The Soil...It's All Good

We have just received the news that the preliminary engineering has been completed and it's looking good.

The soil report has identified a M-D class soil which is as expected and typical of the area. M means Moderately reactive clay or silt sites, which can experience moderate ground movement from moisture changes. D means that the Depth of the expected movement is greater than 3m.

The reactivity (shrinking and swelling) of the clay can have a significant impact on the footings/slabs of a buildings foundation which need to be designed to counteract the movements of the clay soils, otherwise damage (cracking) of the house may occur.

If the soil report had returned a classification of H (Highly reactive clay sites), E (Extremely reactive sites), or P (Problem sites) our foundations/slab would be far more costly. So good news!

The bore logs did pick up some shale fragments but they were pretty deep, and they didn't find any rock. If this is all that is encountered when digging then we shouldn't have any costly issues, but you still never know what you will find.

It has also been determined that the house will sit well in the specified location, and the splits will be around 860mm (5 steps) from the lower to middle level and 670mm (4 steps) from the middle to upper level.

Now that we know the levels of the house the roof can be designed. A 3D version of the house and an updated floor plan will follow shortly.

As soon as we have finalised the main details of the house it can then be submitted to the local council for approval. Way hay :)

The Lighting

As with most new modern homes we will have lots of downlights throughout the house, with a few pendants and possibly some wall lights in the Home Theatre.

I have a lot of lights to find but here are my selections so far, although they are liable to change at any time!

Downlights
In keeping with the general theme the downlights will be square...

If we can afford it we will go with LED bulbs instead of halogen, because of their cheaper running costs.

Stair Lights
Recessed mini (7cm) wall lights in stainless steel will be used to highlight the two sets of stairs, probably three per stair on the hand rail side...

Kitchen LED Strip Lights
A LED strip light (in white) will be used under the kitchen worksurface (dining room side) to highlight the island bench...

Kitchen Pendant Lights
I am thinking of using three of these dark brown Trinidad oval pendants from Beacon Lighting over the island bench...

They look good in this home...

External Downlights
Exterior downlights will be positioned in the eaves at the front of the house, plus the Porch and Alfresco.

External Spot Lights
Square up-down spot lights in stainless steel will be installed on the Porch and Alfresco columns, to the far left and right of the front of the house, and to highlight the area outside the Kitchen and Dining Room.

Our Neigh...bours

We are looking forward to being introduced to our horsey neighbours...

The neighbours on the other side of us have a dog, who we have already got to know and is great fun. He brings you a tennis ball and waits for you to throw it, then tears after it like crazy.

No Natural Gas...No Worries

The area that we are building in does not have a natural gas supply, which of course we would want to use to heat our home and water, and for cooking.

The answer to this problem is to use Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) stored on site in a cylinder. This service is provided by ELGAS in South Australia. As the house will be a long way from the street, refiling the cylinder from a tanker will not be practical. The solution will be to have the LPG supply placed underground in the front garden close to the road.

So there will be no swapping of cylinders and deliveries will be scheduled based on usage, and you only pay for the amount that's filled. I expect that the 90kg (176 litre) cylinder will be sufficient but they do come in larger sizes.

ELGAS have advised me that the canister costs $385.00 (I assume that this is the bit that protects the cylinder underground), and the annual rental of the cylinder is $165.00. We will also have to pay for a hole to be dug and the system installed including rather a lot of piping to the house. Oh well, I guess it's the price we have to pay to ensure that we have a gas supply.

The Views

We have been back to our block of land to have another look at the potential views from each room of the house. We want to be as certain as we can that we have made the right decision about the location of the house. It's not like a paint colour where you can change your mind later.

Here are the views...
from the Lounge looking east

and looking north

from the Master Bedroom

and the Guest Bedroom

from the Study looking south

from the Kitchen looking north

and from the Dining Room

We have a number of established bushes that are now flowering in the spring...

The first one (I believe) is the Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha) which is the floral emblem of Australia, the second one I have no idea.

The Fireplace

We have always said that any new home would have to have a wood burning open fire. The though of opening a good bottle of red wine, and settling down to watch the flames and hear the crackle of the logs is something that we are really looking forward to. In fact I have a special bottle set aside for the first occasion.

I like the idea of installing a firebox as it works far more efficiently than a standard brick fireplace. Cool air is drawn into the heating chamber and as it rises, it's forced out into the room through a jet at the top. This and the heat produce directly from the logs produces up to 5 times more heat than an average brick fireplace. Not that we will be using the fireplace to heat the whole house but it will save us time and money buying the logs.

The Jetmaster 700D wood burner with four sided black trim

An optional hook-on safety screen secures the fire. It is child proof and spark proof so can be left unattended for burning overnight.

Positioning the House continued

We met with the builder on our block on Saturday and paced around, up and down the slope working out the best spot for the house. Stakes were placed at each corner of where the house would sit so that we could clearly see its position. We imagined looking out of each of the windows to make sure that it was in just the right place.

As I thought we wanted it higher up the slope and the back of the house facing closer to due north. This will mean cutting into the hill a little more, and looks like the study corner will need to be on piers. I just hope that this won't be too costly.

We also placed the house closer to the western boundary. This will give us more space between us and the neighbours to the east, which will allow for the expansion of the patio or even a pool in the future. The western side of a house gets very hot in Australia in the afternoon and you are advised to limit the number and size of windows. We only have one placed high up in the wall of the Home Theatre. The garden on this side of the house won't be used, and faces the end of a neighbours back garden.

Click to view larger

Now that we have positioned the house in a different location to where we thought it would originally go, the design of the lounge and alfresco has also been changed.

Additionally the storage in the Home Theatre had to be removed because of the way the house levels change in that location. A new cupboard has been added to the Hall and bulkheads have been created in the Home Theatre and Entrance Hall.

I have been very nervous about getting the location and design of the house just right, but it does seem to be coming together now. There's just a small tweak of the plan here and there now.

The next step is to have the preliminary engineering report done, which will take at least 2 weeks.

Skirting, Architrave and Cornices

Looking around the display homes I realised how their skirting boards, architrave and cornices where nearly all the same and very boring. I want something a bit different, not fussy and over the top but an extra detail that would make our home feel special.

I also like the idea that all the woodwork, ceilings and cornices are pure white. Rich wall colours will stand out wonderfully against the white and hopefully give the home the look that I am after.

I have tried to describe my look but it is rather a mixture of eras and styles, it's fairly simple but hopefully a little different.

It turns out that I like skirting, architrave and cornices from the Art Deco period.

Boral Cairo 3 Step 75mm Profile Cornice (middle one)

I'm not sure whether to go with the SQ Skirting with SQ Architrave or the DW Skirting with DW Architrave. Probably the DW as I expect the bevelled edge will match the panelling on the internal doors.

The Kitchen continued

I had been thinking about the location of the double oven and microwave in the kitchen, so I sketched a scaled version of the layout of the main wall of cupboards, so that I could see how the appliances would fit. I was very pleased to find that I could position the microwave over the double oven at just the right height.

I also realised that the study nook with a worksurface and overhead cupboards, could at a later date be a good spot for a wine and beer fridge. The special wine fridges that cool separate sections at different temperatures are very expensive, but the single temperature Hisense 29 Bottle Wine Cooler is reasonably priced. Cheers!