End of Week 2 // piers, drainage, formwork + much, much more

Well, it is the weekend again. We have just wrapped up the end of Week 2, and we have a couple of things to report.

It has been a harrowing week for the Firies (fire-fighters) - battling huge fires flamed by incredibly harsh weather. The heat and winds here have been ferocious, and our thoughts are with those battling the fires and those who have lost homes, property, and unfortunately, life.

Blogging this week has been put on the back-burner. So this is my opportunity to do a little catching-up.

There has been a daily pilgrimage to the block. Photos have been taken, excitement has been building, and expectations are mounting (WOW! We REALLY will have a house in a few short months!). It has been a long time coming, and sometimes still feels quite surreal.

So we all know that we had a dunny delivered, our site was pegged and excavated, and our gravel mound was turned into a driveway.

Thursday 10 October  2013

The very next day we went out to the block and found all these short stumpy pegs with blue tops.

Portico

At first, it appeared to Andrew & I that these strange little pegs were distributed randomly on our block (we are such newbies *rolls eyes*). It turned out after we investigated them further that they actually served the purpose of pegging out the location/boundary of the house.

We ran walked enthusiastically up to the back of the block to admire our backyard. Don't know if it's the big pile of dirt in the middle of it, but it doesn't look very big :(

Andrew seems happy though - the first thing he said was - '"Well at least I won't need to do much mowing" So I'm thinking "Great, that's more vacuuming and sweeping for me!" Can you detect the sarcasm?

We also found this

After scouting around and looking at our pegs, we had a quick conversation with our neighbours at the back of the block. Apparently the wind was pretty bad, and the newly formed pile and exposed soil (and I use the term "soil" loosely - it really just resembled bull-dust) lifted in the wind and was dumped all over our neighbours, and our neighbours neighbours. The lovely man on the left had his sprinkler on our block trying to reduce the amount of dust getting caught by the wind, and the couple at the rear had the good sense to give Coral a call on the number displayed on our sign. Thankfully Coral sent out a water truck to drive back and forth, wetting it down as it went.

See the tyre tracks?

Friday 10 October 2013

The next day I took Mum out to see the block. As we approached - this is what we found.

So, being naturally inquisitive, we were excitingly anticipating what we might possibly find on the block.

Piers and string!!!

Monday 14 October 2013

We got to our block on Monday afternoon to discover we had a fence and all of our drainage / initial plumbing had been completed

Ensuite

Tuesday 15 October 2013

Andrew received a call early from our SS to advise us that there was no water connected to our block and also to let us know that the dirt pile was going to be a problem. He wanted to know if we could get rid of it, or possibly cover it. He also stated that some of it would be needed to fill back around the slab after it was poured.

Andrew promptly rang me, and we agreed that he would ring our plumber to sort out the water connection, and I would look into covering or removing the mound.

So I went to my Number One ask-any-question-in-the-world-and-get-a-great-answer guy - my stepdad (Thanks Bruce :) ), and asked him what would be the best course of action. We jumped in his ute and went to the block so he could step it out (measure with footsteps). He thought that covering it would be the way to go, so after we finished work (yes, I'm lucky enough to work with him - worlds greatest boss), we went back to the block armed with a huge truck tarp, bricks (to weigh it down) and a wheel barrow (to transport tarp and bricks). My Mum and one of our friends from work all met at the block and the covering of dirt mound began.

It was also a pleasant surprise to find that the formwork for the slab had begun. Lucky too, as we were able to use some of the pegs that were discarded from the construction of the formwork (with the permission of the tradies that were there)

Wednesday 16 October 2013

Formwork completed and we have sediment control!

Portico

Friday 18 October

We went out on Friday afternoon and found that our water had been connected. We are just waiting for our meter to be installed.

The fires were still pretty bad and the Water Bombers were flying over the entire time we were there. This is the third one that buzzed over us. We think it was on it's way to the huge fire at Singleton.

And that is our week, wrapped up :)