We’re building

This week the ground floor frames went up.

On Monday the pre-fabricated frames were delivered to site, just 3 days after the slab had been poured.  On the Tuesday they all went up!  They’re not yet fixed to the slab, that will happen once the slab has had more time to cure.

We got to have a walk through on the weekend to get an initial idea of the room and window sizes and to see the orientation to the early afternoon sun.  There’s a lot of glazing down the north side of the house on the ground floor and we can see how much light is flooding through into the family/dining, living and downstairs bedroom.

We’re using larger 140x45mm exterior frames to allows us to use deeper insulation for extra warmth and deeper window sills. Interior frames will be the standard 90x45mm.

 

Been a busy week onsite – a major milestone has been reached.

We made a visit to site on Thursday to meet Ben The Builder and could see that the Maxraft foundation work had been done.  You get a better idea of the the insulation coverage that Maxraft provides, particularly around the edges.

Also on the day, the pipework for the underfloor heating was being laid.  You can see from the photo’s that the floor plan has been spray painted onto the foundation work.  This is done so they can see where the walls are and where to avoid laying any pipework so it doesn’t get damaged when the framing is secured to the slab.

After the slab is poured and cured and the boxing is removed, the exterior perimeter of the Maxraft polystyrene gets a layer of fibre reinforced plaster to protect it from water, vermin and UV.

The foundation was due to be poured on Friday and sure enough, our visit to site on Saturday, was greeted with a completed foundation.  The water sprinkler is there to keep the concrete from drying too quickly and cracking. Also noticeable is the lower height of the ground floor shower base, as this is a walk-in tiled shower.

It’s been a couple of weeks.  We now have steel reinforcing supplies and the all important Maxraft EPS (Expanded Polystyrene) panels on site.

One of the choices we’ve made to achieve a comfortable energy efficient home, is to go with a Maxraft slab. Maxraft, is New Zealand’s only (at the time of writing) fully insulated slab. Unlike traditional waffle slabs, the Maxraft slab has a continuous layer of insulation between the ground and concrete as well around the perimeter.  Because of this, heat loss through the slab is dramatically reduced and as a result underfloor heating systems are more effective.

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This week an excavator has been busy at work digging some channels and holes to lay the sewer and storm water plumbing. 

With the plumbing installed, you can get an idea where the kitchen and ground floor bathroom are without having framing up to define the space.

Next up is a WCC inspection of the plumbing work and then onto the foundation work.

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When we visited on Saturday 18th, there were sub-trades working on our site and we decided we didn’t want to interrupt them. Re-visiting today, which is Wellington Anniversary day, we now have the pre-foundation boxing all setup.

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Excavator was delivered to site on January 13th and site was cut and prepared by Jan 16th. Slab outline has also been spray painted down ready for boxing.

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Welcome to our house building blog.

We’re building in the Crofton Downs Silverstream Terraces sub-division.  Some 12 months ago this blog would be following our house build in Whitby.  However…!

Our change of heart (and location) was driven by a few factors.  In order to build the house we were looking at in Whitby, the ground works were  astronomical and undetermined. The 698sqm section had a sloping gradient which would’ve needed quite a bit of retaining.  Porirua council rates was another aspect, they’re amongst the highest in the country.

Throw in the commute time (significantly more than the 15 minute walk we have today), and that Ava’s school and our friends are all in Wellington we decided to give up the views and sun in Whitby (and the 5 years we spent designing our house) and purchase back in the city *gulp*.

Our 506sqm (flat!) Crofton Downs section was purchased January 2019 and after 12 months of plan revisions and decision making, the plan was finalized and submitted to council in September.  Building and resource consent was granted on 19th of December – a lovely pre-Xmas gift.  Almost 12 months to the day, we finally broke ground on January 13th 2020.

Goodbye Whitby – 1 Pacific View

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Hello Crofton Downs – 8 Riroriro Close