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Progress and drone

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I was the only one on site today, chipping away at the frame when I came to a grinding halt. This was because I discovered an internal wall already with joists on it was not entirely plumb! Probably a half days work to undo and reset some work. Not a great cost given the complexity and size of the project, but frustrating none the less. I am learning rapidly though. I'll be an expert for my next build! Haha. I am keen to push the build forward and work on site myself while the weather is fine. We are getting close to finishing the ground floor framing, and my hired builder, Peter, in his wisdom, wanted to start the first floor before the ground floor was finished, which somewhat clashes with the way I would do it. As you can see, we have laid most of the floor joists for the first floor. Due to a miscalculation and underestimate of the wastage from the bracing ply, we have run out, and another order has been placed. Still plenty to do while we wait a week or so for that to...
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Framing Update

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My builder has not been well and taken the last week off. His offsider decided to go to Bali and will be away for three weeks, so with just my handy labourer Andrew left, it is up to me to take over the supervision and do the work myself. Fortunately I am now within my comfort zone with the framing, which there is still a lot to do. We have been busy this last week with the help of another builder, Will, laying most of the joists for the first floor as can be seen here... I have been busy working on the remaining frames for the ground floor, and in particular the south-west end, shown here. Meanwhile Andrew has been putting up the plywood bracing.
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Drone view - frame well under way

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My gentlemen builders, proceed at a stately pace. I have spent quite some time on the build as well, cutting timber, shopping for fasteners, and even using the nail gun. They have proceeded upwards at the shed end of the house, installing about 15 joists. Meanwhile young Andrew works doggedly at drilling the necessary holes in the steel to bolt the timber frame to. A tricky job compounded by a very fussy scissor lift. Some pictures here tell the story so far... Two of my builders are camping on site. It was very spartan at first, but now they have a big TV, Internet, a Lounge and now they have built a gas powered hot water shower!
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First floor joists begin

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At last some joists go up above the garage, but there is still work to do on the bottom floor. It is all going a bit slower than I expected... :(
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More ground floor framing

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After about a week the bottom floor framing begins to take shape. The wooden frames need to be bolted to the steel frame. The steel tubing is strong and thick. The first attempts took an hour to drill each hole by hand drill with standard drill bit, and there are dozens to do! Time is money... Paul and the builders put their heads together and got it down to 5 minutes using a "magnetic" drill press and step drills. Each evening I go to check up on progress, and take "orders" for various bits and pieces that the builders request. These I am able to source from the temple of the big red hammer, after making a suitable offering to the green aproned priests and priestesses that inhabit the sacred hall. This I do at around noon the next day, where with just a few donated gold coins, I am given my midday sustenance in the form of a pastry cloaked protein meal from the temple's refectory.
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In the frame

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Yippee! The framing started this week. A bit slow and fiddly as my chippys work out how to build around the numerous steel lugs. I've taken some time off to crunch the numbers and help calculate the length of each member, which I quite like doing. My "cheat sheets" help keep the builders moving along with the tools.
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Drone view - landscape update

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We have added more earth to the shelf to make room for the garden railway. Steep slope planted to grass seed to bind soil and covered in hessian to prevent erosian. Soil has been added to rear gardens behind shed and house. Some natives and herbs planted. Sprinklers added to upper middle and lower garden as well as shelf rim, which you can see in some of these photos. Wood has arrived ready for framing, which is yet to commence.
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The first four skylights are being installed at the rear of the house. Two fixed, and two vented. The vented ones are powered by a remote control, and have a solar charged battery and motor. Tiny watches me watching a band of showers approach. She soon scurries for cover when a little thunder rumbles...
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Room for Railway

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We had a heap of rain these last couple of weeks. Some 110 mm or so in all. The countryside is verdant, the air is cooler, the sun is out. Favourite time of year. The big excavator was brought back for one last job. That is to build out the shelf further to make room for John's magnificent garden railway! Search for "big sky rail steamup April 2024" for a youtube video of it. This is the very same railway from the house near Gunnedah I stayed at. See the blog entry from last May. They sold their lovely house, but had nowhere to put the railway, so I offered up the space. I wanted to build one anyway, but John's was pre-designed for a tennis court. Unfortunately the space I had was not the right shape, so we scavanged for some more dirt around the various build sites nearby and brought it back and dumped it over the edge and pack it down. Now with a steeper slope we are in a race against time to get it covered in grass to stabilise the slope. The pile of stones ...
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