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

Waiting... on the weather

I visited the land yesterday (DAY 19) and while at first glance the block of land looked dry... Within several steps it became obvious that it was otherwise... The photos can tell the story:

The irony was when I looked up (after shaking off the mud covered shoe) there was the most beautiful blue sky... Amazing colour blue with the most gorgeous white fluffy clouds...

This morning I had the weekly Wednesday phone call with our Site Supervisor.  Yes - its a further delay until next week at least. If it rains on the weekend, the contractor will bring in a pump to get rid of the large pooling of water (as seen in the photos)... Apparently that's not happening this week as it might rain on the weekend or something...  Then next week, we will find out if  the land is sufficiently dry to continue work....

If only they could just get the slab done!

Who would have thought that 20 days ago when they first cut the land that it would take this long to get the slab down... Its going to be likely more than a month after the first land cut before the slab is even in place :(   

Building = great capacity for patience

My lesson to aquire this virtue continues....

Day 14 - wet ground causes a week delay!

Yesterday (Day 13) we got the weekly contact call from our Site Supervisor (SS).  My paraphrase of his information to me follows:

When the guys went to work on site (concreting preparation etc) they found the ground was too wet to bring machines on to the land or do the work... All due to the lovely downpour of rain we had received the afternoon before. So the guy said he was not going to come back until  Tuesday or Wednesday of next week to try again. This would give it enough time to dry out (IF we didn't get more heavy rain in the meantime).

So our SS said to the guy 'I don't care if you have other jobs on - come back and do this job first!'

Hopefully this actually happens... Nevertheless, its was nice to hear our SS placing emphasis on getting our place done sooner than later!

So basically no more action on site until next Tuesday (hopefully not later than that).

I'm trying to take this in my stride and be positive... We've waited soooooo long for the construction process to start - one week will not hurt us... And besides, its due to rain, (one of my favourite things in the world) so I can't be grumpy at rain... I just hope it decides to keep its activities to being lightly refreshing rather than huge downpours over the next week...  Thats my prayer :))) But I also surrender to this as something that is completely out of my control.... (can you sense my impatience and my mental attempts to keep it in check haha)

I will aim to post some 'backstories' in the meantime, to keep myself busy :)

Oh - and just so you know - I have added a SANCTUARY QUOTE from Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events at the very bottom of my blog page... I love this movie... and its message of "making a sanctuary together" has always stayed with me...

Cheers :)

Day 12 - slab mesh delivered to site

I have decided to number the days since our block of land was cut - an numbering of days of construction... Beginning when preparation and work began on our site (when the land was cut on 30th April) .  And as the title says - Tuesday 11th May 2010 is officially "Day 12".

Today we saw a bundle of items, including lots of steel mesh, delivered to our site... I assume they are all for the laying down of the concrete slab.

This time I visited our land after school so the kids got to see for themselves that changes were actually happening.  (All three kids in one very small room = lots of "oh when is our house going to be built Mum?")  They were thrilled to walk around the block and see where their individual rooms may be...


The ground was much less muddy as the today had been full of lovely sunshine. However, within 10 mins of our leaving the rain began to pour down. It was quite a storm that hit the area (very large raindrops :) so I expect that would re-saturated the ground once again... ahhh autumn weather on the coast :)

Here are the other photos from today... 

and my favourite photo of the longs lines of the steel mesh...

Oh and today we were sent an email saying we can now call Energex about connecting power to our block! So one utility is on its way to being officially connected in our name :)))

Slab Preparation has finally Begun!!!

So it finally happened - Driving towards our block of land today and for the first time ever we saw construction workers complete with a 'digger' (is this what they are called?) on site - yes working on our land! OMG I have to admit I was unsure if this would ever actually happen.... Horray!!!!!!

The day had been sunny but as we drove towards the estate, it began to rain... I was unsure how problematic this was for the workers but when I asked them, they shrugged it off as a little shower :)

Well it definitely made for muddy walking. I took off my shoes (it was muddy enough to maybe lose a shoe) and walked bare feet out onto site... My excitement combined with the unusual feeling of squishy mud between my toes (too long since mud play as a kid :) This will forever create a lasting memory of today for me :)

No photo of the squishy toe mud (doh!) however here's the very convenient washing off in the rain water still running past in the gutter.  

The sand they brought onsite is obviously used in the process of laying the pipes...

This is looking from the back fence line / site corner. We think that the cluster of pipes in the lower right corner is for our ensuite :)  

We are so new to all this...

This gives a better overall picture from as near as I could get to the back fence (due to fill piled up at the back of the block).

Close ups of the trenches / pipes...

and more plumbing...

I was expecting more pegging and string but did see pink painted spots that obviously marked specific places on site...

Bottom line is - I am sooo happy to see a 'digger' on our land :)))

 

I have a definite appreciation for digger tracks in the squishy mud all over our block...

It means the slab preparation is underway :)

Thank You God!

During a chat, one of the guys told us he was booked to come back in two weeks - around the time the roof will be on!!! That sent me into a spin - is it possible? that after waiting months (and months and months and months) - that we may see a roof put on so soon?!!!  

:) Happy sigh :)

So, there's one more texture photo I thought I'd share with you all before signing off tonight 

(my friends might laugh at this).

It is a pile of bark I saw beside our 'future neighbours' driveway 

(T and M - can't wait to street party with you :)... 

The colour was so vibrant and rich - I couldn't resist a photo :) 

Isn't nature wonderful!  Enjoy :)