Block Rockin Beats ... and how I broke the brickie.

Steve finally made his way over the mountain and we started by running some lines and setting up profiles to lay 140mm concrete blocks for the core of the wall. As we ran these lines it became apparent that the concretors had done nothing less than a superb job. Measurements over 20m were only a mm or two out, if that. More kudos to Col for his fine work. I then moved every single one of the blocks (all 4-5 tonnes of them!) off the pallets and arranged in stacks on the slab ready for laying. Next day we got about 1/2 of them laid but spent a fair bit of time faffing around the temporary bracing. Our old friend hindsight would have got bracing set up higher so that work on the base walls could progress with better flow. However, we overcame the hassle and removed only the worst offenders (soon, I'll be temporary bracing inside to allow removal of head-bashing external bracing).

stacks-o-blocks

first course

second course

 

what's for dessert?

Second day saw all blockwork completed. 110 PVC pipe has been embedded at strategic locations for low vents on the south wall. With the roof curving towards the North, this should provide pretty good natural ventilation without added fans. We were definitely never going to have aircon (and both despise it) but feeling the way the air now flows on the site, we could not have made a better call.

looking good...

...verrry good

As previous posts showed, we've been collecting rocks for a while. Conversations with Steve over XMAS break suggested that whatever we rock have at hand, it's a sure bet that we'll need to double it. Quote: "those walls will EAT rocks!". He took a good look at what we had laid out for cleaning and said "not bad but you'll definitely need twice that". How prophetic...


We'd specified Granitegard treatment system for termite protection around the building envelope. I'd had a rough estimate to do this some time back but when I contacted the installer, they no longer used this product (and apparently never had...not what I first heard but arguing the point would solve nothing here!). So, we started by laying a rock skin around the external face of the slab. This was to allow later installation of granite particles. Further investigation the next day then also revealed that a membrane is required below external cladding (rocks) before installing granite particles...I don't recall ever seeing that detail...mmmmm, either my memory is shot (quite possible) or someone is less than truthful (equally possible!). Bugger, rocks already laid and cement gone very hard. Did I say bugger? Well, I meant BUGGERPOOBUMCRAPetc. So, we did what all builders need to do often - make a quick design decision / reschedule and get on with it.

our neat clean slab gets messy

rear doorway

first row

pre-pointing on East wall

We then moved on to internal rockwork while the designer / project manager / site manager / (mis)leading hand / labourer (me!!!) got a straight answer on what to do with termite treatment. Council building inspector is only part time (the original F/T inspector that I'd spent so much time 'tuning up' to our approach had recently left) but I got a prompt response that 75+mm of exposed slab edge is all that is required by regulation (AS2870 if you're interested). Pheww...that's easily achieved, heaps cheaper than membranes and totally non-toxic compared to some available treatments.

I'd mentioned to Steve that we had a couple of collections of nice big rocks that we a bit beyond my weight limit. On the way up to the shed for lunch, we stopped off at one and the response was "fark me, there's some huge great yonnies that would fit in just perfect and fill up massive spaces that would otherwise need 100s of little rocks." Quick revision to the day plan followed and we hitched up the trailer to go collecting the big fellas. We lifted a few in together but Steve is pretty heavily muscled and started picking up the bigguns on his own. Deep breath, loud grunt and 100-120kg yonnies were in the trailer. Pretty awesome to watch...

poor little trailer under enormous load

no way I could have lifted these!

Fortunately, we had only just started on internal walls, so I chose a couple of nice nuggets to go into Dana's study. Steve mudded these in as I pointed up the first section. Standing back to check on the new style big rocks I was more than impressed - this wall is gunna look fantastic.

corner of Dana's study

ditto...with vent

rocks yet to be eaten up by the wall

230mm thick rocks n mud n rubble

Several days of rocking out, mudding up and pointing off saw us up to the SW corner (my study). Dana was now up for the weekend and was suitably impressed.

study walls

SW corner (my sudy)

 
It was now getting pretty hot and, ironically after the previous 6 months, we now prayed for rain. How a few weeks can change your aspect, eh??? Nasty 30+ day meant time off from rockwork but we used a cool late afternoon to go hunting for the stash of pink quartz that Dana & I had seen deep in the bush on our block. Well, we've now found some gorgeous crystals that will be embedded for good.


