Demo #2 begins

Well, after a week of disappointment waiting for the builders to start the demolition of the upstairs, we finally came home to some destruction. Of course, it has to come on the day that I'm leaving to fly back to Houston. Electrical "cut & seal" always comes before the mass destruction, so I wasn't expecting too much to have happened, but oh was I wrong!

Our quirky living room ceiling was gone, and there were electrician guys running around everywhere chasing lines and checking outlets...it is kind of exciting!

They finished bricking up the entrance into the laundry room as well

So this is the resulting bedroom on the other side of the laundry entrance...the space for the closet being directly in the centre.

This is the copper tubing that was running in the roof cavity for our old air conditioning unit...the technician that removed the unit said we should try and salvage it because copper costs like $50 per linear meter...I would guess we might have saved $600 or more there! :)

So, with the electrical cut & seal complete, we are able to get some real work done...

Scaffolding up around the house in preparation for destruction!

And it continues...

Well, the progress continues. Both the builders and Andy and I have made some significant progress in the past week, which is very exciting for all! :)
Starting with the builders...the brickies (bricklayers) showed up at the end of last week. So, they've been coming around off and on for the past week and a half. The weather at the beginning of the week was rubbish, so it slowed things down a bit. But they made pretty good progress nonetheless. In fact, I believe the plan is for the frame for the bifold doors at the back to be put into place tomorrow (Monday), so that's very exciting! Below are a couple of pictures to show the progress...the rooms are beginning to take shape, so it's coming together now.

This is the entry into the smallest bedroom...I think it's #3 on the plans.

This is bedroom 3 again from inside. You can see on the right side where the built-in robe will be...hard to believe the even brick that in!

This a view of the "games room" from the door of bedroom 3.

This is the hallway to bed #4 and the bathroom and toilet.

This will be the bathroom.

And this will be the toilet.

And this will be bedroom #4...needs a bit of work eh? :)

A view from inside bedroom #4

This is the little "hallway" we are creating to get into the laundry room.

The view from the back of the house...this will be the bifold doors across the back with the balcony coming all of the way to the edge.

 So, that's the progress that the builders have made, but Andy and I also did some major work in the past week. The builders are planning to start the demolition of the upstairs part of the house this week, so we had to make sure we're completely moved out of the working areas. So...welcome to our new "home"...

What used to be the study is now our office/kitchen area.

Another view of our kitchen/office.

Our spare bedroom is now the living room...

So, most of that work was actually finished last weekend so that we could actually remove the kitchen this weekend as we are planning to try and sell it online. We also decided that since the middle bathroom is already non-functional with the removal of the toilet and because we want to try and tie in some of the plumbing with the Summit work so it doesn't have to be repeated, we've decided to go ahead and renovate the middle bathroom now. Last weekend we picked out our tiles, and we've selected all of the fittings and fixtures, so that work also started this weekend...so, these photos were taken Friday night after Andy worked hard all day...

Shower and tiles removed...hammer drill at Bunnings for $40 is awesome!

The kitchen half removed...

 And then lots of hard work on Saturday and today, with a little help from a couple friends...thanks Ben and Gav! Here's where we're at now.

Tiles and screed removed from the toilet so the tiler can start fresh.

Tiles and screed removed here as well...quite scary looking if you ask me!

The hallway to the bathroom...this linoleum will unfortunately have to wait until another day. Although Andy already ripped up one layer when we moved in, there are still at least 3 here on top of the slab...GROSS!

Our little hallway with a little bit of protection to try and salvage the Jarrah floors.

Again...carpet from the living room laid on top of the hardwood floors to try and protect from the builders!

Kitchen floor removed...and oh what a b*$ch that was!

Kitchen removed...waiting for the plumber to disconnect the gas to pull the last shelves out.

And the living room...ready for demolition!

So...that's where we are! Upstairs demolition is supposed to start on Friday, so we'll see how the week goes. But, that's pretty much all of the work we've got planned for the next wee while...so we'll be relaxing in our little 3 room home, going mountain biking, doing a bit of gardening maybe...we'll see :) oh yeah, and keeping you guys posted on our progress! :)

talk soon...

A week of progress

Well, we are officially 3 weeks into our renovations, and we're still progressing quite well, although there hasn't been much to show on a daily basis this week because they've been working on the plumbing. They did replace our main sewage line, though, so that was nice of them :) They are also cleaning up all of the random supply lines that are running all over the place downstairs, so that's good as well. With the removal of the big sewage vent stack on the balcony, they had to remove the toilet in the upstairs middle bathroom to replace the waste pipe for it. So, we also had them go ahead and disconnect the water to that bathroom as well. So, our immediate next project is actually going to be the renovation of that bathroom...something to keep us busy :)

So, that was the progress from Friday thru Tuesday. Yesterday (Wednesday), they poured the slab for the downstairs...very exciting! And today, they delivered the bricks and a couple of windows for building up the walls, which is planned to start next week! It seems to be going so fast, but I'm sure it slows down after these first parts are done.
Oh yeah...you will probably also be able to see from the photos how much they have absolutely destroyed the garden at the back of the house! So, we'll have to figure out our landscaping plan for that as well...fun fun!

Does it smell a bit FRUITY to anyone? :)

Well, it's now Wednesday, and the guys have managed to correct our lovely septic tank problem. The pumpers came in on Monday and drained the tanks, and then on Tuesday, they filled the tanks with rubble and sand...and that's them officially decommissioned!
They've also managed to make a bit of progress on the demolition work...

View from the balcony...you can no longer tell there was ever a problem! :)

They've made a bit of progress on the removal of the pavers in the downstairs room.

This is looking through the doorway of what will be bedroom 4...you can sort of get a feel of how big it will be...it is the smallest bedroom, I believe.

They've removed more of the slab where the bathroom is going. I'll admit that i'm not really sure why they needed to do that, but ah well! :) 

The view of the back of the house...and a silly monkey man :)

Duh duh duh...

Well, as can be expected...nothing ever goes as it's supposed to! Especially when you're dealing with renovating a house from the 60's/70's.
On Friday, Andy worked from home in the morning so he could pack to go down south for his 24-hr adventure race. So, of course, he was at the house with the demo guys. And since he's the best, he gave me a lift to the train station to get into work. As we left, a guy had just showed up with a little bobcat to carry the rubble from the back garden up the driveway to the skip...that would have been a lot of very heavy wheelbarrow loads! So, about mid-morning I got a call from Andy...the bobcat took a bit of a nosedive in the middle of our yard...and thus, we found out that we've got a septic tank in our back yard that was never decommissioned...and it was full to the brim (of course)!
So, work has taken another detour as we sign an blank variation to get our septic tank drained and filled in to allow the rest of the work to continue. Great fun!
A couple of photos of the excitement...