wision house

SuperSize Skip bin, Floor Boards and messy days.

2011-01-06T18:14:00.000+08:00

The Christmas break is giving us a stretch of two and a half weeks to get things moving on the house. A lot of rubbish to be cleared – including the “sacrificial” straw board panels which we have had as a temporary floor during the messy render work. Finishing the internal render throughout is giving us a chance to get rid of this and install the final straw boards. (See the history of our straw panels which were in abundant supply. http://wisionhouse.blogspot.com/2010/03/free-durra-straw-panels.html )

(above) New Straw Floor Panels being painted on the visible side before being laid onto joists. Painted side is seen as ceiling from ground floor.

(below) A few rarely seen shots of the structure/skeleton while the floor panels were being replaced.

(above) we believe in extensive testing - in this case, pushing the limits of our temporary mezannine stair structure.

(below) A very full supersize skip bin.
(below) Red bull gives you wings?

100% Internal Render and 98% External Render Completed.

2011-01-04T18:07:00.001+08:00

Phil and team completed the final walls externally. A few window reveals and edges are pending (hence the 98%).

(below) Die Neuffer Fenster looking sexy. Happy with choice of white sand for final coat as it works well against the maranti timber windows and the clear anodised window sills. This is the downstairs kitchen window.

More details coming through.

2011-01-04T17:58:00.001+08:00

We have been sleeping on site since December – so installing the newly made curtains on special delivery from Delhi was a top priority. Also note the origami cranes by eddie tran crane company which some may remember from December 2009.

(above) Kitchen partly installed – just in time for having a few friends over for Christmas Eve.

(below) The roof does odd things from different angles. Very cool.

(above) Viewing Window - widely known as "truth window" amongst straw bale builders. will be a ply surround with glass infill panel to show the straw. Recent discussions are veering towards a glass surround to show the layering of render coats. Suggestion of a folded metal surround by a Rusty artist friend is also being considered :-)

And Who is in the detail?

2010-12-15T18:38:00.005+08:00

The end (or beginning, depending on how positive/negative we're feeling) is near.

So as we near the end, the details (or lack thereof) are creeping up everywhere...

Ikea of course reigns supreme.

If you're cool and poor, well what else is there really?

Render on corners.

already installed and started using the new washing machine....

and yes - the old apple tree from the scarbs rental is bearing fruit in its new top spot...

65% of External Straw Walls + 100% of Ground Floor Walls Are Final-Coat Rendered

2010-12-15T18:23:00.003+08:00

Phil and his boys have done a great job on the final coat. the final texture of lime+white sand will be slightly rough, but looking at them now, its impossible to imagine that these walls are in fact straw. Expecially relevant since there is no cement in any of the render coats.

windows reveals to be finished...

(and yes the downpipe will be put back on)

The C channel (which is our electrical duct) which was used as the formwork to the slab now being cleaned out ready for the electrician.

Discovery of a 'heritage listed' soakwell on site!!

2010-11-22T18:04:00.006+08:00

Cuong, our super neat mate came over on Saturday and decided that something had to be done about the mess on site. He helped us all of Sunday to clean up around the site, and separate all the building materials from the waste materials. (Some might think this would be a clever thing to do on a building site....) hmmm.

Here is a nearmap image of the site as of Oct 23rd. Note the 'perfectly ordered' materials distributed across the future garden.
.

As the cleanup progressed, and a bit of digging ensued to clean some lime off the future vegetable garden, the boys hit a concrete pad where the red dot is on the map above. They noticed a little slit along the pad.

. We all peered into it curiously and with much anticipation, wondering what mass grave or ancient potty hole may lie within.... We poked a rod through and it went in quite deep......

[A bit of background on the site - The site was the backyard for our west neightbour's house - this was subdivided 10 years ago. No building has ever been built on this plot, except for a small shed which was demolished a long time ago. ]

So - Upon further investigation, and more digging, a brick well was seen....

The two pipes leading into it are terracotta on the west side (Pre 60's) and concrete on our side. It certainly looks like a very old soakwell. (I have been told they stopped building brick soakwells over 40-50 years ago...) Or a very ancient sewage well. (Didnt smell though....)

Further investigations were conducted.

We are not quite sure what to do with this hole. A few ideas are:

1. Garden Sculptural Element.

2. Pond for breeding tadpoles.

3. Rainwater harvesting tank. (No need to dig another hole!)

4. Wine Cellar.

5. Guest Bedroom.

6. Guest Toilet.

Anyone else have a suggestion? :-)

The last straw – the render pump + a very visible milestone!

2010-10-02T23:35:00.000+08:00

Dave Morris rendered the last visible straw bales – first floor and mezzanine with a lime render pump. Fantastic progress – extremely even spread in comparision to our hand rendered first coat downstairs!
Now for a 4 week wait for this to cure slowly, and two more coats on these walls.

smoothing over with a hand trowel

render as it oozes out the pump.................

ray of light from west gable...

