All hands on Deck as we go cladding crazy

Well this is where we go Cladding crazy it is the days leading up to Christmas and the kids are here so we have a crew of 4. The plumber is up doing first fix, Water, sewer and as but that is next week’s story.

So our goal is to complete down one side and this one is probably the toughest as it has 3 windows and three container joins. First job is to weld a number of mounting brackets to allow the first row of cladding to be secured, below the skin and of course must be level once this is done and we fit the first row it is easy street. Kirsten is in charge of screws and clips and tools while Tina and Jason are in charge of cladding supply bringing around full lengths as well as cut lengths. It all goes well and progresses fast until we get to the windows. This slows us down and it is hot dam hot. We make good progress on the first day but stop in time for a swim at Alligators nest in the rain.

 Second day back into it and finishing off all the cuts around the window and al l the way to the second to last row. Once again it is hot and sticky as it has rained. We cannot do the last row until we get a special piece of flashing made to finish it off to the container roof. So if water ever does get under there or the roof gets ripped off in a cyclone it si still sealed off to the wall.

 

External Cladding Pilot wall

OK here we go this is absolutely the last weekend we are putting up batons all the rooms are done. So on we go to the External cladding. Yes this is where we say goodbye to Shipping containers and although it will take a while one wall is gone. This is our pilot wall and it all went pretty well with only one job required. It looks really good but we are not sure about the trial colour

External door 2.

Well back again next weekend same task but at least I did a door last weekend so this one should be easier just the same but a mirror image. Got this one in easy as well and Tina finished all the insulation works

External doors

Well we have now moved on to the last 2 structural items left to fit 2 external doors in the laundry and main bedroom. Due to cricket and work commitments as I’m currently working in Townsville we have had limited time the last few weekends but have managed to get a door in the laundry as well as some more wall batons and Tina has started on the ceiling insulation.

Just a couple of batons needed !!!!

Well we finally put the 2 exhaust outlets for the range hood and bathroom exhaust fan in, they have been on the to do list for ever. We have commenced the internal door frames with 3 of the 5 completed.

 

Now the next job was to put up some timber batons in the corners as the metal is too thick to screw into for fitting the gyprock , The ends of the containers are also made out of really thick steel so we decided to baton this off as well. But shipping containers are not that straight so we have also done this where the walls are not straight. Hm as you will see in photos coming soon that tis nearly al the walls so this job just goes on and on each weekend with no end in sight.

 

Septic tank installed

We now have septic tank, sewer to the house as well as evaporation trenches. This was a job for a plumber and it looks good and increased our embankment site next to the rain water tank

 

House pad site works completed

We have finished running all the underground services now with water power and most recently sewerage run over to the house. This has allowed us to finish putting down road base up at the site house pad and we have added road base under the house and deck which will reduce the impact of wet season red mud. It was pretty hard work raking out all the road base under the house but all looks good now.

 

 

The workshop gets a gutter and downpipe upgrade

When  we first roofed the workshop we were supplied the wrong gutter but we installed it anyway under the guidance of the great fishing guru !! Only to receive the correct gutter at a later date which was still like 9 months ago. As we have been focusing on the house it has been neglected.  So I’m not entirely sure of the circumstances but recently we installed the new correct one piece gutter and down pipe to the tank which includes a leaf extractor and first flush system. We also incorporated the same system that we used up the house which was to install a down pipe at the other end of the gutter which will allow run off in tomes of heavy rain . ( that is a little funny really it is Tully)

Ships ropes finish of bottom garden

So September has some birthdays, concerts and overseas trips all which meant not lots of work was getting done. But none the less, we have achieved lots.

 

Tina has got some ship rope and we have used this as edging for our garden in front of the workshop. We have extended the garden a little, had some ballast added to the driveway with this section nearly finished other than some more plants

Sorry for the delay but we are back

Firstly sorry for the delay in this update it is always amazing how much time flies. Well it is not like we have not been doing anything but most of the wok we have done isn’t really that visual unlike previous updates. So well it has been so long I’m not really sure what order some of these thing have occurred but I will describe the progress in no particular order. It is true to say that we have during August, September and October had our fair share of socialising in Cairns.

 

Here is a cool shot of the Tully valley in the morning before the mist is burnt off.

 

So we are working on fitting ceramic tile underlay to the floors this is a nasty job with hundreds of nails require din each sheet and 25 sheets to do. Well I think it is great exercise but Tina is not so happy to do this. There is some heated discussion at the moment about using a nail gun which a friend of ours has offered I think the exercise is good, but best we not discuss this further

 

What no windows left

Well another weekend and more windows to do, we built the last wall in the lounge and installed the 2 last windows all 12 in.

Next job was the Sliding door, we thought we would need some help on this but a design review showed that we would be better off installing it from the inside so we were able to this by ourselves.  Tina was a little worried but we are really getting the hang of this cutting holes and fitting stuff in. The sliding door went in easy and looks great.  So all the windows are done and now 2 external doors to go and we are finished cutting holes.

We spent a day gardening as well with mulching the embankment on the driveway and mulching some of the orchard. Still waiting for a plumber though L

What more windows

Andy had big plans for this weekend, he intended on putting in 4 more windows, I was a bit sceptical as 2 of these there were in Jason’s room and to put these in we had to cut off the 2 doors off one of the 40ft containers………… and build a wall.  Shame on me for having doubt we smashed it in. Now our bedroom room has 2 windows and Jason’s room has a new wall & 2 beautiful louver windows, and just to prove how clever he was he decided to start cutting the hole for the sliding door.

We nearly have power

We were most excited when we turned up Sunshine road and there were 3 power poles, yahoooo Ergon are coming through at last, there is 1 more pole to go in and then the “linies”(this is Ergon lingo Andy has picked up) can come in and run the power line and connect us up to 240volts

Does the tank have a leak??

When we arrived at the block we weren’t too sure what to expect, as Tully has again had record July rain falls (124mm in 24hours), so much for the dry season or as the locals would call it Winter! But when we arrived there was not too much damage which we were happy about.

The main rain water tank is full and could have been 2 times over with the volume of rain we have had, and no signs of a leak this week, but we will have to keep an eye for this possible leak in the tank.  We decided to disconnect the storm water to see if what is in the tank will drain out. Crossed fingers there is nothing to worry about.

Counting down the Windows

Windows were the focus of this weekend with a goal to install 4 windows. So it was the Kitchen, Kirsten’s room as well as the first set of Louvre’s in the Dining room.

The electrician came so we spend a lot of the morning wring up the power box and mains to allow for the connection of power. Ergon a scheduled to run the poles and wires up the street in the next fortnight so we could soon have power removing the need to run generators to do all the work. Our 12 volt solar system has run extremely well at the workshop supplying all our power needs for living and we will continued to utilise this as it is free.




With the power ready to be connected it was off to install windows. As Tina cannot help me all the time while I’m doing this se was off to build a garden along the top of the  embankment between the workshop and the house.

A couple of minor construction errors did not help the cause but we did complete installing the 4 windows as well as finishing the garden bed. It has been really dry in Tully the ;ast 2-3 weeks so we are hoping of at least a bit of rain to ensure all the new plants arrive.

The tractor too is getting a makeover with some real tractor tyres coming.