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[kneewall49]

Blog transferred

Please note:

I have transferred my blog content to both FaceBook and Instagram pages for easy short and more regular updates.

Follow the build on FaceBook @ "casa Marnie" and on Instagram @ "npcarlyle"

Thanks.

[kneewall49]

Progress to Foundation Start

August 4, 2020

Yes its been a while, and a lot has happened.

Firstly, as per the previous post, my dear old dad passed away peacefully at Anzac Village, Collaroy.  I drove down for the burial at Mona Vale Cemetry, and pretty well straight back as the CV19 2nd phase may have locked down the NSW/Qld border at any time.

Other occurances during the past weeks:

- Foundation start was put back due primartily to an issue with certification of the foundation preperations prior to pour.  As my Sydney Engineer couldn’t come to QLD to certify the work, I have had to find a local engineer to do this mandatory stage.  Any engineer certifing a design, when not their personal design, will only certify the works if the are identical to the design documents.  That’s fine as they don’t want to be blamed for any issue if the works weren’t followed to a tee. That means even the slightest deviation has to be detailed in revised design plans.  This hold up in my case made even worse by the fact my engineer in Sydney had a heart attack and is off work so can’t make those modifications.  While all this was happening we had lots of rain too, which requires at least 4 days of dry hot weather for the ground to cope with excuvation work.  All in all a bugger of a hold up.

- What could be done was progress on the landscaping, which you can see from the photos.  All cuts are now covered by mulch and looking good. Plantings under the direction of Cherly also happened, and it’s all looking good. The rain was good for this stage of course.

- Finished the drain across the driveway where it meets the building pad to divert driveway runoff behind the house.

- Had time to complete the front driveway entrance wall and its embossing of the house name “Casa Marnie”.  The house that inspired our design, a Brazillian house named “Terra Casa”, but “Marnie Casa” didn’t sound right, thus “Casa Marnie”.  We were very apprehensive of the outcome but on pulling off the form work it looked perfect!

- Had my first onsite fall.   I was walking along the top of the retaining wall to water the newly planted ground cover plantings, holding a bucket of water in each hand  (our hose won’t go that far). A miss step or loose rock, I’m not sure which, caused me to fall sideways off the wall. but instead of falling straight down to the pad, I fell down in between the rock wall and the temporay powerbox and the star pickets holding it in place. I fell sideways stright onto my shoulder with a good dosing of water to boot.  After a few seconds ascertaing what just happened I managed to extract my self from the wedged in situation.  Of course I had scratches and holes here and there, but was very lucky I missed being skewered on the ground earth rod embedded just beside the boix.  It’s now has a orange safety mushroom afixed to its uper end (see photo).  Just a few inches off in my fall could have meant an impaling, and I guess a very nasty outcome. 

- over the last few weeks I have lined up the following Certifing Engineer, Steel Detailer (for the structural steel), an electrician and plumber for service rough-in, reinforcing steel estimator/supplier, pile driller and a concretor. 

The plan is:

- confirm reo order and delivery for the Guestroom, we’ll tackle the main buidling seperately;

- mark out the foundation excuvations;

- select concrete supllier;

- then await a weather forecast which shows a week of no rain;

- hire an excuvator (machine) to dig beam trenches;

- have the contractor drill the pier holes;

- set up the reinforcing steel over excuvations for certification;

- drop the reo into the pier and beam excuvations;

- have plumber and electrician rough in service access thru the beams for later drainage, water and electricity connections;

- pour the piers and beams, in one go;

- concretor contractor boxes up the slab;

- have termite person lag the services intrusions thru the slab.

- concretor pours the slab!

Emm sounds like a lot, and it is!  No doubt you’ll find out how it all goes next time.  Fingers crossed.  

[kneewall49]

Farwell Dad

My Dad, Neville Carlyle passed away on Friday 10, July. He was the most hardworking, careing and honest man I have ever known.

Rest In Peace.

[kneewall49]

My! Time Flies

June 8, 2020

Ok, what’s happened in the last month?

No rain: which is good for construction; not ideal for digging; could end up being expensive and have to buy potable water.

Hired an Excuvator: Used to tidy up the driveway batters to final look and feel, and also clean up the backyard swales. What a fabulous machine! I want one. Hired it for 8 days as I thought I'd need 7 days to get use to it and then a day working :)

Turned out I got a handle on it after a day or two; you can cause havoc with these! You could destroy any landscape within 15 mins :) Putting it all back together as you envisioned a task, requires considerably longer :).

For those that don’t know, an Excuvator has the following advantages over the BX. The cab and digger part can rotate 360 degrees. The BX requires a 20 point turn. Its very powerful even using the same motor as the BX. With a 1m mud bucket you can move s*** loads of dirt in a blink. It has rubber tracks so you don't get bogged or stuck and can drive over holes, and it can turn in its own length. Disadvantages are: you can’t move dirt from A to Z, just A to B and the B to C, etc.

Anyway I put it to good use, and only for $120 a day!! if you hired such a machine with an operator it’d be at least $100/hr.  Hiring one of these as a birthday present for your fella would be an ever remembered present.

Levelled the Guest room.  Used our own BX to level the guest room ready for foundations. Thanks to Mr. Wentzel’s borrowed Laser Level this was a pretty easy task.  The surface level just needs to be with +-50mm, as excavations and subsequent road base sub-surface levelling will take care of any inconsistencies.

Formed up and poured the next row of path: all done. The last bit of path will be left till we finalise the front door level and position.  I have a temporary path so it’s now possible to walk down from the front gate to the van without skating on wet grass or getting clay stuck all over your shoes.

Polished up the driveway banks: these are now pretty sorted and ready for mulch; then I can add the next coverage of gravel for mud eradication.  The excavator devoured this task which was not feasible with the BX. The Ex’s long reach and ability to track parallel to the cut makes it an easy task.

