Tales From the Box

We realise that in our renovation we are doing things back to front. Most start with a bottom storey and work up. Not us! Filling in beneath out current abode has caused us a few headaches. Mostly issues about access to the top storey while they are installing stairs. But one of the trickier things was ceiling clearance. When examining potential flooring options for downstairs we always came back to the sticking point that nearly all flooring adds height. And when you have a low ceiling (like we do!) that is undesirable.

After a lovely wine tasting tour through the hunter valley we stopped at Tempus Two winery. They had very similar styling intentions to our own – and had polished concrete right through the place. So we thought that was a terrific idea and followed suit. However there are a few sticking points to polished concrete – its pricey. Not comparatively pricey but considering when they build you a new floor they actually bring wood, nails etc to build something. With concrete polishing they actually grind back the concrete and then polish it up. Now that isn’t earth shattering – but that process was almost dollar for dollar the same as getting a brand new wooden floor built.

We could have had a smooth coating over the current slab to hide the aggregate that is in all concrete – or they can just polish the current slab. We went for option two – it was slightly cheaper and had a bit more character – however this usually results in a patchier finish.

The polishing has been done but we still have some minor issues of finish (newer concrete sucks in the polish far more readily than older floors) but overall its a very cool looking finish.

It is a curious notion that when we dig a deep hole – we have come up with the colloquial description that it’s so deep that we are ‘..halfway to China’, when really if we were to bore a hole so deep that it could penetrate the core of the earth (and withstand the 7000 degree temps!) and come through the other side – from Australia – we would come out somewhere in the northern Atlantic Ocean.

Anyway – we have been digging giant holes recently – for our big deck which will be the final masterstroke of this renovation. In digging the holes we have found a couple things – and back to the headline; we hit China! Literally. An old porcelain toilet buried in the ground. We have also hit what appears to be sewer systems, old storm water pipes and grease traps/pits. It appears that there are a couple of sewer lines that don’t appear on any map – awesome!

You might be asking, Why o why is there metal in your glorious new deck?. Well, we have to. We love wood and all its woody glory – but that part of our house (i.e. the bush-facing bit) is classified as a level three fire zone, thus has restrictions on the use of timbers in building. We are allowed Merbau decking and hand rail but not much else. Hence the Duragal posts. You might also notice the completed cladding around the bifold windows. That means we are all cladded and, apart from one or two little edging things, are sealed in dry and cool.

Maybe a completed deck by this time next week?

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I am not about to prattle on here talking about foreboding doom or whatever the ides of march are supposed to represent (just beware of them…).

Yes – March has arrived – and we have officially reached the point that every plucky renovator reaches where they just want the damn thing to be over… We have no fridge, no tv, no home cooked meals, no place to relax, no Sunday morning coffee and toast. I wouldn’t say that I am addicted to TV (although 1000 DVD’s might say otherwise…) but I just miss that place to crash after a hard day/ week at work. Currently our bedroom has the feeling of some dingy cabin from an overstocked ship.

But we are near the end! The windows went in (Glory!) and the floors are completed – although not entirely finished (to our statisfaction…more on that later). The upstairs of the house has finally been entirely cladded.

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For many a year we have had to contend with an unsheltered entrance. While there is those of you who think that such a thing isn’t something you would especially prioritise in a dwelling, house or abode – I must say that it has been especially annoying when:

1. Off to work with thousands of dollars of equipment packed in bags and its raining
2. Coming home in the dark, too tired to think about getting your front door key out and its raining
3. Shopping in both hands, on the phone to the wife who is telling me that I have forgotten something (either the food or her), its dark and its raining
4. Off to a wedding in brand new suit, looking very suave (and might I say, extremely dapper), step outside and its raining

You can see the common theme. Yes – the rain (the wet stuff that occasionally falls from the sky) was a factor with the orignial version the house. The rain would fall and wash underneath the house. However since we are building underneath the house- that can’t be allowed happen anymore (although the going to sleep with the sounds of water trickling underneath the house is both disconcerting and calming at the same time) so hence a roof.

But the reason that we got the roof isn’t just for the rain. We face west – which means at the business end of a long, hot summers day, we cop the western sun straight through our 2400mm high windows, heating up the house like an oven. So finally – after all these long years, relief is at hand: a roof is over our front deck.

However the addition of the roof has taken away the percieved boxiness of the house. Jo (the wife) thinks that it looks very Australian (should that be ’straylian…) and our resident architect thinks it adds very contemporary aussie look.

I just think it looks noice, unusual, different.

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Well – I can’t really claim the fireproof thing considering that most materials can and will burn given the necessary heating – but our construction of the front deck is the best that can be achieved with wood and a fiscally prudent pocket. In the leafy Blue Mountains, we get fires. Bushfires. Big ones too.

