Lost track of the days - too many public holidays!

The outside of the house has got 2 layers of paint in most places - I think when I took the photo, it still only had 1 layer of paint. The darker colour still has to be put on the pillars and outside wall. I actually like it with this uniform colour, but the darker paint has already been mixed...

What used to be the "bathroom corner with bath" in our old bedroom, is beginning to look like the shower corner. I'm hoping they will come on Monday for the measurements, as it takes about 10 days to have the shower glass manufactured. Wilsons glass will put in both the glass screen in the apartment and the frameless shower in the house.

The Kitchen: instead of 2 to 3 days, the kitchen seems to be taking 2 to 3 weeks! On Monday they will come and replace the damaged counter top, fit the glass doors, the 2 missing handles, finish the bulkhead above the counter, align all cupboard doors as well as the cupboard in the bedroom. Will they be able to finish on Monday? I will rather not bet on it!

The bedroom carpet was also fitted yesterday - we're getting there, slowly but surely.

I must ask Alan on Monday, but I get the impression that he will be doing the roof on the verandah himself. I suppose the roofing people will just cut the sheets and he will fit them. He's waiting for Leon to finish all the painting. Will also have to ask him about the carport. Time is running out.....

Day 51 - 23.04.09

I'm not counting yesterday, as it was a public holiday - only the kitchen guys worked. Alan wants Leon to finish in the front before the sheets com on - he does not want them to damage "his" sheets. Leon does not want them to damage "his" walls. Anycase, they have to sort that out between them. At the moment it feels as though they are doing a "go slow" on me. Alan is basically waiting to get the kitchen guys out of the way, so apart from finishing the little wood structure for the "afdakkie" on Tuesday, his guys have not been working here. The afdakkie gives me the feeling that we now have our own church! Do you agree that it looks a little like a church?!

Leon's guys have been working on the outside of the house, first with high pressure hoses (cold) and now they are (or better were - as they left because it was raining too much)busy scraping loose paint off and opening and filling cracks. Alan has got 1 guy - Jan - still here painting and patching. He does not get on with Leon's guys and absolutely refuse to talk to them.! It's quite hilarious. I've just been to the apartment, they will hopefully finish tomorrow, but I think they will still need a full day tomorrow. Now they have just asked Alan's guy to remove the skirting in the bedroom as it was in the way behind the bedroom cupboard. I think that is another something which is shown on the house plan as finishing hére and EasyLife(luckily for us) is ending with the cupboard thére. But it means changing the skirting to fit just the small area between the cupboard and the door opening, and repaint the damaged bits on the wall again. Aggh, it never ends. The carpet is being fitted today a week - next Thursday.

Alan has just been around to see how they're doing with the kitchen and has touched on a few points with the young subcontractor working for EasyLife - discussing light fittings, etc. For the time being, we are not cutting the corner diagonally, can always do it later if it is a problem. The kitchen is at least looking a lot better than on the above photo that was taken yesterday morning.

Day 46 - 15.04.09

I haven't written for a while! The gutters were put on yesterday - I think it looks good, don't you? There was a consideration to let the water run off on the grass, on the other side at the last pillar, but in winter it might make quite a hole as there will be some volume of water coming down.So now the downpipe is on the outside, next to the blue door and it will just run over the paving to the street. Alan thought it might have looked neater being on the end pillar in the garden, but he also had his doubts about just letting it run on the grass.

Last night the bathroom window/hole was just blocked up with a piece of wood and today by lunchtime the window was already in place. They are now busy plastering it and the shower floor is also almost done. The edges (down the side) of the staircase in the apartment have also been plastered and the painter is painstakingly busy fixing all the unevennes.

Tomorrow between 3 and 4 the first interested people are coming to have a look at the house...

Video of new flat, 26 March 2009

Building progress, 26 March 2009 from Anneliese Mostert on Vimeo.