Just this afternoon I finally saw the vision for the geometric planes which make the driveway and pad batters. It’s all coming together now and tomorrow with some fine tuning and multiple trips to the Tip for free mulch will nearly see the front part of the block finally landscaped.  We’ll then just need planting instructions from Cherly to have the task crossed off our to do list.

Front Entrance Wall: While awaiting the ex. hire which was delayed a week due to light showers that made the top surface sticky, we concentrated on making the formwork for the front gate wall. This wall with have the house name ‘Casa Marnie’ embossed into the formed concrete.  This took some mental effort to both design and construct. With it done by the weekend, I got a call from the mini mix guy that he was 5 mins away with the 1st hot load. There was not enough to complete the task so we are yet to see the final result. Of course despite much checking and rechecking, it’ll be disappointing if we prise off the form work and find the lettering upside down or back to front :).Wouldn’t surprise me however.

What else?

Next weekend Terry, the neighbour is having a birthday party camp out on his block behind us. He has set up a flying fox, hired pizza ovens, and god knows what for his friends to attend and camp over for the weekend. We have been invited to attend but won't be up to midnight or beyond like I’d imagine his mates will be :). I dug the holes for the flying fox installation with the BX for him as the ground was very dry and had rocks in it.  The backhoe made short work of it. My neighbourly deed for the month.

Finally we decided to run with the 450mm diameter foundation piers. The engineer specified 400, but this is not a size auger used up here so we considered alternatives but decide to just increase the hole size to 450.  It uses 25% more concrete but the additional cost would be much the same as trying to redesign for 350 or buy a 350 auger.  I’m now getting quotes for the drilling, Tomorrow we’ll mark up the pads and be ready for drilling. But we’ll have to wait till the reo arrives and make up the cages. I expect this to be early next week, so we’ll be off to the races finally!

Bye for Now.

[kneewall49]

Progress

May 5, 2020

We’ll we have made some progress and some changes.  The changes are:

Firstl I’m going to do the foundations for both the main and guest room buildings at the same time. This will have the following advantages despite the greater workload. Firstly we’ll be able to have all the piers drilled at the one time, reo inserted, inspected and poured with one visit for each activity/ inspection.  Same with the beams and same with the slabs.  I still intent to do the steel and concrete for piers and beams, but have the pros do the slabs.

Secondly, we have moved the Guestroom back north about 3 metres, to minimise the cut at then back of the building with the added benefit of some space for a car parking spot.

Now these decisions have had the following impact:

One, we couldn't start the foundations on the main building now until the guest room pad is readied.

Second, we can’t get the guest pad ready till the earth cuts are stabilised. thus we have had to finish the earthen walls on the west and south first.

Subsequently to date we have done the following:

- repositioned the power underground cable to allow for the bedroom position change (done);

- order split rock ready for facing the earth cuts (done);

= place the split rock and backfill after agri pipe positioned (done);

- place mulch over the fill in preparation for planting appropriate ground cover (1/2 done see pic.)

So what else have we been up to?

- we said good bye to the portaloo and replaced it with a $5 toilet bowl from a demolition yard and connected it to the septic system. Much more comfortable and civilised, well one step towards civilisation. Its a bit of a walk to it, but that’s Ok;

- create a mulch path over the building pad to get to the toilet when it rains. A 100m walk in clay is not attractive when tripping to the toilet and back (done);

- further mulching to the driveway battered cuts; still some to come once I settle on what to do with the landscape above the drive;

- BTW, Frank’s house sold, and we met the new neighbours! Luckily they are a lovely normal couple with a small girl about Neve’s age. A great relief when you consider who could have moved there!  Means we’ll have to move the cars back to the mud/dust pit shortly;

- formed up the next run of foot path and just awaiting an excess load of concrete to come our way;

- replaced the single tent we have been using as a kitchen, with a cheap double one.  Much better with twice the space for both kitchen stuff and Motoko’s growing Floral accessories and cuttings.  I don't think it’ll last a good storm, but we’ll see.

Other things:

Its been ages since it rained, and with the container moved we’ll not be able to harvest the water of its roof. Will have to buy water again soon.

Things are reasonably normal up here except you can't go to a cafe or restaurant for a meal.  Not a big deal but will be nice when we can.

Given what we are doing the lockdown has virtually had no affect except losing our part time jobs of course.

Hope everyone is OK. I’m looking forward to digging some holes to get the foundations started. I saw mentioned recently on Grand Designs that getting out of the ground on a build is about 1/3 of the task. I believe that is true.  On another episode we watched I heard this lovely quote which resonated with me:  “Doing things normally is not interesting enough to bother”

[kneewall49]

Blue Skies!

Good Friday, 10 April 2020

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Finally we can get startered on the pad again!

Lots done since last time and lots happening, here and everywhere. So this is what has happened here:

- finally moved the container back across to the front of where the Guestroom will be. This had to be done before we started on the main building foundations as it may have been impossible to get it out of its current location. That location was chosen when we intended to do the Guestroom first, but the change in order of build meant another move.

- we moved the port-a-loo for the same reason, it’s now up on the driveway. Bit of a hike, but easier access for the pump truck anyway. Nice view across the block when seated is a bonus.

- the first run of the path has been paved with crushed concrete. Looks good together with the beginning of a rough new garden full of plants from Lynda and Pete’s place.

- took the opportunity to dig more swales in the lower block to drain the area down there, which gets very damp after prolonged rain. Will need to profile the area better when the excavated soil finally dries. Smells like a dairy down there :)

- after the container and toilet move we were left with their muddy footprints, so a hire tip truck and numerous runs to the tip for more crushed concrete means we now have a mud free area around the van. So much better than before, even if a bit hard on the thongs till it settles. BTW: thanks to Lol for the Starfish Thongs, they are awesomely comfortable and so solid compared to my crappy Havaianas.

