Garden takes shape.

Started on the side access today. We hired a mini kanga and a hole borer from HireOne and got a really good deal over the Australia Day weekend. This is the side before we started.



Started to dig and found a HUGE stump which we had missed when we hired the stump grinder. Would of taken ten minutes to take out using the grinder but in stead took half a day chipping away. Thank god we had some help.



Road base down for the pavers, pebbles and retaining wall.

The next job was to remove all of the rubble from the deck area.



After a few trips to the waste management centre and a heap of cash later.


It was looking good.


Side access from the front of the property.


Just a bit more road base to go down and we can get on with the retaining wall.


Drilling the holes for the deck.


One done.......9 to go.

Holes all bored

Air Conditioning unit installed

We had the Air Con unit installed yesterday. We couldn't use it for a day so that it could settle. It works well. Can be switched to come on either upstairs or downstairs or both.



We are dissappointed with how the ducting outside has been left though. We shall be speaking to Allcastle about this to see who and when it will be finished off.

We have moved in!

We moved in today and saved a fortune with truck rental by hiring through HireOne so much cheaper then going through a car rental company. Managed to not break anything as well.

This was our 6th and final move for a very long time, thank god. We can now un-pack our boxes from the UK......yippy!!!

Still waiting for the hood and Air con to be installed by Allcastle. Optus are booked to install the cable on the 21st.

After a few days of unpacking we are pretty happy with how our house is looking.



The garden has come up really well. The turf is still green.

Appliances installed (well some of them)

Allcastle are back at work this week. We had our appliances booked to be installed on 14th Jan. This included the freestanding cooker, rangehood, hot water heater & 2 bathroom heat lamp/extractor units. The cooker was delivered early that morning but not the rangehood as it was found to be damaged when it was inspected at the warehouse. We were told another one would be couriered out to us later that day. The plumbers came later that morning to install the hot water heater and the gas connection for the cooker. We also mentioned about our ensuite taps which had poor water presure. They had look and found the ends of the taps had become blocked up with grit. A quick clean and the were sorted. Later that day the electricians came to install the bathroom heat lamp/extractor units and connect the electric for the cooker. They were also supposed to install the rangehood but it had still not been delivered so this wasn't done. Later that afternoon the rangehood was delivered but the electricians had already gone.

We re-booked the electrician to come out and fit the hood, this took 3 phone calls to get someone to give us a date. When the electrician arrived and took it out of the box it was the wrong one. We needed a full stainless steel hood and they one that had been supplied was stainless steel and glass (very nice but doesn’t go with the stainless steel splash back).

We were back on the phone to Allcastle to make them aware of the mistake. CS asked did we install the splash back ourselves, to which we explained we paid extra to have the one in your show room and that Allcastle installed before we got the keys. Unbelievable!

Still waiting!!!



They also fitted the Heat lamp / extractor unit's to the bathrooms up stairs. These are made by Heller



Main Bathroom


Ensuite


Back garden

View of the garden after we got the keys!!!! Where should we start with this one.



After a bit of strimming it looks a little better.



Day two - we took to the trees and bushes with a chainsaw, trimming branches. We were amazed how much bigger the garden looked. We just have to get rid of the rubbish. Thank goodness there is a council clean up in a week.



Still a bit to go down the back.



Few hours later!!!

We hired a stump grinder for the day to get rid of the old stumps......not a bad little tool. Quite easy to use and quick.
This area did have a heap of privet stumps and a huge pile of wood.
This is the biggest stump we had to tackle.
That afternoon....no more stumps.
View from "what will be" the deck. Still a little work is needed.
View to the right.
We decided to call in the professionals to lay some turf, they arrived early Saturday morning.


After a few hours things are looking better.

Even later that day, we have grass........beautiful grass!!
The Veggie patch and Frangipani look much better.
Our orange tree.
Grass all down and looking like backyards should. We just need to sort out the decking now.

View towards the back of the house.

Wood Flooring

We decided to install Armstrong - Maple floating wood flooing in the Entrance and through the Hall to the main living area and Kitchen. This was laid on 3.2 mm acoustic underlay.



All the skirting downstairs was tacked on, which we asked for as part of the building contract. This made it easy to remove so that the flooring can be laid with a 8mm gap (to allow for expansion) from the wall and the skirting, then re-installed to cover the gap. This looks a lot better than having an additional trim put around the skirting to cover the gap.



The arcitrave also needed to be chiseled out to allow the flooring to slide under it.



Main living area



Entrance



Kitchen / Dining



Hallway



Main living area



All the flooring has been laid now, just need to fix the skirting back on to walls.