based on this, I start comparing all the previous photos for that area this weekend and found a new problem -- a drainage pipe on the ground for connecting down pipe from the last alfresco post was missing!
The first photo below was taken on 15/9 when the frame was half done. You can see the drain pipe right next to the concrete footing/piere highlighted in red.
.jpg)
The second photo was on 20/10 with brick work half done, the pipe was still there.
.jpg)
The next one on 30/10, the pipe disappeared! And you can see a few bricks been half buried next to the concrete footing. May be this is the "fix" the brick layer mentioned --- the original concrete piere probably wasn't in the right place and they need to dig a bit extra side wise, put in the concrete, and then support it with some bricks. That's probably why the pipe was removed -- to give way to the concrete pier.
.jpg)
This is another photo taken on 2/11 (Friday). The way they place the bricks around the footing doesn't look quite nice to me. And since they removed the drain pipe, hope the underground underground wasn't affected, and I wonder how are they going to connect it back??
.jpg)
The last photo was taken today, I found this poor little fellow been dumped under one of the scaffoldings --- yes, this is the drain pipe that's been removed. I can recognise it as it has this special cut on the top. From the length looks like the builder will need to dig quite deep (around 250-400mm ?) to connect it back (or replace with a new one?). Well, as long as it's fix, I don't really care how are they going to do it...
As it took me a while to scan through so many photos during this incident, I was discussing with wife about the idea of using our video camera instead of digital (photo) camera to record all the things happening at our site.
Main reason is, with digital camera you can only take photos of a small area at a time and it's almost impossible to cover every angle. Also sometimes it can be a bit difficult to identify which area was the photo taken (try to compare 10 close up photos of bricks or frames...).
With video camera, as long as you don't move too fast, you can sort of "scan" through the whole area, wall by wall, windows by windows, frame by frame. Only issue I can think of, is with digital cameras you can use the flash lights during night time, it can be a bit difficult for video cameras at night or during poor light condition... Any way, will give that a try next time if possible.
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