- the bats have now disappeared after the tree was lopped; so that’s good.

- big news of course was the pad, dry enough to start final levelling with the fill cut from the (near final) driveway batters. I had ordered and cancelled three time a heavy padfoot roller to help compaction of the excavated dirt as we levelled the pad.

Paul used his Excuvator and Bobcat to form the batters and spread the soil, while I continually rolled what he spread out. The roller was fun to drive despite its top speed of about 0.1 KPH and its 100 m turning circle.

Thanks to Paul the pad now looks great, with the next step will be marking up the building dimensions to locate the pier and beam positions for excavation.

It’s been a pretty busy few weeks and with the return of wet Easter weather, as seems normal anywhere in Australia, today we can have a bit of a rest.

- of course with the virus both our casual jobs have evaporated and neither of us qualify for government handouts at the stage. Nice to have Motoko around to add a set of hands to tasks, and of course her company.

- meanwhile Motoko’s Instagram posts have gifted her a first job suppling dried flower arrangements for a local ceramic workshop, Kim Wallace Ceramics. Kim supplies Motoko with sample vases (which she can keep) to design appropriate arrangements for each vase type. The arrangements will then be displayed in Kim’s showroom to encourage vase sales and also arrangement sales. Obviously Motoko is very excited with her 1st commission. 

Why don’t you check out her Instagram page and follow to get her numbers up! www.instagram.com/florika_noosa_valley

- John Wentzel and John Walker have both been very generous with their advice on the build, JWa on the roof side, and JWe on the foundation side.

Next on the task list, not in exact order:

- make some stringline ‘hurdles’ and markup the footprint precisely;

- cost some rock boulders for use as a retaining wall beside the Guestroom;

- consider the two quotes for reo steel, and decide so I can place an order initially for the pier steel.

- decide who will drill the piers, Paul, a hired driller or me with a hire machine?

- decide on how to finalise the driveway batters to prevent future erosion, either with matting and plants or perhaps extending the rock retaining wall across the back of the Guestroom and partially up the drive on the steepest sections.

- discuss new plantings with Cheryl;

- consider the advantage of getting a Landscape Architect to design the top entrance, courtyard and around the house. I have contacted John Hope who actually did Robert and Gail’s Plantation B&B, and also a beautiful new grounds around a house on Beckmans Road at Tewantin. We’ll see how much that may cost first.

- with some of the services needing definite decisions on location before the slab is poured will mean it’s time to define what type of toilet and basin designs we’ll need and where the will be in the garage area. The type will define what drainage locations are. The plumber can then accurately place the drains and hot/cold water lines before they will be covered with concrete. This will be my task today on this damp morning.

Happy Chocolate Long Weekend.

Other things:

Motoko went for a flight with Robert last week when the weather broke. She enjoyed it very much.

[kneewall49]

When will this Rain Stop!

March 24, 2020

Must be nearly 4 weeks we have lost on prep of the platform now. Each time it stops raining it takes 2 days at least of bright sunshine to harden the surface, but then it rains again.

We were all set to go again tomorrow, but it rained hard overnight and we are back to square one. I’ll have to call the roller hire place and postpone yet again :(

In the mean time we haven’t been idle.

1) got a casual job at the Noosa Kayak shop working for Andy Ross hiring out SUPs and sit-ons, although the CV19 has put a stop to that. Got two days in anyway, helps to pay for those recurring ‘cost of living expenses’ instead of the continual drawing down of funds, which are not propped up now with such low interest rates.

Below: View from the office :)

2) decided to get on with the retaining wall on the west side of the guest room while things are quiet. We are getting some erosion due to rain on that cut. I’m getting engineer’s plans done now. Footer will go in first, and Paul suggests using quarried ‘split rock’ as an economical material. He said he’d stack them with his bobcat. Will get a couple of truck loads once the footer goes in.

3) big event of the month was the completion of the first straight run of the board formed path retaining wall. Looks good and was fast to do with my forming method. Best part, I have made an arrangement with the local mini mix dude to drop off ‘hot loads’ (unwanted concrete mix) anytime I’m ready to accept one. Instead of $320 a mc, he takes $50. Saves him pay to dump at the tip, probably 50-100, plus my 50, makes us all happy. Also turns out mixing bags is about 3x the cost of buying ready mix. To finish the first run I need some dry weather to back fill the wall with rock, lay the ag drain, plastic and geotech fabric before topping with crushed concrete topping. Doing the path is something to do while waiting to start prep of the pad.

4) had to also cancel the truck to move the container twice. The container has to be out of the way before we start work on the slab. He was coming yesterday at 2, then it pissed down at 1:30.

5) had an awesome paddle with Col and Motoko around to the main beach and out to the point of the National Park on Sunday morning. Beautiful sunny day (before it rained again). We took the V8 double which is a bit more stable than the Carbo. On the way back through the bar I waited for a big set for a ride in. We got a beauty, cresting nicely for the first 100m or so, till it stood up over a shallower bar and we went straight down. The V8 double has a fairly fine nose, not much volume, and you sit fairly close to the nose. First time I’ve ‘pearled’ an ocean ski. I thought we’d pitch pole but at the last minute it flicked left and we when sideways for a while. All good, bounced stariaght back in, retrieved my lost hat and caught the next one coming thru. Water temp is gorgeous at present, and so sparky clear out of the river. Great fun and Motoko is calm and happy for the ride, even when not going exactly to plan.

6) Jamie helped cut down the strangler fig out side the caravan yesterday morning. It started to bear fruit and was becoming an overnight food stop for bats. We don’t want a bat colony developing so yesterday we cut it down. We were considering keeping it as it has a loverly branch structure, but it’s not viable if it attracts bats. The BX came in very handy again moving the logs and branches down the block to dry out. Would have been an ugly task moving by hand.

