Painting is one of hose 'almost finished' jobs (at least that's what I tell myself :).
It gives a room a nice complete 'job well done' feeling.
All the paint i have used, has been recycled paint. The vast majority of which has from council throw-outs.
As paint is so expensive, and finding good paint is pretty easy, it's an easy cost saver for the 'zero impact builder'.
For what I have to say about using discarded paint: Go to my 'Good ideas' page.
1/7/2010
Throwing up plaster board is such a good feeling. It's one of the most least time consuming jobs and gives one of the most visually changed results.....
..... At least that's what you think.... Then you start jointing........
To be fare. It was my first go at jointing. And after you learn how to do it, it's actually quite fun.
3/4/2010
Myself and to mates... Sally Dare and Craig Ward had a combined 40th today.
It was without doubt the best party ever!
We had a Sci/Fi / steampunk theme, and everyone dressed up. The effort everyone put into it was astounding!
Check out the pictures here:
Later on, part of my costume was entered into the "Waste to Art" competition. I was very happy and surprised when it won!
20/2/2010
Another new skill.
Later I will add a page for mosaicing.
20/1/2010
Last year I did a welding course at TAFE.
This is the first real project for my house.
Welding is a great skill to have. All of a sudden there's a whole new field of possibilities opened to me... Projects that can now be done cheaply and a new range of repairs I can do.
To be able to pick up a piece of steel and joint it like timber opens up a whole new list of items I can scavenge.
19/1/2010
I turned 40 today!
When I woke up Cindi gave my the best
birthday card ever!
The card was signed by heaps of friends, which made me feel happy :)
The card is shown here to the right. It's title is:
"The
18 or 19 glorious ducks of the emperor"
(Long story)
Then when I started the coffee brewing, I checked my emails
(just like Cindi knew I would do)..
The first email entitled:
"Happy Birthday", when opened, it came up with this:
Cool eh?
18/1/2010
"As seen on tv"
The "Current Affair" aired
today. Surprisingly I didn't look that bad, although no-one
mentioned that
I needed to brush my hair.
After watching it, the text messages started rolling in. Most of which where
commenting on my bas hair.
My favorite was from Bruce who said: "All that scrounging and you couldn't
find a hair brush?"
"A Current Affair" got in touch
with me, wanting to to a 4 minute blurb on my house of obtainium.
The angle being... "Beeting
the mortgage"
The filming prosses took over 4 hours to give enough material
for my 4 minutes of fame.It was a lot of fun filming it
8/12/2009
Robbie from "Katoomba Council" invited my in to
do a 45 minute talk to to council staff on 'building from recyced
materials'.
There where about 25 people there, and it was a lot of fun. Subject
matter went out the window, and it evolved into a big friendly
group chat.
I think we a very lucky to have such a progressive council who
are interested in sustainability.
31/10/2009
The 'Blue Mountains Eco Homes Tour' came to visit my house...
And I had so much fun.
Thank you to all of you who came along, I really hope all the wonderful houses
you saw have inspired you.
Myself and Ben put in 3 skylights.. And what a difference
they make!
I can finally see my stair-well the way it was ment
to be
seen!
11/9/2009
Today I got ALL my lights working.
Now I can finally work at
night.
You would think working at night would be easy enough with lead-lights.But
in the real world, just remembering you left your screwdriver
in that other dark room, is enough to make you retreat back to
your couch and watch a movie.....
1/9/2009
Always use a drill-press when
drilling steel
.... Where possible anyway....
This is what happens when a 18mm HSS drill shatters due to you accidentally
moving the angle when drilling through steel.
19/8/2009
The Plumber has just left me with working inside toilets!
Oh my god. What an amazing difference
15/8/2009
My first piece of Gyproc went up today.
Worth mentioning....
1/7/2009
My friend Bruce told me the other day; He made a car port from
some recycled timber. However, when he added up how much it cost
him, he found he only saved about $5!.
This dose not surprise me one bit.
From my own experience, working efficiently with
recycled materials is a hard-earned skill.
The first time you use a bent bit of timber is a time consuming
process But with time and effort, you begin to learn all the
sort-cuts.
A big tip is getting the right tools for the job... After visiting
many owner-builders who al-ready work within the building trade,
I found its almost ridiculous to use lots of recycled timber
without buying a big ballsy (cheap) jointer.
Witch brings me to......