Bathrooms Showoff

2010-10-02T23:17:00.000+08:00

Featured here are the nearly finished bathrooms.

I (D) am showing off the vanity "block" I designed and built out of 6 offcuts of our timber glue-lam column after my initial displeasure at the tiny round impractically beautiful "pebble" basin selected by C.
This, my friends, is an example of a compromise that worked out well . (Not too many of those around....!)

ps: big thanks to Kris for his help...

last minute change of grout colour to black when we saw that Juergen our German tiler had a margin of error of about +/- 0.0001mm!! perfect workmanship.

SINGLE SHOT DOUBLE VIEW

2010-10-02T22:52:00.000+08:00

the sore backs
the bruised fingers
the lime that eats into everything.

the metal lathe (blood lathe) cuts - occupational hazard, that stuff...

the fact that no matter how many times you use a hammer, you will still whack your fingers at the steady rate of twice a week – usually the same finger.
the fights and The Nagging Wife syndrome, also The Nagging Husband Syndrome, the latter less frequent than the former...

This image makes it all worth it.
(no Photoshopping involved at all...)

North Windows, West Gable, and a few more stories...

2010-09-19T00:04:00.001+08:00

Our North windows are in. These were done here in WA by Pappas Glass. (Not ordered from Germany like the timber windows.) They are also double glazed. Bifold and slider + the hinged front door.
The glazing to the gable is also finally in.
Very exiting :-)

(above) the final lime render coat on the centre wall is still standing firm!

view from hancock street

view from munro reserve

kiwi kris and the city reflect on the east gable glazing...

still the first coat on the ground floor walls.

these joists will be exposed, but the straw board flooring will be painted white where visible as the ceiling here.

deck joists are up...

Clean Site = Safe Site?

2010-09-12T23:55:00.000+08:00

We opened up the building site to public on Sunday 12th September as part of the Sustainable House Day. http://www.sustainablehouseday.com/
This involved a lot of cleanup, adding handrails, stairs, and closing human-sized gaps in floors etc etc etc.....

Thanks to the organisers - Solar Dwellings and Shmeco. Huge Thanks in particular to Graham, Paul, Helmuth+ Eugenie Stockmann, Glen Richards, Nigel Saull, Sophie Giles, Bec Carrick for volunteering on the day. You guys counted over 200 visitors – it was a great day and very reassuring to see the positive vibes all around!
We distributed an information page on the house – [will upload soon]
and here are a few photos of the clean site!

a [Final Coat] trial

2010-08-28T21:47:00.000+08:00

We had Rendering Pros Phil and Nigel try out the final coat of lime render on our north wall. We are trying this out with white sand instead of the brickies sand. Hope it still works..... (The white sand appears a lot coarser than the others).

Looks dead straight and has survived without cracking so that’s good news.

12 Oct 2010 Update- We know Phil wasn’t quite convinced about not having any cement in the render, but it is still standing – and no cracks yet!

i render thee not so hopeless...

2010-08-08T19:37:00.005+08:00

HERE we are as of today, the 8th of August 2010.....
Progress has been slow but steady.
All the straw work is complete, all the external walls are rendered to at least the first coat, and a few walls are also lime-rendered. We are trying to get all the lime render coats onto the external walls before the anticipated precipitation.......

south wall windows adjusted to line up with final coats. one more coat (not by us) on this wall...
clay render on the west walls... two more lime render coats to go...

temporarily covered the gable with ply until we get all the double glazing on the triangulated frames....

yep - this window to be refixed to sit outwards - render too thick!

joists for the deck...

view into the mezannine...

imagine this with the red alpolic offcuts?

:-)

ooo ya!

Ze Coming of Ze Windows

2010-07-12T17:35:00.001+08:00

On Friday a sea container was dropped off on madang lane. It had travelled on a ship called the MSC Sabrina halfway across the world from Hamburg Port to Fremantle Port bring us the Pièce de résistance for the project - our timber framed double glazed argon filled tilt and turn windows....
They were by far the biggest and most expensive gamble we have taken on for the house; and after months of waiting, (fingers crossed, holding our breaths), when the container was opened to reveal the freshly fumigated 16 windows perfectly intact the sigh of relief could probably be heard all the way to Cochin!
Like 5 year olds opening up their first box of lego blocks, we took them apart and started installing them on Saturday itself... and by Sunday night, Christian and I had already installed 7 small windows and 1 large!
The gaps will be sealed with an expanding insulated foam and then a silicone seal to the edges...later.
Ansgar is very pleased with me for doing the bathroom ones – he can finally have a hot bath without the wind and rain watching! (Yes he is still camping on site)
George the tiler should also be happy with us – he can now finish the wall tiling in one shot.