7) as I’m typing this it’s raining hard again. I had the ute down on the pad yesterday as it was dry, now I can’t get it out again. No way I was getting up in the middle of the night to drive it to dry ground.

8) still no buyers for Frank’s place. Guess with CV, it’ll now be even harder.

9) had our first home grown pumpkin for dinner a few nights back. A butternut number which I made into chips. Very tastie, but not enough to see us through a CV famine :). There are about 6 big Halloween types growing at present. Biggest is about 400ml across. Maybe soup maybe a better option.

10) the hotel Motoko’s working at has now closed so she be out of work till this is over. Maybe fortuitous as I’ll need help with the slab prep.

11) got the sign up so we are all official now :)

[kneewall49]

Approval!!!!

March 8 2020

Yes we have start approval!  So all systems ‘Go’, except the weather :(

The first task was to get the driveway’s final gradient completed. You may remember I couldn't excavate over 2 meters without approval so I could not complete the create the final Reference Level (floor level height) of the house end of the drive.

I got it done in two days, then restarted the excavation of the driveway sides, but need a bigger excuvator to doing this neatly.  Neighbour Paul will do this as a paid job, but we had to wait till the pad dried out.  We were all set to go this Tuesday, but its been rain again and we’ll have to postpone.

In the mean time we had a septic system installed on Thursday, so theorratically if we placed a cistern on top of the tank we’d have our own toilet :).  While here the plumber’s excavator drive dug a swale down the yard to help drain water to the creek.  I’ll dig a few more when its not so wet.

Above: 1st visitor down the final driveway grade. The Excuvator to dig the septic system.

As I couldn’t do any excavation work in the mud heap I turned attention to the pathway, gate to front door.  This will be a zig zag path down from the main gate.  I planned too use boardformed concrete retaining walls on the path’s downside slopes.  Today we unclad the first attempt (the level platform at the gate) in the rain and mud and were very pleased with the result. It’ll be easier on the next sections as I’ve learnt a lot doing this first part.  It’s a simple task of using pine sleepers connected (bolted) together with threaded rods to stop them spreading apart when the concrete is poured in.  To get the rods out easily, instead of being cemented in, I used electrical conduit acting as internal spreaders. The rods just slip in and out and the conduit stays cemented in; easy pezzy.  

Mixing the bags of concrete was tiring, Motoko helped with the foundation but couldn't lift the 20kg bags up to the mixer, and was very wobbly with the barrow when unloading the mix. Nearly had a few moments. What you see here took 43 bags !  Bags these days don’t have plastic liners (which I didn't know) so with the high humidity I picked up the first bag and it just fell to pieces :(. After that I had to pick up each one like a baby.

Above: a hot, humid, wet and muddy day to mix concrete; a happier person helping to strip the forms; and a satisfied Concretor with the final first attempt. We’ll be using this technique to form all the building’s base plinth walls, but thicker.

What else has happened:

- John Walker was up this weekend to give me a guiding hand on a number of issues he is expert in, namely shed roofs and walls.  We had dinner out Friday night at the Boiling Pot Brewery, and dinner last night at Robert and Gail’s.  A valuable visit and John saw some issues or things I hadn't noticed on the Engineer’s plans.

- We had the Port-a-loo relocated as the pump truck wouldn't be able to get to it once we start the main building foundations.  It’s now up on the driveway where you get a fabulous view.

- we also have to move the container as we wouldn't be able to get it out once we start the main building. We planned this for tomorrow but as its been raining all night it’s muddy again, so that’s been postponed.

Next blog entry should see the excavation complete and the pad ready for drilling piers and digging the cross beams and getting ready to pour. Happy days.

[kneewall49]

Big Rainfall Last Night

Feb. 6, 2020

Couple of photos taken this morning after pretty heavy rain overnight.

Has turned the site to mud again, and the ute is stuck once again even as it was parked close to the gate.  Just had the two back wheels on the dirt (so I could swing the gate closed. meant today I now can't get it out :(.

It’ll be a few days before we can get back to moving dirt.  Meanwhile the creek is roaring. 

...and the pumpkin is coming along.

[kneewall49]

Big Step Forward

Feb 1 2020

We sent all documentation to our Certifier in the first week of January!  

Since then we have been attending to a few modifications required, some by omission and some related to regulation changes as from 1st Jan (would you believe).

Our main activity has been further earth works due to the revised setback we decided on (5m towards the street) to give a wider view of the creek and grass area looking north, and its subsequent effect on the driveway gradient.

Those works have been limited some what due to regulations related to earthwork allowances prior to BA, and the weather.  The weather has been unseasonably hot and dry, making work very dusty and tiring. This was followed by periods of (normal) rain which then turned the dust to mud.  All part of the building process.

During such times of delay it has allowed us to look at potential materials for inclusion, such as windows, claddings and roof options, so no time really lost.

We recently saw the completed building of a very big house at the entrance of the Noosa Heads National Park, which seemed to have employed a major amount of Sunshine Coast contractors for a lengthly period. This house incorporates external cladding which we have decided is a potential option here, as well as the colour scheme which mimics my vision for the house.  It uses dark grey/blacks, slatted timber cladding and board formed tinted concrete. (See below).

I have been researching the slat options, either timber, plastic/reconstituted and metals.  All have pluses and minuses; costs, maintenance, longevity, etc.   Our original choice Colorbond Enseam may still be the final choice as its so inexpensive in comparison although harder to work corners and window openings.

I competed the final look/design of the first 20m of the drive on our side of the front gate, and it looks pretty good.  We can now park some cars on gravel (well, crushed concrete waste) without getting bogged.  We have however been parking in Frank’s vacant house while its being prepared for sale by his daughters.  We helped move and tidy the house/yard, trips to the tip, etc. and I have been mowing the lawn to keep the place looking lived in. I bought some of Frank’s tools and materials at their garage sale. There was a nice lathe and a welder, but I don’t know how to use either so let them go.

