Ground floor frame, front foundations, problems

No recent updates, but so much has happened.
Payment for the slab was due more than a month ago, but the bank approval was only received in the mail 18th Feb 2010! My turtle of a broker only handed in the documents to the bank 29th Jan 2010.

To avoid interest payments on the slab payment (I got issued breach of contract letters) I'm paying for the slab myself! My broker will inform the bank of this difference in arrangements and everything will continue as usual. Despite the finance problems, work seems to have continued except when it rained a week ago.

I've been so caught up in different problems I haven't gone on site for weeks.

The images live here.

This is the ground floor frame for the back of the house, sitting over the slab. Windows are in.

It's fun seeing how the rooms are forming.

The little square is part of the plumbing between the rainwater tank and the stormwater pits.

The brick walls here are sitting on the piers. They form the foundation for the front part of the house. It looks a little messy and uneven to me. LHS is the place for the suspended garage slab.

Front view LHS

Front view RHS. The green bar there is a steel bar for the garage.

The fence problem is still there. I still have to get someone in to fix that.
There will need to be fill brought in to make the driveway. The garage is so high up. I'm afraid there will be added costs for additional brick rows.
I received notification of extra costs for piering exceeding the initial allowance, and the fill removed during excavation. I wish I'd been told before it started, I would have told them not to bother taking any away. Live and learn.
I wonder if I should be worried about people coming to pinch stuff. All the windows are strewn about, and the gate is left unlocked.

Oh where did my bins go?

Last week something was nagging at the back of my mind as I posted the images. I figured it out: THE BINS ARE MISSING.

I'd bet $100 they're sitting under the big pile of dirt that's appeared in the backyard, WHERE THE BINS WERE LAST SEEN.

Our site supervisor swears they wouldn't do that. But where did my bins go? I'll bet they had some piles of dirt near the house, then pushed them to the back. The bins got dragged along.

Who'd have thought I'd miss those red yellow and green lids.

Piering done, neighbour complaints

Joe the SS called to say the piering is done, after I left a message on Monday to call me before work restarted for the year. Tuesday next week the slab will likely be poured. He mentioned this is a good time to get in and do the RHS retaining wall (which I don't really want to do).

Called the mortgage guy and he says the loan should get approved tomorrow or early next week. I think he's being optimistic.

Went to have a quick look and our grumpy neighbour Neil came to complain. He thinks all the rainwater runoff will be a HUGE problem for the entire neighbourhood. I tried to explain that the roof catches the rainwater which goes into a rainwater tank, and that the stormwater pits will drain it away. The pits have a 30 year flood rating. He and the back neighbour (who is an engineer so obviously his opinion is law) are going to talk to the council about the stormwater tragedy building up in our backyard. I didn't want to bother arguing. Let the council do what they do best, ignore complaints.

I don't see why they're so upset about a little water, considering they've been receiving it for the past 100 years when there was NO tank and NO pit to catch anything.

Images also here

 

View from the front of property

  

 Front of house (View from the first floor stairs of the neighbour's unit)

  

 Middle of house

Back of house

Green netting and metal fences

I went over to take a look today, since the first day they've excavated the dip for the new driveway (it looks really low in the ground - i hate that)

There are also peg out posts - i think thats what they must be. They are these white wooden posts with red marks on them. Probably for levels or something.

Green netting is also up at the back and front for dust control i guess.

There's still the problem of my metal fence at the front. It's set in the same concrete as the public pavement, and that's why the idiot demolition guys didn't get rid of it. My partner tells me his family has a metal cutter, and next weekend he can do it, problem is that he needs a power outlet. Maybe we can ask a neighbour? I heard they hate us.

Demolition Drama

The demolishers have started work on our house, and there are problems.
When we bought this place, we knew it had rubbish at the back. However, since there were so many sheds out the back we couldn't get to the back property line until now that they've removed them during demolition. There's broken up asbestos strewn over the backyard. Rubbish, broken pots, mysteriously buried concrete structures, you name it we've got it. This is a serious problem which I'm estimating will really dent my budget.

The demolisher hasn't even given me a revised figure. I'm dreading the answer, yet don't like waiting.