Buying cheap tools on Ebay If you live in Sydney, the words 'Ebay' and 'Cheap'
don't often appear in the one sentence. There are just too many
people to compete with.
However, I found not that many people want big heavy equipment.
In-fact quite often a big 2hp table saw will go cheaper than
a circular saw.
When building a house from recycled warped timber, although not
necasery, big equipment dose make the job go allot smoother.
15/6/2009
Sticking dry-wall against the un-even
surface of mud bricks can be quite challenging.
01/3/2009
Neis
Took 6 weeks of to do a small bushiness course.
Fantastic, but Seeing my building site just sit there is getting
frustrating.
23/11/2008
My block gets so much wind!
I am begining to think that my house would benefit more from
a wind generator than solar panels.
Over the last 2 years I have noticed that 99% of the time the
wind only comes from two directions on my block. This makes
planing a position for the generator pretty easy. However on
a typical
1/4 acre block the noise of the generator is pretty crucial. .... Maybe it will happen
15/11/2008
Bouldering wall!
My friends have a bit of a regular bouldering thing happening.
But unfortunately our climbing groups bouldering wall had to
be dismantled, due to
the factory
it
was built
in being
closed
down.
However, luckily, I am building a house, and I had a bit of free
space. So my front bedroom (which was about a week away from
being
complete enough to move into) did a usage shift, and became
the 'Attic'.
An awesome 12-sheets-of-ply bouldering wall.
Built entirely from recycled and free materials (including
the screws and nails holding it together). We have a large 3.5
sheets
of ply, 45 degree wall which heads up into a roof.
A large traverse wall heads through a nice 30 degree corner section.
Most of the wall has been painted with textured paint so we can use friction.
It's a really nice feeling to finally be using my house for
a recreation purpose. As well as sharing it with friends.
5/11/2008
Murbau doors delivered
I now consider myself to be able to hang ANY door!
The doors, weighing about 30kg each, (Without the glass!)
required 4 hinges each. Each hinge had to be chiseled
into very old iron bark, which was far from being straight,
and had
the
density
of, well, lets say steel. This was a complicated job.
But then, the results speak for them selves..
1/10/2008
Windows and doors
Making windows and doors is both a time consuming, and
a satisfying experience.
When
building a
house, as far a woodworking skills go, it is not only one
of the most technical of jobs.. It is also
one of the most visible. Noticed by all, every time
someone opens a door or looks through a window.
This combination means when you manage to make a truly buetifull
window out of thrown away scraps, it is a truly rewarding: because
you know it will be noticed.
My first 'Just like a bought one' window!
Materials (ALL found):
Blackbutt, Stringybark, Ironbark, Murbau, nails,screws glass, Decking oil (OK...
decking oil was bought)
First the hardwood frame is set into and built with the
wall. Then the glass and trim is installed.
Hey presto... From messy to neat!
Nicely installed front windows
Temporary front and back doors made out
of: Found and denailed stud framing and a stainless steel
Milo
billboard.
1/9/2008
One of the things I have noticed about owner-building, is
that with each new job comes a new set of s A set os
skills
that you don't have!
So you start this new job, usually producing a below standard
result on your first attempt. But you learn allot from your
mistakes and as the task continues, you gain greater skill.
Buy the time the task is finished you have just reached an
truly competent and efficient stage in your new skill...
However with the task complete, you now have little use for
you new knowledge!
This usually leaves you with really looking forward to building
a new house sometime in the future!
The Windows an doors' entry above, is an excellent example
of this process.
20/5/2008
Fascia boards
Due to bush fire reg's. My only practical fascia material
was hardi planks or corrugated iron. Either of which I
didn't really like, as I wanted to make my house look more
natural.
So I researched how to make fibro look like timber...
here is the result.
First I painted the boards with a light cream as a base
colour.
Then I applied a darker wash and then immediately, lightly,
wiped it off, so that the colour sat in the texture.
Cool eh?
19/01/2008
Ceader Windows
I have decided to put the ceader windows in my house... Unfortunately,
without the windows in my shack, the feeling of living in my shack is
now quit restrictive.
Oh well... I needed an incentive to build a bit faster.
05/01/2008
Seriously?! What sort of weird sicko throws out a suit
case of Lego!
19/12/2007
Finally I have my roof up.
I cant describe how good the feeling is, to wake
up and hear the rain beating down on my shack roof..... And
NOT CARE!
Yay. I am now no longer a slave to the weather.
