Excavation

Oh My God! I can't believe our back yard!!!! It's like a massive mud-wrestling pit. Brad informed me this morning that he'd taken 8 x 2.5 tonne truck loads of earth out and he reckoned we had another 3 or 4 to go. That's 30 tonnes of dirt! I'm a noob at this so that may not actually be much but it seems pretty significant to me.

This week has been huge. On the weekend our plumbing backed up - I'm not sure if it was the building that's caused it or that having our washing machine under the house with the water draining directly into the sewerage is the problem - whatever - I spent some serious time up to my arm pits in poo! Luckily Brad got his plumber in on Monday with the eel to sort it all out (not before he'd had the pleasure of being up to his armpits in our poo though) a case of beer may be needed there!

This is only day seven on site for Brad, Stuart and Matt. They have achieved a phenomenal amount in 7 days. Besides the demolition and 30 tonnes of earth, they have leveled the 65 (ish) metres squared that will be the addition to the house, they've dug all the trenches and the form work is in. They have even relocated a camellia for us (fingers crossed it survives).

Today they also removed the brick wall that was the last vestige of the outside toilet. Unfortunately this also meant that my crockery cupboard in the kitchen is no more. It backed onto the wall they took out today - all that remains is a thin bit of fibro sheeting (there's that ubiquitous asbestos again!) - hardly able to hold it's on weight let alone the significant weight of the cabinet with all the crockery in it. So tonight I have rationalised. We are down to four of everything - 4 plates, 4 bowls etc etc....at the rate these guys are working it might not be too long before the new kitchen is in so we won't have to live with it for long!

Another blow today was that the digital camera decided to stop working. I went to take a photo of Hunter (who was dressed as Han Solo for the Book Week Parade) and the camera just turned off immediately. So it may be a little while before I can get some more house pics done. Why now??!!??

Reinforcing down - concrete pour here we come!

Demolition!

I'm trying not to get excited because I know we have a long way to go....but the back of the house is being demolished this week!

True to his word our builder Brad and his team - Matt and Stuart turned up at 7am yesterday. I'm afraid I woke every half hour from 4.30am and checked the clock! I think I was worried about moving the cars so they wouldn't be in the way.

I worked from home yesterday as much for my own peace of mind than anything else. I thought it would be good to be around in case they had any issues or questions but also to get to know these people who will be at our place everyday for the next few months.

At the end of the day the frame work for the laundry and studio was gone as well as the rear awning and the cladding on the back of the house. Two truckloads of building waste went off to the tip. Today the back verandah room (which used to house the fridge and linen press) will go and the back door will be relocated so we (and the cats) have access to the rear of the property while we are building. As there will be about a 1.2m drop until we put in some temporary stairs it will be interesting to see what happens when one of the cats runs out the back door....I think a video camera positioned outside the back door may just win us a Funniest Home Video prize...that or a visit from the RSPCA.

After demo

Day One

It's Day One. The first day of our renovation. Today the studio (I use that term lightly) and laundry will be demolished. Well, partly demolished.

These 2 buildings are built from asbestos. Yep - that cancer causing material that is endemic in Australian suburbs. My 93 year old grandmother reliably informs me that after the war it was the only material you could get to build with. Hence a big chunk of post-war suburban Australia was created using this versatile, though ugly and dangerous material. Since we purchased our house in 2005 we have found bits buried in the garden, leaning at the back of the sheds, under the house....it's insidious. I think perhaps it breeds while you're not looking. Anyway the bulk of ours will be gone today!

I spent a good part of the morning before leaving for work trying to get our recalcitrant cat Scout inside. She is the most infuriating animal! After 20 minutes of coaxing I managed to get her within 2 meters of the back door only to have her make a bolt for it and disappear under the house. Hopefully she'll stay ensconced under there and won't collect nasty asbestos fibres in her fur that she can spread around the house later.

I feel almost an anticlimax today, it's been almost 12 months since we set this renovation in motion. It doesn't actually seem real that we have commenced at long last.