Thursday 26 March 2009

Quite a few things has happened since I last blogged. the ceilings in the apartment are almost finished, the stairs have been cast, the electrician and plumber have been and gone. I think the next step is probably tiles. In the mean time things have gotten very busy and hectic in front of the "old part" of the house.The lawn is unfortunately not looking as healthy as it did a week ago...The 2 bougainvillas have been transplanted and don't look to happy eitther, but maybe they'll survive. The irrigation pipe is lying there, half broken, part closed up. I still have to decide tomorrow what can be done there. The foundation for the pillars for the little portico in front of the apartment has also been cast. Anneliese has made a video clip of the apartment which we'll also put on this space - either tonight or tomorrow.

Day 26 - 16.03.09

The other half of Africa that wasn't here on Thursday, was on site today. It is now already 19h10 and the guys are still busy plastering. They have almost finished plastering the outside to the front and the street. The back and the inside still remains to be done. (Still no staircase - must ask Alan about that...)

The electrician was busy in our garage most of the morning - connecting the telephone and the geyser connections for the hot water.

The roofing guys came rather late - as on Friday - and they had just started taking off the roof from the left, when the rain came pouring down. There was 30% rain forecasted for tomorrow, but this morning it didn't even look like rain - we had 2 loads of washing on the line which we had to rescue. Apparently tomorrow they only come with a bakkie - they have already cut most of the sheets today, so I suppose they don't need the lorry then. So tomorrow they should be here earlier.

We had another mishap today - no broken windows, but a hole in our ceiling....They dropped the roll of sisalation through our ceiling. I haven't spoken to Alan about it yet. There will be little spots here and there on the ceiling which will have to be repaired once the roof is on. Specially where there are nails in the ceiling, the white cretestone covering breaks off from all the hammering. So there's lots of little white bits all over the house.

Day 21 - 25, 09 - 13.03.09

On Monday the window between our room and the new apartment was removed und closed up with bricks. The next day the window to the front was also removed, Atlantic Aluminium came to take the measurements and manufacture the window. The gaping hole was blocked up with a wooden board until Thursday, when they came to install the window. Thereafter the plaster on the in- and outside was also finished off.

On Thursday we had half of Africa working here, installing the rooftrusses. Alan's guys built up the wall between the house and the apartment, so that one is unable to climb into the roof of the house and walk over to the apartment and climb down through the trap door.

Today, Friday, the guys from "Seamless Roofing - on site rolled and formed roof sheets" are putting on the sheets and the "tin foil" isolation. Are we going to put in thermoboard too?

This is a very interesting process to watch. The lorry has these huge rolls of flat sheeting on the back, as well as a little computer. Once they have calculated how long and wide the sheets must be, the order is typed in and the sheets are shaped with lips on the sides as they are being rolled out! Unfortunately the photo is not very clear. The computer sits to the left at the back of the lorry.

Day 20 - 06.03.09

This is the view from our bedroom window, looking accross to Warrington's house.

Here, closest to the camera, you can see the wall between the staircase and our new bedroom. The window at the left is that of the study looking towards the street. Our bedroom's doorframe is already in position. You happy with plain white doors? No mouldings or whatever?

20 Days - it feels as if it is a long time and as if they should have done more - but with mostly only 3 guys working....

Day 16 - 18, 02 - 04.03.09

The last 3 days they've done quite a bit as far as the walls are concerned.

The window in the first picture was made to match the existing one in our bedroom, but now that it is finished, I feel it should have been a little wider. But maybe once the actual frames are in and the plastering has been done, it should look ok. The metal strips you can see sticking out at the top, gets tied unto the roof trusses - so that the wind cannot lift the roof off! As you can see, the right "leg" of the triangle(gable) over our existing bedroom, will have to be shortened to fit in with the roof leading to the right. Might look a little funny, but I suppose we'll just have to get used to it. The bricks on the side there have just got sand between them, so when they start connection the two buildings, they have to lift the roof there and then they can pull out those bricks again. It is just so that the roof can be left to the end as much as possible.

In the last picture you should be able to see what I meant with having changed the windows. There was supposed to be one window only and that would have been in the bathroom. There is now a smaller window in the bathroom and the same size window in the study, looking east, so the study will also get a bit of morning sun. This place is going to be darn cold in winter....