28/11/2007
Raaaiiiinnnnn!
The framing is up, but the rain just wont give me a break!
15/10/2007
1 week later the roof framing is 50% done. However, after closely
watching what the carpenter did, I believe Ican finish the framing
over the next week.
I will get the builder back to do the tin though.
8/10/2007
My carpenter shows up today.
I have decided to get a proffesional carpenter in to do my roof frame. Even
though it is a hefty cost, it is worth it. As he will get the roof up in
two weeks,
where I would take 6 months.
4/10/2007
Today I stood up my first stud walls in my roof space.
They are made completly from re-used timber, scavenged and de-nailed.
( <Progress shots> )
It is so worth using recycled timber for stud walls,
as at $5 per meter from the hardware store, even paying someone
to de-nail (like I did), the cost saving
is huge. It's quite easy to clean 50m of timber in an hour.
29/9/2007
My first floor sub-floor is a patch work of
recycled materials, supplied by many dumpsters!
Refer to <Progress shots>
It was quite a fun job wondering around, spray painting a few
different room layouts.
14/9/2007
My first floor joists started to be put upday!
Refer to <Progress shots>
for the finished product.
7/9/2007
The volume control on the sterio broke today, it's now locked
on the highest volumn. So to listen to music, we have to put
the sterio in the laundry, inside the laundry cupboard, with
the door closed.
29/8/2007
Craig and his labourers Ben and Johan had a conundrum...
how to move a 200kg + tree trunk that was to be the central
column for the main room of the house. Initially
it lay just where the tree had been felled, and today Craig
chainsawed it to the correct length. But how to move this
beast into its final position?..... <more>
20/8/2007
My mate Yohan found a Makita chainsaw in the local council
cleanups. Apparently the previous owner of the saw said: 'It
dosn't cut too well, and it needs a new blade'... Well after
putting
the chain on correctly (It was on so backwards, so the chain
was cutting in reverse) .. it cut pretty well! Ha ha ha
9/8/2007
Wind! Last night was the windiest night I
can remeamber in the blue mountains. my shack (wich is 4.5m x
4.5m) was buffeted too and fro. Outside there where crashes and
bangs as ladders, milk creates and pieces of wood where being
blown around my block.
7/8/2007
Ode to a piece of wood
Oh wood, milled from pine you are,
Lots of you will make my wall.
You are the same shape that a brick is not,
And, t's hard to make you into a ball.
You are long and brown, or yellow, but rarely magenta.
All the colours of a 'Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby' you are hued.
Well'ly can you be nailed or screw or glued.
Also, a Wallaby can not be glued.
By Vogon builder X'scaigzwelaurendetpy
22/7/2007
I updated my menu & my gallery today.
Here's my old menu for posterity's sake. I'm still
rather fond of it.
The original design process was very analog!
18/7/2007
Ant and Craig's new toy!
Me and Ant went halvies in a chainsaw mill.
As well as being a great toy, it'll come in handy, as I can now mill up
a whole lot of timber for the future for things like my stairs and kitchen.
15/6/2007
Cindi's amazing Photoshopped rock wall plan
Problem:
My helpers want work when I'm not there, but how
can I get them to lay the ironstone in my inner wall, and
be sure they will keep to the pattern?
Answer:
1)
Cindi happened to have already taken photos of the outer wall - which she stitched together.
2)
The inner wall was already starting to go up, so she took more photos and stitched these to match the outer wall.
3)
Then she actually finished the new wall...! by 'Photoshopping' the bricks up to the future height of the completed wall.
4)
Then she made an interactive layer of ironstone texture and got me to shape it into an attractive pattern that I was happy with. This was printed out, and voila! A finished "Rock Wall Map" for the boys to follow when I am not there.
5)
And finally...The finished wall
Pic tacken on 28/9/2007
And there you have it! A photo-realistic (almost) plan,
of a wall not-yet built.
Fun and easy to follow.
-/6/2007
Info gathering on bricks
(text to come) (maybe)
5/4/2007
Yep I was right, the house is leaping up... Thanks
to Ben the expert bricklayer & Yohan the expert rock layer
(with an eye for picking rocks that later will become climbing
holds).
It seems like in the last 2 weeks I have done more work than
the last 2 months.
28/3/2007 30/3/2007
In my darkest hour I have found a way forward!