Just this week I have been back preparing the footprint for the garage/living building, getting ready for mark up to level and start excavation for the piers, beams and slab.  Paul (neighbour) brought his Excuvator over again to help cut back the rise behind the building.  This cutback will incorporate a 2m space behind the building for pathway and drainage purposes. I have since started to cut back/slope the remaining earth to a more aesthetic batter, to negate the need for retaining walls.

With the rain the grass is growing so fast it needs mowing about every few days. We want to keep it low as we have had two recent unwelcome visitors, of the slithering type, close the the van.

We’ll also have to move the Port-a-loo soon as once the build starts the pump truck won’t be able to reach its current location.  I’ll see if I can tow it across the block with the tractor, that’ll be fun; if not I’ll have to get the pump truck to crane it out next time they’re back.  Relocation will mean a hike to the toilet, but the added benefit of it being further away on those hot days :).

Well that’s about it for the month.  Feb. should see the BA through and I can get really stuck into the last of the earthworks and gravelling the drive, probably doing it with a hire Excuvator to get it done quickly.  We’ll then consider what aspects of the slab I’ll do, such as the piers and beams, as they can be poured seperately (I checked with the engineer), and then contract the slab laying/finishing. We’ll need the plumbing rough in prior to beam pour, but that’s not a big task, but needs to be done by a licensed plumber.

I may have mentioned a home builder build happening about a kilometre away, which on its timeline is a few weeks ahead of us.  Josh will be starting his foundations this week (but its raining now) and I intend to spend a fair amount of time watching, learning and helping if I can, as he progresses to gain experience and requirements for this task.  Its also good to see who he uses and how good, and expensive they are.

Well next entry should (fingers crossed) see us with the approved BA in hand.

[kneewall49]

Another Sad Month

12 January, 2020

Our new neighbour Frank didn’t make it after a fall in his house.  Frank hang on in hospital for a week but passed away, not recovering from the head injuries from the fall.

We attended the funeral, which was Motoko’s first Western funeral, and I spoke on behalf of the two of us, as the two newest friends Frank had.  It actually was a very upbeat funeral and about 10 people spoke of their experiences with Frank, all on the light hearted side, as he was a character.  As he would have liked, there was much laughter about his life and adventures, and his ‘can do’ nature about almost anything. He reminded me of my dad in so many ways, always happy, nothing insurmountable, no challenge untried.

Of the funeral was a bit of a shock to Motoko, who is use to a very solemn and dark event, as is the case with funeral’s in Japan.

Motoko offered to make the casket arrangement using flowers from Franks’ garden, and pride and joy.  Everyone was suitably impressed, even the funeral director said they were stunning.

Frank’s passing was a great blow to us as we were extremely pleased to be living next to a gentleman with so much knowledge and experience and tools for nearly all things, for mechanical and construction tasks. We’d already recognised it was well worth getting Frank’s advice on any tool of task before making a decision.  We now have lost that valuable friend and resource. RIP Frank.

Now what else have we been up to?

It has been very hot, over 30 most days and very dry; can't remember when it last rained?  We have reached a point with the excavation where we may be exceeding the allowable changes you can make to your land without council permission, thus we reverted too the following activities:

We did have a holiday at Robert and Gail’s place at Eumundi to house sit their loverly house while they spent Xmas and NY in Sydney.

Nice to have a big shower space, a non port-a-loo style toilet, and a pool of course. We watched Netflix and could wash the cars on concrete, not dirt.

We started to clear the street frontage garden which was very overgrown with competing plants and trees.

We had Cherly come around and point the ‘finger of death’ at those trees/plants needing to go.  This activity was a bit drawn out as the weather has been constantly sunny and hot, and very dry making it a hot dusty task.  We have managed to clear about 3/4 of the frontage and meet some other neighbours during the task.

Below: Left, the front gate area gets a tidy up, and still requiring some planting after drought breaks. Right, a cleaner front garden screen, despite the crappy photo of our work. Bottom, and got the ute stuck in newly bulldozed soil, but managed to get the tractor and Motoko to pull it out.

I used the BX to help dig out a couple of stumps for the neighbour opposite who in turn gave us a nice bottle fo wine and Motoko’s favourite beer.

And the big news of the month! We submitted the build plans to the Certifier for BA approval, after receiving the Engineer’s plans for slab and roof steel specs just before Xmas.

Other news or rather decisions we made: We’ll now start the build with the Living/Garage, not the guest room.

After a discussion with Mr. Wentzel, he advise starting with the biggest building, as leaving the most expensive room to last may mean a bigger increase in cost if delayed until a minor buildings were completed. 

This had the following impact.  

One: it meant taking down the two shade shelters as theses stood inside the new building’s footprint and would be in the way. 

Two: we had to move the stockpile of materials we been collecting to another area outside the footprint.  

Three: means doing the biggest building first will require use of professionals earlier than expected, or rather when I have somewhat less experience than I may have.  

Anyway I do agree with John’s advice and we have moved those former   incursions, restarted levelling the middle area, and using the guest room footprint as a new store area.

Photos below: Left, no more shade for the cars. Middle: the building pad, plus the 10m terrace area looks pretty big! Right: the erosion fence gets a test after the rain.

We expect to get the go ahead by months end!

[kneewall49]

A Sad Month :(

Dec. 6, 2019

Well the last few weeks have seen some sad news.

Firstly my uncle (Dad’s brother) Alan Carlyle passed away, and we attended his funeral in Wingham (near Taree), with his family.   A sad lose, a fine man and a gentlemen.

We did take the opportunity to keep travelling south, despite the fires and Beijing like air quality, to catch up with family and friends.  I must say we both didn't miss Sydney and the traffic, confirming our move north was the right one.

