Our Little Timber Mill

On Saturday I went up to Mum & Dad's, with Bethany & Trav, to unload our bounty of timber. Big day and alot of hard work, thanks to Mum & Dad for the day. This is how we did it;

1. We had to de-nail all the timber. Sore hands by the end of the day and we also managed to break a hammer.

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2. We then sorted out the timber in lengths & types. Any that we could not use, we had sawn down into smaller peices, which will be used for 'noggins' in the building process.

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3. We were then left with our 3 sorted 'piles' of Oregon, Treated Pine & Hard Wood. Most of which can be used in our build or at least be swapped for what we need.

Just A Little Timber

Dad & I drove up to Newcastle today to pick up some timber we won off Ebay. Looks like a lot but this is only about a 1/4 of what we need. The good thing is we got it cheap & it was really good quality oregon timber. A bit of work to clean it up but that does not cost anything except our time.

Our Plans Are In!!!

Our plans are finally in to Bega Council. Mel & I drove down to Bega today to sort a few things out while also submitting our plans. Ken had dotted all the i's & crossed all the t's. We were quietly confident on our way home that our plans should be fine. When we walked the plans to council, that even the ladies lodging the development application, looked to see Kens name on the covering letter and said 'Oh Ken Gordon has done these plans, should be no worries at all'. Made us feel very happy. We also met with Leon Russel, to discuss further details of our land clearing. We also sorted our our shed details too. Everything is looking good and progressing well.

Our Final Plans Are Here

Our final plans are here. We have not really changed much from the last, just a few minor details, but we are ready to put them into council now. We can't wait. We are heading down to Bega next week, hopefully to submit them and also talk to our land clearer, Leon Russell. We can really picture living in this house, the layout & space really suits us as a family. If you have any comments we would really like to recieve them. Will let everyone know how it goes with council, this could be a long process but we have faith in Bega council and Ken Gordon, our drafts person. Fingers crossed it does not take to long.

Little Treasures

On the weekend, the kids & I went to help clean out my late Grandfathers house. This has been an on going thing for about the last 4 to 5 months now. Some people may have said he was a bit of a hoarder, but Mel & I say he was just saving a few things, for us, to help build our house. There has been alot of treasures found, including these cast iron lamp posts that Dad is wheeling up to the trailer. We have found bathroom sinks, tiles, mirrors, windows, pipe work, furniture & a fireplace. Some very old & beautiful items. Still no plans as yet, hopefully soon.

Still waiting for our plans

Just thought I'd give a quick post, just so anybody keeping track of us did not think they were missing out on anything......we are still waiting for our plans back from the drafts person. We are hoping to get something back soon so we can get something done before Christmas. We have alot lined up but this will all be pending on the plans coming back soon, council approval & the land being cleared. Fingers crossed we will have something back from Ken by the end of the week. We will keep you posted.

Update to Plans

Mel & I went to the property today to see Ken and discuss the final plans for our property. We think we have nailed it now and can't wait to see them drafted. We should see something early next week, can't wait. We have so much lined up as soon as we get the go ahead from council.
1st its the land clearing, Leon Russel from Russels Earthmoving & Excavations
2nd we now have our shed lined up
3rd We have got our concreter lined up too
4th The tank from Bega Concrete Tanks
5th Then our Biolytix System should go in.
We have also found our roof at Mordek too. We are picturing everyday the finished product. Should be good to see. Will keep everyone posted when the final draft comes through and hopefully we can get some of the above work done before Christmas.

Our New Design

We have a new house design. After our awesome time in Canberra with Andrew & Leanne, talking to Tom Chen & Frank Thomas, we have come up with our new design which, we believe has passive solar and thermal mass properties. We have a few changes, which are going though our drafts person, Ken at Gordons Drafting. At the moment but should have our plans finalized by the end of the week and then into Bega council.

Our House Plan

Our preliminary house & layout plans have arrived thanks to Gordon's Drafting Services in Bega. Mel & I are very excited. Only a few changes, but I think it looks really good. You can see our wind turbine in this view and also our awesome doors/windows off our living & bedroom areas that we picked up cheap on Ebay. We should hopefully have our plans through council soon and then it is finally time to start building.

What makes our build eco friendly

Besides our house being built from straw bales, which has amazing insulation properties, we are incorporating the following;

• Solar Panels from Clear Solar
• Biolytix is supplying us with our Black & Grey Water system.
• Pyramid Power, in Pambula, is helping us with our Solar Hot water & Install. They are in our area and I feel know the best system for our climate. They are also installing our Biolytix System too.
• Rhino Tanks is supplying us with a 126,000L Tk
• We are going for a natural roof insulation, probably wool or shredded paper. We have not chosen anyone as yet there.
• Straw Bale, our walls are coming from Trent at straw.com.au from Coleambally, NSW. It is a bit far away but has the best straw to build with.

We are so excited to start our build. Should not be long until we receive our plans too which I hope to share with you all too.

Our Small Plot

This is our lovely, 6 & 1/2 Acre, bush block. As you can see it has a nice little slope to it, but has not stopped us from wanting to build on it. The top of the block is mainly filled with 'Stringy Bark' & 'Bloodwood' trees. We are going to try and minimalise the amount of land we are clearing and is going to make us a little upset to see them knocked down but we are going to try and use them as much as possible during the build. We will have a mobile saw mill who will cut most of the timber to size for the framing required and the leaf tops, bark and un-usable wood will be used for mulch. All the 'dead wood' around will be used to keep us warm on the cold Wallagoot nights.

About Us

G'day. My name is Steve Page. My Wife, Melanie, our 2 children, Travis, Bethany & I are about to embark on building our own house out of straw bale. This idea of a lifestyle change from Wollongong to Wallagoot, on the N.S.W. far south coast has been in planning for over 2 years now. This is our blog of how we have planned our house, different Eco techniques, Eco products we have used & our overall journey. We plan on living off the land as much as we can. We will grow our own fruit & veges, chickens for eggs, solar hot water & power. Our sewage system will purify its self

through worms and organic material and flow back onto out fruit trees. We will hope that one day what we are doing now might inspire someone else to do the same.