March Wrap up - Electrical, AC, and Internals

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.

1/4 Midday inspection - Trades at full swing

1/4 Work in progress (Garage)

1/4 Work in progress (Laundry) NOTE: Blue panel is CSR 10mm aquachek

 

1/4 Work in progress (Dining room section) NOTE: Two massive panels on the back wall

1/4 Alfresco complete

By the next day, all corners, joins and edges were set. simply amazing! Not a cornice in sight! love it!

2/4 Garage

2/4 Even the cub scout thinks the entrance is massive

2/4 Further down the main hallway

2/4 Kitchen

2/4 Dining

2/4 Master suite nib wall

2/4 Master ensuite vanity wall

2/4 Master ensuite shower

2/4 Stair void and upstairs hallway

2/4 Main Bathroom shower and vanity wall

Whats next?
Downpipes and rainwater tank installation
.....

Roof Finished

Long time between posts, but we are finally weatherproof with the lower roof sections being completed this week. It's been a challenge to get to this final stage on the roof as Monier (Rawson's supplier of product and trades) controls the whole process. Two contractors were provided the job, after a major back end stuff up last year. Two teams arrived and sorted out the top roof section without much of a drama in January.
Weeks have gone by after the last update. Our SS has struggled to get either contractor back to finish. In any case, after several weeks he managed to get them back to finish after alot of to-and-fro.

Suffice to say, the roof stage has been frustrating that it has taken so long. A site clean has also been completed and the site looks very smart and clean!

9/3 Garage and Home Theatre Roof (sans oxide coat)

9/3 Study Roof in progress

Our independent inspector (Stephen Ryan) inspected the site on Wednesday and provided his Frame report yesterday. I am working with our SS to focus on these issues at the moment. I hope that the rectification work doesnt contribute to delays of other trades and progress like plastering.
This does raise a question though. Would the contents have likely come up with Rawson's QA inspection conducted by Tyrrells? Who knows what would have been contained in their report and would i have been given a copy of their report?
This is certainly a grey area for owners.
Did i just invest in a report that is already part of Rawson's process?
I was not aware that Rawson conducted independent inspections on their builds. This is certainly an area that Rawson could improve on. I feel that Rawson could be more transparent to their clients by explaining the quality control / certification event.

Whats next?
Eaves on the lower roof sections are being completed today.
First stages of waterproofing / shower trays today.
Rawson's certifiers and inspectors will be going through the site next week as they complete their compliance (warranty) and QA process.



I'll post more on the subject of the Frame report next week after Rawson have responded to the rectification works.

Roof Progress

After a long break over christmas and new year we have finally got the roof tiled on the upper level. Despite initial advice early december, the roof job was delayed, being only complete on the 19th January. Its quite a relief to finally have some protection after the frames and floor have spent 4 months in the elements.
Onto the pics;

18/1 The crew arrive

18/1 The majority of the tiles have been installed

19/1 Second day

19/1 Ridge capping getting finished

This brings us to a major timeline event as our Site Supervisor has indicated that we are about 2 months from finishing now.
As we approach the next few weeks, we will have a carpenter lining the eaves and fixing the cladding on the upper level. A painter will also need to paint the eaves and cladding before the scaffold is finally removed.
As we are getting close to the final fitout stage, we are finalising plans for post handover works. These are ground floor tiling and carpet for the upper level amongst other things. I'll be posting separate items for these in the coming weeks for others considering these approaches themselves.