The second sadness was just this week when our new neighbour, 85 yr old Frank (the Austrian) passed away also, after a fall in his house which he didn’t recover from. Frank was a great asset to our new life here, full of knowledge and experience in all facets of living and readily volunteering to help, even when not asked :).  It’s a shock to us all, and his funeral next week will be a sad occasion.  This will also mean some time down the track we’ll be getting new neighbours; let’s hope our Qld luck holds and we have nice new ones.

Ok, so much for the sad news, 

Biggest positive news: we received the Engineer’s plans for the foundations and roof structure.  These were passed to the architect for marrying to his plans, preparation of a plumbing plan and then we can settle on a Certifier for BA lodgement.

I must say I was a bit surprised with the complexity of the foundation design which will add cost, time and effort.  As the solution has piers and beams under the slab we’ll now require boring of theses piers, adding a lot more concrete and reo, and building forms for the beams which will pass across the pier tops.

With so many piers, and all the concrete to fill them will add to the build cost.

Other things we’ve done:

- Moved the front gate, and changed the swing direction.  This now gives more usable access.  Also I have started to create a path from the gate down to where the front door will be, so folks parking on the street have a visual guide to the best way down to where we are.

- Not sure if I mentioned this last time, but as we haven't started digging final footings we did take the opportunity to move the building footprint back 5 metres towards the street.  This relatively slight change will allow a wider field-of-view to the north over the creek and hill opposite.  As we had the building footprint marked out, the position of the house did appear to be more into the middle of the block than what feels ideal.

However consequences were:

- more digging and stockpiling of dirt;

- a relocation of the underground power cable as it was exposed as a result of the new setback. I’ve now stopped any further excavation as I feel I’m pushing the envelope regarding what you can do before BA approval.  Don’t want to start the process with a hand slap or fine from council.

With the trip away, Motoko not well for a week, the unseasonable hot weather and getting close to BA submission I have been a bit constrained on what to do.

BTW I did get a ride on mower, as the grass does need mowing almost weekly, and a cement mixer which will be put to use firstly on the path.

Regards.

[kneewall49]

Opps Doesn’t Time Fly !

28th October.

Sorry for nearly a month with no news, or perhaps you found it refreshing :)

So what’s changed?

Driveway Mk II and III

With the damp soil after the rain I’ve been back on the tractor removing more dirt on the driveway. I can’t go any deeper than 1m without council permission so have just been extending the cut to the gate; but we still have to watch the weather as rain makes the clay slippery and we can’t get the cars out.

Paul has also been helping, I guess he feels sorry for me each time he passes and notes the slow progress. Last week I was still excavating and getting a bit dusty. Suddenly I was passed in the dust by a Bobcat! Paul had artived without me seeing him, and joined in the dig.

His Bobcat is so powerful and the bucket large, he can cut 3 times the dirt I can with the one run. So now Mk III goes all the way to the gate. I’ll get back to levelling it a bit more after I have the container roof done, see below.

Roofing the Container

With water costing around $175 / ‘000 litres I decided we should add a catchment to the container as well as the benefit of getting it shaded. So a couple of trusses were made up, battens added, with some tin and guttering to be sourced. By week’s end we should be able to capture some water from the next downpour.

Plantings.

Cheryl has been around again with some Iris’s for the pond edge, as well as a nice big new fig tree which we’ll use to block the view of Paul’s driveway. When the house is complete his driveway may be a source of headlight annoyance as cars come down the drive at night.

We’ll start taking out random unwanted trees out along the nature strip to get a better balance. Cheryl drew up a hit list which we carry out when time available.

Terrace Sizing

With additional dirt from the driveway I’ve been stockpiling it or rather using it to build the terrace in front of the rooms. It’ll be a generous 10m wide and as long as the three buildings. It’s coming along, but once again, 1m is the max I can go to without a BA.

Repositioning the Building Footprint.

I had our surveyor, Richard, back to mark out the ‘current’ footprint to assist with driveway cutting and also the terrace formation.

After some thought we decided to move the whole build back 5m. It seems the current positioning is using too much foreground which results in cropping the field-of-view from the now known north window line.

Going back 5m will allow the view to be pulled back and wider. It’ll mean moving a lot more dirt, but that’s not a big deal in reality, and best done now, before we start the build. Over the next week or so I’ll attack the 5m zone on the guest bedroom, as this will be the first slab layed.

Visitors

John Wentzel dropped in with his and our old mate Arn Rahnel. It was good to catch up and have a cool beer and chat. John stoped by again a few days later with Kaye to show her ‘Camp Marnie’. The photo below is the only evid3nce of Roc’s visit (thanks John Boy).

We also had a new paddling friend, Col and Kim around for afternoon tea. Kim is a chef and she bought the best chocolate cake :)

Senior Moment of the Post

Well not really a senior moment, but amusing none-the-less.

Last week it rained heavily one night which was unexpected. As it was about 2 in the morning I wasn’t keen to get up and move the cars up the drive before it got perhaps too slippery, which in fact it did.

Anyway Motoko had to go to work and with Paul’s gate locked maybe I could get the GS up the grass and take her to work.

Now it’s been a while since the grass has been cut, so it was long and it was still wet as it was early. Two attempts resulted in falls and some heavy lifting getting the GS back up on two wheels.

I should have got Motoko to video attempt #2 as it would have been a laugh. The back came around and I low sided then rolled (just me) about 5m back down the hill. No harm done but after lifting the bike I left it there till the grass dried up to roll the bike down backwards to horizontal parts.

BTW: Motoko got a lift to work.

[kneewall49]

Finally Some Rain!

October 1, 2019.

After test by Wind, Heat and Dust, we finally had this week the test by Water!

We scored a C-.

