New Purchase/Build - Home Renovations - Gardens - Garages & Sheds.

[k31th]

coming along nicely, Paul!

[discostig]

Quite a bit has gone on but it's been frustrating so have held off on updates.

 

First the good news, garage door went on about 3 weeks ago and balanced out the red gutters nicely.  Once the front door's stained darker and rendering to portico should finish it off nicely (I hope, still slightly nervous about render colour).

 

 

 

 

Tiling has been going in and was looking great

 

 

 

 

 

For about 4 days then this happened

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No one (tiler, site super, tile shop) has seen it before or can explain exactly what happened.  If I was a gambling man I'd wager on the tiler's glue reacting to a faulty batch of factory tile glue that they use to pre stick them to the 3x3 sheets.  Here's the webbing on the back that you can see coming through.  It looks to me like it's protecting the glue from mixing badly as it's not as dark where the netting is.  I'll probably never know for sure.  Not all the tiles did it but I don't want to run the risk of it happening in 6 months once we're moved in.

 

Tiles as the factory ship them

 

 

About 4 days after being glued on

 

 

 

 

 Final decision after a week of back and forth was faulty tiles and to re-pick them.  We were paranoid it would happen again with metal foil backed tiles (plus these were end of line for some reason) so spent at least another 6 hours across 2 days including travel and butting heads in the tile shop to finally pick one that we both liked.  I like the original more since it's a "cooler" more modern look but this is pleasant to look at too (experimenting with layout in pic).  If these fk up I'll be really disheartened.

 

Another deep look glass tile

 

 

 

Also the smaller tiles sections will easy my eyes a bit since the3x3 squares we had weren't quite as big as the wall tiles resulting in slightly off horizontal lines that I was not a fan of.  The smaller lines all over it will make that way less noticeable.

 

Paid the extra for the full tiling job and it's looking good.  Pic is guest bathroom.  Once the grout goes in it will be great as it's close in colour to the tiles and makes it look more seamless.

 

 

Tiles line up on the floor and walls which is lovely to see (not the best pic to demonstrate though)

 

 

Anyway Tiling should be all done by end of this week which means it won't have held up the house at least.

 

 

 

Appliances are being delivered, measured up shower screens, hot water system is going in (panels are on) but got no pics because didn't go there on the weekend and too dark after work.  Render is going on to portico externals soon I think as a bloke has painted the undercoat on today.

 

 

Edited 09/05/16 03:23 PM by -Stever-

[bloodycrashboy]

3 hours ago, -Stever- said:

Quite a bit has gone on but it's been frustrating so have held off on updates.

 

First the good news, garage door went on about 3 weeks ago and balanced out the red gutters nicely.  Once the front door's stained darker and rendering to portico should finish it off nicely (I hope, still slightly nervous about render colour).

 

 

 

 

Tiling has been going in and was looking great

 

 

 

 

 

For about 4 days then this happened

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No one (tiler, site super, tile shop) has seen it before or can explain exactly what happened.  If I was a gambling man I'd wager on the tiler's glue reacting to a faulty batch of factory tile glue that they use to pre stick them to the 3x3 sheets.  Here's the webbing on the back that you can see coming through.  It looks to me like it's protecting the glue from mixing badly as it's not as dark where the netting is.  I'll probably never know for sure.  Not all the tiles did it but I don't want to run the risk of it happening in 6 months once we're moved in.

 

Tiles as the factory ship them

 

 

About 4 days after being glued on

 

 

 

 

 Final decision after a week of back and forth was faulty tiles and to re-pick them.  We were paranoid it would happen again with metal foil backed tiles (plus these were end of line for some reason) so spent at least another 6 hours across 2 days including travel and butting heads in the tile shop to finally pick one that we both liked.  I like the original more since it's a "cooler" more modern look but this is pleasant to look at too (experimenting with layout in pic).  If these fk up I'll be really disheartened.

 

Another deep look glass tile

 

 

 

Also the smaller tiles sections will easy my eyes a bit since the3x3 squares we had weren't quite as big as the wall tiles resulting in slightly off horizontal lines that I was not a fan of.  The smaller lines all over it will make that way less noticeable.

 

Paid the extra for the full tiling job and it's looking good.  Pic is guest bathroom.  Once the grout goes in it will be great as it's close in colour to the tiles and makes it look more seamless.