Day 13 - 15, 25 and 27.02.09

On Wednesday the concrete was poured and left to set on Thursday. It was a somewhat primitive procedure........This red contraption was used to hoist up 2 wheelbarrows at a time, filled with readymix concrete. Alan came by a few times on Thursday to wet the concrete.

This morning this little "apartment" was a beehive of activity, as the electrician was also here for a while with some of his men and I have noticed Alan had 4 men instead of the usual 3 on the job. By 2pm when they left, the front wall was up to window-height and they have also started with the side walls.

I will find out from Alan on Monday by when the shower-arm, etc. are needed.

Day 12 - 24.02.09

Today was a scorcher - 9pm and it is still 28°.The electrician and his buddies continued with their work - on top of the deck it looks really "deurmekaar" - I only hope they know what they're doing. I wouldn't want to switch on the kitchen light only to find out it works the fan in the bathroom! In the downstairs picture you can see where the many lines have been grinded into the wall on the right - that is about above the counter and to the left of it. We now have the 2 light switches there and also the switch for the oven and a double plug. A bit busy, but I suppose it's ok.

The guy from the roofing company company was here.....

And tomorrow the concrete for the slab should come round about 10.

Day 11 - 23.02.09

Oh boy, the noise and dust are just about killing us today. They are busy with the electrical points - with a few problems here and there! Anneliese has swept out the existing garage over the weekend, but today they have been drilling holes through there - I think to pick up the telephone point - so we can do the cleaning thing again.
Alan came to see me with another problem - the fridge is not to scale on the kitchen plan and doesn't fit in the way it is drawn. To fit in under the staircase, it has to move quite a bit forward. That way there is only ca. 200mm to pass through between fridge and counter. Obviously a no go. He (Alan) was a bit annoyed, because it meant we had to rethink where the light switches should go that we planned on putting on that wall next to the fridge, and that meant moving some pipes that were already in place for the electricity. I suppose there are always some structural problems, but I can understand that it is annoying that he cannot just work according to a plan. The heat today does not help to make the moods any better and all the dust from the grinding does not help either.....I'll bake a cake for them towards the end of the week or next week! Just from working in the garden for about an hour and a half, my hair is all grimy and hard from the dust! It gets in everywhere....

Day 9 - 19.02.09

Thursday started with a good shower of rain and I was holding thumbs that it wouldn't result in cancelling the slab. But at 08h15 Mariette of Quickslab phoned and said the guys are busy loading and should be here between 9h30 and 10h00. I thought she was being a little too optimistic with the traffic in this direction, but left it there. We still had a pile of rubbish to clear away before the slab came! I phoned Alan to inform him Quickslab is almost on it's way and where should they deliver? He was already on the phone to the "rubble-guy" who was supposed to collect the rubble on Wednesday night, but never turned up. All ended well - the slab only arrived at 11h00 and by that time the rubble had also been collected. So they have been busy hammering those slabs into place, filling the gaps in between with big cement bricks. Here are some photos - also from the street side as you requested.

Wednesday 18 Feb

As you know, I fetched the plans yesterday from council and believe it of not - they didn't ask for any more money!! Alan has to fax off some forms, stating when building will start....He'll take care of it, saying we started on Friday and worked through the weekend if any questions are asked.
One cannot see much of what has been done the last 2 days, but the grinding seems to be time consuming. They have now patched up around all the window and door openings so that they are ready to build in the windows and doors. Then holes have been grinded into the existing garage wall (the inner wall) where the slab must be fitted into.
This afternoon I've been to sign the contract with Easylife kitchen. Alan thinks they can come and measure up in about a week/10 days. The plaster won't be done, but they say that is not a problem. They are able to deliver within 3 weeks after measuring up. They don't use subcontractors, so let's hope for the best. Two years guarantee. For the wardrobe I've chosen a finish that shows the woodgrain - should come to about R500 more on the quote, but in the end they kept the quote the same.
We have also collected a floor tile sample from Tile Africa - the one that we both decided we liked - and found a plain tile from CTM to use on the bathroom walls. Haven't bought anything, I just wanted to get some ideas. I also went to "On Tap" for a quote - they seem much cheaper than Bathroom Bizarre - even when quoting on Hans Grohe. Will have to see who we are going to use in the end.
Hopefully I can report on a bit more activity after tomorrow!

