Monday 16 May 2016

Screwed Top Hats

     This arvo Josh spent a couple of hours screwing the top hats down.
     He has now started talking about cutting the yellow-tongue particle board flooring into the right lengths. First we need to re-arrange the storage shed, as the yellow-tongue was piled up in there BEFORE we brought up all of our belongings out of storage. Also I think we need a strong assistant to lift those floor boards, as they are HEAVY! Too heavy for just me and Josh, as I discovered when we moved them the 30 metres from where the truck dropped them off into the shed. Ouch!


Friday 13 May 2016

More Raking

      The other half of the joists have now been screwed to the brackets, a relatively quick and easy job.
 
         After 2 more days of raking I still haven't finished clearing the house site, but I am nearly there!
     As you can imagine, a bucket of rocks is quite heavy and I have gotten quite tired of carrying them over to the driveway, but at least the driveway is looking better every day.
     While I was sitting there quietly sorting my rocks, a pair of yellow-tailed black cockatoos flew low overhead and landed in the nearby banksia tree.
     It has been a delight to watch the wildlife enjoying the new plant growth down in the clearing, with the tiny finches and wrens sharing bushes, and the cute little quails pushing their way through the grass. Quite a change to the birds which hang around in the trees around the caravan and the shed.
     Meanwhile Josh found the brackets which need screwing on next, appropriately called 'top hats'. He spent the afternoon bending them into shape so now they are ready to screw the joists to the bearers.





Monday 9 May 2016

Raking House Site

     The rest of the joists haven't been screwed in yet, but here is a photo of them after they were placed. The last one is waiting for the rest to be screwed in before being placed.
     Note the trees which will be the view, and the small mountain behind it. Absolutely beautiful watching the mists drift across it, and the sun on it in the afternoon - this will be our living room window!
     I exhausted myself yesterday raking under the house site to remove the rocks - big and small - so that in future when we are crawling around under there (because it will inevitably happen) it will be less uncomfortable. It is pesky work, and after 6 hours in the hot sun I only have one third of it done. Luckily there is added motivation - the smaller rocks along with the lumps of clay (of which there are plenty) are collected into a bucket and poured onto the driveway at the most troublesome spots.


Friday 6 May 2016

Finished laying joists

          Yesterday Josh laid all the joists, and drilled half of them to the brackets. It was a quick job, lucky because he did not start until quite late in the day! It was lovely to be working out of the sun, and in the afternoon chill, to counter the hot sweatiness that you get when doing physical work. He also enjoyed not having to constantly having to get down on his knees in the dirt, as was the case when drilling the piers. This photo was taken when only halfway done, before it got too dark to take photos.
          Next step is to finish drilling the joists to the brackets, then to lay the under-floor insulation.