Progress and drone
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 arrive.
The large edge beam on the veranda has an unfortunate bow in it of several centimetres and we have some steel ties and straps pulling it into shape, so we have a challenge to release it later without causing problems. Being hands on now, I'm getting to know how the building is tied together, and therefore feeling more confident about solving problems as they arise.
What has been "interesting" is to observe the trade-off between design, material cost and labour cost. The architect I was going to go with in Queensland was very conscience about building around the dimensions around standard material sizes, such as 1200mm panels. For example we have wasted a lot of material, and labour by trying to fit 1200mm plywood panels on 450mm studs. Obviously it would have saved a lot of effort if I chose to space the studs at 400mm, but that is a bit late now. I shall redress somewhat with the first floor framing.
Another frustration has been the steelwork frame design. Although there is only steelwork where needed for its strength, this approach left some members "swinging in the breeze" which we have had to strap and brace into place when building the woodwork around them. The odd extra strut and post would have cost a little more, but saved ever so much more in headache and labour.
Enough of my rants. I sent the drone up late this afternoon while I had the place to myself and Tiny was not around. She goes berserk, barking at the drone and wants to tear it to shreds while it lands, which is tricky with my two hands on the controls and my third hand holding Tiny at bay. So it was to my suprise that I hear a dog barking when I send up the drone. I was not aware that the neighbours had a dog, but sure enough, Paul had arrived at the bottom, 200m away, and let out Tiny who with her acute hearing started barking. Fortunately they did not stay long, and I was able to land without incident.
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 arrive.
The large edge beam on the veranda has an unfortunate bow in it of several centimetres and we have some steel ties and straps pulling it into shape, so we have a challenge to release it later without causing problems. Being hands on now, I'm getting to know how the building is tied together, and therefore feeling more confident about solving problems as they arise.
What has been "interesting" is to observe the trade-off between design, material cost and labour cost. The architect I was going to go with in Queensland was very conscience about building around the dimensions around standard material sizes, such as 1200mm panels. For example we have wasted a lot of material, and labour by trying to fit 1200mm plywood panels on 450mm studs. Obviously it would have saved a lot of effort if I chose to space the studs at 400mm, but that is a bit late now. I shall redress somewhat with the first floor framing.
Another frustration has been the steelwork frame design. Although there is only steelwork where needed for its strength, this approach left some members "swinging in the breeze" which we have had to strap and brace into place when building the woodwork around them. The odd extra strut and post would have cost a little more, but saved ever so much more in headache and labour.
Enough of my rants. I sent the drone up late this afternoon while I had the place to myself and Tiny was not around. She goes berserk, barking at the drone and wants to tear it to shreds while it lands, which is tricky with my two hands on the controls and my third hand holding Tiny at bay. So it was to my suprise that I hear a dog barking when I send up the drone. I was not aware that the neighbours had a dog, but sure enough, Paul had arrived at the bottom, 200m away, and let out Tiny who with her acute hearing started barking. Fortunately they did not stay long, and I was able to land without incident.
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