Wannabe Tradie Ceiling Installer

2010-06-13T22:58:00.000+08:00

Deepti spent most of this weekend installing the ceiling grids for the bathroom - Luke who did the plasterboard and flushing was impressed....
Always nice for us ‘wannabe tradies’ to get a thumbs up from a ‘proper tradie’ :-)

here we are on the 7th june 2010

2010-06-09T23:42:00.012+08:00

In anticipation of the coming winter rains, we are proceeding with the first coat of render (clay+sand) as soon as each section of wall is complete. Hopefully, this (with tarps) will protect the bales externally from any major downpours... So although the front at the moment looks unfinished, the back is starting to look like a building (as opposed to a multitude of timber posts holding up a strange looking roof.)

Huge effort on Sunday with Bec, Rusty and Belinda adding to the workforce and getting very very dirty :-)

detail at windows

ansgar compressing bales - no one is as effective at stomping down!
mezannine level

looking down along from the mezzanine balcony along the kitchen wall.

living room wall.

detail at top of straw bale wall at mezzanine level. an extra timber 'ladder' and tie downs. one coat of render, and then a timber ledge over.

commando wielding the hedge trimmer.

bec belinda and rusty getting dirty dirty dirty

Another coat? Really?

hmmmpffff hmmmpff

before and after.

i hereby RENDER thee hopeless

2010-05-09T09:58:00.006+08:00

Here is our answer to the render question "how shalt thou render?"

We experimented with different recipes and here's what we've come up with. We are using the concrete mixer for mixing.

External render of overall thickness average 50mm.
Coat 1 - Levelling coat- Earth render.
1/2 bucket Clay.
1 bucket Sand (high clay content).
15 handful (deepti size hands) of finely chopped straw particles.
water to suit required gooeyness.

Coat 2 - Middle Coat - Lime Render
1 bucket lime putty / lime waste
3 buckets Sand
water to suit required gooeyness

Coat 3 - Final Coat - Lime Render
1 bucket lime putty
3 buckets White Sand
water to suit required gooeyness
Lime wash to final external walls.
(Christian wants to add one more coat externally - a 'coat 2a' between coats 2 and 3. Still undergoing discussion.)

Internal render of overall average thickness 50mm.

Coat 1 - levelling coat
1 bucket lime waste
1 bucket Sand
1/10th bucket lime putty
water to suit required gooeyness

Coats 2 and 3 - middle and final coats
1 bucket lime putty
3 buckets sand
water to suit required gooeyness

Lime Wash to final internal walls.

random glimpses at night

2010-05-09T09:32:00.006+08:00

A few photos from last night....
The first coat of render is on the back wall (south wall). Massive thanks to Helmuth and Eugenie who helped us all afternoon yesterday. They are building their straw bale passive solar home(s) in Lathlain - check them out at their website http://www.thegreenswing.net/

of hailstorms, wet straw, roofs and reluctant fathers...

2010-05-03T17:40:00.007+08:00

A lot has happened since the last post.

My apologies for the long pause – we were a little busy :-) as you will see...
First the bad news – On 22nd March, Perth was hit by a massive storm. Hailstones the size of tennis balls, Horizontal rain, Winds reaching speeds of 120kmph in some of the northern suburbs….

The forecast was for heavy rains – so we closed everything up – tarp over the few straw walls already built, and the extra bales bought were all undercover and safe – or so we thought!

The rain drenched everything – it managed to flood the ground floor and wet our stacks of about 150 bales. Drying them out did not work, and we were forced to abandon the whole lot. Half of it is mulching away slowly on our building site, and we are trying to convince friends to take the rest to use as mulch. A note for anyone building a straw house – wet straw bales smell putrid!

We are now starting again, and this time we are only getting stacks of 40 or 80. Our farmer Alan has kindly offered to store all the bales we need in his covered shed on his farm, and deliver every couple of weeks. This system seems to be working well – however we will need to render externally as soon as possible to avoid further damage during the winter.

Meanwhile, the roof has been progressing slowly. We now have all the roof panels up. Gutters, flashings, and the ridge flashing remains. We also snuck in the hot water system – now we have running hot water – which is a treat!

So here are some photos of our slow-ish (and sometimes not so steady) progress. I took these photos on Sunday night (3 May) - we still cannot get over how fantastic the view is, and how well framed the views are – towards the city, and towards the ocean! Double – View…..get it?

hot water system, and the roof joint without the flashing

The mezzanine - also the living room. Our mates are now threatening to sleep over and never leave!

good ol surfmist reflecting in the sunset...

'the den'

view towards the ocean

standing in the kitchen and looking up at the mezzanine...

christian and ansgar removing the gutter and re-installing it late on sunday night...
all 'tarped' up
the reflections from the cars and trees on scarborough beach road leave sexy patterns on the mezzanine ceiling...

Deepti's dad attempts his first bale. His BIC (Bale Installation Count) is now two and a half. He concluded that he prefers supervising to doing actual work. We will convince him to improve on his BIC on his next visit.

shop drawing review process at the wision house

2010-03-15T18:39:00.004+08:00

Often in our industry architects draw things that cant really be built. (Every builder reading this will be enthralled by my remark and every architect will be appalled).
To counter this anomaly, worked into every contract is a thing called a "shop drawing" where the builders attempt to understand what the architect's intent is by creating a set of drawings which explain how something is to be built. The architect then approves it, and if it forms a variation to the intial scope of works, the owner/client will also need to approve it.
In our case, the owner, the client, the architect and the builder being one person, sign off is often a quick and easy process.
Here are our shop drawings.

