Day 109: Bricking - porch, front and left side wall of house

Hi friends,

The actions are heating up on the building site this week, I was told by SS that the plumbing rough in was done yesterday and today the brickies started bricking the porch, the front, the left side wall of the house, and also the front door jamb has been installed. I hope this pace will continue to completion.

Porch and our 2040(H) x 1020(W) pivot door jamb

Close up of Boral Blackheath

Main bedroom front wall

Closer look at the main bedroom wall

Left side of house

Living room door

The black strip at the bottom of windows are the damp proof course

Closer look at the damp proof course

Day 106: House wrapped and most of defects fixed

Hi friends,

There were alot of action on the building site today with the house completely wrapped in sissalation, so not long to go before the bricking will restart. In addition, I was surprise that most of the defects listed on the frame inspection report had been fixed today, so a big thank you to our site supervisor for organising the carpenter to come in and start fixing the defects so soon. There are still a few more items which need to be attended to so hopefully it will be fixed shortly. Also the beam and posts to the front porch for our facade was installed. It was to dark to take photo's so will do so when I'm there during the day.

Day 105: Inspection Report

Hi friends,

There wasn't any work done on site today so no photo's, however I received the frame inspection report from Darren of Darbecca on Friday night and as promised below are defects that were found during the inspection.

DEFECTS:

1. The frame work on this property is of a good standard however several issues require additional attention to bring the frame up to compliance with AS 1684.2-2006.

a. It was noted that all walls have NOT been blocked out with a minimum of three blocks and nailed off to connect the walls. Given the height of this dwelling, it should be four blocks based on the 900mm centres requirements of the standard. Plaster cracking will occur to these areas. The blocking must be installed to ALL intersecting walls to the dwelling and more importantly nailed off with a minimum of two framing nails to each surface when the lockup carpenter straightens the walls. It was also noted that a large number of blocks are underside. The standards call for all blocks to be a minimum of 200mm in size. The current undersized blocks will shatter when nailed. I refer the builder to AS 1684.2, section 6.2.
It was also noted that several walls are missing the blocking, or the connection. Note the walls that are side by side. These walls are still classed as intersecting / connecting walls and must be connected.

b. AS 1684.2-2006 states that when openings in NON-LOADBEARING WALLS over 1200mm occur, both internal and external, a lintel shall be installed and the size of the lintel will be determine by table 23, based on the top plate. All openings over 1200mm will need to be fitted with lintels to comply with the code. Most opening have been completed correctly, however the opening to the master bedroom is over 1200mm and has not been installed.

c. The cutting out of the allowance for the shower base breaches AS 1684.2-2006. Page 60 and 61 of these standard states that the maximum allowance for notching is 25mm. We detected 40mm plus. The timber must be supported by a cleat to add additional support to the stud.

d. A number of noggings are missing. All have been marked on the wall or the floor. Note that the walls must have noggings no greater than 1350mm.

e. The frame over hang to the garage breaches the BCA and AS 1684.2. The maximum allowance for overhang is 10mm. We were able to detect 30mm to several areas. The installation of a timber under the studs is an acceptable solution to this defect.

f. The bracing to the face of the dwelling needs to be replaced. It appears that a trade has smashed the bracing away with a hammer. The bracing must extend from the top plate to the bottom plate and be secured every 150mm as per AS 1684.2, page 143 to page 147, table 8.18.

2. All steel fixing nails to all windows must be removed. The current installation of fixing nails will result in rust bleeding through the paintwork to the dwelling, several years after handover. AS 2047 calls for a zinc, stainless steel or simular treated products only to be installed. The current steel nails will rust and are unacceptable. The use of galvanised nails is completely acceptable. The nail size must be suited to the installation. Again the current fixing gun
installation is unacceptable.

3. The installation of the windows into the corner that has the steel post needs to be reworked. The current installation is not supporting, or firmly holding the windows in place. As discussed on site, the current installation needs to be reworked to secure the windows to the steel post.

Rectification Required YES


For those that are seeking an inspector below is the contact detail of the inspection company I used.

Darren Love (Darbecca P/L)
Independent Building Quality Inspections
ABN 12 115 961 487
PO Box 80
ALTONA VICTORIA 3018
Phone: 0400 199 544
Fax 03 9395 4966
Email: darbecca@bigpond.net.au

Day 102: Frame Inspection

Hi friends,

I had my frame inspection with Darren from QAI Reporting (Darbecca) and I was mighty impress with the inspection he did and will get him in for pre-plaster, so thank you Darren. He found many faults most are missing lintels above the bedroom robes and corner noggins not put in correctly. He checked whether stud frames are plumb and also check the concrete to see if it's even. There are no problems with the concrete so that's a relief, and he didn't mention anything about the studs so I assume they are plumb. Anyway I will post what's on the report when I receive it.