On the 28/3/2007 I have found a new helper... Ben. And then
on 30/3/2007 I found a second helper... Yohan. Now with 2 poeple
on for Wednesday, Thursday & Friday the house will forge
ahead!
28/2/2007
Depression and desperation
It has now been 1 year since I finished pouring
my slab. It's 1pm and I'm sitting in my shack, listening to
the rain beat down on the tin roof. I just heard a peal of thunder
while simultaneously getting a static shock, so the lightning
must have struck pretty close!
When I look at my walls, it just dosn't look like 1 year worth
of work.
So what went wrong? ... Let do a rough add up of my days working....
1 year of work based on a 4 day working
week
(2 days working in Sydney + 1 day of rest)
208
- Minus days of rain
-53
- Minus Car fiasco days
-36
Total days worked on walls
119
Mmm... I suppose the walls don't look so bad for
about 100 days worth of work, especially considering my lack
of tradesman skills. Still, I wish I had put up a roof up first.
I could be out there right now. <Progress shots>
15/2/2007
Dry stone walls
What a great pace of luck... My mate Steve, through
working for GreenCorp, is receiving tuition on building 'Dry
stone walls'.... And he wants to help me build my walls!
And not a moment too soon either... My attempts at fitting together
my big boulders where a bit rudimentary....
Check out my 'Steve & Dry stone walling' page
<here>
10/11/2006
Make that 50 days lost to rain.... And climbing...
10/8/2006
Well now I've lost about 40 days to rain. Post
and beam construction (See note on 29/6/2006) is definitely the
way to go in an area that gets a high rainfall.... And an inexperienced
brick layer!
5/8/2006
The rain continues.....
I've managed to dry out most of my timber. So
now it's treated the door and window frames are going up!
29/7/2006
Rain! Rain! Rain!
Well its now about 2 months after my last entry,
and I haven't done a whole lot. Due to me working in Sydney
2 days a week, my effective time for my project is reduced to
4 days. Unfortunately, because of the wet weather this time
has been reduced too... on average... 1.5 days a week :(
Thoughts on post and beam construction:
I originally wanted to build a roof and frame
first. I was advised against it due to an extra cost.... Quite
correct.
However, seeing that I have lost effectively 2
months work to rain, I think in hindsight that the extra cost
would have been worth it.
15/6/2006
I stood up my first column today!
It took a while to figure out how to cut the base
of an irregular tree column level, so it would stand vertical.
But Alex came up with the solution:
1) Cut the base roughly.
2) Stand it up vertical
3) Using a block & a pen, trace around the base to
get the cut line.
Also, it's getting harder to start work
on
these cold mornings. Check out the ice in this container.
10/6/2006
I finally got my hot shower working ...
Now I can finally move into my shack permanently.
But I must say, because my shack is so comfortable, it may take
the urgency to build quickly away!
24/5/2006
Today was great for two reasons:
1) It was Alex's first day helping out today.
Alex is studying energy efficiency, and comes up with some very
useful ideas. Having a helper who I can bounce ideas off makes
the job move along that much smoother.
2) I got to use my cement mixer for the first time.
It was well worth the investment: It produces a superior mix
to a wheelbarrow and saves a lot of time by mixing a much larger
capacity.
4/5/2006
Seeker and I laid our first mud brick! .... only
2999 to go....
26/4/2006
Patrick (aka Seeker (Don't ask)), my very own
helper started today.
He's bigger than me and moves mud bricks like
a freight train! We spent alot of the day moving mud bricks
down to the slab, hopefully we can lay our first brick tomorrow.
6/2/2006 to
Slab start to finish.
10/3/2006
6/2/2006
-
Start putting up formwork for pour 1
10/2/2006
-
First concrete pour
13/2/2006
-
Start putting up formwork for pour 2
-
Start the under slab plumbing
24/2/2006
-
Second concrete pour
25/2/2006
-
Start putting up formwork for pour 3
7/3/2006
-
Sall helped with the formwork
9/3/2006
-
Jules helped out with the formwork
10/3/2006
-
Mike helped out with the formwork & steel
-
Final pour
- Scott helped from the 6/2/2006 to 25/2/2006
At the eleventh hour I decided to run in-slab heating.
6/2/2006
The power was finally put onto the site today.
Great! I can get rid of that stupid GMC 750w (75w)
generator!
Tip for owner builders: Don't buy a GMC anything!
