# Forum More Stuff Go to Whoa!  Out the back

## Black Cat

Just so you know I have not spent the last year tarting up the bedroom, here is what has been happening out the back. 
The lean to originally attached (loosely) to the house, housed the bathroom and kitchen such as it was. The bathroom was a bath on  a frame, with a drain that just made it out through the wall, but no further, no taps and presumably water was brought in from the tank around the side. The tank itself had holes in it, so only held water in the bottom 6 rings. It was my water supply for the first twelve months, so it was a good thing it was a wet winter :Wink:  
I discovered that as long as you have a laundromat in the nearest village, you can get by on a remarkably small amount of water, and still smell tolerable. 
The first job, on arrival, was to get rid of the junk cluttering up the back verandah, remove the carpet on the veranda floor, and then remove as much of the rotten timber as was necessary to be able to check for tiger snakes when approaching the place. It took a while to get building and planning approval (actually it took a while to get the designer to come up with acceptable plans as he was an idiot), submit to council, get approval, then wait till October last year so I could access funds to start building. 
Demolition was (as always) great fun, and went fairly smoothly, but I forgot you actually need to have worked out where the timber is going to be stored when you do that, so got in a bit of a muddle for a while. Then, the structure gone, it was necessary to dig out the stones that had provided the footings, stack them in a spot where I can reuse them later for the retaining wall for the future patio, and clear out the extraordinary amounts of rubbish I found under the floors. Nothing terribly exciting apart from one teaspoon with the initials of the original owner of the place. 
Having cleared that, the slab was poured, and then a friend came up for 10 days to help frame up. In case you are wondering at the lack of plumbing in-slab, this is due to the local plumber having decided to turn up the day before the pour, bringing his wife for protection, and stating he did not have the necessary kit to do the installation because I had not provided the plans (given to him three months previously and on which he had prepared a quote ... :Mad:  ). So a bit of wood was inserted in the place where the shower outlet would go, and the rest had to be jerried in later. 
Framing up was a lot of hard work. When Wayne left I slept for two days - fell asleep outside the laundromat while waiting for the clothes to wash ... 
The roof took a while to go on as I had to find a new plumber and he was not able to start immediately (quelle surprise, but he was a great find this one!!). And the new tank was finally plumbed in. The eaves for the roof are 600mm to provide protection from the afternoon sun - the extension has a NE aspect so this is important. They work well and the kitchen loses sun at noon in midsummer. 
Then the solar hot water went on - evacuated tubes with electrical boost, lining out was completed, plumbing went in and so forth. The big excitement for me was getting a flush loo!! So much better than the nappy bucket with cat litter I had been using previously, though not such a good contributor to the compost heap ... 
The septic tank could not be sunk below the ground as we kept hitting rock slabs, so I bought in some soil to build up the levels and have installed cut down remnants of the old rain-water tank which now serve as wicking beds for growing veges in. They will act as a retaining wall till I can build a drystone wall around the lot. 
Finally the bathroom has been plumbed in properly now. The vanity top is derived from the base of the sideboard pictured in the other thread. The chunk of wood holding it up at the front will be replaced with a stainless steel pipe once the floor coverings go down. 
The kitchen is in, but no counter tops yet, and no oven etc as I am having a short-term cash flow problem at the mo, which will hopefully sort itself out some time in a week or so.

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## watson

:Spyme: 
Looking good  :2thumbsup:

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## Black Cat

A few more pix, the server is soooooooooooo slow tonight ... and so they will have to wait - can't be fagged sitting around loading pix only to have them lost in the ether - sorry ...

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## andy the pm

Great job Black Cat, I now realise we have been living in comparative luxury for the last 6 months...

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## Armers

Looking good... its piccies like these which make me happy that i've got parents to live with during the the work.  
Good work and looking awesome! 
Cheers

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## jago

Man thats how mine has been is but I live in a comfortable winter climate not tassie...
looking good whats next for you ? :2thumbsup:

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## Black Cat

Phew, well I reduced the number of pix and finally got some loaded - Jago, next stage (once the kitchen is fitted properly) will be replace the roof and the weatherboards on the remaining two walls. That will allow me to install insulation also. Then finish of the electricals (probably with a new electrician as this one is jerking me around) and get my certificate of occupancy. Fortunately council has been lenient and told me I can occupy the front of the house as the only building approvals have related to the rear.

