And today's news is....

that the Shed guy is pegging out the shed area, and the digger for that is coming tomorrow.

For the house, we have the septic tank, and the two water tanks being installed tomorrow. Mike and Cameron are not allowed up the block without us, so they have to wait til Friday and we will all go up there and have a look together! :)

The end!

All done!

At the block today, they had removed all the planks from around the slab, so its all done, and I got to walk on it :) We have to have about 6 inches of topsoil brought in, and the driveway will go up several more inches as well.



I also had a landscaper up the block today, and he has given me some ideas on how to plant out the block, and where to plant first, where to put our vegie garden, and herb garden. He will send me a proper plan of action in a couple of weeks time, so I will look out for that! :)

While I was up there, the guy who is doing the slab for our garage, was also there, and he looked sick as a dog! He will be back tomorrow to peg out the block, then back on Good Friday to dig, and then they will lay the slab on Monday or Tuesday. So thats all exciting stuff! Our shed should be finished by the end of next week, so at least we will have something up there that we can hang out in for a while when we go up to check things out!! :D

Awesomely Awesome!!! :D

Today was a big day for us. Mike woke up at 5am to get ready for work, and I woke up and then couldnt get back to sleep! I got up and did a few things, and drove up to the block at around 8:30am.

Today, is slab pouring day! On arrival, the guys were busy pouring the concrete over the garage and rumpus room area. I am starting to think that a lot of tradesmen like doing their job because they really get to be dirty little boys again and play in mud and muck! LOL It did look like fun though! They had the three concrete mixers on site, and a concrete pourer. That was quite a fascinating process for me to watch, as I have never really paid attention to construction before.

I left the site at about 9am, went and got some petrol and then went on to a scrapbooking class. On my return, I stopped by the block again, to check on the progress, it was some 5 hours later.... and they had finished pouring all the concrete, and they were finishing off the slab.

SO... awesomely awesome news... we now have a slab for our house! :) YAY!!!

Pics below

Up the drain! (if that is possible!)

This morning, I did not want to get out of bed...nope... I was quite happy staying in there, as it was nice and warm, and it is now starting to get a bit chilly out...

At about 10am, I got dressed, jumped in the Rangie, and drove up the block! From that point on the road, yes, you guessed it! I could see that the big mountain of polystyrene blocks, and diminished and spread over the platform, like someone had dumped a big pile of snow on our block!

The guys have been quite busy up there, the drains have been laid (Australian style, under the slab - I guess there had to be a little bit of Australianism in the house building technique somewhere lol), they drains were also flushed to make sure they are working properly, so that is all good! Then the poly was laid and then they are putting the mesh on top now too!

Slab is being poured on Monday.... so pray everyone, and pray hard for us, that it doesnt rain and hold up our building process!!!

Pics below! :D

New stuff!! :D

Hey everyone, well, its been a few days since my last lot of ramblings.... let me just say.... we got into a few with the builders yesterday over a few things..... don't really wanna say anymore than that! But, I left it in Mike's capable hands! :D And, he got an apology email today HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA LMAO!

SO... what has been going on? Where do I start? Today, I had to take my car to get it serviced (an awesome job done on it as usual! Thanks John!). I was lent a loan car, so I went off and had a coffee (by myself) as I am a no friender! lol.... I then went to Harvey Norman's and got some photos developed (for the House Building Album). Then went on to find some packing boxes (I tell ya, it is not easy to find a place in Auckland that BUYS YOUR BOXES BACK! Just FYI... Kennards are the only ones!). So over to Eden Park I have to go after I pick my car up to pick up some packing boxes. YIPPEE!! I love packing! >:| Please note the sarcasm there! Before I went to get the boxes though, I went to some tiling places, as I need to buy some feature tiles for our bathrooms, and picky as I am.... I think I might have found some that might be half decent.... I will take Mike to see them grouted on Saturday, but here is a pic of them ungrouted (they dont look so nice ungrouted, let me tell you!!!)



