Moving in!

We are finally moving into our new home. What a journey it has been!

The building inspector was most impressed with the work Peter has done and passed the final inspection with flying colours.

Thank you everyone for your support and interest! We look forward to our big celebration - hopefully many of you will be able to join us.

Delays ...

We are still building with our move now postponed till September. As you can see, we have had our fair share of building delays (trust me they can be many and varied). Luckily nothing too dramatic - building a non-conventional house just means things are not always that straightforward. Take for instance skirtings that need to be fitted onto an uneven wall ... not an easy job.

The kitchen is now installed (we opted for a pine kitchen with a recycled hardwood top; made out of wood throughout), the painting is almost done, only two doors to be fitted, and the recycled hardwood floorboards are in (but still need sanding and oiling). Lights, carpets and curtains will go in next month, together with the final plumbing works. This is in theory anyway ...

We hope our next posting will read 'moving in' (NOT 'further delays').

Still building

It has been a busy few months, with many ups and downs. The final coat of render ended up being a real trial, as we decided to hand render the whole house. Peter managed to apply the earthern render on the outside and got plasterers to help out with the inside. The finish is just beautiful, particularly inside where lime render (sand mixed with lime) was used. The house is well and truly 'hand-made'.

Other than that, all internal walls and ceilings are now in place, and the bathroom and toilet tiled. Peter is busy lime washing the rendered walls, ensuring a beautiful smooth finish. We are also painting other walls with environmentally friendly paints and oils that are low allergy, non-poisonous and free of dangerous solvents.

As we try to buy second-hand, recycled, Australian or locally made where possible and source materials low in chemicals, significant time has been spent on sourcing the internal fittings, including tapware (Australian made), tiles (mostly Australian made), floorboards (second-hand recycled), bathroom ware (seconds, Australian and locally made from recycled materials), kitchen gear (seconds, mostly Australian and locally made from recycled materials), internal hardwood doors (second-hand), carpets (made of natural sea grass) etc. etc. Our aim is to create a healthy living space, with low impact on the environment.

In the next two months, we are HOPING to have all the painting done, the woodheater installed, carpets and floorboards laid, internal doors hung, the kitchen (or some of it) installed, the bathroom and toilet finished and MOVE IN (no photos to be released until then :-). Wish us luck!

Final rush!

After the bush fire scares (which now have lasted for weeks), we are extremely relieved and happy that the house (and us) are still safe. The weather should be slowly turning milder and we are hoping to be able to focus on building again.

We are now working on the final coat of render and the internal fitting out of the house, with the hope to move in around July. There are still vast amounts of work to be done, so any offers of help would be gratefully received (even if it is just for a few hours). Great food and good company to be expected ;-)

Lock up!

We have finally got all the windows and doors in! It is now less of a building site as you cannot enter without keys!

We are very pleased with our timber windows that have been sourced from the certified plantation timber and oiled with environmentally friendly timber oil. Our backdoor (made out of local waste blackwood) has been beautifully crafted by a local woodworker (and a friend of a friend).

We have had some delays (again!) due to the weather (again!) as it has been really hot at times. We have also had a wonderfully sociable summer with family and friends visiting, as well as people interested in strawbale building, so sometimes the hard work has had to give away to beers and barbie in the backyard.

We will now start working on the final coat of render, as well as the internal fitting out of the house.

Two coats of render

In the last weeks, we have been busy with rendering the walls. The bales will be coated with three coats of earthen render - a mix of sand and clay (the top coats also have some lime for weather protection). We now have the first two coats on, with the last one to follow after the windows and doors are in.

Unfortunately the weather was quite hot when we rendered for the second time (just before Christmas!) and some cracks have appeared. We will now focus on finalising the detail and fixing some of the most damaged areas, although the final coat will provide a beautiful smooth finish in any case (we hope!).

We have a roof!

It has been a long and painful wait to get the roof on! While we were waiting for the roof to come on, we had stormy weather with high winds and rain, and were worried for our beautiful bale walls. Luckily no harm done and we are now able to work even in bad weather.

We are now getting the render on, with the first coat of render sprayed on this weekend. Peter is working harder than ever with many nights stretching past mid-night. We never realised the amount of work involved in owner-building. If it had not been for the kind help from locals and neighbours here, we simply could not have managed.