Rendering is complete...

The final coat of inside render was applied on the weekend.  The mosh pit got so bad the mixing space had to be moved.  The first day it rained non stop and the outside personnel were not happy about working with Lime in these conditions. 

Nonetheless, the job was completed before lunch on the second day and the rendering crew got to go home early.  Here we farewelled the boys and their machinery for the last time...

But the day didn't end there for everybody else.  The hard-working hard plasterers were doing their thing inside and the loungeroom (see earlier pics in post 22 July - internal walls with blueboard sides were first covered in fine chicken wire) was completely rendered and came up a treat.

Paul and his trusty trowel finished off the door frames (to accommodate skirting boards) beautifully.    Here's AC and Paul trowelling and sponging together...

Now the walls just need to be sponged off to make them nice and smooth, but as they're still quite wet, we'll have to wait a few days before we can get stuck into that.

Next job... the big clean up... and it'll be massive!

PS:  we're all very happy our rendering days are over !!!

Rendering continues...

Take 2 of the second inside coat went well in the one day... not such a long day either, thankfully... but the mosh pit just got worse by the minute thanks to the constant rain.



Here's what the sky looked like today:








These pics below show the purpose of today's work... to flesh out the window frames ready for the final coat... before and after render, and then trowelled.

Not quite that simple tho, cos you can't just stop at the windows, so a good part of the walls were re-applied as well... tho fun was also had, and not just by the workers.

Here's a new angle I haven't covered before:

A final note to those who are interested: the third inside coat of render has been postponed to the weekend of 18-19 August, to allow coat #2 to dry properly.

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud

Oh... what a weekend we've had.  The boys were running two mixers at the same time and still couldn't keep up with the demand... and it was just about killing them... even AC was shovelling dirt... Mr Sir was the ghost of a figure by lunchtime with him and MOTH not having much ooomph left for the afternoon of the second day... mud was sloshing from one end of the mosh pit to the other... by 3pm there was a call, loud and clear, for sugar, painkillers, energy drinks & lime burn remedies... what next folks?  Here's some pics that might help explain things.

 Before and after shots of the lounge room.

Calling in the experts (hard plasterers) to do the trowelling has been one of the best decisions we've ever made!  As you can see here, they keep up with Mark the Renderer quite easily... and they do a damn side better job than we ever could!

Wall-e and No.5 are a great team!  They'll be working night and day until the next round.

The second render is always the hardest because it's the thickest of all the coats.  Unfortunately, it couldn't be applied thick enough in some sections, so we're doing a one-day second-second coat render next Sunday, followed by the third and final coat the following weekend.  No rest for the wicket!

Next Render...

The next coat of render is going on the inside walls the weekend coming - 21 & 22 July - thanks to Mr Sir who worked his butt off the past week or so to finish all the cobbing. 

We can now proudly claim that the walls are (almost) straight and window surrounds are (pretty much) even.  Our biggest dilemma is, however, that its so bloody cold this time of year in Melbourne, especially near the hills, that the render is just not drying quick enough.  So we've gone out and hired our very own Wall-e... ain't it cute?  and his partner is working in the next room.

Chippy mates have also done a great job laying the merbau decking, which may I add looks damn fine.

And the narcissist in me has to point out the awesome painting I've been doing of the eave boards... no doubt my chiropractor will thank me later!

Anyone interested in getting up close and personal to see the render process in action next weekend (and the third inside coat is booked for 4-5 August) is welcome to come along for a geeza.  No help required!  My advice tho... wear your oldest and warmest gear plus wellies... it's a cold muddy place to visit!

Mate, Buddy, Cobber...

Our mate Adam (aka Mr Sir) is bunking in with us for the week to help out with the cobbing.  We're running desperately behind and really need to get another coat of render on the inside walls but the windows in particular need quite a bit of cobb before that can happen.  Mr Sir is a God-send.

All smiles ready to start on the next window.

Here's one he prepared earlier.

Painting, Sanding & Polishing

Outside work continues...

AC is evening out walls where eave boards meet, filling in the gaps and smoothing the walls over.

Fuzzy & Nama have been busy painting.

MOTH is sanding the eave boards.








The ballustrading arrived this week.  After much discussion and contemplation, we've decided to keep it natural and just apply decking oil for weather protection.

Lights Action...

The sparky is on the job too now.  Cables are everywhere inside and out.  Two of the 3 distribution boards are in the pic... one for C-Bus and the others for general distribution.  It's all so organised and color coded... just how I like it !