22. External cladding

The rain delayed the delivery of the Custom-Orb steel cladding for the back of the house. The access road into the property can get slippery when wet, and as a semi-trailer is needed for the long sheets, it wasn't possible to get the material on site. A smaller truck managed to bring the Scyon Matrix compressed-cement sheet cladding for the front, so the wall cladding has finally begun!

Garage cladding -north and west

21. Catching up

It seems to have been a long time since the last major post - things have been happening, but not as quickly as we would have liked. Progress hasn't been helped by the unusually wet winter; normally we can rely on several very dry, cool months which are perfect for building. Not this year though! We've had a lot of rain, and many areas of the country have been flooded. Today we finally got the plumbing to the water tanks completed so we should capture some of this persistent rain at last.

Roof is almost completely finished -
just a couple of pieces of gutter to be fitted

20. Solar farm

The solar panels have been installed on steel posts on the north-facing bank. We have a 5kw system, which should mean our electricity account is close to $0 (or we may even earn a profit). We are charged 19.4c per kw that we draw from the grid, and get paid 44c per kw that we feed back to the grid (surplus to what we use). It isn't hooked up yet, but should be within a couple of weeks - then we can start generating!

19. Roof sheeting and windows

The roof sheeting is all installed now, and there are only a couple of very small sections of gutter to be fitted before we can say the roof is complete, and the guard-rails can come down.

Roof sheeting and insulation in progress

18. Fascias and gutters

The timber fascias have all been installed, so the roofing company was able to begin work on the roof sheeting. First the gutters were attached to the fascias, then roof battens fixed, insulation blanket (wool, R1.8) laid and the steel sheeting fitted over the top.

Carpenters fitting trimmer beam to main roof

17. More roof, and other infrastructure

Work has been proceeding on the roof, with a couple of days lost to rain. We had almost 100mm in 24 hours! This is supposed to be the dry season, but is has been a very wet winter so far. If the water-tanks had been connected we would have filled two of them in one day. The tanks have been moved into position and are waiting for the roof, gutters and downpipes before we can collect any water.

Collection tanks at rear of house

16. Roofing structure

The garage frame is now built and the roof structure over the main part of the house is almost complete.

Garage (with carpenter's trailer inside)