Sunday 17 September 2017

September 15: more insulation

I finally found some kid-free time and motivation to crawl around the roof to install the extra insulation we bought in June 2016!

We should now have insulation of R6+ for most of the ceiling in the original part of the house (existing insulation plus R4.0 Greenstuff batts)

 
Into the roof


After the first session



We even managed to time it with the local council's soft plastic recycling collection!




Wednesday 5 October 2016

September 3: More Paving

Today I re-laid the pavers at the back of the house.  I still need to bed n the edges, fix garden beds and top-dress the lawn...


Saving the worms...





Sunday 7 August 2016

August 7: secondary glazing

Our magnetic secondary glazing for the original 100 year old windows arrived yesterday. I installed it today. Not as difficult as I'd feared. Certainly makes it obvious how out of square the windows are!

Here is the sheet, before installation. 

One window installed. 

Almost done

Now the test will be to see how well they stick. I've already has one 'slip'. I'll give them a few days before I attempt to remove the sheets. 






Wednesday 27 July 2016

July 26: Paving Update

This week I had another 600 pavers delivered from Paddy's Bricks.  I've laid around 500 of them to almost complete the side path.   I just need to install edges and concrete them in.







The angled bricks are just there until I get the edges of the path bedded in...






Wednesday 15 June 2016

June 15: paving

Yesterday I had 2 metres of sand delivered. I've since been fixing levels for the shed base and side path.  Just about ready to spread sand and start paving....










Wednesday 20 January 2016

January 20: Our Window!

We salvaged the window from what was our dining room.
We sold it to a builder who was renovating the Star Hotel in South Melbourne.
Today we were in the area so had a bit of a pilgrimage to find it.




This is what it looked like after removal from our house:


Friday 18 December 2015

December 18: more insulation

Today we had "Envirowall" insulation pumped into the remaining uninsulated walls.

Once the house cools off from this heat wave we'll be able to see if it makes any difference.









Sunday 29 November 2015

November 30: Security Door

Our security door was installed this morning. It hides our nice salvaged fromt door but is required for cross ventilation.  Now to get the fanlight operational...




Thursday 13 August 2015

August 12: Heating

We finally had the heating comissioned today.  Now we can start really enjoying our house!

It was a bit alarming to see our sustainable house using up to 60kWh a day to try and keep us vaguely warm!!