Overnight a few days back, we had 80mm of rain in one hit. It was late, after 12, so tucked away in bed with no leaks in the van, but dreading what daylight would bring as far as the annexe’s performance and the excavations.

So firstly the awning leaked where it joined the van wall. This caused water to wet the lounge, mats and a couple of other things in the annex area. The outside kitchen was fine as was the porch area.

Over the last few days we have been drying things, washing things and working solutions. I have installed an additional tarpaulin over the van roof and awning, effectively making a second roof skin. The awning is old and past it’s use by date, but I’m not keen on spending over a grand on a new one. So we’ll see if this solution works.

The driveway was virtually ok, with just of the looser surface material washed down and out onto the building platform. It shows me where future drainage will be required, so in affect a good outcome.

So what else have we been up to?

Firstly, Motoko has a casual job at a Hotel on Hastings Street which is a nice place to be an as a casual she can virtually choose what days she works. As weekdays and weekends are just one for us, she is working weekends which pay much more.

We rode to Kin Kin to have a beer at the famous pub. Very interesting place and a nice ride too. Great place to take visitors too for a Queensland country pub experience.

We have installed some shade covers over the front of the container and towards the van. We can use these for shade for the cars and tractor. I hired a posthole digger, which was a waste of time and reverted to simply digging holes with the backhoe.

Robert helped with the first attempt, but that was as far as we got :) Rocks, clay and a restricted throttle bought it to an end. Jamie helped on day 2, but we gave up and I returned it for a refund.

We also had a surveyor peg the building boundaries and reference floor heights. I helped which was interesting, so easy with the new equipment. This will allow me to place excavated dirt in the right spots to level the site.

We have settled on the roof structure of the main building so the engineer is now documenting the specs this week. Getting close now to submitting the building application.

[kneewall49]

Another visitor

18th Sept. 2019

We had our third out of town visitors since moving to site.

Dave, ex CiSRA colleague of mine, and Motoko’s, visited with Bradley and Emigine while Kas (wife and mum) competed in the Sunshine Coast 1/2 Ironman over the weekend.

Was good to catch up with Sydney news and in particular what our past work mates are up to after the company closure.

The kids had a drive of Mr. Mitarai while we had a BBQ and a few refreshments. Dave being a country bumpkin knew the controls.

The dry spell is continuing with weather reminiscent of Sydney in February. That means bushfires and there were outbreaks all round with the closest near Coolum some 15k away. We are pretty safe here but places up and down the street and surrounding areas are pretty bushie; I wouldn’t be too happy with them as home locations.

The dry spell has also put a holt on my driveway excavation simply because of the amount of dust kicked up and the hardness of the dirt. So we have done a few house keeping tasks such as setting up the container as the workshop and storage facility it is meant to be.

Painting the small water tank and the container also kept us busy for a day or two. I borrowed Jamie’s airless spray gun but it kept tripping the electrical circuit so had to revert to the brush. No big issue as time is cheap.

I’ve also stripped down a water pump that was hidden in the bushes at Jamie’s with a view to use it to water down some of the fill I’m moving around from the driveway. It hadn’t been used for ? long and was an interesting pull down.

The sump and cylinder was filled with an oil water mix, the carby full of dirt, petrol tank full of orange gravy and actual pump impeller full of cottage cheese (or something remarkably similar).

The two vital signs required, no piston seizure and a spark, were surprisingly present. So fuel was the next required component, but with the tank dirty and carby full of dirt progress stopped. I decided to order a carby service pack on eBay, and was presently surprised to find I could get the following in one service pack for just $30 with free shipping. And note the free cat sticker!

The pack included: A new spark plug, new air filter, whole new carby (not just jets), fuel lines, plug lead, coil, ignition, gaskets, fuel filter and a stop start switch! How good is that!

We have also decided to put up there shade sails, using the Aldi tarps we used when covering the trailer when moving. I had to order some poles of the required length and get some fittings. This will be a task for next week. We can then both shade the container and park cars under shelter.

I also put some racks on the side of the container to hold the skis; much tidier and they too are out of the sun now.

We are now waiting for rain, the final test.

We have passed the heat test, van is nice and cool, passed the wind test, annex didn’t blow down on the high wind and fire weekend. We now await the water test! Will our wood chip ground covering get washed away; will the soil soften up and the van subside; will the annex leak? I guess we’ll find out soon or later.

Our Strangler Fig has burst into leaf, making great shade through most of the day. I’m now inclined to keep this tree as a feature in the courtyard. We were considering replacing it with something less foundation unsettling, but will look at preventative measures to tame its roots and keep it.

Also done: completed the Owner Builder course and have the license; have the preliminary roof structure design for comment. Getting close to being able to submit to council the BA.

[kneewall49]

We have a Driveway, well Mk1 anyway.

Priority recently was vehicle access via our own driveway, ie without having to request the neighbour unlock a gate for us.

Before I dug the electrical trench, it was possible to drive down on the grass in that area, SW corner, but with the disturbed soil and fill this was no longer the case. Getting down was never a problem, but getting back up with only 2wd was an issue.

Anyway after the van was set up and water tanks filled, etc. the driveway was next on the list.

So I got stuck in with Mr. Mitarai and over a few days we now have what can be called a roughed in driveway, well a dry weather roughed in driveway. God forbid if we get rain until I get more done and gravel covered, but that looks a way off with this weather and the forecast.

The excavation is producing lots of fill, our neighbour says it’s 2:1, you have 2 meters of fill after you dig a 1 meter hole. So that’s causing a small issue with parking it somewhere for near immediate and longer term uses.

The images below show progress over time and result to date. Good fun digging this out, but with the little machine I feel like a lone termite with one tooth lunching on a log.

I have used some of the poorer lower level soil to start extending the build platform to make the terrace a nice spacious size. This area (below) is in front of the Guest Bedroom, and the first building to start.