 

 

Tiles line up on the floor and walls which is lovely to see (not the best pic to demonstrate though)

 

 

Anyway Tiling should be all done by end of this week which means it won't have held up the house at least.

 

 

 

Appliances are being delivered, measured up shower screens, hot water system is going in (panels are on) but got no pics because didn't go there on the weekend and too dark after work.  Render is going on to portico externals soon I think as a bloke has painted the undercoat on today.

 

 

 

good that the tiles stuffed up before you moved in

nice progress Stever, look like you are almost there 

when is the expected move in date?

[Franga]

Update for me. Land is titled and we settle on Friday. Been trying to get the builder to pull the finger out and sort out our final fixed price contract but their new Customer Service girl assigned to us isn't very good. Perhaps she's new to the industry.

[discostig]

Good luck Franga.  Customer service that is good is hard to find.  Often we don't get call backs from our main point of contact at the builder...maybe they are understaffed.

 

 

BCB, yeah I'm glad they died right away.  Not keen on having tradies running around once we move our things in.  The trash the leave laying on the ground pisses me off.  

 

They told us handover could be up to 8 weeks after tiles are done, but sometimes as short as 5 weeks.  Getting closer...want to get the phone line hooked up so I can confirm ADSL speeds already!  Or even port availability at all...no free ports at the exchange would throw a spanner in the works.  4G does good speeds but not gamer friendly (pings variable) plus low download limits (Optus 25GB for $90 a month on wifi).

 

PS don't hit quote when replying man, I had to scroll past my entire 11 page post with all the annoying tile pictures to read your reply  

[Wilko16]

Stever - those tiles are very strange! Hopefully it all gets sorted out

Who are you building with franga?

[Mrs Jeturbo]

Stever I have to say im.not a fan of the tiles youve picked anyways but the replacement ones do look better imo than the origionals anyways.

Everyones plances are looking good though

Yeah admin people in building companies are usually average as fhaaark

Unless your going custom build direct with a smaller builder its usually the way it is... as long as its done and done ok that's what matters lol

[bloodycrashboy]

4 hours ago, -Stever- said:

PS don't hit quote when replying man, I had to scroll past my entire 11 page post with all the annoying tile pictures to read your reply  

 

Sorry Stever, its been a while.

 

Internet speed is a high priority on my list of have to's.

I was getting all excited because the NBN is getting rolled out in my suburb and I was looking at where I could have the install on my property.

Then with great disappointment I find out that our suburb is getting fiber to the node and not to the home.

Stupid bloody gumbyment.

and they have the cheek to say we need to embrace new ideas in innovation and science, and harness new sources of growth to deliver the next age of economic prosperity in Australia.

and yet we are given archaic internet hookups.

 

So bottom line for me (pun intended) is internet speed that is barely adequate. 

[discostig]

I've been lucky enough to get 4G reception the last couple months here, even at ZERO bars I still manage to torrent a 300MB TV show file in about 5 minutes.  Download limits highly restrictive though, 1GB a day for $120 a month if you used it all every day.  Optus $2 a day plan which gives 500MB then can use another $2 to do it again (max 1GB a day).

 

New house is getting an NBN box but it won't have shit connected to it...just a thing new houses are supposed to have I think.  Last I checked it was 5 years away from Gidgegannup.

 

Yeah fluff the tiles were a compromise.  Pics don't show them very well when they are metallic and deep glass, colours are off because phone pic etc etc.  I like the below one the most (still wasn't like "OH YEAH THAT'S THE ONE" but I did like it) but the SO didn't and the thin offset strips would be a bit awkward to cut flat on the 90° where it will go up the centre of the bath and on to the top edge (but wouldn't be impossible).

 

This was more modern looking which I thought suited the theme but hey that's life.  

 

 

 

 

Crappy pic, so here's a vid

 

 

 

 

 

What colours would you stick with it?  I like features that stick out a bit, there were dark shiny ones that blend in like some of the displays in the shop but it would have looked too dark and boring I reckon.  

[.Stripes.]

Even cream colour would have been a simple yet effective contrast I reckon Stevo. Personally, I reckon it'll feel pretty dark, at which point the right lighting will be key. Stayed at a hotel in Kyoto that was very dark themed, but the way they lit it made it work and not feel depressing. At the end of the day though, you and Jen have gotta be the ones that are happy living with it everyday, not me.