Concrete poured

We had a perfect day for the concrete pour, not too hot and not too cold. The first truck arrived at 7.00am. It all happened so quickly, 5 truck deliveries and 35 cubic metres of concrete poured and screeded within a few hours. I was pleased we weren't moving concrete by the bucket load!! Tomorrow it will be covered in water and then plastic, this is to minimize the risk of cracks as it dries slowly. It will be polished in about 10 days time. I am looking forward to seeing how that turns out.

The boom came over the fence, under the wires and over the Peppercorn, yikes!

Grey concrete was poured initially, filling up the strip footings and the kitchen area (smoothed area above) as that is where the lino will go. They changed to pigmented concrete halfway through the
 kitchen to ensure that no grey concrete got mixed in with the coloured concrete. The coloured concrete with the brown granite costs more than regular grey concrete so you don't want to waste it and spread it around willy nilly.

This strange looking tool helps to level out the concrete

Nick (Caedman Construction) is setting an aluminium strip into the concrete so that the
delineation can be made between the lino (the concrete in the kitchen area will be
ground down 10mm) and the coloured concrete. When the concrete is polished we will
get a nice clean line with the aluminium. I am also planning on putting some rubber
 underneath the lino to reduce fatigue in the kitchen. It may even save a glass or two!

Finished for the day

Reo sorted...let's pour!

The pipes are in for the hydronic heating (hopefully we should rarely need it). It's really having a bet each way!

Nothing much happened today, so I won't say anything. 

Interior ideas

Grant and I have spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to work out what colour and stone combination we want for the concrete floor. We initially chose a gorgeous looking pale concrete with a mix of Bacchus Marsh stone, quartz and brown granite. However, a lot of effort has been put into this design being highly efficient. The problem with a pale concrete is its reflective qualities, a darker concrete will absorb more heat and help to maintain a comfortable temperature for our living area. As a result we have chosen the a grey concrete, with a small amount of the 'middle earth' colour and gone for brown granite. Anyone who knows me will understand my love of brown, I really am stuck in the 70's. 

Basic colours for our renovation, the green is for the kitchen,
concrete for everywhere else. The bamboo will be used in the kitchen.

Sample colours for the window and door frames

Clinkafill and insulating the slab

Our builders from Caedman Construction have been working hard to prepare our slab, ready for the pour next week. We have decided to have no under slab heating, rather have the slab super insulated using both Clinka and Eccovoid. Nick (Caedman Construction) thinks the slab should perform extremely well, however he thinks Grant spends too much time on the internet?!

This is what the Clinkafill looks like close up.

13 pallets of Clinkafill delivered to us from Sweden. Unfortunately
there  is no similar product to this made in Australia.

Thankfully we have space in our back yard to store stuff

The Eccovoid was sourced locally. It will eventually rot away and
create an insulating air space

This lovely looking bit of reo is ready for the concrete pour.
This will also be the home of our 'brewery'! I don't think it gets any better

Julian, one of our fantastic builders, discussing the merits of Clinkafill with us

Purchase of a second hand window

We had a bit of a shock when we priced our window schedule so I have started to look elsewhere to reduce our costs a little. I found a terrific double glazed, tilt and turn window on Ebay. We drove to Geelong, bought it from a lovely guy who wants to give us a hand when we start building with the hemp. The window was rather heavy but thankfully we have great neighbours who were happy to help us move it.

Neighbours helping with the window move!

Screw pilings are in

40 screw pilings were screwed in, some went down 1/2 metre, others
went the full 3 metres, even when they were beside one another

We have kept many of the pilings for some crazy reason, not quite sure why. Perhaps we
will store them for a couple of years and then get rid of them!

The digger that placed the screw piles in really did some damage to our site.
Our builders ended up spending time squaring off the edges

The digger has arrived

The digger arrived on Friday 1 August and started 

preparing the ground for the concrete slab.

The backyard has been cleared

We have been busy clearing the backyard. It's funny how it's not until you clear the backyard you see how big it is. Although the renovation will take up quite a bit of the backyard we will still have some!