How About Those Windows & Doors

Mel & I headed down to work on the house with the kids in between Christmas & New Years. Had a good time & got a few odd jobs done. Mel worked on getting the first protective cover on the windows. Really brings out a nice colour with them. Then we both got in and attached all of the window locks before having a great New Years.

Gee I can't wait until our house is built & we can get all the tradies, etc off site. I can't wait to live in our own, private space together as a family again!!!

2nd Coat Render & Our New Windows

Mel went down again to help the builders with the 2nd coat of render. They managed to finish all of the inside but only about a 3rd on the outside because of the amount of render that has to be built up.

We also had our new windows & doors installed too. Ian Gowing helped us again. Really good job from a great tradie. Thanks again for your great work.

A little bit of Landscaping

From the 25th to the 27th of November we were down planting some of the front batter of the property. Mel, Dad, Mum & I planted about 350 plants - Travis & Bethany pulled about 30 plants out thought. It was good to see them interested in getting dirty, not that many kids need much of an excuses to roll around in the mud!! All lilly pillies & boobialla. Should look good when they start to grow. We had plenty of mulch left over from all of the loose straw which was handy too. We also measured out where the internal walls were going to intersect to the bale walls.

Time to Let the Render Dry

Well, what a busy month. It is hard to believe that exactly 1 month ago we had just a slab!!! Thanks again to everyone to get to this stage, we would not have been able to have done it without all of the volunteers, tradies & our families. We still have a way to go with fitting out and everything but to see a structure with a roof put a massive smile on our faces. Thank you!!!

Just the bare minimum jobs now until the 2nd coat goes on in about 3 weeks. Here are some progress shots show you the past month.

1. Starting of the Top & Bottom Plates - 8th to 13th Oct.
2. Up goes the window & door frames - 14th & 15th Oct.
3. The straw bale walls going up - 14th to 18th Oct.
4. Roof trusses on - 20th to 24th Oct.
5. Colorbond on - 27th to 30th Oct.
6. 1st Coat of render - 1st to 5th Nov.

1st Coat Render - Day 4 & 5

On the 4th day they started on the outside of the house with a lime render. I came down with the kids on the Friday (5th Day) & we were very happy with the progress. It looks like a different house with the first coat of render now.

1st Coat Render - Day 2 & 3

Over the 2nd & 3rd day the team finished the inside rendering with a nice clay render.

1st Coat Render - Day 1

Mel headed to the property for this part of the build. I wish I could have been there but I had to work & Mel wouldn't want me there anyway. Mel said she really enjoyed her self and had a good time working hard with all the renderers. Here are a few pictures of the inside render going on after an intense hair cut of the bales.

On Goes the Roof

As you can see over the last week the guys from Merimbula Metal Roofing have fitted our roof, which looks absolutely amazing.
Adam was an absolute champion. Him and his boys, as well as doing the roof, helped out with attaching the bottom flashing as well. This should stop any moisture creeping into the bales from rain & water hitting the outside walls. They did a great job. What is very note worthy is that Adam attached all the fascias & guttering & arranged the flashing job while he was on his way to his wedding in QLD. Thanks again mate & congratulations.

Also a big thanks to Chris Clements & Bluescope Lysaght Batemans Bay for the supply of the roof sheets & gutters. Chris was really quick with getting our order through & pushed hard for an early delivery as well. Thanks Chris & Bluescope Lysaght Batemans Bay.

Rendering Preps

Today's job was getting the walls straight & ready for rendering. This involved beating the bales with the 'persuader' & giving the walls a haircut with the hedge trimmers. They really come up straight & clean after a bit of work, as you might be able to see. We also fit the electrical socket points as well. This was also a sad day for me as I had to leave site to come back to my 9 to 5. The house is now in the hands of Frank, heaven forbid, & the roofers who start on Wednesday, weather permitting!?

Roof Trusses - Day 5

Today was just myself & the builder checking the last of the tie downs & the clean up & sorting out of all the good bales which went back in the shed for our next project. All looks good for inspection & alot bigger without all the bales around.

Roof Trusses - Day 4

Today was my day off until in start to, lets say piss down with rain! I had the morning with Mel & the kids. We came home to have a much deserved arvo sleep when it came bucketing down. I jumped in the car and got out to site to help Frank & Hardy cover the bales just in time to keep them safe and dry.

Roof Trusses - Day 3

Today involved getting the battens in place & allot of tying trusses down as well as preps for council inspection.

Roof Trusses - Day 2

Our nice timber beams in place & our awesome view

Roof Trusses - Day 1

Found a great builder to help us put up the trusses. Ian Gowing of Jellat Jellat was a great bloke to work with. He worked well with Frank on site, which I could only assume would be hard for any builder, but also did not mind me and Greg laboring for him. A good tip for keeping costs down too. The first day went smooth, as you can see from the photos.

Straw Bale Working Bee - Day 6

Today the last of top plates on. Now its a matter of compressing the bales and screwing off to the vertical window and doors frames.

Compression is achieved by the steel compressions plate you can see across the top plates. The threaded rods are pushed through the ply skin and then through the steel plate. We then cut the excess off the threaded rod and secure, finger tight, to the steel / compression plate with a washer, spring washer & nut.

When all the compression plates are in place & we have cut off the excess rod we measure from the top plate to the floor in a number of points around the house. We then find the lowest point & then tighten down all other points to this measurement. For Example, our lowest point was 2865mm. So we tightened down every point to 2865mm making sure we were level across the top plate with a spirit level. This should get the top plates to an even and level height around the house.

Note: You should not progressively screw the plates down. Try and have as many teams as you can at different points of the house. This will stop pre-loading at one side of the house.

.. Now, this is the hybrid bit of the build. Where the window & door frames are coming through the top plates, next to the noggins, we screw or bolt through the vertical frames. This, therefore distributes the load onto the bales through the top plates and onto the frames which are connected to the bottom plates and slab. The excess off the window frames can now be trimmed off with a chain saw so they don't get in the way of the roof trusses.

Straw Bale Working Bee - Day 5

Top plates still going up with last of bales. Roof trusses arrive

Straw Bale Working Bee - Day 4

The walls keep climbing & top plates going on. Look at all the happy working bees.

Straw Bale Working Bee - Day 3