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

2nd electricity bill!!!!

It's still exciting to get money back from the electricity company.  This quarter it is slightly lower than the last, however $188.64 is nothing to laugh at.  Electricity rates have change during the current period so it is hard to tell if we used more or less because we got charged more ($357.76 last quarter compared to $384.26 this quarter).

However, if you look at consumption then last quarter was lower at 810kw compared to 925kw this quarter.  Being winter months would have something to do with it as we were using the oil heater a lot and I probably used the dryer a bit more than I would normally.

By the looks of it our solar panels produced more power this quarter (718kw) compare to last (688kw)

Link to our bill - click here

1st electricity bill !!!

So, we got our first electricity bill....you can view it at this link:  AGL June 2012 bill

Since the solar panels were connected to the grid on 19 March our electricity panels made us $357.76
Extremely happy with that!

I guess we now need to wait for a whole quarter of billing to work out how long it will take for them to pay for themselves.

It does mean that we will never receive another electricity bill that we need to pay for.

I wonder how long it takes for the cheque to arrive from AGL?

Which white would you use?

The time has come to pick the wall colour.  Because we have gone so dark on the floors we are thinking of all white walls.  I've picked up a lot of the coloured card samples at Bunnings and Masters.  Everything looks so different when placed in different light.  I've also been doing some research too (see pic below).

I came across this article and thought it might help but then again don't want to go with something that is popular and on everyone elses walls now do I?

So, which white would you use?

After a lot of deliberation we've picked up three tester pots of white and put them on two different walls....  Still can't decide!

Have also talked to our local paint shop that is called Paint Place.  The deal with them is they sell 20 litre tins and Bunnings and Masters biggest tin is 15 litres.  Dulux 15 litre costs about $170 and the 20 litre tins is between $180-$220 depending on brand.  We have many rooms to paint so perhaps the bigger tin will be financially better.

At the moment just prepping to paint the ceilings.  Bought Dulux Once Ceiling White from Bunnings for $65.36 4L and a special paint for the kitchen and bathroom, also Dulux, for $52.72 2L.

Now we just need some spare weekends to get on with the prep and paint!!