Day 6 - 16.02.09

Monday - the garage door has been closed up to accommodate the double wood en glass doors like we have on the house. On the second picture you can see the winblocks that have been taken out, the window at the back of the kitchen is ready with a lintel for the new aluminium window, the kitchen window to the street still needs a lintel and the last one in the "lounge" must still be finished

I went to this glass and aluminium place in Killarney Gardens and also to the one where we have been next to Builder's Warehouse, to look at aluminium doors. I think that was a stupid idea of us. It means having a door with glass open to the street. Even though the glass is safety glass, you only need one bored kid to smash a brick into the glass and it needs to be replaced. And we have a car port over that door - rain shouldn't be a problem. I'm going to phone Alan now, hope it is not to late to change to a wooden door...If you don't feel the same way, please let me know immediately.

I can collect the plans tomorrow from council. Better remember to take money with, I suppose they would want their share again....

Day 4 - 12.02.09

Anneliese left for school at 07h10 and I very energetically started to wash the windows. I had barely finished, when loud noises were to be heard from the building site and a grey cloud of dust was everywhere....A lorry had arrived and the guys were busy loading all the rubble they had created yesterday. So much for my clean windows, but at least I hadn't put the washing out on the line yet! Immediately thereafter, the lorry from Brick and Clay arrived with the bricks. Alan tried yesterday morning in vain to phone them - in the end he drove there to order the bricks. Their telephone lines had been stolen! (The joys of living and building in SA!) Another problem yesterday was the taxi strike. At least all his guys made it to work on time, getting lifts, but he had to take them home. The strike still carries on, so I don't know if Alan had to pick up his people in Atlantis this morning. I just noticed that they had left the site before 5pm.
Today they took out the garage door and made a hole for the kitchen window facing the street and I think they also started with the openings where the slab has to fit in (will have to check that again). Then a guy called Frikkie from Atlantic Glass and Aluminium was here - he is in Killarney Gardens - I'll probably go there on Monday to look at windows and an aluminium door.

Day 3 - 11.02.2009

Day 3 was a full working day with lots of noise and dust. The ingeneur came to the site today to check on the necessity of this wall and beam that the planning department is so adament about. There is no need for either the wall or the beam - as far as carrying and construction is concerned. The wall is only there because we initially wanted that little storing room there. Alan and I discussed windows - we'll keep to winblocs for the front of the bedroom so that at least the gable look symmetric. Otherwise just similar aluminium windows for the kitchen and towards the road.

Unfortunately the plan does not correspond at all with the actual building. Michelle took pictures and then worked on the old plans and Patrick corrected the things that town planning was moaning about, but nobody actually checked if everything really corresponds. There is a big differance for example in the actual height of the gable/wall above our bedroom window, the roof is not shown correctly, etc. etc. Alan has to really measure out everything and change it on the plans accordingly. As he says, it is not really his job, but it quite often happens that people don't build according to the plan and then the plan of course never get changed afterwards.

Just to make us feel like it is not júst horrible things that we're doing, I've planted 3 of these "pig ears" - Cotlydon - in the 3 pots.

Day 2 - 10.02.2009

Spot on at 07h45 Alan and only one of his guys arrived - to collect a ladder and a few other things. They'll be back later......

It's much later and all we can show for today, are a few photos that Anneliese and I took this morning. Tomorrow is another day, let's hope they'll show up....

At least we could have coffe in the "kitchen to be"!

Anneliese says "good bye" to the piano. Heuer will pick it up on Wednesday. Another chapter closed...

Day 1 - 09.02.2009

The big day has finally arrived - we have been waiting for over a month to start building. Though the actual building hasn't started, the demolishing has! Alan arrived with 3 guys at 8am and after taking down all the shelves, cupboards and the garage door motor, they started knocking out the windows and "winblocks" between the 2 garages. While one guy bricked the holes up, the others took down the roof of the garage. All this kept them going until 5pmJürgen, do you need this thingie hanging from the rafters??