# Forum More Stuff Go to Whoa!  Build me a House!!!

## kerrie

Well, we have a 1940's weatherboard 2 bedroom cottage that was just way too small with 2 kids, so decided to bite the bullet and do a major extension / total renovation. :Rolleyes: 
Going to extend out the back for a lounge room and deck, excavate underneath for entance, excavate to the side for a double garage (in-line), and build on the top of this a bedroom, living and dining space. As well, ripping out the insides of the house to create 3 bedrooms, ensuite, main bathroom, and new kitchen. Will try and post a plan when I figure out how to...  :Biggrin:  
I have taken a year off work to owner-build, with hubby and 2 kids supporting and watching and laughing from the next door (which we were lucky enough to rent for the duration). Have a builder to do the house to lock up stage, and we will do the rest. At the moment, we are quite a few months into the build - it's just taken me a while to be able to post this thread. Hope you enjoy watching this apparently crazy girl build a house!!!  :Smilie: 
So, some pre-reno photos of our little cottage...    our "cute" little fibro shed. This will be fixed after the house.  looking from the backyard towards the house  looking through dining room to the kitchen (tiny!!!) We have a rule in the house that only 1 person at a time - no one else would fit...  the bathroom - just enough room for a bath and vanity. 
Spent quite a few months figuring out the perfect layout of the house, and then quite a few months more getting the architect to get it to what we wanted. Getting it through council seemed to actually be the easiest and less-stressful part of the whole process to date! 
We moved out of the house Sat 10th April, ready to start work Monday 12th. Here we go!!!

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## kerrie

April.
So, the first thing we had to do was remove all the asbestos from the house before the builder started work. Kitchen, bathroom, laundry all asbestos. Yes, I got all the relevant safety info and followed all advice. My father came down for a week, and it took the 2 of us 4 days to get the whole thing out, including 4 hours spent vacuuming out the roof.  :Mad: . I think we used about 5 rolls of duct tape in packaging the fibro up ready to dump. 
This is our old bathroom. Funny thing how it looks even smaller with everything out! 
The old laundry - soon to be main bathroom. We are going to put the laundry in an alcove, behind doors, in the bathroom. 
This was our kitchen.  
All ready for the builder to come and prop the house before the excavator starts!.   
So, as we suspected, our house is on sandstone rock. A lot of it. So, after the first excavator spent 4 days digging dirt and clay, we had to get another excavator with a rock hammer (with a much bigger hourly rate) to spend another 3 weeks hammering out the rock. Silver lining was the large pieces of sandstone I get to keep for the garden.  :Rolleyes:  All up, with the rock hammer guys and the initial guy, all on hourly rate, it cost me the same as another excavating company had quoted me for all work EXCLUDING hitting rock. So, I learned a good lesson - getting subcontractors in on an hourly rate can be good! 
The finished result - looking towards the new entry area of the house(underneath the existing house) 
My new garage...

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## kerrie

So, after spending a fortune on excavators, we had the concretors lined up ready to go. Four weeks of excavating down almost 3 metres deep in the back of the garage.  
It started to rain. And it rained and rained and rained. Was wishing that I had built an ark, not excavated a garage! It rained for 3 weeks straight. Every day. I spent each day pumping the water out of the big clay hole that was my garage. And each day more of the clay and rock surrounding the big hole fell in. I lost many gum boots in the deep clay.  :Eek:     
So, what else can you do?????? MUD FIGHT!!!! The kids thought it was great... :2thumbsup:    
FINALLY..... the rain stopped, we got the excavator back in to dig out a few more tonnes of clay that had fallen in, and the concretors got to work. 
Rear of house piers and strip footings for lounge and deck:   
Garage concreting:    
We had concrete trucks lined up the street. A huge day for everyone - but so relieved that the mud saga was over!!! Was a great feeling to finally be walking on conrete as opposed to clay. Who would have thought a slab of concrete could be so exciting!  :Biggrin:

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## kerrie

June.
So, after the concrete has some time to cure, the bricklayer arrives to lay the blocks.      
These are then core filled, and we can start building!  :Smilie:

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## watson

Onya Kerrie  :2thumbsup:

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## kerrie

The lovely waterproofing job.... :No:    
I spent 2 days in the small cavity between wet rock and blocks waterproofing the block walls - 300L I went through, and a few rolls of the waterproofing fabric. Enjoying spending my day out of the office, anyway. Don't know how I'm going to go back to accounting after this house is built!    
We hired a kanga with a trench digger to dig the stormwater drains out, so we wouldn't have to pump water out any more. It was so much fun, I reckon I would hire another one just to play on it!  :Biggrin:

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## kerrie

So, Dad came to stay again, and we did a bit of building inside that wouldn't be rain affected. The new windows went in, and we moved a few doorways.   
The front door came out, and frame work built over the steps, and a new floor was created. We also built some stud walls to fill in the old doorways.     Attachment 80024

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## shauck

Will try and post a plan when I figure out how to...  :Biggrin:  
Could try turning plan into PDF?? That works for me 
Glad to see you enjoying the process. It can be hard but fun too. 
Su.

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## zacnelson

This is an awesome thread!  Love the detail, that basement garage construction was incredible, like something out of Grand Designs

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## jago

Very interesting build love the mud fight... 
What waterproofing products did you use on the blockwalls ? I've still to do the same about the same space! 
What have you found your biggest challenges so far (apart  from the rain)?   :2thumbsup:

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## kerrie

Thanks guys.
Shauck, I am enjoying it - probably a lot more than I thought I would  :Biggrin:   Am loving the sense of satisfaction when you put in a good days work.  And saving on the gym fees... 
Zacnelson - you made my day - I love Grand Designs!  Was really our only option for the garage, and when the kids get a bit older, am planning to turn half of it into a pool room / rumpus room. 
Jago - I used the gripset 51 I think it was - will check it in the morning.  Great if you can wash up right away (washes in water), but like the others if you let it dry - turps clean up.  Horrid stuff to get out of your hair - wish I'd worn a beanie  :Rolleyes: . Doing it in such a tight space created some interesting working positions- book yourself in for physio afterwards... :Biggrin:   I used a wide fence / decking brush to brush it on, which worked the best out of everything I tried (including rollers). And clothes you can throw away, because you won't be able to use them again.  
In regards to my biggest challenges - I would say probably the subcontractors.  Twice now I've been led astray in regards to when they could come, price they would do the job for, and have left me in the lurch at the last minute, trying to find a new subbie.  Has been tricky co-ordinating everyone in for it to work together and effectively.  So far so good.
Also, and I have been pretty choosy with my subcontractors for this reason - some guys tend to look down on me because I'm a girl - they assume that I don't know what I'm doing, and treat me as such.  I have had experience in doing renovations before (although not to this scale), but their assumption is I know nothing.... they have lost my work because of it though.  I make sure I just keep getting different quotes and talking to different people until I find the one that can work well with me.  You have to have people working with you that you are happy with, and mutual respect.  All the guys I have onsite are awesome, and I think this has made it a lot easier overall.
But mostly the rain  :Biggrin:   Although the kids thought it was great - there were a few mud fights, clay modelling, and playing in the mud. I think they miss it...

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## kerrie

So have converted the plans - hopefully these turn out ok.  They seem a bit small, but should look ok if you enlarge it. 
The Original house layout:  
The new house layout:  
The lower level (garage)  
And what the end result should look like:  
Cheers.

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