(above) proposed detail at joint of lime render to exposed timber joist.

(below) room elevation and extent of mezzanine stair.

(above/below) detail of render and straw bale wall at window reveals to south wall.

The coolest crane in the world is in madang lane again.

2010-03-13T22:00:00.000+08:00

Christian and I are not morning people.

Saying we woke really early at 6.30am on Saturday morning would seem strange to some people. My mom would say she goes to sleep at 6.30am some days …. Christian’s dad would say he has been on his walk, bought a loaf of bread from the Schnelsen bakery and had his breakfast by 6.30am…..

However Christian and I are not morning people, and so for both of us being on site at 6.45am was a major achievement - one that has only happened once before for the wision house (the day of the main slab concrete pour).

The crane (same crane as the last one) ). was hired for 5 hours this morning to put up the massive timber beams. (Longest being 450mmx75mm x 10.3metres long). Kudos to the crane operator. Sometimes you get idiots who shouldn’t be allowed to drive a moped let alone a crane. Sometimes you get someone who treats his crane like a complex delicate piece of machinery and compares it to a Ferrari. We had the latter. Very lucky.

We also needed a few extra hands so we enlisted the help of Dave and Dale – who did our concrete blockwork and slab for the toilet block. Dave and Dale are also going to install our roof panels for us –which is something we didn’t want to stuff around by doing it ourselves. (Also, somebody is scared of heights………………….)
So it was Ansgar, Dave, Dale and Christian, and me being the "hold the rachet, screws, spanner, bolts nuts etc person" (a role i take quite seriously sometimes).

Here are some photos of the roof beams going in…. Notching out on the columns were spot on – All of the beams pretty damn dead level when they went in – maybe a few millimeters off at worst.

All in all a very successful 5.5 hours of having the crane around. We even used it to lift in the roof panels onto the first floor so Dave and Dale could get to them easily.

Here are photos from the day.

Our lovely neighbor June stood at her back porch watching with her fingers crossed the 10.3 metre long beams hovering over her back yard……

Free Durra Straw Panels.

2010-03-10T22:06:00.001+08:00

The builder for a project we know of was throwing away a truckload of brand new durra panels. (These are the highly compressed straw panels which we are using as our flooring for level one and mezannine).
So we asked politely for them to be put on a truck and they arrived safe and sound all the way from albany free of cost (we only paid for the transport.)
Our joists are set at 600 centres for 1200x2400 panels, but these panels strangely enough are about 25 mm too short on all sides... Also, they are all different sizes - so this means more joints, and an angle detail at every other joint.... bummer my clean crisp ceiling is starting to look less crispier by the minute.......
On the bright side, we got a lot more panels than we needed so we are using a second layer as a sacrificial layer to work on until the final bamboo floor is in :-) so no need to get more ply or old carpets.... Also, we plan to use the same panels as some of our "mobile internal walls" as they have a great acoustic rating.
All in all a great outcome and a good quick recycling effort.

1.5 litres of coca cola per day = one relentless worker

2010-03-07T18:25:00.000+08:00

Straw-works are progressing rapidly on site, and we have had a great deal of help from Christian’s cousin Ansgar, a new visitor to Australia – who is taking great pleasure in camping in a tent in the building site warding off the stoned brain-dead teenagers that roam through Doubleview with their lighters and spray cans…

Ansgar, who happens to be a trained nurse, has developed a tradie’s approach so rare in Oz it could only be German. He is a perfectionist and a slave driver to himself, what more can one ask for in a worker? He refuses to take days off despite working 7 full-on days a week on site during the day and having English classes in the evening…. He has also informed us in no uncertain terms that he will continue to live on site and keep the works running until the building is finished….
So as a result, we have made unbelievable progress – photos are below.

The First Bale | And 99.7% Of All Structure

2010-02-21T08:02:00.008+08:00

....

Gary came to visit and show us a few tricks. We have had Christian's cousin helping us out on site during weekdays. Vital bits and pieces of preparation, which would have otherwise taken weekends to sort out. On the raised upstand, we have battens screwed in that will make up the base for the bales. This base is filled in with blue metal which will keep the bales dry. Under this apparatus, we have threaded in long lengths of packaging straps (the green straps you can see the photo above), which we will eventually use after our first 7 courses are done, to tension down the wall. Geoff Smith of Goodman Packaging has been kind enough to lend us his tensioning apparatus and we have over 1000 metres of straps to play with...

(i cant figure out how to change link colour as you hover over it)

First Bale
Erster Ballen
Aaadiyathe Kacchi
Pehla Bale

All covered up - saturday night doubleview is usually teeming with crazed 15 year olds with lighters and spray cans.....

