Friday 20 May 2011

Top down, bottom up...

Once the roof was on the internal fit-out could begin. The first task was the ceiling. Using lining boards meant that it was a time-consuming but satisfying process. I'd chosen lining boards because I wanted to have as much timber as possible. Throughout the whole house we used renewable, plantation timber or recycled - certainly nothing from Gunns... We put up half a dozen rows, then stuffed in the insulation (which was made from recycled PET bottles), then did the next half a dozen rows... On and on until the in one room after another the ceilings were complete.





At some point the sparkies had been to wire up the house - hence the spaghetti hanging here, there and everywhere. That was one of the jobs I'd been at work for and missed completely. The windows were also put into place. This was a painstaking task - measuring, packing, adjusting, nailing. And lifting the bifold doors into place on each of the north-facing corners would've seen a WorkCover inspector having a conniption...




The same day we were doing the ceilings the concreters were back to do the carport and the back path - don't ask me why they didn't do it at the same time as the rest of the slab...





Remembering back it seems as though it was so simple. Materials, ideas, labour. Piece by piece it came together... It can't have been simple though... What I do remember about this day was that it was about 40 degrees and the concrete was turning faster than the blokes could work it. There are still a couple of gum-leaf prints from leaves that got stuck as they worked frantically to get each section finished before the concrete set. A little tip: don't ask hard-arsed tradies to do something creative or quirky on a 40 degree day - it won't be appreciated... I asked them to put a trail of tiles, glass beads and ceramic bits and pieces into the back path. If the concrete had been more workable I may well have met my end beneath the carport. As it was I got my trail - albeit begrudgingly...





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