Insert major update here

So much has happened since my last update towards the end of June.

The major items are:

• we got a puppy (28 July)

• Glen got the deck stained (10 August)

• new driveway put in (3 September)

Next on the task list is to get a roof over the deck.  All booked in for 4 November!!  Then we should be at least be able to have our deck party at the end of November to welcome in the summer!

Insullation, 5th electricity refund and general update

Well well well, here's a little update on what has been going on recently.

First up - we got another 2 rooms painted.  The entry and the front TV room.  We bought some different looking curtains for the front room (see pic below).  We think it will give the room a little colour.  Still need to borrow the sewing machine off mum and hem them so they aren't hung yet.

We are still painting the back rooms that got new walls - the bathroom, toilet and laundry.  Mind you we were away on holidays for 2 weeks this month so we are just back and ready to tackle things.

Got our 5th electricity bill and the refund from the solar is a little disappointing this time.  Only got $195.36 back compared to over $350 refund for all the previous bills.  I'm still trying to work out what is going on there.  We also just got a notice that the rates are going up GREAT!

We are going to have a little edition to the family......we are getting a puppy.  He will be with us in 4 weeks.  Time to puppy proof the house and fences in our yard.

Oh yeah, and we also got insullation put in our roof yesterday.  It does actually make a difference.  It cost us about $1300 but I think it is worth every cent so far.  We didn't need to put the oil heater on last night so maybe that will help us saving on our electricity bills.

Will update next when I have completed photos of something.  Busy busy!!

We have windows!!!

BUT the builder didn't get everything finished.  Almost done...

Here is what the louvres look like.  AMAZING!!!!  (oh, & you can see our new toilet too!)

Will the builder be finished today?

Just another quick one to update everyone.  I was too busy at work to post an update yesterday about all the work that was done over the weekend.  The laundry cupboards finally got built and the bathroom cupboards got hung on the wall ready for the plumber to come Monday.  Glen took a few pictures of the bathroom.

We wanted to start undercoating the bathroom ceiling but without the window we couldn't because all the bugs were coming in and sitting near the light!

The builder said to me this morning that he wanted to finish everything off today.  Our louvres arrived yesterday so he wanted to get them fitted.  He was also finishing off all the skirting and the doors today too.

I really hope to update you with final pictures tomorrow...

Getting there!!!

When we opened the front door yesterday we saw our amazing new tiles.......

Then we walked down to see the bathroom & it looks even more amazing......

The front of the bath still needs to be finished off & the grout is still to go in today.  When we get home tonight things should be looking really really amazing!  Eeeeeek......can't wait!  BUT I can wait for the weekend of painting that lays ahead of me  ;)

No work day - & 4th electricity bill refund

Well now, today there is no work happening on our place.  The tiler wrote us down in his diary on the wrong day (Thursday instead of Wednesday).  According to him, he will still have the job complete on Friday anyway so no big deal really.  Our builder is actually not feeling well today so he wasn't able to make it up to Brisbane - I've told him that the tiler will be there tomorrow so it's probably not that great if he comes tomorrow either.  Hope he feels better soon.

The plasterer was there this morning to finish off sanding for the tiler.  I guess we need to go home and start the painting tonight - fun fun fun!!  We need to have the cupboards installed in the bathroom and the laundry this weekend so our plumber can come back Monday to finish everything off for us.  It's so exciting!

On an upside, we got our 4th electricity refund.  $369.17 this quarter compared to $388.07.  It's $18.90 less than last time but at least it is still over $350 & that is a good thing.  It sucks having to call AGL each time to get the refund and then I also need to check that the refund makes it into our account because the last few times it hadn't and I forgot about it and then another month had gone on and we finally got our money.

It's weird - our usage is actually lower this month (683kWh) compared to last month (726kWh) but we got less of a refund this month.  I wonder if our solar panels didn't produce as much electricity as last month?  Yep - 1025kWh this month compared to 1074kWh last month.  So, that is where our difference is because our rate with AGL is $0.52 per kWh we give them.  So the difference is 49kWh or $25.48.  With GST and all the other charges etc etc it probably works out to $18.90 difference.  Not worth calling them and arguing about that's for sure.

Link to March 2013 AGL bill

Bye for now & till next time something is done on our house.

Sheeting done - ready for tiling

Just a quick update.  Just before the end of last week the sheets went up on the walls.  The first of the waterproofing got done on Sunday (handy having a nextdoor neighbour in the business).  The plasterer came Monday plus the second green layer of the waterproofing got done too.  Today (Tuesday) the builder was going to put on the door surrounds and finish everything else off for the tiler to come tomorrow.

Here are some photos I took really quickly this morning.  After tomorrow it will start to look a lot more like a bathroom...

Getting there... slowly...

There is always so much prepping work to do.  Everything this week has happened really really slowly.  I know the builder is doing a lot of work during this time but it's just that you don't really see any results.

I was really eager 2 days ago to see the wall missing when you walk in the front door but that only happened yesterday.  The first pics are great:

now

before

We had some really great air coming through the back of our house last night with our newly cut out window where the louvers are going to go.

& also where the new louvers are going to go in the toilet (hi Glen!)

The plumber (Dave) and the electrician (Joely) have been at our house today doing all their things before the sheeting goes on the walls tomorrow.  I'm excited to see what we will get home to today!

Let the bathroom/laundry/toilet begin!