Anyway all good, with perhaps 1/3 of the excavation done, and the gravel yet to do till the cuts complete.

Now we can park the cars, bike and trailer next to the van.

Next is just continuing with the driveway cut so I have one grade from the gate down to the pad, which will require at least another 500m of cut. In the meantime I’ll get the surveyor back to peg the room corners and reference levels so I can place fill in a useful place.

Simultaneously I’ll start on a footpath from the gate to where the future ‘front’ door will be.

Engineer’s specs should be here this week, plumbing plan done and a Slope Stability Report commissioned (a waste of money), and completion of the my ‘white card’ in prep for the home builder license course. All good.

[kneewall49]

Life in Queensland

27th August, 2019

No one has asked what’s it’s like living in the sunshine state, but I’ll tell you anyway.

Life’s good here, it’s simpler, and as it should be.

Major difference is the ease of getting around by car/bike. No traffic lights keep traffic flowing and once your use to roundabout efficiencies no one gets held up except those that don’t understand the rules, the etiquette or are procrastinators.

No multi level car parks to lose your car in or get held up by a senior trying to work out how to back into a space, or big family with multi kids loading the once a month food shopping of fizzy drinks, pet food and cheese twisties.

Lots of marked motorcycle parking in prime spots is a bonus (for us).

No queues is another bonus, except for gelato on a weekend arvo. When you go to the motor registry, which we have had too on numerous occasions to sort licences and regos, the following happens. You walk into a near deserted customer area and head to the ticket machine. You’ll notice the 4-5 counter staff have eyes fixed on your hand. As you select your required service and the little paper ticket starts to emerge from the kiosk there is movement at the counters as the staff try to get your customer number to light up their counter before each other. It’s a bit like a quiz show. As your checking your number a loud speaker is already calling that number.

All shop staff (except cafes) greet you with ‘want you want luv’ and ‘thanks darl’ as a closer.

Heaps of cafes with good coffee and environs, craft brewers are also springing up everywhere with big budget establishments which are nice to dissect their architectural and detailed construction.

No aeroplanes in the sky, which I miss, but lots of noisy helicopters for some reason, maybe tourist joy flights.

Wed, Sat and Sunday markets are a nice outing for either a stroll, or provisioning. Eumundi markets are very busy and expensive, (even Manabu’s - x CiSRA QA engineer’s Açai) Noosa market is expensive but very high quality and mainly locals, while Yandina market is herbal, bit Scotland Is. like, but good cheap fresh vegetables and interesting second hand tools. Noosa market has apparently the world’s best Portuguese Custard Tarts, but as I’m yet to experience them to date.

We are slowerly getting use to water efficiency, being mindful our tank isn’t bottomless. A washing load uses 50 litres a cycle, 2x showers and there’s another 50 litres even when turning water off to soap up! We are now using the ‘grey’ water to water the new trees and shrubs we have planted rather than using the tank water. I’ll try to jerry rig some roofing to collect ‘free’ rain water but don’t want to over do the squatter development we are creating.

A day now consists of working in the morning till about 12/1 then to the beach on bike for a swim and picnic lunch, then back to work at 2:30/3 till dark. Bit hot in direct sun around lunchtime, but beautiful in the shade. Hope summer is not a killer, but probably will be. Might have to hang at at the freezer section at Woolies during the hot days.

I’ve also discovered 7eleven $1 coffee is on par with a good $4.50 cup, except for the crema. A trip to Bunnings in the morning or arvo includes a $1 coffee stop. I kid you not it’s acceptable (the quality). I buy ground coffee for home at Padres at Noosaville, settling on one blend after trying a few. It’s a cool place with nice but pretty coffee serious staff.

The best cake/bread shop is actually at a Shell garage at Noosaville too. You have to be told, you’d never discover it unless getting petrol. Just awesome French style stuff with lots of choices and they are constantly baking.

Paddler Andy Ross, another refugee from Sydney, has started a TT on the Noosa river on Sunday mornings so that’s now part of the weekly timetable, as is a training session on Friday mornings run by the local kayak shop. Nice bunch, glorious weather, champagne water.

The hinterland provides miles of great roads, cooler weather and cute little villages for stops. Too many craftie shops for my liking but that’s ok, old people have to have something to enjoy. A ride or drive up the hinterland is nice to have a break from digging.

Can’t find any boxing classes unless you pay $20 + for a session, Matt’s classes st North Ryde were a bargain, and hundreds of yoga classes if that’s your (not my) thing.

The beach. Noosa main beach is beautiful as you know. Minimal surf unless the swell is running which makes for a very pleasant cool off. Hastings Street is fabulous too. Just like being in some swish Melbourne Street but right on the ocean. If you holiday in Noosa I’d recommend paying a bit extra and staying on Hastings, it’s worth it by a mile. Forget the car just walk, eat and swim. Staying anywhere else in the area is hardly worth coming for.

Been very dry since we moved. The creek has stopped flowing over the little weir. Grass still nice and green except where I have driven the tractor over it infinite times, turning it to bull dust. Suppose to rain this week which will be interesting to see if we survive the camp out in a wet spell :).

Haven’t seen a snake yet, but I’m told it’s just a matter of time. I walk around like I’m in a mine field. We have jumping ants as we have mentioned which we are gradually eliminating. We also have a ‘cheese tree’ (look it up), which should be called a pumpkin tree, which has the unfortunate attribute of housing those seething balls of catapillars. Bit creepy, especially for Tokyo girls. We have BBQ’d two lots to date. Apparently coming into skin contact with them is not a recommended experience.

Anyway back to work. Digging the driveway at present. Want to get it done so the Port-a-loo lorry can get to down to our loo without having to go thru the neighbours. Everyone needs a goal :).

Btw we now have a lounge available in the annex for one overnight visitor. Who will be first?