Two layers - looking at the sky through the first floor joists, through the mezannine joists. Hopefully this view wont be possible in two weeks - because that means the roof would be up by then!

oooh yeah

this timber in the ground floor apartment ceiling will be eventually exposed. i am campaigning to expose a little more of it, however this is still to undergo further internal discussions.

oooh yeah baby

view from madang lane.

We have had a month off.....

2010-01-14T21:40:00.005+08:00

...

:-)

....... to get married, spend Christmas with the German family, and then to India for the Indian family. We are back now and back to reality.
This year our goal is the following:

End Feb - Finish timber structure Roof Up
March to August - Start Straw Bales Finish Straw Bales
August - Watertight Semi Move-in
November - Tools down Finish everything*

* everything - not yet clearly defined.

these are photos taken by the lovely Jen
from anna rose during 'wedding season'

all the siblings in tow

The Coolest Crane in the World

2009-11-18T13:52:00.004+08:00

Das ist the most WUNDERBAR crane ever.
Well okay there must be better cranes, but this is the coolest I've seen yet.
For such a small footprint (fits neatly into madang lane), it goes up a long long loooong way!

86.9% OF OUR TIMBER COLUMNS ARE UP

Yes I had to get to work - How convenient is the bus stop location...

Like i said, Coolest Crane in the World.

69.5% of our timber columns are up....

2009-11-14T13:29:00.001+08:00

View from scarborough beach road.

It's starting to look quite obvious now. Our neighbour June is getting calls from her friends asking how the "eiffel tower on scarbs" is going. :-)

Next level of the toilet block is almost up, and this time, was done in a thin bed mortar instead of the thick bed.

A crane is arriving in a few days to put up the remaining Hebel precast concrete roof panels over the toilet block.

We reckon there will be more timber than straw bales in this house. Also, we've only now realised (well I've only now realised- C may have realised this earlier), that EVERY SINGLE BALE will have to be shaped to fit around the columns!

So if anyone reading this blog is interested in some straw bale work come February, come forward! :-) We could use a few extra hands.

view from madang lane of the W house.

the camera is standing in our bedroom

love my power tools yes i do.

C with the sander sanding down all our beams.

puff pmmmfff pmmmmfff

massive and heavy LVLs

its starting to look a bit like a house now!

can you see the city in the photo below!

found these doors lying out for curbside collection.

nicked them.

that is handee.

another saturday night sunset over 234A

tall timber columns, large angle brackets, and black n blue fingers.....

2009-10-26T22:28:00.007+08:00

26 % of our timber columns are up.....

sorting out the dodgy corners....

ok.... we gotz a problemo....

it doesnt fit!

dóh!

timber borrowed from the builders at peppie grove library

owwww... stubbed my finger on the angle.....should've been wearing gloves.....

i think i might just need a manicure before the wedding.............

this silly plant is overgrown all over the site and is a pain to get rid of!

our end column stripped bare by kris... nice work! now we route the edges and off we go....

UNIDENTIFIED BONES FOUND WHILE DIGGING THE SOAKWELLS...... eeeks!

might have been a pig on a spit about 60 years ago, but maybe they are neaderthal remains????

hmmmm...

another saturday night dusk over 234A hancock street......

we have no life.......

More soak wells go in....

2009-10-04T17:46:00.006+08:00

Added 8 "VersiTank" soakwells to the north East corner of site.....
Big Hole.
Christian loves digging.
(Can you sense the sarcasm in above sentence?)

First Level of the Toilet Block.

2009-07-26T21:12:00.003+08:00

First Level of the toilet block goes up - Bricks shown here are 200x200x600 eco bricks. They are aerated concrete. On the interior, we will have drywall or render; and on the exterior, our famous red metal! Jerry, a mate of a mate, happens to be a brickie and knocked this up on a weekend.....
Now we must wait for the precast slab to be delivered and we will build up the next level afterwards..............

long way to go yet!

THE SLAB IS IN

2009-07-15T23:01:00.000+08:00

got there at 6.30 am
sunrise over site

concrete pump arrives

finishing touches

concrete truck arrives too

beautiful formwork

view towards scarborough beach road standing on the scaffold

the boss is smiling

the first bit goes in

pour pour

a tight fit in the laneway

pour pour

more pour - the concrete will be exposed, so we used a coloured conrete - Charcoal.

footings are poured

slab is poured

"slightly dodgy (but-not-so-dodgy) edge detail"

:-)

The Secret of the Upstand Beam

2009-07-15T22:25:00.002+08:00

.................continued from the last post

Since we are building straw bale infill walls in a timber framed construction, we needed to create a raised upstand on the perimetre for the bales to site on. Not only would this keep the bales dry and off the ground, it would also give us a exposed concrete footing (sans joints) to track and keep a check on any termites.

We already have quite a height restriction on the site, so the only way we could achieve the 2 and half floors we wanted at a 9m finished roof height was to make sure the interior finished floor level was at the same as the external finished level. The raised upstand was really the only option.

