The deck out back

The above image is from Jan 09

Now almost 12 months later I now have the deck done. Basically the area is now as large as our loungeroom and will provide a great space.

Andrew and helper (Alyssa)

So the temps here have been

• Thurs 29 Jan -38
• Fri 30 Jan – 38.2
• Sat 31 Jan – 38.6
• Sun 1 Feb – 35 (and how it felt so much cooler, seriously)
• Mon 2 Feb – 36
• Tues 3 Feb – 36
• Wed 4 Feb – 35
• Thurs 5 Feb – 38.5
• Fri 6 Feb – 39

Expected today Sat 7 – 40 and the same for Sunday – we will see what happens. While our house is insulated and the eaves do their part, the house still heats up. And as this block was a ‘blank’ canvas there are no mature trees, near the house. As you would see in previous posts I am building a deck, this will one day hold the grape vines providing shade in summer. And some of the plants that we have planted around the house will also provide more shade, but that is years away. Anyway two more days and then hopefully a cool change and maybe some rain.

Anyway I have the basic frame completed, all now for is the actual decking. Can’t afford that for probably two – three weeks.

The deck out back

Also 21 garlic have now appeared.

And the cold is beginning to set in (the past few days), while the morning temperatures have been 8 or less for the past few days, it is really because the days have been overcast. Good thing we have the gas heater now – so lets see how many bottles of gas we chew thru.

The other parts required was the plumber and sparky in (all internal wiring and plumbing is already completed – so only external plumbing required) and they were both flat chat but they could do all the work by the end of September. Also I eventually chose a Biolytix system for our waste as I am not on town sewage (but would have done something like this anyway). Not thinking of where the dispersement area should be I have it in the middle of the back half of the land, and as this is black waer I am not supposed to grow fruit there. So I have a middle section that will become native vegetation but separates the orchard from the house.

There were two issues with the builder:

1. Is that they wanted me to cut into the land to make a flat base, now while this did not seem like an issue, I now have a drainage problem to deal with as when it rains all the water washes down to where the house is. I should have requested higher peers at the back of the house.
2. The tank water was originally specified for the toilets, and washing machines only but they forgot to tell that part to the building plumber so all the plumbing was done together. So what my plumber and I decided to do was connect the tanks to the house (to supply all the water) and install an additional filter and get a bigger pump with a cut-over to town water switch. Really thou this has been a blessing in disguise as we have been here 3 months and only today have switched over to town water. Need bigger tanks (only have 10000 l), I will get these when I build the garage but I would have saved the small Yass dam over 20000l.

So we headed for Yass a few nights early and we thought they would have to come past the caravan park, but as they had not appeared by 9 am we thought we would go to the block and wait there. We saw them just arriving. The house comes in three sections, today the first two were being delivered.

Once there they maneuvered onto the block (they had to cut one of the trees on the nature strip out front). They raise the house on hydraulic jacks and then drive the trucks out. The workmen then scamper underneath and place the piers in place, then lower the house. The same is repeated for the second and third section (of course each section has to be perfectly aligned).

Also here you can see the hard cut into the earth and the bank at the front of the house which I have to fix for drainage.

Completed house – now just to get the plumber, sewage, electricity connected.

The building company had also specified that where we do the cut that we create a slope so the trucks can roll out.

As it turned out the cut dug in approx 1 metre
- more than I expected. Also the width was a bit narrow and we had to get permission from the council to place the house 7.6 metres from the boundary rather than the specified 8 metres

For some reason there is about 4 of these places in Wagga Wagga so off we went. In the end we chose a home by Better Look Homes (http://www.betterlookhomes.com.au/), they had the design we liked and came in at the right price as well.

Also one of the advantages of a home like this was they did all the council work (in regards to the house) and they know the councils. Also as Yass council is notoriously slow it would mean that we would have a house on site within weeks once the council approval came thru, rather than wait upto a year for someone to build something for us.