Stunning Sunset in Lewis Pass.

I thought this sunset from a few days ago was a treat that mustn't miss out on getting posted.

I pretty much finished down on the street side with the rock wall. After the mortar has completely set here I'll fill in with some gravel to make the steps. Now I'm carrying on with the main wall around the back of the house.

Landscaping Update

Been busy landscaping and gardening. I'll upload more gardening pics when the weather is fine again. The rock wall is coming along nicely. I've basically finished the street-side wall and just need to build the stairs off the wall. The steps at the back are usable and I've begun further work down the end of the courtyard wall. - to bee seen soon....

Hardscaping Update!

I've made good progress on the wall down the front now. I think I am working a little faster but one can speed up only so much for such a laborious process. I've cut down my workload before I intend to leave Hanmer to just this front wall and the stairs at the end of the driveway.

I think this whole wall thing will be a much more gradual process than I imagined. Maybe it can be turned into a family activity whenever someone visits. I know that I intend to do a little work on it any time I visit.

As you can see I've poured a concrete pad at the bottom of the path, because the drainpipe under it was broken and exposed. I fitted an 80mm section of drainpipe into the broken 90mm piece and poured over top with a little reinforcing mesh. I will finish the surface with a load of 'chip'.

Courtyard in crisp sunshine

Finally here is the courtyard post-concrete pour. I quickly joined 3 photos together for a panoramic so the angles might look a little off, but it gives a good overall picture.

Hardscaping continues

Here's the next progress pic for the rock wall. I've realised one can't be too fussy about making the rocks fit perfectly because they are undressed and therefore practically certain not to fit together. However where there is a lot of mortar between rocks I try to fill those gaps with smaller stones rather than filling them up entirely with mortar.

I've added a couple drainage pipes in accordance with the Collins DIY manual I skimmed over. My biggest worry is if water pools in the pockets between the rocks and then freezes - do I need to make sure all gaps are filled up completely with mortar during construction?

progress 2 and 3

Making progress on the wall and here are the 2nd and third progress pics as it were. I mean to get pics of the concrete courtyard up soon.

Rock on

I've started building the wall in the last couple of weeks and here are a couple of progress pics.

Posts, stays and titelock.

The fence along the east border is complete and now Merlot is free to do the sniffing and stuff he does in a much larger domain. Woof! Very please with the fence considering its' my first attempt.

Day before moving in.

Here are a small selection of photos taken the day before all the contents were moved in.

Pre-concrete

The following photos were taken prior to the concrete courtyard and driveway being poured. I made outlines where the concrete was to go to help the concrete man from Le Concrete quote for it. Mr Hackett, the concrete man, is a fantastic worker. Sometimes you strike it lucky with the subbies and sometimes they're woefully difficult or unskilled/incompetent/uncaring etc.

In the next post I'll upload the completed concrete.

Linings done

Great things have happened since the last post, which isn't really surprising considering the duration between posts now. The initial enthusiasm to keep these posts up has wained I admit. This is mainly beause it seems I'm making the posts for only myself, however for those out there who have been looking in from time to time: cheers.

Well, All the major building work has been completed. All the interior linings have been done, including the tiling and flooring (vinyl, carpet) and the decking (including the ramp has been built). I will have pictures of these soon.

In this post You can see some of the progress of those additions and a picture showing the fire and gibstopping.




Below is a picture showing what I've been working on personally for the last week or so: the ceiling polyurethane. I've almost completed 2 coats of water-based polyurethane, semi-gloss finish and the picture shows the difference between no-coat, one coat, and two coats, which can only bee seen easily like this when a light source is positioned as shown. That's an awful lot of work for something that can barely be noticed... but there is a lot of that kind of work in building.