When we did a presentation of the project for our colleagues at work (who also all coincidentally happen to be architects), one of the things that was raised was our upstand detail. Everyone agreed it was expensive, excessive, and no builder would attempt it without dumping a "risk or contingency" chunk over the cost.

We have a C channel running along the inner edge of the upstand which we hoped would double up as formwork and later on as a continuous ducting recess behind a skirting board. The problem was -how do we suspend this channel in mid air while concrete is poured under it.

We finally worked out a system where we screwed equal lengths of 100mm widths of the standard plywood at intervals on the C channel. These were then screwed back onto the main external formwork at intervals - the external plywood was held in place by bamboo stakes driven into the ground.

The C channels were then supported on double stacks of standard plastic concrete chairs which were rested on the reinforcement bars cantilevering into the footing.

Now this held the C channels in place in principle, however, the weight of the concrete against the plywood would surely bend the entire thing out of shape!

The concreter we hired for Wednesday morning (morning of the pour) came around to have a quick check - i think he didnt trust 3 architects trying to do his job ;-) - quite rightly....!

The plywood was far too unstable to hold in the concrete. So his suggestion was simple and effective - drive in metal stakes at intervals into the ground surrounding the external formwork and wedge in more ply panels using the metal stakes as a sturdy support.

Once that was done, the formwork wouldnt even yield an inch!

Christian and Gian heaved a sigh of relief!

And we didnt bother to calcuate how much money we saved by doing it ourselves.... :-)

Ground Floor Slab and Footings

2009-07-15T18:12:00.002+08:00

The two weeks leading up to today was one of great tensions, exhilaration, physical prowess and emotional breakdowns.
Well ok I am exaggerating on the emotional breakdown part of it. We were pretty flat out, and there was no time for any breakdowns.

Before I digress and start the chatter, I need to say a MASSIVE THANKS to Gian, without whom our crazy deadline would have gotten the better of us. Thanks to his common sense, great practical ideas, and most important his availability, we were able to complete the formwork in time for the pour, and in perfect timing - 12 hours before the start of the most rainy week Perth has had this year… A day late, and we would have had to postpone the pour, and the rain would have ruined our prepared trenches. So the timing was fantastic.

When Christian suggested we build the plywood formwork ourselves, I was quite confident that we would be able to manage it. We had a fantastic set of tools, which we were both starting to get better and better at using. We planned to do the entire formwork out of 16mm plywood and spent a lot of time working out the complicated edge upstand detail. We spent the weekend of the 4th and 5th digging more trenches and testing the edge detail on site – and we thought we might just be able to pull it off…..

Gian spent most of the 2 weeks leading up to this day finishing the trenches, cutting the reinforcement to size and prefabricating the upstand formwork so we could attach it on. On the weekend, we managed to start setting up the formwork, and the Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were absolute crazy with Gian working all day on site, Christian joining him by afternoon, me in the evening, and us trying to work till 11 or 12 at night on site making as little noise as possible!!

Here are some photos of the formwork before the concrete was poured. I will try to explain as best as I can for those non-architects out there who are interested.

Our slab is a 100mm thick concrete slab, with a 30mm thick foam insulation under it (the blue stuff). Under the foam insulation, we have a waterproofing layer – which is the thick black plastic stuff. The waterproofing layer needs to be sealed, so where it overlapped, or where it had a hole for pipes or penetrations to go through, we sealed it up with heavy duty tape.

We needed a lot of tape.

And when I was sent to Bunnings to buy more tape, I came back with 5 different colours, much to Chritians amusement – but they were all so cool! Anyway, if anyone digs up our slab in the future they will find patches of bright red, lemon yellow, cobalt blue, sour green colours of haphazard taping all over.

Wonderful!

Anyway, the slab sits on a footing of approximately 600 to 700mm wide x 300mm deep that runs the full perimeter of the slab. Now if we had stopped there, the formwork would have been easy.

But we didn’t.

Since we are building straw bale walls, we wanted to create a raised upstand on the perimetre for the bales to site on.

(to be continued................................)

The first concrete pour that never was.

2009-06-14T21:43:00.000+08:00

The Saturday morning started in disappointment when the Boral concrete truck which was due to arrive at 12.30 didn’t turn up and couldn’t be contacted. The first concrete pour didn’t happen as scheduled – however things started looking brighter soon afterwards. We had a fantastic turnout of friends who came bringing boots shovels anvils boyfriends et al. Great thanks to Glen, Eddie, WhyeKay, Kate+Gian, Marco+Charlotte, Anne, Craig+chisel, Bec+funny-looking-custom-made-trench-digging-tool. You guys are fantastic and fabulous, and I can’t believe we got so much done! Our hole for the rainwater tanks is big enough, and most of our trenches are already dug! A very special mention to young Charlotte who might be 2 years old but handles her mini shovel like a pro, and looks absolutely cool when sitting in a wheelbarrow. Special mention also to the limestone we hit when digging deeper into the rainwater tank hole. Gian, Eddie and Craig are true rocksmiths, and wield a mean chisel! We then had a barbeque and bonfire on site before heading home where others joined and the party grew and grew.