So we are off to Hendo on Saturday so I can show Mike. We will also be going to the Oratia Markets, which we found last weekend, which is kind of a cool market. Quite small, but some really good quality foods there if thats what you are looking for! For those interested, here is the link

On my way home today, yes, you guessed it... I stopped by the block to see if anything new had been happening... and guess what.... THERE HAD! I could see this big white mass from a distance, I get to the block and its the polystyrene stuff that they lay under the concrete slab for additional insulation to the house. So it will look like the pic below when they are done.



I also went to Helensville Glass, but they were not there, so I have to email them. They will be doing the mirrors in our house, and we can also get them to do the glass splashback for the kitchen whilst they are installing the mirrors. So I have to get details to them....

All in all... a pretty busy and productive day! Im exhausted, so I might go have me a Nanny nap! :D

Checking out the block....

Mike and I went up the block this evening, and we took an esky up and picnic blanket up to the block with us.

We walked all over the platform checking out the job the guys had done today. A lot of the piles had been driven into the ground, and some of the house was prepped for the slab. Some of the piles were still sticking way out of the ground and Mike said they will come along with the chainsaw and top them.

The house is enormous! They have only done half of the slab preparation, and will probably have that finished off tomorrow. So, I guess another trip up there tomorrow night to see how much further they have gotten! The slab is due for being done on the 29th of March.

It was quite exciting to see more progress on our build.


Reinforcing Steel for the foundations


Mesh for the foundations


Looking from Ensuite out to the master bedroom!


The little tiny house with the little tiny BEAST!! *sarcasm* (Click on the photos to see a larger image!)


ME in our bedroom [nearly]! lol


From the Garage End!


The big holes in the ground are the load bearing foundation holes. Theres quite a few of these all over the site, so we had to be very careful!


Garage end again, looking back towards the other end of the house (our bedroom), right behind where I am standing is where our big HUGE shed is gonna be as well! YAY! A Man Shed for Mike!


This is looking towards where the entry will be!

After we had done the rounds of the platform, we decided we would take a walk down to the bottom of the block and have our picnic dinner. It was lovely and relaxing just sitting at the bottom of the hill. We could even hear the Tasman Sea crashing against the shores out to the west, which was also quite cool... and even more relaxing!

THE END! [for today lol]

Slab Prep and Digging of the piles!

I went up the block mid morning, to see if there was anything happening with the piles... yep, from that usual distance, I could see that stuff was happening on the land!

I drove into the paddock next door, and was watching the tradies... one of em was having a bitch and a moan that there was no power to the site.... not our problem... speak to the Builder about that, as they were meant to arrange it, NOT US! They thought I was from a neibouring property... but nope... lol... I was there to watch what they were doing and to take some photos!

The guy who was having a moan, he was there to prep the slab, so they were putting up boards of timber around the perimeter area of the house. He had a team of fella's there to help him.

The other guys, they were there to do the piling for us. So they started and used their machine to push some of the piles into the earthworks, which was pretty cool to watch!

Anyway... again.... more pictures! :D Again, I will also go up later and take some more photos (Probably when Mike gets home!)

Surveying Pegs AND a Piling Digger!!! :D

Mike and I took Cam up to the block today to show him the excavations. They had put all the surveying pegs into the ground, and have the house sitting the way I told them it was to be! Mike was quite impressed with the layout, I showed him where they did want to put it, and he was disgusted...... good thing I fixed it! Otherwise the wrath of Michael would have come down on them....

To our surprise, there was another digger up on the block... I thought it was one of Aaron's diggers, to do the water tanks and the septic tank for us. Mike then informed me that it was the Pile Digger. YAY! Then we had a good look at where all the pegs were, and they were where the piles were to be driven into the ground. We borrowed the plan offsite to take a copy of as well... shhhhhhh! So we will have to take that one back tomorrow and put it back where we found it.

They are putting 26 piles on the house now... I am pretty sure they originally told us 17 piles... but I guess 26 is better stability for the house.

