Tuesday, May 26, 2009

After the rain














Brisbane received 1/3 of its annual rainfall last week, which clashed with the planned installation of the roof sheeting.













Plumbing and electrical have gone in, however, with copper piping for internal water supply. The alternative was recycled poly pipe but copper prices had dropped since the start of the project and is 60% recycled, with a long life-span.

Site foreman, Oliver, has been fabricating the sunshading awning frames on site. These awnings, to all windows without adequate roof protection or needing extra shading, will be topped with painted compressed fibre cement sheeting.
The base of the steel stand for the greywater treatment tanks was cut out of the centre of a diamond-tipped saw blade.

Thursday, May 14, 2009






















Concrete, pre-mixed, comes in fairly large minimum quantities. As the pool edge coping only needs a little, all of the landscaping pavers will be created by the Builder. Also, by reworking ground levels around the Pool Terrace, we have been able to delete almost 7 metres of balustrades and a stair (lots of materials and embodied energy), replacing it with two insitu concrete steps to the side garden, using more of the concrete load.

Colours are being tested out with VOC-free paints and renders.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009



























Fin walls to the west will provide sheltered glimpses to the river, scoop in river-cooled breezes and provide spaces for sitting or displaying objects or artwork. Framed sturdily in pine from the old house and braced with masonite, the carpenters removed a significant amount of steel (and embodied energy) originally engineered for the walls.






Hardwood decks are now finished and sealed.