We went down to Torquay for breakfast yesterday morning, then ventured on a walk along the coast from Torquay to Jan Juc – there was a northerly wind blowing, which made for some lovely waves, and mild air temperature – it was beautiful:
After the walk we ducked into the house for a look, not really expecting much… and were thrilled to find that the two decks were almost complete, along with all the insulation internally. I’m struggling to keep up! Here are some photos of the latest progress:
The house plan to refresh your memory…
Decks
Internal deck (using merbu), standing in the kitchen sliding doors, facing East …
Standing in the living room at the front of the house, looking back towards the internal deck (through the sliding doors!) the vertically placed horizontal wood slates will be painted the colour of the house…
Same deck with the privacy screen completed …
Same deck area, turning to face the house (looking at the family room)…
The back (golf) viewing deck, looking west (this deck will have a pergola along the length of it)…
The back (golf) viewing deck looking East …
Although our deck is only 90cm off the ground, which means we don’t legally need a guard rail/balustrade (according to the Building Code of Australia – BCA), we think we might change our minds and have one added. Standing on the deck without a balustrade made me very nervous about kids falling off the edge (or tipsy adults!). We just don’t want to take that risk, so we will speak to the builder about adding some kind of safety rail. Until we were able to stand on it yesterday, we didn’t realise how high off the ground it actually was. The whole point of the deck is for entertaining, and having friends (with their kids) over. It won’t be much fun if they are worried about their kids falling off the deck the entire time!!
The deck/walkway between the garage and the house (will also be covered in Merbu) …
Front entrance decking…
Insulation
Tip: When it came to the insulation we requested to have insulation placed in some of the internal walls too. During our own research we were told by someone that you can hear everything between walls, and to think about placing internal insulation between bedrooms. We also chose to place insulation between the bathroom and the bedroom 4 to cut noise from the shower, and between the kitchen and bedroom 2, to reduce the fridge motor noise. You can see where we have internal insulation on the plan.
The internal insulation in the front entrance wall (facing East) …
The living room …
Standing on the hallway stairs, facing the front of the house, overlooking the study nook and laundry entrance …
Standing at the hallway stairs, looking over the kitchen and dining area, toward the back of the house …
The family room, looking East …
It was lovely to walk through the house with the insulation in – for the first time the elements (mainly the rain and wind) were not working their way through the house. It felt cosy, secure, and very quiet! I guess it is all ready for the plasterer now!
I’ll keep you updated about what we end up doing about the decking safety rail/balustrade.
Cheers,
Bernice
www.heybernice.com