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## Black Cat

Once that is all done I should be better placed to provide myself with an income from the fruit and veg I am growing as well as getting out and doing some work of the income-producing variety. Then the two rear rooms of the original house will get plastered and the last window will be replaced. It is smaller than the windows in the other three rooms, and a recent inspection made it clear that it can never have been a doublehung sash as there are no cavities for the weights to fit. So I will need to track down some casement windows to fit the space (or make a frame to fit the windows, whichever seems better come the time). The loungeroom will also be fitted with floor to ceiling bookcases either side of the window, and a box window seat under it, as well as a box seat to store firewood beside the fireplace. But before any of that can be done, the floor will need a bit of investigation to find out why the bearers are not holding it steady (you get seasick if someone walks past while you are sitting down at present). I think, from what I have been able to see peering under from the side, that basically the bearers were resting on stacks of rocks that have fallen over during the course of the passing years. So pulling out some floorboards and building up new piers seems the best option on that one.

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## Bedford

Thanks for posting this Black Cat, it looks great, one question though, what is the blue thing above the tank in the first pic? :Smilie:

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## Black Cat

Hi Bedford - it is the shipping container that holds all my worldly goods at present. It will eventually become the workshop. Paralax suggests it is a bit closer to the house than it is - it is actually 3 metres back from the rear wall, and lines up with the gap along the side of the yard. Once I get a pergola over the patio it will all be linked in one unit. It will also, eventually get some rather less unattractive cladding and colours. At the mo is has a blue tarp that provides additional insulation to protect my possessions from more extreme temp variations.

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## Black Cat

Another step closer to getting my certificate of occupancy. The kitchen now has a sink and stove and overhead cupboards, as well as most of a counter-top ... The countertop came with the kitchen kit, and since i bought two, there were two benchtops. Sadly, since i also bought a corner cupboard and a couple of fillers, there were not quite enough countertop to go the distance. So there will be some more to buy and fit when next I am in what the rest of you call civilisation. 
There was a slight technical hitch with the overhead cupboards and the sloping ceiling. So I now have two 450mm cupboards instead of one 900 and one 450mm one. Oh well. The rest of the space can be open shelving and i will pretend it was always supposed to look that way. 
The set of cupboards I had made up to go in that space, is now in the laundry where it will provide storage for cleaning stuff (450mm cupboard) and linen that fits in the larger unit. The remaining 900mm cabinet will be trimmed down a bit before I make it up, so it fits into the space available in the alcove. This one will eventually be 'dressed' to look like a dresser, but not an immediate priority. 
Now all I need to do is finish fitting doors, adjusting them so they hang straight, installing handles, finish off the drawers, and ... Oh, some floor covering would be useful too!

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## twinny

looking good cat  :brava:

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## Black Cat

OK, not out the back, but definitely time for an update.
this is the front of the house 12 months ago when the weatherboards went on. Attachment 88678
and this is what I found when I got home on Friday (one of the very few benefits of working away from Home). The back looks pretty good too! Attachment 88679Attachment 88680
And don't panic - the finials are safe indoors awaiting new mid-sections where they were rotted, and a coat of paint for them too. They will go back up when the roof goes on (finally!!) hopefully before this winter ...  *Your pics aren't attached correctly.
 Until we get the new software upgrade sorted out could you check the tutorial here please so that members can see your pic.* Adding Attachments

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## Cecile

Ted just made a comment.  
For authenticity you should remove the old iron, save it, put on new roof and insulation, then use the original roof as a decorative covering.  Adds weight of course, but would look terrific.

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## Black Cat

Ted can pay for the extra labour Cecile! - they did that with a little restaurant in Bellingen.  
I tend to agree, but it ain't happening. Normal gal roofing that will be painted in a few years when it rusts out, like they used to do it. 
PS Sorry Watson and Bedford - it worked when I checked the post from here. Will go back to the old method for the time being.

