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A few more doors, a tad more wall.

Not much happened last week as our builder took his entire team to Queenstown for 4 days, what a top guy!

They’re back on site this week and full steam ahead. More doors have been installed and we’re really happy that we went with the full height doors. It makes the ceiling seamless from one end of the house to the other and also has the effect of making the ceiling look higher than it is and seamless from one end .

Because all the bathrooms are fully tiled, the sub-floor has been dropped under the showers in the master ensuite and main bathroom in order to fit a special sloped shower tray which the tiles are laid over. Without dropping the sub-floor the showers would require you to step into the showers because of a special sloped shower tray that gets installed. By dropping the sub-floor under the showers, the tray’s can be installed and the tiles laid so that the showers are level entry. It is quite a bit of work as extra joists need to be installed and fixed to the existing joists but set lower so certain areas of the flooring can be dropped.

Window and door trims are going on as well and they look great.

We’ve also had the wall between the living and lounge rooms built out to where the cavity slider opens to. Originally, (and as per the plan) the wall was stepped because of the cavity slider on the lounge side of the separating wall. By having the wall extended to match the cavity slider frame, the awkward change in wall thickness was removed and door is less obvious.

The retaining wall is coming along. It’s been back filled now so the last thing that needs to be done is to set the height once the back yard ground level is finalized.

And fencing is coming down in preparation for the landscaping work.

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The Doors

Well Auckland is back at Covid-19 Level 3 and we’re at Level 2. Thankfully our builders can stay safe onsite with their precautions and carry on working.

All remaining scaffolding was removed this week, and the house can now be viewed in it’s entirety. It marks the completion of the exterior works except for the last of the plumbing, electrical and security.

On the inside the plastering continues. It’s got to be a laborious job when every join and every screw has be to be filled and sanded, and our builder is meticulous so it will be spot on.

The first of the interior doors have been installed, these are the cavity sliders and so far the big one separating the living/dining area and the lounge, as well as the pantry and our walk-in wardrobe upstairs have gone in. These have the top guide rail set flush with the finished Gib so the finished look is very seamless.

Also we now have a garage door! No more plywood and framing screws to close up every night. It is also insulated which is a bonus. We tossed up having a cedar garage door to match the front door but settled on this one, which has a nice texture to it and won’t need the kind of maintenance that a cedar door would.

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Gib continues, plastering starts.

Installation of the Gib is almost complete, with just a few a couple of small area’s left to do. The bathroom’s have now also had plasterboard put up. This is a heavier grade fibre cement product, similar to what the exterior cladding is and instead of being fixed with screws it’s fixed with stainless steel nails. This is required in order to hold the weight of the tiles as all bathrooms are fully tiled.

Cutout’s for all the light fittings have been made, and the plastering has started in some areas and for the recessed LED strip lights.

Being quite a sunny day, it’s was nice to see the amount of light that comes through from the stair window into the downstairs hallway – this was looking to be quite dark!

Also this weekend we took a walk up through the surrounding hills where you can look down on the sub-division and see the whole area and what is yet to be developed further into the valley. Lots of mountain bike tracks in the area so it’ll be fun to explore.

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Gib going up, scaffolding coming down.

The scaffolding is starting to come down – which marks the completion of the exterior and house can now be seen a bit more clearly. The scaffolding on the front remains as the plumber still has some fitout work to do.

On the inside, the builders are charging ahead with the majority of Gib going up. With the GIB up the house is really starting to look like a house with the spaces now clearly defined.