Next day, Steve pulled up pretty sore and needed to head off for some deep tissue knot unlocking. To date, I'd been keeping up pretty well with the big guy and I think that I'd secretly impressed him with my stamina. If nothing else, the last 6 months has seen me get quite fit and strong (skinny though I still am!).


I'd broken the brickie... :)

.

Merry Bloody Christmas

Late Dec 2010 / Jan 2011: Dave had to head back into the big smoke for a day or two so I got on to levelling out the dirt in the big shed for a retrofit slab. We'd originally planned to floor it with bricks but realised much later that it would be very difficult to both get and keep it level. Hindsight says we should have poured a slab there first up...hindsight's grouse!

I dug a hole

top quality formwork

 Then came the clanger: Dana called from Melbourne after a horrible night of liquid out at each end. She was feeling very ill and had her first sick day from work in years. I cleaned up the site, packed the ute and headed home pronto. Doctor's visit next day didn't reveal anything specific and we were due to drive 5-6 hours to Swifts Creek for the full Last family clan Christmas. We made it next day (XMAS day!) and put Dana straight to bed. Found a much better doctor in Omeo, who managed to diagnose nothing less than Salmonella poisoning...sheesh! Some hard core antibiotics and several more days of rest and fluid finally kicked the bug by the time we came back to the city pad. Big bummer is, we were in the Garden of Eden with plentiful fruit trees going berserk and lashings of fine foodstuffs and poor Dana couldn't stomach any of it. Boooo....

Anyway, back up to 'Bogie to do what we can while Dana recovers. Dave came up to lay the final sheets but we still have cleaning up and flashing to do later on.

fully sheeted...worth the wait

My brother Nick + Shirley + Caitlin + Jessica also came up with my mum for a few days and we got Nick & Shirl collecting rocks while Dana cleaned them and I soldiered on with the shed.

Me n Nick

Nick & Dana scrubbin

pow-wow

like a pro job ;)

 

Meanwhile, I'd been chasing up the supply of concrete blocks that I'd had quoted in December as being OK for supply during the first week of January. Well, no show Friday...many calls...promised Monday...no show Monday...more (somewhat testy) calls...promised Tuesday...no show...mmmmmmm, grumpy. Normally I'd just suck it down but we had Steve the brickie coming over from Swifts Creek in the truck and I'd had to keep delaying him.  Sure didn't want to miss his help with block-n-rockwork...the man's seriously good at it. So we go into town for supplies and I get a call from the local haulage company that they've been lumped with 4 pallets of concrete blocks for us. Having dealt with them before with great success, I could finally smile. Next day they arrived and they had the cutest forklift arrangement that I've seen anywhere.

drive to site forward...then flick the magic switch and load backwards!

looked kinda wrong and creepy with no-one at the drivers seat

...but sure worked well.

By the way, it's raining again...:) But we did have some pretty cool clouds the other day.

