Pool progress still slow

Well not a lot has happened since my last post. The pool people were advised mid June that they could come back and do the next stage of the pool - the waterline tiles. That only got finished by mid August. A couple of pics

The tiler was pretty lazy and left all of his rubbish on site......thanks for that.

Anyway they did come back and instal the filter last week and have booked in for 9 Sept 2013 to do a pool clean so it is ready for the lining. So we are slowly getting there.

Hopefully our landscaper can come back this week to built the timber look deck at the back, then we can get the pool fence installed. The lining will only go in once we have a pool fence, but once the lining goes in, then water must follow pretty quickly to fill the pool. We are getting closer to a finished pool.

We also have a bit of a garden at the front of the house......not much but it is a start. Now spring is here, we can start thinking about some lawn. We have had quite a bit of morning frost during winter so we have held off getting turf until now.

Landscaping.......progressing slowly

I wish I had more pictures to show of our landscaping, but unfortunately it has been progressing very slowly.

Mainly rain has held us up, a big downpour means we have to wait for the ground to dry out and we've had quite a few of those in the last month. More wet weather is forecast for tomorrow, so I guess that means no work again on Monday.

We also had a problem with our travertine pavers. We were around 12 sqm short so work stopped til those arrived. Plus we had around 10 sqm of our travertine pavers which our landscaper advised was not suitable to be used. So we rang Amber, this week they came and had a look and agreed to replace them. So the new pavers arrived on Friday and work started again.

Here are a few pics.......can't wait til it is finished.

Cement boarder for the pool fence

Road base

 

 

Travertine Pavers are laid on the alfresco and start of pool area

Landscaping & decorating - slowly

Well we have been in the house approx. 8 weeks now....how time flies!! Unfortunately not a lot to report, the landscaping and interior decoration has been rather slow.

For the landscaping, as it involves the pool, things have to be done in a particular order. First order of business was excavating the land area surrounding the pool. Next the plumbing of the pool, which only got done a couple of weeks ago.

Next step, laying the coping. Our landscaper started this week. However when the concrete pool is laid, the levels at the top are not at the same level. So he had to first concrete along the top to get the levels right. We are also laying sand on top of the plumbing ourselves, which has been this weekend's job. So next week the coping should be laid, the tiler booked in to do the water line tiles and fill in the rest of the soil around the pool so it is ready for paving.

The back and side fence also due to be done in a weeks time. 

Finally had our kitchen lights installed and finally bought some bar stools

Our home theatre is now in some sort of  order. Just need to decide how many walls we will paint and what colour.

More Pics

Today we had our shutters installed, I love them, they look so good and make a big difference to the house.

Here are some more pics of the house

Master suite.....there is a lot of room. Thinking of a feature wall behind the bed, just need to deide what colour

Stairwell. Looking for a pendent light to hang there

 

 

Upstairs hallway from the stairs looking to the front of the house to the master suite balcony door

 

Upstairs hallway looking towards the back of the house.

 

 

3 door linen cupboard upstairs

 

 

Upstairs loo

 

Downstairs hallway looking towards the front door

 









Stairs

 

Laundry



Our shutters in the downstairs leisure room.

 

The rest of the house is still a work in progress.....still unpacking and we need to buy some more furniture, so stayed tuned.

 

Excavation of the backyard starts next week for the pool and landscaping.

 



Moved in

We have now moved into our new home and loving it! The appliances are now installed and so is the air conditioning, which we have been using during these hot days, it works really well.

We are noticing how big the rooms are, including the kitchen and huge walk in pantry. We also have lots of storage which is great. With the higher ceilings I can't reach the top cupboards of the kitchen, laundry and my walk in robe. So I'll have to get a few step ladders.

Just a couple of pics of the kitchen

 

 

 

Our screen doors and flyscreen doors were installed today as well. The frame of the front door and balcony door are in a wood like aluminium to match the timber door. The match is pretty good and blends in well with the timber door frame.

We are also having a few electrical problems, from time to time our existing fridge keeps triggering the safety switch and shutting off one of the power circuits. We think it is taking a bit longer for the gasses to settle or some wiring in the fridge may have not travelled well with the move. Anyway our new fridge is due to be delivered tomorrow.  We are also having electrical problems with our washing machine as well, which also triggers the safety switche. So we are waiting for a service technician to contact us back. The joys of moving!



We have the keys!!!

Today we had handover as scheduled. Arrived at the house to find the front steps and laundry landing had still not been tiled. I think our SS was rather frustrated by this as the tiler promised to be there on Friday, then on Saturday, but no show. Anyway, most outstanding tasks had been done, with just a couple to be fixed in the next couple of days.