As a result of this, the folk at the Blue Mountains council have implemented a series of measures to bring building works to task over risky developments close to fire prone areas. Because most of the Blue Mountains is fire prone, it affects most developments. They have done some clever stuff. For example – all of our decks (front and back) have to be constructed out of a fire resistant timber. Since most timbers burn (pretty readily infact), timber as a product is risky to build with. However it is cheap, available and nice to live with and around. So rather than go with an all metal frame and tile flooring construction (this approach is mandated in areas deems high risk of fire) we have gone with the only wood that is approved for construction in a Level 3 fire zone (thats the upper end – the next one up is flame impact where you can’t use wood at all); Merbau. The council isn’t all good with its approach to fire; there are some rules which are plain silly and oxymoroncial in their ruling; but that is council for you…

We originally wanted the cedar slat look across the front – but because of these restrictions and because of the price – we have opted for the Merbau which we will stain with a redwood/jarrah stain and then varnish with spar varnish. The spar varnish is great for high sun/heat/moisture areas – but non traffic areas.

Anyway this week should see the delivery of the windows/doors which will see us turn to the home straight for our current project. As my wife and I wandered around the house this morning we pondered just how much work there was to do to simply bring our humble home back to where it was in mid November (the front lawn/pitch is in some serious need of love). The formal part of the renovation might be coming to a close – but we can’t see the reno being completely finished for a few years. However that does mean more random ramblings for this blog. We are just about to buy enough paint to fill a swimming pool – we might buy some shares with Wesfarmers considering all the money that we will be forking out to Bunnings over the next 6 months…

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On this Valentines Day, we at The Box have to announce that we have fallen in love with our house. It been a long time coming – and yes, we confess the purchase of the house was a marriage of convenience – but true love has blossomed like a spring flower…(aww).

The love is based on a new found respect and excitement we have for our abode. To say that we have loved the our house (the box) in the past is stretching the boundaries of what could be termed ‘love’. Yes……our house has given us some comfort, we have enjoyed the challenge of living here, we like the bush outlook at the back, and we like the climate of Warrimoo; but to say that we love (or loved) our house would be incorrect.

However the major surgery that has undergone The Box in the past 77 days (BRDAY+77) has transformed this dingy mountains beach house into something cool, contemporary and rather cool looking. And today our frontal deck started remodelling. Gone (or almost) are the metal posts. We have replaced them with something far more boxlike. The uprights are a merbau which have bolted into a concrete stirrup. The front deck will get a roof, plus red timber slats which will offset the grey corrugated cladding nicely.

Our trusty builders have also began to frame up the rangehood which will be built into a gyprock surround above our stove.

In todays adventure, a highly caffeinated Dann takes you on a tour of the renovated box. Be witness to the design genius of the weatherheads, and attempt to decipher the meanings of Dann’s confused ramblings.

Tour

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-mEUyf9D6s

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As an aussie – it is great to know that one of the most beautiful timbers in the world, is best grown in the dry, dusty soils of Australia. Whats more, its also great to know that this timber is the most common eucalypt (gum tree) grown in South West Australia – an area which also produces a handy drop of wine. We have chosen Jarrah for our downstairs floor entry and stairs. Eucalyptus marginata as its known by nerdy botanical types, is a vibrant rich red colour and known for its flowing yet tight tight grain. There is also a rumour that one can extract a jarrah alcohol out of the tree.

There were issues had in putting in this stairway. For the past 2 weeks, we have been using the old staircase. However the installation of the staircase meant that previously mentioned termite metropolis has been totally vanquished and destroyed. However it cause but a few headaches in its obliteration. Nevertheless the stairs are in, floors are done.

Oh and the cooktop and oven are in an working.

Its perfect. Its 90 degrees, its balanced, its the meeting of straight lines at a perfect intersecting point. Its the cornerstone (literally) of most modern construction. The Box is built on it. Its a box…its all about the right angle. Anyway enough of the useless prattle. More gyprock goodies for me. All of the gyprock corners have been done – only the wall/ceiling cornice joints to be done now.

Oh…the windows (which were about the first thing we organized way back in the dim dark ages of September 2006) will be here in three weeks. Yay for the window guys!

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I am a big fan of an ode. The humble ode is something that is oft forgotten in this crazy, need-it-now society. So in my series of odes I pledge one upon the gyprock wall.

I love gyprock. The smooth, soundproof surfaces move me to words of rhyme and well put reason which I both share with you in this renovation season. O I wonder with cander and pace, how i ever existed in a such a testing homely place, that would seek to want to try to embrace, such a fibrous material in such a space. Many years ago the gentlemen who built our abode, were quite mindful of the strength and issue of the load, of the house upon the foundations strong, who when picking the walling were quite clearly wrong. They chose, as their minds or experiences might, have suggested and thought would be alright, the warped dimpled and deformed sight of the substance widely know as Masonite.

As this horrible material was pulled back, it was with joy that i made such a stack, of rubbish that would be left as a shrine, declaring that no longer would Masonite malign, the use and purpose of this new design. It must not warp nor bend but want for the clean look of this modern trend, that only fair gyprock could ever attend. The walls so smooth and ever so straight, that upon each surfaces every artisan could create, a wondrous work or form that would employ, such wonder, such awe, such inspiration and joy. Its nature, however chalky and dull, is remarkably quiet in the calm and lull, of a long day when work has seen you depleted, the energy stores of your legs which thus leave you seated, to admire the sleekness of the wall completed, and its wonder of its square beauty repeated.