There was also a couple looking at buying the block next door to ours as well, and they seemed like nice people... but then again, all the people we have met out this way are really nice... I guess that is country life for you :)

Anyway.... more pictures below! Enjoy!

The view from our NE corner of the bedroom.



Piling Pegs for the Family room.



Piling Pegs for Lauren's room!



Piling Pegs for the Study and Rumpus Room.



EXCITEMENT PLUS!!!.... The Piling Digger!! YIPPEEE!!

Things, they are a moving!!!

Surveying the house.....

SOOOOooooo... what an adventure that was today!

I met the surveyors on site for a 9am meeting........... by 9:20am, they werent there, so I checked with Mike to make sure he had the right day again... lol.... yep he did... they were in Helensville, so 10 minutes away.... Im not sure which Helensville he was in, but it took him another 25 mins to get to the block.... NOT HAPPY JAN!!

So... we first measure out the shed, and make sure that its at least 6 metres from the boundary... yep! sure is! Next, make sure the shed is 3 metres from the house... yep! Place peg in ground! Place peg in South West corner of house... yep! Place peg in North East Corner of house.... yep! Place peg on South East corner of Master Ensuite... yep! Place Peg on North West side of the house.... yep! WRONG!!!!! My house is damn well CROOKED! FIX IT!

So whinge whinge moan moan, nope it can't be done... blah blah blah.... I call Mike, I nearly have a cry....

The Builder has to be called, they send up the Digger guy (who is awesome I have to say!), and YEP, my house is NOW positioned, WHERE I WANT IT! AWESOME! So a HUGE thanks goes out to Aaron, for coming and sorting out the surveyors (and he is the excavator, not the surveyor... and he telling THEM how to do their job... what is wrong with that picture???).....

Anyway... here is a photo of the surveyors.... will take pics of pegs tomorrow, as I was feeling too crook to stay out in the cold... :( boohoo for me!

I have the power!

So today, I decided that I would go up the block, seeing as I havent been there since ummmmm last weekend! That's a long time for me!! :D

As usual, on driving down our street, you can see where the house is going to be, and of course, you can see any new changes from a distance.... and of course... there was a change!

I arrived on site, to find out, that we now have POWER! Again, this is exciting for me! Surprise surprise! lol And of course.... here are the photos..... :)

Let the rain fall down...

So.... Mike and I went up the block yesterday, so that he could see the finished excavations, and how exciting it was for us, to see a great big water tank on our property!!! We are having two of them on the property, so hopefully we will never run out of water, as we have quite a huge roof to keep the tanks full. We have to get water to fill the tank in this rental property on Tuesday as we have run out!!!

Excavation Complete!

I have just been up the block, to check on the excavations.... met the Electrician up there as well who was marking out all his stuff for the house! Awesome! :) They were putting down the metal on the driveway, when I was there, and making a god awful dust storm... nothing like having grit in ur teeth... yeeehaawwww! :|

I then went to Harvey Norman to get some photos printed, as I am going to scrapbook the house being built! 70 photos for under $10 suits me fine!!! :)

Went back by the block on the way home, and the truck driver was loading up the digger and taking it away :( awwwww....

I was then able to drive onto the block and our new driveway, and took some more pictures... soon you will be bored with all of the pics, I am sure! :D













AND, just so that we all know, and we have a record of it.... I was the FIRST ONE in our family to drive on our brand new driveway (even though the house and driveway isnt finished yet)... it was all me! lol

Nearly finished!

The platform for the house, is nearly finished! Mike and I met up there tonight, and had a good walk around the platform, and had a talk to the guys up there, and they said not much more to do tomorrow, and then they will put the metal down on the site. They said it would take 2-3 days to excavate the site and lay the metal, so its all going according to plan! I am still in awe at how big the platform is... I guess I really didnt know how big our house was going to be!














^ This is Mike and my shadow on the building platform! :D





^ and this..... will be some of the awful sunsets, that we will have to put up with, at the end of every day..... *sigh* .... I guess somebody has to do it! :D