And She's In!

There's the door...
Closer...
Tadaa!!
Now work!!

T's Studio Ready To Go!

T's studio just about done. Bits of laminate on the ground just to see what it looks like. I will put it down today if I can work it out. The instructions seem to be describing something unlike the flooring in the box...
A plaster mixer I made. A bit of angle iron with holes drilled, welded to a piece of rod.
And the last of the plastering! If I never do any more plastering it will be too soon!!! Remember the walls are double height in the centre and there are two mezzanines. That's a lot of Gyprock and a lot of joins to plaster for someone who essentially doesn't know what he's doing.

It ain't pretty...but it will be!

"Why is he plastering in his pyjamas?" you ask.

Yes, I have been lazy but not completely!

Insulation all finished in the walls.

Have Gyprocked most of Wife's studio down stairs - just need to borrow a panel lifter for the ceiling. And most of my area upstairs is done too. Hopefully a friend is lending said lifter next weekend. Then the sparky can come back and finish the power points and light switches.

A quick view of the outside to remind ourselves what it's all about.

Chairman of the Board

Got a delivery of 76 sheets of plasterboard yesterday. Of course the delivery truck couldn't fit down the driveway, so the driver and I unloaded them outside the front gate (no crane on the truck). Then I had to put them on the trailer and take them down the driveway and unload them in the garage. After the first load an elderly neighbour (maybe late 70s) insisted on helping. After an hour or so of working and discussing his heart attack, back operation and watching him wheeze and sweat profusely in the the 5 degree (minus wind chill) temperature we were finally nearly finished. Just as we're about to unload the last sheet he tells me he's also got a pace maker which is due for replacement! He offered his help any other time I need it, but I'm not sure it's worth killing a neighbour just to build a garage!

Insulation going in the walls.

Don't be so insular

How much would you pay for 30 bags of R3.5 insulation.? $1500? Maybe $800-$1000 on special? Well with a fortuitous convergence of Ebay and a national insulation oversupply, one can snaffle one's self a rusty trailer full of Chinese fiberglass for a princely hundred and fifty bucks!

It wasn't the most comfortable hour and a half on the freeway, but a bargains a bargain.

Can you dig it?

Hired a trench digger last Monday so we can get power to the garage. Hired it for the day ($220) and shared it with Jim from round the corner who had a similar "shed needs power" situation.

"You see that yellow line there?"

"Yep."

"Well for God's sake turn!"

"Look Ma, one hand."
Tadar...one trench.
The sparky came on Thursday. I filled the trench on Friday afternoon/night to be ready for combined Wife's Birthday/Mother's day celerbrations on Saturday. You can tell how fast I was working by the picture above (nothing to do with the lack of light).

Architraves and Doors, Architraves and Doors, when will it end?

A door on Tanya's studio - no actual walls, just a door.
Besides the drainage, pavers, retaining wall, garden bed and so on, you could just about call the front finished!

Painting French Doors

After I fitted the doors I took them off again so I could paint the edges easier. While they were off I thought I might as well give both sides a coat as well. Then I realized I'd put the outside colour on both sides. Oh well...you can't have too much paint!

Installing French Doors

Cutting down the doors and adding locks, handles and the like.

Demonstrating amazing ability to balance scaffolding on head.
Demonstrating amazing ability to paint things I can't reach.
Demonstrating amazing ability to hire professionals to install roller doors.

Installing windows

Now that the carpenter has finished, things have slowed considerably. I've started to (slowly) fit the windows. All the lower level ones are in. Now to plan a barbeque with the largest and strongest people we know to help get the upstairs windows...upstairs!


Bet you can't guess what happened here?! One small slip with a hammer, one giant bill from the glaziers.

Mezzanine railings and veranda ceiling lining

The carpenter put up these railings just to to be safe and get passed the council inspection. I wanted him to just do frames like wall frames but he's tried to pretty them up a bit by putting the horizontal timber on the outside of the verticals. It does look nice but it means more work later on because eventually we want to cover them in either Gyprock or Miniorb. Also want to make a bridge from one mezzanine to the other so we only need one ladder up.

And besides a couple of little things that he's forgotten, that's it for the carpenter. Guess things'll be slowing down now!

Where for art thou...carpenter?

This is a little balcony arrangement the carpenter set up so he could get the weatherboards on the higher sections without having to get scaffolding.


Here's a little hint of how cute it's gonna look when it's finished.