Block on, Block off

Already the block work is well underway. I have to confess I am a big fan of raw blocks. I love them and yes I am using the word 'love' and I mean it. I don't mean the flimsy 'like' love you get after every other comment on Facebook, but the love that you feel when you buy your first CD (mine was Poison) or your first Apple Mac product.

I know most people prefer to render block work but for me I love them grey and basic. There's a lot of block work and so far it's been great watching block after block go up, with nice clean straight lines taking shape. I just hope the General feels the same way.

LOVE BLOCKS: A view of the ground floor block work climbing out of the Yuraygir National Park. 

The General's best mate from his Avalon days, Raoul the bricky, has brought his family up to the North Coast for a working holiday. Along with Turk, our local bricky, the boys have been busy laying blocks for almost three weeks now and things are starting to take shape. The General has been their labourer. They have had him running double time.

I've gone for a stacked block pattern, rather than the usual staggered pattern you see around the place. The brickies are claiming it's taking longer to lay, which budget-wise isn't something you like to hear. But on the positive side, the blocks are not going to be rendered or painted so hopefully we'll gain some money back in the budget there.

So what do you prefer? Feel free to comment.

STACKED

STAGGERED

As is the way, we've had a block drama. A dud delivery showed up of a different sized bock to go above the windows. These blocks turned up from a different distributor and were a much lighter colour (see below). We decided to just push on and use them. The General thought they'd make a bit of a feature and break up the grey pattern a bit. He's happy with the result but I'm not so sure. I'd be happy to hear your thoughts on it, as they are meant to run above the garage door and a feature breezeway window as well. I'm pushing to not use them in those two big openings. But let's see what the majority thinks?  Build By Numbers has put out it's first plea for help. Should we keep going with the feature blocks above windows or just stick to the one shade?
NB Most of upstairs will be timber so only an issue downstairs really. 

COLOUR BLOCK: What do you think of the lighter coloured block above windows? Send me your thoughts.

SAND FOR CRABS

Excuse the lack of posts but the early days of a build, especially ours, are a little underwhelming, yawn yawn.  I mean it's exciting because we've started and something is happening, but really, it's not the sexiest part of the build. Dig a hole, dig some more, stand around with big sticks and fluro string lines, trace out the house site, secure the excavated walls and prepare for the big day the concrete trucks come to pour the foundations.
So instead of boring you with the details, here are some stats and snaps to get you up to speed with what the General and his platoon have been up to over the past few weeks.
Obviously the girls and I have been dipping into the 'hole', as it's been formally named by Pippi, to keep an eye on the progress. Once digging began, this amazing white pure sand was revealed so the kids have been enjoying the company of a giant sandpit in their back yard.

Approximately 600m3 of sand was removed from the hole. As you can see from the plans, the ground floor is basically dug into the ground, hence big dig required.

60 trucks took the sand away.

Four concrete trucks pumped 22m3 of concrete into the footings. 

BEFORE: Our house site just as work started.  

BIG DIG: Scotty, our awesome digger driver gets to work clearing the site which revealed our white sand. Once word got around about the high grade sand pouring out of our site, we were inundated with neighbours asking for a hit. To get an idea of the currency value, we swapped a wheelbarrow full of the white stuff for a big box of mud crabs. My kind of deal.

SANDPIT: We spent many an Autumn arvo enjoying our new sandpit. 

THE A TEAM: The General (R) and Cam working hard to shore up the driveway retaining wall. 

PREPARING FOR THE POUR: A birds eye view of the 'hole', prepped and ready for the foundations to be poured. As you can see, the sand was easy to remove but then became a headache to contain.

INSPECTOR: Pippi inspects the foundations on the eve of the pour. 

SHOW TIME: All hands on deck for the first of the big pours. Pippi dressed for the occasion.

The pour went really well so we're now onto the block work. The walls are going up so stay tuned for the next update. Our house is now officially taking shape and the big questions are starting to be asked. So let the 'Build By Numbers' fun begin. x