My site supervisor say he will get what's listed fixed so hopefully he keeps his word and will do the right thing and fix what's listed on the report.

Day 99: Garage wall completed

Hello friends,

It looks like the garage brick wall has been completed so a job well done to the brickies. I was surprised that the bricking above the garage door was completed today because the steel lintel wasn't delivered yesterday so I didn't expect the steel lintel to be delivered and then installed straight away so a big thank you to my site supervisor for organising it perfectly. Anyway I'm relieved that the garage wall is completed and we can begin to move on to the next stage as I want the roof tiles installed as soon as possible so it could shield the timber frame from the weather but that won't happen until the brickies finish bricking the whole house so that would be another month time. I'm deeply concern about the quality of the timber frame because it have been subjected to the rain and sun for over 2 months now therefore I'm not sure how much longer it can withstand the elements before it loses its' structural strength. I will raise this concern at the frame stage inspection to my independent building inspector.

Bricking to the front of garage with the unexpected brick above garage door




The wall is just over 3 metres high because it's built on the site boundary.

Looking from the front into the garage.

The brick piers inside the garage. The brickies did a good job at bricking it but to bad it's going to be plastered over.

Brick ties for one of the facade column to be done later on.

Looking at the rear garage door from the inside.

Looking at the front of garage door from the rear garage door.

Looking at the rear garage door from the outside. Hmm I just notice how funny the door look against the tall brick wall.

The brickies stacked more bricks around the house waiting for the go ahead to brick after frame inspection.

Day 98: Bricks layed - Garage wall

Hello friends,

As the title suggested yes it's true, the brickies finally started laying the bricks and mortar for the garage wall and it looks like they are half way done. The bricks look darker than what the photo's suggested but that's probably due to the time of day, as it was dark when I arrived on site. Well the good thing is at least I know how the bricks will look like at night time LOL just need to see it during the day. And don't worry this is not how the bricks will look like, as the bricks will be cleaned when all the bricking are finished. Enough said so here are the photo's.

Looking at the front of the garage wall

The brickies completed 22 brick courses out of 38 so another 16 courses to go

Close up of the newly laid bricks and the brickies workmanship. Don't worry it will be nice and clean before I move into the house (well that's the theory anyway LOL)

The garage wall is built to the boundary. Majority of the houses built in the Estate are built to the boundary. When I move in I will never see this side of the wall again LOL.

The other side of the garage towards the front enterance.

Bricking around the rear garage door
The brick piers in the garage, I'm surprise the brickie did a pretty good job inside the garage because the walls are going to be plastered, normally you will see uneven mortar and bricks if the brick walls get plastered over , maybe the brickies didn't know about it Sssshhh!!!

The brickes placed bricks at the rear and right hand side of house ready to be layed, this will be done after the building surveyor gives the approval for the frames and the house gets wrapped up in the sissalation foil.

Day 95: Set up for bricklaying of garage wall

Hi friends,

Finally there were some action on site since my last update, although it's nothing major but it's better than nothing, yes people the brickies arrived and started setting up for their soon to be bricklaying work to the garage wall. They strategically place certain amount of bricks around the areas they will be working on so they don't have to fetch the bricks at the front of the house everytime. In addition, the white sand and off-white cement was delivered on site ready to be used. We thought we might see some bricks being layed today but not the case, so hopefully they will start laying it soon. Went to site after work so the photo's are a bit dark (blame on the end of daylight saving LOL).

White sand for mortar (not sure why it's called white sand when it looks like a yellow colour)

Bricks placed around the garage area

Day 91 - Bricks Delivered (Finally)

Hi Friends,

After a period of in-action there is finally some movement on the site, yes folks the bricks has finally arrived. The brick (Boral Blackheath) was an upgrade (with a hefty $$$$ attached to it) because our first selection brick (Boral Heritage) was no longer available and our next choice (Boral Mocha) was also un-available (ran out) both were in the standard range. Anyway when I first looked at the brick my thought was cr&p the brick is to dark, much darker than the sample we got from the Boral Display Centre but than thought maybe the off-white mortar (another $$$ upgrade) will lighten it up - well we hope so.

The brickies will do the garage side wall first so they can put up the steel lintel above the garage door then frame stage is ready for inspection. After the building surveyor pass the frame stage inspection, the rest of the house will be wrapped up in sissalation and ready for the brickies to finish off the bricking. Can't wait to see how the bricks will turn out, pray that the brickies are good tradesmans and there will be no issues with the brickwork.

Our bricks finally delivered after a few weeks of waiting woohoo!!! They are all lined up from one side of the house to the other ready to be shot down LOL.


Close up of Boral Blackheath, the dark patches are purple in colour.

It started to rain when I arrived at the site.