Christmas and the Kids Cottage

Well not much work on the house has got done these holidays. I felt I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't build the children the cubby house we have been talking about for years. I aimed to have it done by christmas day and I almost go there. It still needed flashing on the roof and a door. I managed to use about 90% recycled materials from my house which helped reduce the cost. I am eager to insulate and line the interior... but that can wait for now... Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone. 

Hallway

Well the hallway has been a bit of a saga. After installing the plaster board sheets I went to join them and find out that the plasterboard sheets were manufactured with one of there recesses non existent! So I then put in a manufactures claim and 4 or so months later they came and replace them... so four months lost and no advancements made on the hallway. Finally towards the end of 2015 I was able to  get stuck into the joining of the plaster, painting and the roof. Poor Heather and the family had to put up with the scaffold in the hallway for months! Next will be the floor....

you can see the bottom sheet of plaster has only a minimal gap and a hump where the top is as I would expect. 

It meant when I plastered it the tape was exposed at the bottom. 

Re sheeted and roof battened up.  

 

Hallway and a few random photos

Hello Everyone! Well another school holidays has past and I soooooo miss the three term three week break. I have calculated that with the two week breaks between the terms I lose about a week and a half of building. But who are teachers to complain about holidays : ) 

Well these holidays I planned to build my hallway. Sounds kinda simple but do to that I had to design all the rooms that connect to the hallway so I got the walls and doors in the right places. But as usual i had to demolish all the old structure before adding the new. Lots of hard work and fiddle around posts, collar ties, beams, etc... but I feel the high roof, as always, will be worth the effort. 

Great to have wonderful friends the Tai's and Bergers visit. Felt the house coped terrific with 12 kids and 4 adults... but don't tell Heather! She might get some funny ideas about more children! 

Brigham and Griffin

Angus and Abigail

As promised some photos of the house with the almost finished deck.

What a wonderful room to spend a cold winters day in.  When the Tai's visited I thought I would crank it up so they were comfortable... well I got a little carried away, it was 32 degrees in the house and we were sweating! 

Ok back to work... Just pulled down the old wall, I love an empty canvas...  so much potential and choices. 

Hired a big jack hammer for this job.... the end result... one heck of a mess. 

New wall up. I got excited about arches again. Put in two. The struts in the roof were all wonky and different heights so I had to cut out the top plate in my new wall in a few places and then put little extensions to the top of the wall between the struts. Lots of ladder work and fiddle.   

Cannot thank Ian enough for again putting in a day to help me sheet up. 

Finally sheeted up. Was a bit tricky with the height, struts and extra wide boards that were damp and a bit bent after spending a couple of weeks outside (no thanks to mitre 10).  

Back side of the wall. I am looking forward to the challenge of stopping, which means  plastering the joins.  I have three butt joins, 2 arches, and with the lighting I am planning on having they need to be perfect. No small task for an amateur.

Deck

Hello!!! Well things are still chugging along.... slowly. During the last school holidays Blake helped me start to knock down the last section of the house which was lots of fun. Then we started on the deck. I had 3 weeks holiday to get it all done and just failed. It took a lot longer than I had anticipated. So I have been spending most weekends finishing it off. I still have the last row to do and some trimming but it will have to wait as the knees and back have had enough. A big thanks to Connor for lending his muscles! I couldn't have done it without him.

The kids love it. Don't have a photo of that but will try and get one this week. The deck is spotted gum. It is really tough stuff, kids have taken hammers to it and no dents in sight. The deck is 15.8m x 3.66m. I secured it with galvanised ring shanked nails... thousands of them! Would have used screws but with the spotted gum being so hard it actually complicated things. We are really happy with it. Looking forward to finishing the front of the house with shingles, lights and guttering. But that will have to wait. The hallway takes precedence as it is very drafty at the back which is making the kids bedrooms really cold.... so I think I'd better get onto it.

Scary moments when the digger was so close to my glass doors. 

All my posts in place and some cut. Next time I probably would use metal stirrups instead. 

My jig for cutting the posts neatly. Worked really well. 

Weed matting

drainage rock 

Bearers and joists.

Was sad to have to cut the joists.

All the kids took turns helping me. They were a terrific help and sped up the job.  Gee I was sick of  hammering by the end. 

I used Organ oil on the deck. It was ok but after reading much material on mill glaze I probably should have gone the Cutek. A lot less fuss. Pity it took over a month for Mitre 10 to get me the sample pots!