Drilling, Digging, Concreting - footage!

Thanks to our wonderful iphones (guess who is dreaming of the iphone 4 already) I have some footage of the digging / concreting work on site...

The Slab Work

Drilling and digging the trenches...



Concreting the trenches...


So awesome to watch this work happening... I don't expect everyone to find it riveting viewing - but for us it is such a relief that tangible progress is being made on this dream of building our home!  No longer is it "yet more delays" that had us watching our block of land sitting untouched while we waited and waited for action...

Looking ahead, the actual build may have more delays yet. (hmmm do I be realistic or optimistic!?) However, at least WE CAN FINALLY SEE PROGRESS!!!! Horray!!!!  Its hard to believe that its actually happening - the ground floor of the house is nearly in place and we can walk around the slab perimeter and start to get a perspective of the space... 

Lets hope for things to keep on moving ahead... 

Full steam! Woo Woot

A Firm Foundation...

Hello to all the wonderful friends, family and visitors who are stopping by to read this blog... I want to start by saying how much it means to me to have your presence beside me (in the virtual world :) on this journey.
Building Sanctuary


The past week has seen the Building Sanctuary facebook page reach over 100 'fans'.  This is so encouraging.  Now I don't expect everyone to understand my facination with Social Media lol - but it goes hand-in-hand with gratitude for those who support me.   That said - a big THANK YOU to HG for officially being the momentus '100th fan' on facebook.

I've had quite a busy week.  Work and family commitments has meant that I am only just now uploading and sharing the exciting construction photos of the past several days.
So posts from here will be a 'feast of photos' to catch up... YAY!

To catch up -  
1st June 2010 was DAY 33 on the construction timeline. 

Up to then, our site had been continually rained on... The extremely wet soil and pooling of water around the plumbing meant that the construction work completely stalled. There were ditches of water everywhere...

By Day 33, our wonderful builders stepped in and dug trenches to help drain out the crazy pooling of water...  I think a pump was even involved to get rid of the water...

The result was the soil drying out enough for the next stage of the slab to happen...  What a relief!

DAY 36 (4th June 2010)
This Friday was one of the most exciting for a while.  I turned up early to visit the site and what do I see but trucks and men on site working away... Soooo good to see.  I walked around taking photo after photo - who knows what they thought? But I was not going to miss capturing this wonderful wonderful step :) Here is a few of the many I took...

They were digging the 2m deep holes for the piering and also trenches all across the house site.  The drilling machines were awesome to watch...



The other part they were digging out was the trenches. These trenches ran around the edge of the house plot and also across the site.  The long mesh pieces (that had been delivered to site way back on DAY 11) were placed in these trenches.



I will continue this story soon... can only do this post in bits and pieces ahhh...

Forgive this brief interlude :)))

Ok just one more photo :)))

Blame it on the Rain, Yeah Yeah...

Today is Day 26. It is pouring down rain and the coast feels very VERY wet and dismal.

I have a strong feeling that it will be impossible for any sort of slab construction work to be done this week. Even with a pump - how can they pump out water from the hole/plumbing areas while it simply fills up again from the rain?

We had a rental inspection this morning. It went well for such an event but I simply cannot wait to be once again dwelling in a house that is ours - minus such intrusions as 'rental inspections'... I find them very stressful and always struggle emotionally with the concept of someone "checking up on me"... We have never had a bad report from a rental house but it is the concept that I really really dislike... 

The other stress inducing activity this week has been digging out the winter clothes for the family.  Due to the fact that we were supposed to be in the new house by winter - I had happily packed away the warm clothing... in the garage... where it is so full to find things in its depths requires a stiff drink :)

So a huge accomplishment / feat - deserving of an award - is getting out and ready the winter clothing...  Not only do the kids no longer fit half the clothes (mammoth sorting ordeal), but I needed to re-wash every single item due to the dustmite allergies.

So for the past several days, my house has been full of damp, winter clothing that refuse to dry because of the wet weather... (note -  I have no clothesline in this rental unit - our patio suffices usually but the constant rain even prevents that option this time).  We have had to squeeze around multiple hanging racks to eat meals at the small dinner table... I have repacked, resorted the lone cupboard (for three kids) so that clothing will fit inside it - and still have further items to sumhow find room for (jumpers are sooo bulky compared to summer items)... I think I deserve a medal... or a degree... or something... please?!

Yes this week I am clearly struggling with STILL being in this unit... Especially when the original plan (if even was remotely stuck to) would have had us happily in our new home by now... With a dryer (oh I miss you precious dryer)...

I am still traumatized by the ordeal of a "supposed few weeks to get through council that became a torturous 4 months"... This further delay onsite is causing flashbacks now to that earlier struggle that I have obviously not yet worked through or found peace with....  I am calling it "waiting trauma" - where seemingly endless, painfully slow days become weeks... that then blend together and became months and months... hmmm.... I am not ready yet to tell that story... That will be another post...

I suspect I will need some sort of therapy when this is all over? I must make a mental note to allow myself to 'debrief', and acknowledge the pain of this process / fall apart even - when we finally reach our destination... our new home... Just so I can then move on with enjoying it properly...

Sounds dramatic I know... It certainly feels this way today... Just being honest...

Thanks for reading (and for all you who are supporting us - it makes a difference to this journey to have you there :)  Please comment if you can... It encourages me to know that you've visited... staying tuned in... Maybe its just my ego...  hmmm... no pressure :)

Maybe I'll get my funny man to share a light fun story from our adventure next post, to contrast this one... Stay tuned for a laugh or two  :)

I hope to have some good news to share sooner than later :)Until then, PEACE.... yes even in the midst of rain, storms and life :)))