Once the final walk through was completed, we headed to Narellan with our bank cheque. All paperwork was finalised and we received our keys with a lovely gift from Wisdom.

Headed back to the house this afternoon and the tiler had finally come and completed the steps and landing.

We now have a very busy couple of days with a number of deliveries and tradies to the house.

PCI done - handover booked

This week was pretty busy. On Monday we had an independent inspection done. Not that we were worried about the quality of the build, which we think is quite good. We just wanted another "expert" pair of eyes to check things over, especially as being novices we might miss something. They didn't spot anything major and commented that the quality of the build was quite good.

On Wednesday, 6 March 2013 we had our practical completion inspection completed. Nothing major found but lots of little jobs to be completed by handover.

We now have a handover date - Wed 20 March 2013.

Lots of things to be organised before then which will keep us pretty busy.

This week the security fences around the block came down and forwork for the driveway and path completed. On Friday they poured the concrete and it looks great. Just a couple of pics.

Path to front steps

Path along the side of the house

We have been so happy so far with the build and quality of the work. Now we are right at the end, there is one item that I am not happy with.

The lintel above the front door frame is not wide enough and so the brickwork above the door frame is rather messy. I know I am being extremely picky, but to me this is not a nice finish to complement the lovely stained timber door. I've been so happy with the quality of work done so far, so this is just one minor thing I am not happy about.

We've been provided some suggestions as to how to make this look better, so we'll do this after handover.

Paving & letterbox

We have been looking for quite a while for paving around our pool and a letterbox. Now we are closer to moving in, we need to decide on what we want and start ordering some items.

For the pool area and alfrecso, we have decided to have light Travertine pavers. It is a natural stone product and hopefully cooler to walk on during a hot summer day. Here is a sample

 

Here is a picture of the Travertine next to a pool. Now we just need to shop around for a good price.

Today we also ordered our letterbox. After getting some quotes to have one built, it was a bit cheaper to buy a stone one. The store is not far from us so we could go to the showroom to have a look but they also have a pretty good website, which is where we found them initially. They have some beautiful stone letter boxes, in various types of stone, light and dark. We decided to go dark as it will blend in with our driveway which is "Gunmetal", a grey colour similar to the roof tiles. This is the one we have ordered.

Lots of rain.....and more to come

Earlier this week we took a photo of the pool, after last weeks rain.....

So we have now had another 24 hours of rain, with more rain forecast tomorrow......so it will be interesting to see how much more water is in there.

Our formwork for the driveway has also been done. Hopefully they can pour the concrete next week.

PCI booked in

Our Practical Completion Inspection has now been booked in for Wed, 6 Feb 2013.

We have decided to get an independent inspection completed before then, as they would know all the things that should be checked that we might miss. No complaints about the work completed by Wisdom, we are very happy so far. We just need an expert set of eyes to check everything for us.

Meanwhile, DH had a meeting with Wisdom landscapes about our concrete side path, as some adjustments need to be made to the initial plan that was quoted last year. So the driveway and path will now be completed early next week, subject to the weather.

Outside works

This week most of the work has been outside. On Monday, the site was given a complete clean and most of the rubbish taken away. Still lots of rubbish around the temporary pool fence and also in the pool, which has quite a bit of water in it. There is heavy rain forecast for later tonight, so I guess it will fill up even more.

With the site clean the termite treatment was placed around the house as well.

Today we arranged to meet at the site at 7am with our pool builder to go through what needs to be done once we have handover of the house. When we arrived, the two brickies were there to build our steps and laundry landing. Plus the house was open, so I had the opportunity to quickly check inside. It looks like the painters had been in because all the touch ups have been done and final staining completed on the balcony door frame.

Managed to get a couple of pics on the phone. Our garage steps into the house have been tiled.

Our first two steps to the stairs have been stained and tie in nicely with our stained handrail.

The laundry landing and steps. The landing will be filled next week and concrete on top. Then it can be tiled.

 

The front steps. These will also be tiled next week

 



Just as we finished with our pool builder, the boys building the driveway and side path arrived which was great, as we could answer their questions straight away and confirm stencil pattern, colour etc. They said they are planning to start formwork next Tuesday and concrete pour the next day, subject to the weather.

Our SS advised if all goes to plan next week, we could have practical completion by next Friday!!! So only 7 days to go...........hopefully the wet weather forecast for tonight and tomorrow will have passed by Tuesday.

Subject to PCI going well, we could have keys in 3 weeks! Getting excited now.