Today is the beginning of the demolition.

We had our last shower in our old disgusting shower (gym & work from now on!).
We flushed the toilet for the last time (buckets from now on!).

The Asbestos Guys arrived at 7am this morning and we got in trouble for not having everything ready.  The vanity should have been out, the toilet cistern should have been taken off, the water pipes should have been cut and the electricity should have been terminated too.....oops!  So we got fined an extra $100 for extra labour involved.  Seems to be the way with tradies.

I've taken some before shots.  I'll take some more shots when I get home - there won't be any walls or anything.

bathroom before



shower before

Busy preparing for new bathroom

It's been a hectic past couple of months.  We are eagerly preparing for our bathroom renovation.  It all seems to be booked in for Monday 4 March.  Really hope it will only take about 2 weeks as we are left without a shower for this time.  Will be making the most of our gym memberships!  Luckily we won't be left without a toilet as we aren't changing that much - just the cistern - so it will be bucket flushes for a "wee" while.

What is it with tradies... sometimes they turn up, sometimes they give you a quote.  I've said to Glen that if they can't be bothered to give us a quote then they musn't need the work so I'm not going to chase them.

Last night we started to put together the IKEA purchases.  Here's Glen putting the vanity together:

How messy is our living room looking?  Just as well we cleared it out to get a wall knocked down.  The space is coming in useful for all our bathroom stuff.  We have another tall cabinet to get together sometime too.  Plus we also need to buy the cabinets for our laundry.

I've been logging everything in the budget so I will post that later after the builder gives us a figure for his work and once we find a tiler.  (Yep, might be leaving it a bit last minute but, hey we'll get there)

Deck completed in 3 days - yay!

We were just in awe when we got home last night.  The addition of the deck has opened up our house so much.

We now need to source a fly screen for the door and railings for the deck.

This Saturday will be spent staining and oiling the deck.

So happy!!

The deck is looking good

It's really good to see your plans come together.

There were some slight adjustments to Glen's plans.  The ramp had to be changed into stairs as the ramp would have been too steep.  The area of the deck also changed as we started it out from the wall on the right hand side of the drawing so people hopefully won't hit their heads on the lower part of the eaves.  At least the builders had something to go on right?

The builders do a lot in a day.

 

We say good bye to the window in the dining room today.  Bye-bye window & hello open breezes!

Our builders had to complain about something... apparently the doors Glen have sourced are going to be slightly winder than the current window width.  Plus they said that the doors are bowed.  They also now want to charge more for creating the door surrounds when they quoted to "fix" the door.  Let's see how this one turns out.

I don't think I loaded up a picture of the doors Glen found.  They have 5 panels of beautiful glass in them and they therefore match our front door perfectly!

 

All going good at home today the builders will have hopefully finished.  Will post update as soon as..... soo exciting!!!!

Let the deck begin

We went from thinking we weren't going to have a deck till March to having someone that could start as soon as the new year came!

We've signed the contracts and paid our 10% deposit ($700) so time to get started.

Glen had already dug the holes.

Our deck timber should arrive tomorrow - right on time!

Not much happens on day one:

It's been a long time between posts

It seems that last time I posted it was about which white paint to choose... there has been a lot of planning going on around the house in the past 6 months.

Glen is also getting a good collection of tools around and really thought he needed a work bench.  We have pulled off a lot of door surrounds and architraves lately that will need replacing so Glen wanting something he can cut the wood on.  Getting Bunnings vouchers for Xmas presents helped to buy some necessities.  Here's his new work bench:

Another major decision we have made over the Xmas/New Years break is to get a deck built.  We were lucky enough to find a builder that could fit us in (most were booked out till around March).  Glen has been busy the last couple of weekend preparing the area where the deck is going.  He also needs to dig 6 x 400mm deep holes for the posts of the deck.  Work should be all finished for next weekend.  So while we are at work this week our deck will be created!  So glad about that!  It's been so hot that we need to sit outside to get a breeze!

We've also decided to re-open the carport area that has been closed in by the previous owners.  It is currently used as a utility room for all our extra junk and tools so we needed to organise another space for all this stuff.  We have always wanted to move the water tank in the back year to a less suspicious place so when we move this we are going to make space for a 3x3 metre shed.  The kind next door neighbour is actually going to give his to us as he wants to expand his!  So lucky!  Glen has been prepping the area where the slab is going to go (2x2m for the water tank and 3x3m for the shed).  The area is next to a big tree and it took him a while to dig out all the roots (hope the tree survives).

3rd electricity bill - the best refund yet!

A little late in sharing this news as December was a hectic month!

Refund for this quarter is $388.07 which is the best so far.  So so happy with this.

Our usage decreased a lot which is probably due to the change of season from winter 925 kWh to summer 726kWh (billing period 5 Sept to 5 Dec 2012) plus we were away for about 2 weeks and not using any electricity.

The panels also produced a lot more power this quarter - 1074 kWh compared to 718 kWh.

So far our solar panels have made us $934.47 ($388.07 Dec + $188.64 Sept + $357.76 Jun).  Our solar panels got connected to the grid on 19 March 2012 so it hasn't even been a full year yet.  It looks like we are on track to making roughly $1,000 per year so will have them paid off in 5-6 years.  Hope they don't change the $0.52 per kWh rate.

Link to Dec 2012 AGL bill