Peter Corney is coming in with a 6 tonne excavator
to remove my tree stumps and dig a pit for my septic & pump-out
tanks. While he was there he also dug in my driveway a bit
10//11/2005
Mega shack building weekend (attempt 2)
This was one of the most fun weekends I have had in a long
lime. Filled with friends, fun, building, food and community
spirit! And with a ban placed on me (by Cindi) to not get drunk
with Fleischy, we got heaps done on sunday!
Check out my shack building page for the run down... <more...>
6/8/2005
Mega shack building weekend (attempt 1)
Fleischy & me went up to my block with the intention
of making a start on building my shack. Although we had a pretty
good day on Saturday.... A night at the pub saw to it that
nothing
was done on on Sunday :)
30/7/2005
I went up to the mountains by myself today & chopped
down 4 of the smaller trees & then laid out the footings & base
for my shack.
1/7/2005
This site was finally put on the web.
23/6/2005
The Trees come down
Today was cold. So cold in fact, that we were chopping down
trees in the snow!
Well, Sal & Ant chopped down some of my trees & I
helped anyway.
Ant was a legend, scaling trees in the snow, wind & then
rain.
05/6/2005
Quote from below entry:
"Don't know how this is going to effect my relationship
with my flat mates"
Answer.... Not that well :)
00/6/2005
The studio - Today was a great day for
my project.
The bad news: The old brick warehouse that my
flat mates underground studio was in, is about to be turned
from
a cool
warehouse,
into yucky, yuppy, overpriced Meriton apartments. The Good news: I'm allowed to take anything I want
from the 7 story building... Including things that are screwed
down! I filled my van 3 times with fantastic lights, tools,
fridges, sinks, materials..... STUFF.
(Don't know how this is going to effect my relationship with
my flat mates)
19/1/2005
Today is my birthday
and it is a great day!
Amongst other things, today I turn 35, and I now can officially
say: 'I have been a climber for more than half my life'. This
for some reason makes me very happy :)
Cindi (the legend) organized a surprise birthday dinner for
me at 'Delicate Spicy Place' one of my favorite restaurants.
Along with this surprise came a birthday card, signed by many
of my friends, which contained the best prezzy ever... A $500
voucher for Bunnings Hardware! Yay!
Before I showed up to my dinner, I went climbing with Trizo
& Elli. Unfortunately, this meant when I showed up at the
restaurant I was majorly dehydrated & by the time I was
given my prezzy I was sooo drunk I could hardly talk or comprehend
what was going on around me..... I was VERY embarrassed the
next day :)
All in all I think it was the best birthday I have ever had.
Thanks everyone who was there or wanted to be there!
These are the dudes who came to my birthday, signed my card,
or put up some cash for my prezzy:
BeachBum, BlakJak, Boris, Cindi, Curly, Drac, Eri, Feccie,
Joe, Helen, Loop, Mark, Mat, Mewi, Mike, Millsy, Mr India,
Rogue, Sarah, Scott, Steve, Trizo, Tanya, TLA, Vic & Wazza....
You guys are cool.
This is a record of what I've spent my voucher on so
far:
Thanks!
Item:
Cost
Socket set
$79.94
Power box
$39.95
GMC generator
$98
Bosch power drill
$149
Silicon gun
$5.24
Makita circular saw
$183.90
-/-/2005
Fences
The block behind me has been sold. Unfortunately the bloke
who owns it owns a dog, & wants to put up a fence. Uh
Oh!
If you remember, that's where I've piled my bricks, and as
Murphy's law would have it.. the boundary runs right through
about 12 pallets of bricks.
Today I tried to move them to no avail.
But Cindi came to the rescue & negotiated that we leave
the bricks there & finish the fence of for him, when I
move the bricks.
13/11/2004
Cindi and I put the shelves in the shed.
We also hired a van to take up an extreme amount
of glass.
16/10/2004
Shed building
Cindi, Steve Fleischy, Mabel & myself built a shed this
weekend. Well almost anyway. I'll come up next weekend &
finish putting the roof on.
With a shed on the block, it finally feels like the job is
underway. Man! My flat mates are sure going to be happy i'm
finally moving some junk up there!
<Click here> to
see Scot's budget shed building technique.
And <Here> for some
photos of our wonderful creation.
13/5/2004
Moved my bricks from Scott's block to mine.
-/-/2003
Chain saw milling.
I took a much needed 3 week break from work.
In this time I helped Scott chain saw mill.
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