Glen, its gotta be thiiiiiiiiiiiis big.....

Grrrrr mmmmppfffffff!!!

craig: "i wonder if that's in the right spot?"

Christian and I spent most of the next day finishing up and installing the rainwater tanks. We ordered the Concrete Taxi for first thing Monday morning, as we needed to pour it quick before it rained into the footing.

Big huge freaking massive tanks ...

2009-06-11T21:31:00.000+08:00

...have arrived on site and we realised our hole dug with the excavator isn’t big enough.
Here are some photos of our first trenches for the toilet block – we are lining this with black foil to prevent the sides from collapsing. The structural drawings have been referred to in earnest and appropriate reinforcement has been added and tied down. We need to pour the concrete for this footing ASAP as it might rain on the weekend or next week, and we can’t risk the trenches getting flooded. We have ordered 1.8 cubic meters of concrete from Boral to arrive at 12.30 on Saturday – Christian’s birthday, and also the first Concrete Pour for the house.
We have hinted (well not so subtly) that instead of a birthday present, he might like his ‘trenches dug’. Hopefully we have a great turnout of friends as our weekend workforce, and a bbq and beers on site.

Earthworks

2009-05-24T21:01:00.000+08:00

We tried our very best to level and compact the site ourselves this weekend – with very little success.

(check out the size of this tree stump!)

So this was a job for the experts. We commissioned Ralph Calautti Earth Moving and Site Works to do the compacting and levelling. They were in and out in a day, and left the site with a smooth and unbelievably robust surface which we could never have achieved on our own. Ralph is an awesome guy who knows his dirt really well, but hadn’t yet got into the email revolution!
Here are some photos after the compaction. We immediately started digging our main foundations for the toilet block, and setting out all our new pegs and levels.

We also finished the sign to put up the front facing Scarborough Beach Road.
The sign features one of the red (and two of the grey) Alpolic sample off-cuts that we plan to clad the toilet block with. Alpolic is a type of Aluminium Composite cladding which is as far from sustainable as you can get – however, a lot of suppliers sell offcuts of this cladding which are left-over from large-scale commercial projects. We created a rough impression of what the toilet block would look like with all the varying sizes of cladding we found and ended up with this jigsaw puzzle.
We are a bit doubtful about it though, because even though they are offcuts and not the real thing, it is still more expensive than using standard profiled sheeting.
Anyway, many more cost-cutting and value engineering processes are yet to commence! Until then.....!

Deepti has found her true calling

2009-05-21T13:29:00.002+08:00

We hired an excavator last weekend – in an attempt to start some serious earthworks – take the tree stumps out, and dig the big pits for the rainwater tanks and second soakwell. (The surveyor hasn’t turned up yet – something about getting bitten by a bee, or not finding the real setout point....) When Christian decided to hire the excavator, I thought – now why do you want to spend all this hire fee for a big machine – we only need a little bobcat or dingo. Obviously, my opinion was not considered.

Geez that was lucky!

I love this machine! What 3 men (and women=Anne + me) and a few shovels did in one full day of work two weeks ago, I managed to do with the excavator in just a few minutes. Of course it took a while to get used to the controls, but by the end of the Saturday, I was totally rockin’ it! Poor Christian didn’t really get his turn except for when he snuck out to site first thing Sunday morning to get some excavator-action before I turned up and hogged it again!

It really is an addictive piece of equipment. It’s a mini excavator, and works on a skid-steer – which is awesome – I have never driven a skid-steer before. It has a safety lock, which activates when you lift an arm to get out of the cabin. It’s a strong unit (and heavy – weight about 1.5 to 2 tonnes with its trailer), it has counterweights for balance and is small enough to work well in tight situations.

We have 5 tree stumps on site – and an existing tree with more than a few mega-roots. We dug around 4 of the stumps and cut the big roots with a chainsaw. The smaller stumps came out smooth like butter, but the bigger ones had to be pulled out with some super-smart and highly skilled excavator action by yours truly!

I spent most of the next day reading up on excavator operations, angles of digging, and all sorts of other cool stuff. I get the feeling this project for me is going to be all about power tools since I can’t boast much physical prowess! Power Tools here I come!

A lot of Dirt

2009-05-21T13:27:00.001+08:00

This weekend was our first major task – Cut in an access slope at the entry from Hancock street. We designed a Twin side concrete retaining wall (bought the panels a couple of weeks ago).

BEFORE AND AFTER

Christian started digging out the existing retaining wall on Saturday. We hired the Concrete Taxi, which is a fantastic concept – a small volume of concrete delivered to your doorstep for small DIY insitu work. The concrete was to come out on Sunday afternoon at 2.00, so this time, we actually had a deadline. After a few hours of digging, we weren’t really getting anywhere so we made a few desperate phones calls to mates Anne, Dicko and Kris, who all landed up, eski’s + shovels et al, to contribute to the huge earth moving!

