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Friday 21 December 2012

Slab Curing

Today we visited the site again to see how the slab curing is going. We were a bit concerned because it rained heavily the night of the slab pour and we wanted to see if we had any pitting in the concrete or cracks developing. For those of you who don't know what pitting is, it is the result of when it rains too soon after a slab pour, the pitting can be seen as dimples in the concrete and the end result is a dusty concrete surface, this can be a problem for tilers.

The first thing we noticed today is that they also did a bit of a site clean up and levelled the ground around the slab, this made a noticeable difference and now the slab doesn't seem like its so high anymore and when we think back to how high the plumbing pipes were pre-slab it reminds us of how thick the slab really is.

We noticed that the slab is still wet in patches between each of the waffle pads, we also noticed that we had micro cracks, small surface cracks that apparently are not an issue of concern and apparently this happens with all concrete.

We did have pitting in the concrete but only to rear of the slab, which is disappointing as this was obviously not finished up correctly with the helicopter, but unfortunately/fortunately? not enough of an issue to be a defect in the slab. The area where it happened will be carpeted/floor boards, and only small section in the bathroom where tiles are so hopefully we don't have any issues from it.

While were were there we decided to give the slab a watering to help with the curing process.


Master Bedroom, looking to rear., you can see the plumbing points sticking up.

Master Bed, WIR, Portico, Garage. Still wet.

Portico

Garage and Portico

Garage Looking down side of Study / Lounge


Games/Alfresco looking towards street.

Alfresco Garden Area.

BED4, Games room.

One of a few micro cracks

Concrete pitting, as you can see the surface will dust easily

Concrete blow near rear garage door

Wednesday 19 December 2012

We've been Slabbed!

Today we were discussing in the morning whether we should go down and watch the slab getting pored or just wait until the slab is finished at night.

We decied to go down in the morning to watch the action and we are glad we did. We unfortuantlly missed the concreat trucks coming and doing the pour but we were lucky to see them doing the finishing work. Removing the pickets, the frame, and finishing the surface of the concreate. Glad we got to check it out.

Unfortuanlly thou the weather today was pretty dismal, it was drizziling througout the day, it was evident on the slab showing some minimal pitting, but they ran over the slab again with the finishing machine (what ever this is called). It continued to drizzel through out the day while we were in the area and we are a bit concerned the slab will get pitting/dusty slab syndrome now. 14 hours later and it absolutely hammered down, so tomorrow will be interesting to see how well it held up. I'm sure it'll be okay, but considering it is the single most important part of the build it gets you thinking.


YAY a Slab! (Looking from Alfresco)

Theater / Study Side

Slab being run over with a helicopter

Garge & Poritico

Portico & Garage

Looking from Garage side to rear

Garage, with waste point for future sink! That should keep the wife happy

Its a big slab!

Looking across through study, family, alfresco and games

And a quik view from the back. Not much space at the back!


Tuesday 18 December 2012

Waffles in a Box

Today was exciting!

After seeing yesterday all the reo and waffle foam sitting to the side of the site yesterday, we knew that today would be a good one.

We arrived to find that our slab boxing was completed and fully framed with the waffle pods laid on the black plastic and reo sitting on top of the foam waffle pods.

What a big change from a boring piece of dirt :). Now we can finally see how our slab will look. I must say that the Kallara 33 is certainly a big house 310.35sqm after changes on our 528sqm land it looks HUGE! almost overpowering for the size of land. The frame sits quiet high, I was thinking that it would not be as high as it currently is, but I will reserve my judgement for when the concrete is pored.

It is still really hard to get an idea of perspective of what size the rooms will be, some areas look huge and other areas look really small. I'm sure it when it takes more shape with the frame we will be able to get a better idea.

Front of house, Garage on the left.

Garage

Portico, Master Bed WIR

Bed4, Games, Alfresco

Alfesco

Alfresco... we have a little bit of garden space

Shows a bit more of the garden space. Hopefully this is enough.

Garage 0mm lot finish looking to rear of property

Front looking to rear.

Monday 17 December 2012

Gravel

So we haven’t been to the site since last week and were anxious so see what had changed. So when we arrived we were happily surprised. Our site was now covered in fine gravel, all the plumbing and stormwater was completed. There is a large pile of foam blocks on one side of our land and on the other side a large pile of reo!

We saw that there was peering for our house along fence lines that had easements near them and along the back of the house to our rear easement.

It was great to walk around and see where the plumbing comes up and get an idea where the bath, shower, toilet, basins, sinks etc will be. For the first time we actually felt excited about the progress.

We are really waiting to see what it looks like when the slab is done so that we can get a real feel for the room sizes and outside areas.

The slab is due to be poured on Wednesday 19th of Dec. We will head back tomorrow and see how much slab prep is done, then back on Wednesday!

Summary:

Plumbing Finished
Piers Set
Gravel Laid
Foam Delivered
Reinforcing Delivered


Gravel and pipes with bowls on them! (from street)

Portico, Ensuite, Master Bedroom

Bathroom, Games, Alfresco

Piers arround easements

More piers along rear of house and alfresco

More piers along side of house near side easement (overfence line)

Piers near Games Room/Bed4

Waffel Pods... mmmmm Waffel

Reinforcing nice and new

Thursday 13 December 2012

Plumbing (Stormwater)

Today's visit was an interesting one. We have storm water and plumbing being ran on the site. It looks as if they are about 3/4's done. It was cool being able to see where the shower, bath etc will be run and where the drains for our gutters will be. There was some large trench up the back where they connect into the storm water pipe?



Front of House - Garage Drain Point

Bathroom

Storm Water Tie Point?

Rear of House looking down bedroom/bathroom side

Left to Right - Panty Sink, Ensuite Basins, Shower, then Spa

Left to Right - Ensuite Toilet, Pantry, Ensuite Basins, Spa

Similar shot

Wednesday 12 December 2012

We have the Power

Another visit and some more changes on site.

We have power! We can see the remains of a large trench that was dug to run the power. Had a look inside the meter box and noticed that they ran our 3 phase power YAY. There is no meter installed yet, I'm not sure when this will be installed or if they will only connect single phase during the build? I also noticed that our meter box is the wrong color, its supposed to be Jasper. I assume that they paint them? Inside the meter box the electrician has drawn a map of where the electrical run goes so I assume this will be ours and staying.

Other items of interest. A Rubbish Bin, and a Porta-loo


Summary:

Power Cabinet - No Meter
Rubbish Bin
Porta-loo

Meter Box with no Meter - 3 Phase Power
 
Meter Box (wrong colour should be jasper)

Trench for Power

Bin