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## Moondog55

BC ? Do you have enough ventilation in that roof? 
I don't see any gable end venting and if you are going to use an insulation blanket under the new iron ( and my reading says it really should be used ) then you will need some way of getting the accumulated water out of the roof space, I'd say whirlybirds but they look daggy as heck on a heritage building.
Another question? Did you stand the new weatherboards off the plywood sheathing? and what did you use behind the weatherboards if anything?????

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## Black Cat

The gable ends have gaps between the ends of the weatherboards and the roof - big enough for possums to use, so good ventilation even though all the gable weatherboards are now plugged and filled. The gaps will have some birdwire in them as we get along with the reroofing. The roof will have foil under it and 4.5 batts on the ceiling. The one room already done is already showing results. 
The weatherboards on the rear skillion are laid over ply bracing and there was a stop put under the bottom of the lowest one to create the appropriate angle for subsequent boards. 
All the wall weatherboards have foil behind them now, and insulation batts (2.5) in the wall cavity. 
Trust me, the wind we had the night before last was still flowing right through the roof space - though with considerably less vigour than has been the case till now. I felt quite snug and safe ... It was a nice feeling. 
PS is it the cooks day off or is your kitchen out of order?

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## Moondog55

Pan cooked chicken breast, chefs secret flour dredging, beans in bacon grease, mashed Kumara, She had sweetcorn as well.
Mesh to keep out the possums would be a good idea.
So would some soffit venting when you do the roof

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## Black Cat

Pop some to the back of the stove, i am booking the flight right now! 
No soffits, so venting could be a challenge. 
And the gables have a joist bung up the middle which could make anything symmetrical a challenge ... maybe drill a pattern into the peak of each gable?

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## Black Cat

Hmmm, well it's been a while. The job in town, which lasted 18 months netted zero in terms of savings what with renting a bedsit, keeping the dog in kennels and paying someone to keep the yard under control, and ever since then I have been living in an unlined (two rooms), overcrowded house. The shipping container had to be removed as it was too close to the boundary and I acquired a complaining neighbour. It now resides down on the oval where a local kennel club uses it to store show equipment. A new shed is in the offing however, and once it is built I will be able to finally empty out the spare bedroom what currently houses my entire power tool collection, the worm farm and many parts of the house that will need work before they can be re-installed. 
But a recently windfall (finally sold the house in the UK) means that I have been able to make a bit of progress. The roof has gone on over the last couple of days and, even minus ridge capping, flashing  and guttering, managed to keep out the heavy rain today that stopped play. The house, as you can see, is a different colour - that is undercoat. The first new paint job started to fall off after 12 months, due to poor surface prep (who knew that pre-primed weatherboards are not 'primed' per se, but actually need to be sanded back to wood before painting with an oil-based primer? And the new colour will be a little less yellow than the last one, which was clearly a mistake. 
The finials came off some time ago and as two of them were rotted, and the other two somewhat rotted, have been restored and were reinstated yesterday. 
All this business will grind to a halt once the roof and painting are completed as apparently the shed is unlikely to be constructed before the end of January (curse upon Council process!), but when it is it will be accompanied by two additional rain water tanks (24000 litres each) to supplement the 10000l job I currently have (which has proven inadequate to the demands of gardening through a drought, so the garden died).  
The verandah out the back is also going on at that point so hopefully next winter I will be able to use the back door even if the rain is from the east as it will not be swollen shut.  It won't be going all the way along the back, just to the edge of the windows of the kitchen, so it does not block light into that area. It will have the benefit of obstructing summer sun to those windows long enough for the shade benefits of the 600mm eaves to take effect though, so will be a great bonus on hot days.  
The pile of rocks that has housed some of the local domestic snakes is being converted (finally) into the edges of the patio that will also run along the back of the house, and the bathtub will be integrated into this to provide planting space for insect-repellant plants. 
Will post a pic once the painting is finished, but apparently the weather gods do not approve of my efforts as it has rained ever since the painter finished up his second day on the job.

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