Day 185 – Tiling and painting all done

Boy was today fun. Not only was it my birthday – not that exciting – but because I got to visit the house. She’s getting very, very close!  The painting is all done. We chose clay pipe ¼ for the walls. We needed a softer colour to ease the bling of the champagne bamboo floor, which will be very striking.

The painters have done a great job and the house is starting to look like a house. The tiling is complete. I was a bit nervous about the selections but I can sleep well tonight. The Metricon standard tile range (free with the home)  – via Beaumont are very reasonable we felt, but others have said it is limiting. We found the colours we liked. We chose two floor tiles, saltbush and a grey one. The grey tiles are in the wet areas downstairs and the softer saltbush in the bathrooms. We went white tiles on the walls. We added floor to ceiling tiles in a few spots as it was not much more ($300 per wall).    Your allowance is $30 psm. It is very easy to get carried away and find dream tiles in the $50 -$100 range. I heard one couple hit a $15,000 tile bill. Ouch. All the electrics are in so I went around playing with light switches and fans.  All the circuits and power points are all correct. In fact, I can’t see a single error. Great work team Metricon. I’m a big fan of the double quad boards in the pantry that will become our appliance shelf. No more searching for the blender or juicer or coffee grinder of ice cream machine etc…etc. The quality teams have added a heap of red dots where they are not happy with something small. They have good eyes – red dots are everywhere on paint touch ups, scratches on things. Some are almost microscopic. I’m so happy to have the quality team really pushing the fault identifying. Better now than later. The teams were installing the toilets, sinks and taps today. Shower screen and mirrors next week, along with wardrobes and shelving. Bamboo flooring starts next week, and carpets the week after. Balcony wire to come. But really, we are ALMOST there. You could live in this house now – I’ve lived in worse! Little Pig, little pig, let me in!  

 

Day 171 – Electrical installation

The electrical installation has been done including all light fittings, power points, switches ducted vents. The garage door has also been installed. The last down pipes are on. The front door has been painted and all internal paint touch ups have been done.  Tiling has been delayed a tad but I’m told will start next week.

I’d like to talk about the electrical planning. It was a hard slog to map out the entire electrical plan for the house. Picking hundreds of wiring bits and every single power point was quite difficult.

We were given a $16,000 allowance but we struggled to $6,000 using smart choices and some care. If you love down lights, get ready to enter a world of pain; you pay for each hole in the ceiling, then for each light.  We don’t personally like down lights so we have avoided them altogether. We’ve gone with other lighting sources like pendants, lamps and spot lighting from tracks.

We have also purchased a number of light fittings from other suppliers to give our house a bit more of a personal touch. The M lighting range at the time of our appointment was a little bit limited.

Each room comes with a free double power point. We basically added another power point to each room diagonally opposite the first one. We also added additional power points to the kitchen bench, island bench, and a tonne of them in the pantry where we will have an appliance shelf. We added more to the living rooms and six more to the office.

We tried to walk each room, and we were careful to visualise each light switch and what would be turned on. How do you walk into your house at night? What hall light will help the children find the bathroom? Can two way switches be used?

Added extras:

•         TV antenna (expensive but includes installation and that is hard when you are a double storey) and comes with a 15 year warranty too!
•         We also added a water tap to the fridge cavity
•         A lot of additional double and quad power points
•         Zoned ducted heating and we added vents to bathrooms (yum!)
•         Door bell
•         4 cat 5 data points
•         Three two-way light switches
•         Extra phone point
•         Upgraded meter box
•         Four outdoor electrical junction boxes
•         Additional ceiling junction boxes to first floor (in case our lighting needs change)
•         Additional TV points (just in case)
•         Additional outdoor PPs just in case
•         Power point to balcony for Christmas lights
•         Power point inside bathroom cabinets for electric tooth brushes
•        Speaker cables in ceiling

A great electrical blog. The prices are still pretty close to current prices

http://ournolan.wordpress.com/2013/02/23/metricon-electrical-prices-2012/

Day 161 – firebox and final painting

Meet Mr Firebox.

I was going past the house and managed to catch the eye of our site supervisor who invited me in for a look-see. Big day today as the firebox was installed. It came in a million parts and a big thank you to the firebox expert (who I met this morning) who spent most of the day pop-riveting the flue together and gently guiding it down the six-metre chimney. The firebox has been worth the effort.  The hearth has also been laid. The hearth will be flush with the bamboo floor so it doesn’t become a trip hazard.

The goop is also off the windows upstairs so I could get a sense of the natural light. It was late in the afternoon, but I was thrilled with the feel. The painting has almost been completed as well. I love the colour of the walls. We went with a ¼ clay pipe. It has a very faint grey/pink in it.  We will add some feature walls down the track once we have more of a sense of our home style and taste.

It was a nice clear day so I was also able to walk out on the balcony for the first time. I can tell you the beach looked very lovely.