mmmm...fluffy

from the beginning (part 4) to the present

Oct 2010: After Huey had dumped his load of white powder on us and things thawed out a bit, it was time to get fascias mounted to all those lovely purlins. Engineer's spec called for 2 x 45mm LVL cut from larger section. I got them to delete the external LVL, as it was only sacrificial to the weather. 8mm fibre cement was and is much cheaper and easier. We could also have gone with a custom made Glu-Lam piece but it was hideously expensive and would likely require cranage to get it airborne...what a waste for something that will be essentially hidden anyway! Next step was working out what the optimal size LVL board that a. I could handle and b. reduced offcut wastage. I racked my brains for a while but it's been 20+ years since I tackled any serious geometry calculations and I'm afraid I've forgotten it all. Enter the old man - retired mechanical engineer just itching for a problem to solve. I gave him a call then, lo and behold, a comprehensive spreadsheet of calculations promptly arrived in the mail. 360mmm deep was to be the go. Ordered, delivered and then I stood scratching the head again. I knew that the rafter radius is 65m, so I thought I'd have a crack at running out 65m of rope and scribing an arc on a piece of junk ply. Nice idea except that the weight of the line was waaaaaaay too heavy to get anything remotely accurate. Dad's option was to use protractors and draw segments and stuff. I went lo-tech and just attached the ply direct to the purlins and marked a rough arc. Cut this out and used it as template to cut curves from 360mm boards. It was all pretty rough but got the job done. Getting them up was a bitch though. On my own I could get one end attached with one batten screw to the lowest (South) end of the run and then rope up the other end and attach to purlins.

this one was ok

needed a hand with the rest

However, they were just too big to pull up the other 4 sections on my own. With framing inspection due asap, Dana and I were joined by Matt, Deb and Deb's mum, Steph to have a go getting the fascias attached. Of course, as soon as help was at hand, cue the bloody rain (sense a theme here?!?!). I made up some pulley gantries and we struggled in the wet to lift them in and attach. Northern end was just too much height for Dana and Matt to haul it up so we hooked up the ute to the rope and voila (I'll say only little about how the structure shook when the rope bottomed out...sheesh, fun ride for me). Anyways, we got 'em attached and gang nailed on the joins before sailing past inspection (even though fascia were yet to be trimmed and looked daggy to say the least). Jon, Karena and the kids then came to help us trim and fix a few blocks that were not completed.

looking better

Of course, it was a wee bit wet but we got the coolest rainbow in the backyard.

somewhere...

...over a...

...rainbow

Nov 2010: Next weekend old mate Biggsy joined in for a few days to finish trimming fascias and lay out some crusher dust for the impending corrugated tanks that were due soon. He is a gem.

biggsy

Over the next week or so, I clad all fascias with fibre cement sheet. Had fun doing this lot:

cement sheet nailed on

tanks arrived and I roped them to the carport

I was also fighting (negotiating) with various manufacturers and suppliers over which corrugated sheets to use so the simple task of ordering some corro iron took on epic proportions. Initially, they all wanted me to use the most expensive sheeting, pre-curved offsite and done in continuous length. @ 13.5m, it is near impossible to get these around the tight corner 1km from our place on a truck (only just got 9m lengths on semi with Palfinger - this was the one that got bogged), so I got convinced on using 2 sheets with a lap, spring curved on site. Of course, after I went through all of that, got quotes, selected the right supplier and ordered away the bloody manufacturer "lost their order" or some such crap, so we had to wait another week for the sheets to get to site. Dana's mate Julie came over from Perth for a wedding and arranged a couple of days to help us pick up rocks for the walls. Waddyaknow, it bloody rained all weekend...again! At least we ate well...

all our lovely drainage washing away

Dec 2010: Yet another old mate Dave is a plumber by trade although works as a roadie these days. He agreed to help out getting the roof on. Haha, another sucker for punishment. Rain, wind, floods, you name it occurred...

I had to ford this to get out one day, only to get stuck at a fallen tree. Chopped that up and then found all major local roads out were cut.

one of the 10KL tanks broke free and went for a wander. thankfully undamaged.

 Anyway, over several weather interrupted weeks, we've managed to get 90% of the roof sheeted and will be knocking off the final bits in early Jan. Here's the sequence:

nice guttering job

part 1

wee weather break

part 2

part 3

part 4 - nearly there

 
While Dave was screwing down sheets, I was collecting rocks. Sorting rocks. Washing rocks. Tonnes of rocks. Off ground. In ute. On ground. Washed. Turned over. Washed again. Did I sleep well after that or what??

they're heavier than they might look

mmm...rocks

...for days

 Phew, that brings us up to the present. I'm-a-gunna try to keep this all a bit more regular from now on but I make no promises... :)