A dead tree was dead bang in the centre of our proposed stair – which had to be removed. Great effort by Dicko, who jumped up and down on it till it fell over!

The concrete taxi pulled up on time on Sunday, and believe it or not, we had the 3 huge holes for our concrete post foundation all dug and ready. The panels went in really smooth and it was only much later that we realised the wall had a kink in it - an angle.

We’ll call that creative license for now – it was fully intentional of course!

License to Build

2009-05-03T21:33:00.000+08:00

We finally got building license! In the last blog, we said we were waiting for the Planning Approval, but Christian decided to put in the Building License application in before we got Planning – stroke of genius. The Planning Approval was granted on the 22nd April 2009. And on the 1st May 2009, the Building Department of City of Stirling stamped and signed the Building License for the first Straw Bale House in the City.

So, here we are, in possession of a document that says we are allowed to build! All engines are go go go, we can finally finish installing the shed. [We built a shed 2 weeks ago, which will now be Site Office + Toilet + Store Room + Rain Shelter. The shed was a simple 2m x 3m x 1.8m high DIY job – profiled zincalume panels precut and pre-drilled holes – a bit like Ikea without an Allen key!]

Today on site, more progress was made as our advanced security systems went into place. Christian has erected a temporary gate to keep out the curious cats that roam freely in their skateboards, strange blue hair and baggy neon pants. Our neighbour June, who has lived next door for the last 50-odd years, says kids are just not the same anymore…

I managed to make myself useful by installing 3 solar lights in the sheds – well if drilling a few holes and pulling a few wires around counts for anything! Next on the list is to organize the Surveyor to come around and peg out the footprint.

Photos from our Easter Eve Bonfire on Site

2009-04-12T22:48:00.001+08:00

Christian dug a Hole; Deepti lay in it.

2009-04-04T18:01:00.000+08:00

Christian got very excited last Saturday and decided to go to Bunnings and buy a soak well or two. After only about 3 hours of wandering (he calls it research) he settled on 3 small plastic soak wells – well – by small we mean not so big. Well of course we needed a hole to put them in, so I left Christian on site in the Super-Charged mood he was in and came back 3 hours later to find a big moooohaaaaahaa grin on his face and a grave the size I would need if I put on a 150 kilos extra. I got very excited and asked to be photographed buried alive. Morbid.

grey water, black water, and all other colours of water

2009-04-04T17:54:00.000+08:00

The planning application is spreading some roots and growing moss and fungus as it lurks about on the desk of the traffic engineer at City of Stirling. This is the guy who saddled us with the complication of having to provide 2 car bays, both with forward drive egress and ingress; and then eventually produced his interpretation of the design solution, which we finally used to keep the mobs happy! Strange that it would take so long to approve your own design….

So while someone’s unknown-sized backside is resting itself on our beloved drawings, Christian set about doing some “serious work”- Wind surfing.

Our Hydraulics Engineer has offered kindly to work out all our hydraulics layouts for the house (in other words, where the shit flows) in return for Christian giving him some Wind surfing lessons. We reckon it’s a win win situation, except the wind didn’t co-operate a few times they actually made it to the river.
When I saw the Hydraulics drawings, I glanced sideways at Christian in a tilted-head stare…. Christian, why do we need 3 soak wells, 2 booster pumps..................
Christian why don’t we have a drain or overflow in the bathrooms? Only in the showers? Back in India (ohhh there she goes again, thought Christian), we use a bucket and mug to do our daily’s. No drain is like no…….
Christian retaliates furiously – Well in Germany, says Christian (ja ja du ist nervensage, I think to myself in my near-perfect German Thinking Grammar), we don’t have drains or showers, but we have baths.
The little argument sorted itself out when we realized we both don’t use Buckets or Mugs or Baths anymore – we use showers, and a little hourglass with blue sand that lets you shower exactly 1 minute and 35 seconds – the Water Save Standard set by the Kelloggs CrunchyNut Box it came in.

So after we worked out that the grey water was certainly not going to the kitchen sink, or the black water was…. Wait a minute; we aren’t recycling our black water, or our Yellow or Brown Water. What a relief.

Planning Application is in!

2009-01-25T16:43:00.000+09:00

So we actually managed to reach a milestone for plan A. Christian Wetjen and Deepti Jose have not only agreed (together) on the piece of elevated dirt in Doubleview, we have also managed to unanimously agree to the design.

It only took us 4 months.

And some solid bickering.

The planning application is in.

And we are set, and hopefully through this blog, will keep everyone informed of the progress.

Lot Warming

2008-12-06T18:06:00.000+09:00

As of 5 days ago, the peice of dirt is officially in Christian's name. This means we have to start working soon!.
But we decided to have a little party first - Here are some photos from the bbq on the lot...