Roof and Door/WindowFrames starting

aluminum sheets are now coming onto of the trusses.  This week, the rock wool insulation and Kliplock roof will come on this week.  Note also the door and window frames are now coming on.  So we should be expecting final brickwork and plastering within this 2 weeks.  This is a frantic time as I have to ensure all plumbing work, electrical conduits, alarm systems have to be built in before they put in the final plaster.

This shows the sheets on the trusses but with without the window/door frames.  Note the clearing next to the house.  The neighbor is also building his house.  A single storey detached house.

Front View

Front view
The front exposed brick wall is coming up.  A lesson in supervision, I was just in time to stop them putting up a wall in the lounge.  This was supposed to be a folding wooden wall.  They didn't read the plans!

Rear Right View

Rear Left View

Trusses and Attic

Here are some pics from the attic.  It shows the metal trusses construction and how they are joined.  From my experience, it seems a lot stronger than wooden trusses where they tend to be nailed together.  In the case of metal trusses, it is bolted together, to the columns/beams or screwed on.  Originally I expected it to finish in 2 weeks but it looks like it will take 3 weeks and maybe a little more.  All sides are covered now and it looks like reinforcement of the edges remains to be done.

The contractor didn't like this design as there are a lot of sub roofs and even gables.  Means more work and higher costs.  However these features allow shaded areas on the roofing to allow for heat release.

The pics also showed a rather large attic with plenty of head room and spacious.  There will be windows and solar powered ventilators.  In addition there will be a ventilation channel from the 1st floor to ensure flow of air out from ground to attic and outside.

I am hoping with all the above features, the house will be cooler.

Furniture for the new house

My wife felt strongly that she did not want to transfer the old furniture as they may be infected with dry rot and fungus so I have been looking at ways of getting new furniture.  We already have solid belian dining and seating.  I think we will go IKEA for the lounge.  Bedroom however has so far been from China.  They are Russian pine as we all like pine, its smell, colour and the grain.  After some search of Alibaba (www.alibaba.com), I moved to www.aliexpress.com as this site is an offshoot and caters to retail.  Alibaba  really caters for volume sales particularly to US.  I also settled on a manufacturer www.walfors.com and have order some beds and desks from them.  They arrived safe and sound.  There were some issues on imports.  I must caution that don't expect them to be cheap.  They don't cost as much as IKEA but it is not much less.  However there are many models to choose from. I am now moving next to cabinets and other beds.  Below are some samples, price included but not including freight.

This is a solid pine bunk including drawers and desk USD 533

This desk plus cabinet is USD 306

This cabinet is USD 162

Sigh - After a long break

Its moving again. I ran out of money and my housing loan was stuck because of variety of reasons.  The lawyer, even thought nominated by the Bank was inexperienced in such transactions. They are more familiar with a developer environment than a customer building your own.  A key sticking point was the requirement for the contractor to sign an undertaking to return the money if he abandoned the project.  The contractor refused to sign as he and I thought it meant not meeting the schedule.  The contractor also took advantage of Chinese New Year to divert his workers to a more urgent job.  Then their contracts ran out (they are all Indonesians) and he had to get new ones.  So 2 weeks ago, they restarted work.  Pictures below show a sequence where the trusses are being assembled.  By the end of this week, the trusses would have been completed (2 weeks) and the kliplock roof will start to go on.

Latest on 21st Nov 2011

1st Floor Beams done

Only the Garage beams left.  Driveway paved over.  Trusses for the roof should be coming soon.

Beams for Attic going up

After this would be the truss for the roof and of course the roof itself.  The work on the flooring will start only after the roof is up.  Actually this is a week ago.  They will pouring concrete in 2 days.  Note the ledge on the left and front for the air con compressors and a wooden louvre screen to shield the compressors and also the windows from the sun

 The other pics shows the view from the 1st Floor balcony.  One is the front of house, another is behind while the third is just scaffolding for attic.  Note there are no concrete slabs for ground floor or 1st floor.  There will just be joists and floorboards.