Rock Wall Construction Part 4

Front and rear rock walls are all but complete with only a few small details left to attend to. Looking forward to handover and getting the front turfed and the rock wall planted out at the front.

Range Hood Installed

Happy with the fitting of the range hood, very neat job. Also glad we made the overhead cupboards wider than normal, otherwise the range hood could have looked too small in the gap. Looks like Technika have made a running change in this model and deleted the digital display...doh...lol

Rock Wall Construction Part 3

Day 4 of the rock wall construction. First picture shows work starting on the 2nd tier and 1st tier rocks have been pressure washed and showing true colour. The second picture shows the rear rock wall extension. We actually gained a metre here as the site cut was wrong when we measured it out. I was skeptical but after triple checking it we confirmed original site cut was wrong.

Rock Wall Construction Part 2

This is day 3 of the rock wall project, 1st tier starting to take shape.

Telstra ONT Installed

Telstra contractor came out today and installed the fibre optic termination box on the side of the house. It seems Metricon in their wisdom don't run an earth cable in the wall to the earth stake as they do for the electrical box which results in the cable being surface mounted.

We now have a working phone line and free to air TV feed with Internet to follow.

Garage Door Fixed

A busy day yesterday with the garage door also being fixed. There were two dented panels as pictured in a post from last month. These have been replaced and whole door aligned to sit correctly on the garage floor. Still a shame about the rail mount driven through the cornice but.

Rock Wall Construction

Metricon has given us verbal permission to go ahead and construct the front and back retaining walls to allow for certification to proceed without any problems. We have engaged Andy again from Eden Earthworks to construct the wall from blue stone. The front will be a 2 tier layer to avoid exceeding the 1M high restriction without engineers approval.

I've seen other walls Andy has done this way and can say he is a bit of an artist at them.

Oven Door Alignment

Hmmm.....Worth a phone call or two today. I don't know why anything to do with building is always so hard.

Oven Installed

Oven must have been installed late yesterday afternoon. Looks different to the one shown in the Metricon Momentum promotion but I always expected that. Microwave also has been installed and will photograph that later today after the range hood is installed. BTW that warm gold cast is from the early morning light that streams through the house.

Gas Certificate Issued

Gas Certificate was issued yesterday and cooktop installed. After a little shopping around I found you can save a little bit on gas bottles. Gas fitter also supplied a pre-formed slab to sit the gas bottles on. Our SS gave me the go ahead to have the gas bottles delivered about a week before hand over which looks to be a fortnight away.

Painting Touch-ups Done

Painters have been back on Friday and attended to touch-ups and finished off some exterior painting like the projection above the garage door. I still impressed how the projection turned out, I thought the facade might not work with it but it does and gives some added protection from the elements. The projection was forced upon us to comply with the local covenant.

So what you see now is really the finished product as far as Metricon is concerned. Driveway will be completed by us after handover. Had the concreter out this morning to give us a quote on the driveway.

Dusk Lighting Shot

Grabbed a shot of the outside lighting at dusk. Might to need to add a down light under the eave on the left hand side to balance the far right light.

My camera doesn't excel at these kind of shots in auto mode. Need manual control and tripod. Then I could set the ISO to 100 and lengthen the shutter speed to get the correct exposure. Bit too much for a point and shoot. Might have to treat myself to a digital SLR after handover.

Heated Towel Rail Timer

Some electrical suppliers will deny this timer exists but here it is larger than life. The sparky gave up trying to source it after getting the run around and handed it over to me. The PDL part number is 646E7WH. We will be using this to control the heated towel rail which is located on the other side of this wall in the ensuite. Sparky looked at me strange when I asked for the switch to be mounted this way but the idea was to keep the tiled wall in the ensuite clean and without clutter.

Ironing Station Installed

The switch to right of the picture is an isolation switch for the internal power point of the ironing station.

Invasion Of The Sticky Dots

Yes to those who have built before it's those dreaded red sticky dots that indicate some kind of flaw. There are a few around but overall the house doesn't look like it has the measles.

Renderers have been back today and fixed a few blemishes.

Take Care When Changing Variations

Just a reminder to be careful when changing the detail in your variations. Check them, re-read them and check them once more to be sure. I realized yesterday why the mirror in the bathroom was so out of wack size wise. We changed the height dimension and when I transcribed the new dimensions I typed 1170mm instead of 1770mm for the width. Result I've asked SS to leave mirror off and I'll get another done after hand over at our expense.

Anybody want to buy a 1170mm x 835mm micro edge mirror cheap....lol

Pre-walk Through Completed

Not too much to report except pre-walk through with SS completed yesterday. Electrical finished on Monday by the looks of things. The ironing station is now mounted in the wall but not yet connected to power. Had to twist the door of the ironing station to get a good alignment....sounds dodgy but worked a treat and everything lines up perfectly now.

Tiler has grouted new tiling in bathroom and exterior door sills.

SS informs me the range hood has been stolen. I smell a rat as I was marking landscaping outside on Friday and didn't see anything looking like a range hood delivered. I asked if there was any proof of delivery and apparently they take a photo of the goods delivered along with the lot number. Hmmm....what then stops...no won't go there...lol

Anyway not our problem as Metricon will have to supply another.

Site Clean and Back Fill

Site has been cleaned, bin removed and slab back filled with sandy loam. Just waiting on Andy from Eden Earthworks to finish his current job and get started on ours. Metricon have given the green light to start construction of the front rock walls before hand over as they are concerned about getting certification without the retaining walls.

Tiling Edges Finished

Tile edges and expansion joints have been finished with silicone and what a difference! Starting to look more and more like a quality finished product.

Added Disclaimer

After a few dramatised phone calls today and one of the management overstepping the mark I believe it's time to remind people this is our personal experience with a Metricon build. Our SS and trades have been flexible and very helpful. Your mileage will vary and please don't use this blog as an example to try and further your case if they won't allow something.

Saying "But they did it" and quoting this blog will only bring down trouble on those that have been so helpful. I may still have to remove some posts to protect the innocent..lol

I hope people will be able to read between the lines and get the message I'm trying to send here.

Bathroom Tiles Corrected

Very happy to see the incorrect mirror has been removed (Without breaking it) and tiles laid as per contract. I thought it might prove a drama but appears to have gone smooth with a minimum of mess created. The grout is off colour on the floor and looks dirty hopefully just needs some more cleaning.