'The Edge' 39 by Rawson Homes in Sydney: April 2016

March has been a busy month, with lots of positive progress to report. Since last month's roof completion, several key items have been completed with the plaster work being completed last week.

Before we get into the building works of March, its time to share some information that others may benefit from. For those building with Rawson, or other project builders, its important to have independent advice on this critical stage. We never received the Tyrrells' report, so this report was the only issue register that we got.
Several things that were identified in the report were mostly rectified by our Site Supervisor. Most of these items were quickly fixed to avoid delays. A few key items were;

Brickwork (delayed until the brick layer returns)

Garage soldier course not straight
Some poorly cut bricks on the right side garage door opening
Cracked and eroded mortar joins
Poorly installed brick sill with oversized mortar joins on the rear elevation

Structural (all rectified)

Hoop iron straps in the alfresco not wrapped and nailed to the timber beams
80% of internal frames require straightening (studs bowed or warped due to weather exposure)
Missing fixing bolts to post and beam in the Family room
Brick wall ties yet to be nailed to the stud frame in Family room
Speed brace tails yet to wrapped and nailed to underside of top plates
Remove all water from PVC pipework within kitchen floor

To be fair to our supervisor these items were mostly known areas or minor incomplete works, but the report being an independent unbiased expert opinion, it is critical to measure the structural integrity of your home. In my personal opinion, you cannot have too much advice, especially at this stage.

So onward with the March.

The floor fiberglass waterproofing was completed on 18/3/16. The first stage treatment is fiberglass sheets and resin lapped on the stud frame corners with additional fiberglass sheets layered on the upper yellow-tongue floor areas. The second treatment is a high viscosity resin (blue in colour) top coat to protect the fiberglass. I expect the floors will get another top coat when the walls are treated.

18/3 Master Ensuite (looking though the vanity nib wall)

18/3 Main Bathroom (Upstairs)
Note: lapped corners on the stud frame far right

The Indoor air-conditioning unit was installed on the 23/3/16. The system is plumbed (the white insulated pipes) to the ACU concrete pad on the ground level (eastern elevation services area). The unit is suspended from the roof trusses and mounted over a drip tray which is connected to a pvc drain pipe. The electrical circuit was prepared last month, so the AC contractors have now connected this circuit to the indoor condenser unit. All the duct work has been run to the outlet locations through several voids upstairs, located at the end of the bedroom 2/3 hallway, the bed 4/linen cupboard void, and the master bed entry pillar.

23/3 Indoor AC unit

Further progress on the electrical fit out occurred over a couple of days with the enclosure mounted on the garage wall on the 17th March. The service fuses, digital meter and point-of-attachment (POA) was later completed on the 24th.
Despite all these things being complete, the switchboard is still un-energized, with the main power breakers tagged and shutoff.

17/3 Meter box mounted on garage wall

24/3 Switchboard, service fuses and digital meter installed

24/3 Underground mains information and POA

The gas meter was also installed on the 24/3/16. So the front of the site got churned up with trenching both the power and gas.

24/3 Gas Meter connected

Insulation for the walls and ceiling was delivered on Good Friday 25/3/16, and installed on Easter Monday 28/3/16. All walls and 80% of the ceiling space was completed with the remaining bulk ceiling batts to be installed after the ceiling is lined (left in the roof void).

25/3 Bulk insulation packs delivered (note the finished waterproofing surface)

28/3 External lounge wall

28/3 External kitchen wall

28/3 External Staircase and WIP wall

28/3 Hallway and garage insulation

Finally, the plaster was delivered on the 30th of March, with the team arriving on Friday 1st April.
A whirlwind of tradesmen (5 in total) whipped through the panels, lifting massive sheets in a pair and a team of three lifting and fixing the ceiling sheets. Simply amazing to see these guys at work.