Looking Like Progress

Wall boards have gone up this week--
it's beginning to look like a real room !
Wiring for overhead lighting dangles from ceilings.

The work on the back construction has gone so slowly this late winter, or so it seems.  I know it is all important bits, framing, preparations to put things in place.  But it has taken its time, even though Ian works on it all week and every day, all day long.  He only takes breaks to do other chores or watchmaking on the weekends.  So good marks for industriousness for sure.  But the work that has been underway was just that sort of slow thing that takes while when only one person is advancing the tasks each day.


Last week the electricians were in doing some cabling and soon we need to have the lighting fixtures ready to be put in and connected.  Must source these before they come back--needs to be at the ready (so I am told !)

wool insulation in the ceiling space

So this week it was a bit exciting to see insulation batts appear on the construction site !  Honestly, I never quite know what will be out there or going on when I step out the back door, so this was a surprise and a development too !  Eco wool batts, nice and fluffy and not as scratchy as fiberglass sorts.  They looked like dirty sheep in colour actually like noone bothered to wash the fleece (like sheep can look when running around in dusty paddocks, the same colour as the ground they trod upon !).  Apparently there is a mix of fibres in there, including some little bit of glass content, but it does look and feel like pure wool batting.

gyprock sheet lifter,
a very useful tool

The insulation went in between the framing and then wall boards went up.  Ian borrowed a gyprock sheet lifter to put the ceiling panels up.  But even with the lifter, it was still a heavy and difficult job for one person going it alone.  (I wasn't readily available throughout the timing for this task, with work and other appointments already committed.  And maybe I am not the best helper for a task like this anyhow ?).

some wall and ceiling boards  now up in the
laundry/bathroom (pale grey)

Today the wall boards started to go up.  And by afternoon, what a transformation.  Before that it all looked so rough and like an outdoor place.  By afternoon it was looking like an interior room !  I can really see what the space will be like.  Yes, these two rooms are smallish, not palatial proportions to be sure.  But they are now looking very tidy and I can imagine they will work out very well.  For people just checking in or finding this story, the room on the left and below foreground (before ladder) will be a combined laundry and bathroom.  The room in the photo below (at and beyond the ladder) will initially be a store room, but next year we will fit it out with a wall full of built in cabinets/cupboards, a desk, and a wall (opposite the built in storage) painted in chalkboard paint and covered to allow sketches and also place for creating mood boards or other inspirations.  The wall board material in the two rooms is different, a water resistant product has been used for the laundry/bathroom (paler grey finish, the regular gyprock is a grey beige colour)

wall boards on walls and ceiling
of the storeroom (beige).  

Both rooms will have sky lights.  Ian has found a sort he will order, not cheap, but looks well engineered.  Oh well, why not !  The space between their exterior dome and the interior is short, so not much ducting or tubing is needed.  But these rooms are bounded on sides by thick stone retaining walls, and a low ceiling.  Windows were not practical.  So sky lights will give us some filtered light during day hours.  And we will have good lighting for other times.  The skylights will be where you see green in between the insulation battings.  Though now ceiling boards cover it, and have careful markings to cut the interior skylight area when the exterior skylight unit has been installed.

Part of next week I am away to Sydney, short business trip and doing my world hours plus local timings meetings from there.  Wonder what things will look like on my return ?  Stay tuned for more news.  And maybe some ideas on procurement of lighting fixtures.