Solar panels

Here are the photos we promised of the solar panels. They've been in for a couple of weeks now but are still not hooked up to batteries...any time now. We're waiting on the mezzanine to be built in the carport, for the batteries to be placed on.





A grid was installed first and the panels were fixed to these. The guys spent most of the day installing the panels.

The panels look quite good on the carport roof. They are in a prime position (facing north) to collect the sun's energy.

Most of the electrical fittings are in (just a few lights and power points) and the waste water treatment tank is in but we're still waiting for the dispersal lines (which the treated water empties out through, underground) to be installed. Have had A LOT of rain over past week (each of our 22 000L tanks is full!) which has held things up.

Also waiting on the arrival of our bamboo floorboards...another hold-up with these.

Progress

I promise to put up a few photos as soon as I can get home whilst still light!!!
The solar panels are up but the mezzanine for the batteries still have to go up. The trenches for the power and phone have been dug. The biolytix septic tank is in but there's another council hiccup with the evapotranspiration area and I'm about to building the retaining wall all the way around the house so that the balcony has a garden bed surrounding it... its the only way we can use stainless steel wire for the balustrade. photos soon!

Progress (or lack of) Report

Things have slowed down incredibly and we're currently waiting on the solar people, the Biolytix waste water treatment system to be installed and the electricians to come and finish plus the plumbers. Everyone is slow and no one comes when they promise!

On a happier note, I was very excited last week to find my first strawberries growing. They are alpine strawberries (yes, Tomo & Viktor, just like the wild ones in Europe which we taste-tested in the Stockholm Archipelago!) which I have growing in some pots. Delicious!

Walk Against Warming

Here are some photos of the Walk Against Warming which Sarah and I took part in today. There was a fantastic turn-out, with around 30 000 people joining the walk in Sydney. Apparently there were about 50 000 for Melbourne's walk and thousands more people participated in other walks across Australia. We heard from Bob Brown and Peter Garret who were both welcomed enthusiastically by the crowd. (I was stoked to get such a close-up pic of Peter!) A very well spoken young boy, about 8 years old, also gave a moving speech. Typically, the so-called Federal environment minister, Malcom Turnbull, refused the opportunity to address the people on the day, even though he had been kindly invited to give his point of view. There wasn't even a representative from the Liberal government present, however the Greens, Labour and Democrats were all represented by party members.

Please take a look at the pics. Sarah and I had fun and I'll definitely be turning up for next year's walk too!

Before the walk and speeches.

Young boy urges people to take action, for the sake of his, and future, generations.

Greens Senator Bob Brown

Peter Garret was so enthusiastic he almost broke into a dance.

Sarah the protestor with placard.

Nettie with placard...pretty appropriate since we're fighting the Korean coal mine project on the Central Coast and Sooj and I are about to get our solar panels so we won't be relying on the horrible stuff.



Turning out of Macquarie St, to walk around Hyde Park.

Walk Against Warming

Well, I finally finished the major part of painting last Sunday. I had a little celebration inside as it's been such a painstaking job. Still waiting to hear from the electricians as to when they will be coming to do the final fittings.

Just on a non-house topic, I thought I'd mention the Walk Against Warming that is happening all over Australia, this Sunday, 11th November. It's a day to show politicians (just before the federal election) and fellow Aussies that there a plenty of people who are concerned about global warming and also that there is so much that can be done to try and reduce it...if only everyone would act now. So, if you're concerned too (and you live in Australia), come and join one of the many walks that are taking place across Australia this Sunday. Sarah (my sister) and I will be joining the walk in Sydney, which begins in the Domain. There will be talks from Senator Bob Brown and Peter Garrett, and lots of music. The website for the walk is http://www.walkagainstwarming.org/ - it has details of where the walks will be taking place (even in country towns) and all sorts of other information. You can even purchase a 100% organic cotton, Aussie made, Walk Against Warming t-shirt. Please come and join in!

Nettie

(BTW, I'll be catching a train to Sydney, rather than the car...more enviro-friendly!)

Painting Nearly Complete!

This weekend should see the completion of the painting (not including the architraves, skirting boards and exterior though!) which has been a daunting task. Only 1 more coat to the main room walls and 2 on the kitchen walls and I'm done. Yay! The electricians will be in some time from next week, to do all the light fittings and switches and the solar and waste water treatments should go in in the next couple of weeks.
Nettie

Biotop Swimming-Teich / Natural Pool Release 4

This is one example of the kind of natural swimming pool that we plan to build. I'm just starting to plan the layout now.

Letter Box!

Yesterday, I made our letterbox... even though we opened a post office box at Wyong, we were still getting mail delivered and the letters were being left on the ground, even in the rain! I had elaborate plans for constructing a mega-sized letter-box, but opted instead to follow the theme of using as much of the timber lying around as possible.

I cut out the opening in a rather large tree stump with a chainsaw and chisel and hammer then fitted the steel letter box inside.

Solar Power Rebate Approved!

Hello all you bloggers!

Sorry about the lack of updates the previous couple of weeks. Workwise we've been getting steadily busier and a couple of weddings to attend to have stalled our house progress somewhat... still, we're now about 2/3 of the way through the painting of the walls and ceilings.

The next 4 weeks should see a lot more progress because I just got told that our application for the remote solar power grant has been approved.. I think we're only the 3rd apllication to be approved under this new grant.

SO, that means that we'll get the full solar system in 4~5 weeks which will cost around $62K but the government will fund $31K of that. hurray!

This weekend we're off to Thredbo for Annette' friend Alison's wedding, so I'm looking forward to that.. I've had a super-busy weekend and a couple of late night, stressful 'DPI Community Information meetings' that I spoke at so I'm very much hanging out for that motel shower and a good unwind!

cya

Carport Warming!

We had our first BBQ yesterday! Grandad had arrived from Japan on Saturday and since it was a public holiday, Mary and the two nieces Chloe and Elise, Sarah, Mum and Graham all came up to have a look at the progress on our house. Unfortunately, Irwin had to stay home and look after Dylan who was sick!

It was the easiest BBQ ever for me because mum brought up everything.... and it was all very yummy!

This is my grandad Yozo Asakura. He's looking very sprightly for his 90 years!
A building site isn't all that kid friendly, but I spent all weekend tidying up and I was very happy to avoid any incidents with the girls... just a couple of dislocated elbows :-)

A New Home for Our Caravan!

This week saw the completion of our carport and the relocation of our caravan. We're much more comfortable as the caravan is now well sheltered from rain and from the heat of the day. There is plenty of space (as you can see, the carport is HUGE) and we've set up a little 'entertainment area' outside the caravan, which will be very useful as the weather warms up. We've also improved our caravan grey-water drainage system so that the grey water now runs through 20m of Nylex grey-water hosing and empties directly onto the ground well away from the caravan and amongst grass/bushes etc. Previously we had it emptying into large buckets which we had to manually empty every day. If we want to collect the water for watering our plants we can still do this easily.



On the house front, we are still plodding along with the painting though it seems like it will never end. We've finished undercoating, the laundry is painted (other than the trims) and 2 ceilings are complete...still plenty more to go. Painting ceilings is not much fun! However, the Dulux EnvirO2 and Aquanamel paints make things much more pleasant as they are relatively odourless and easy to apply. Our ensuite and laundry are now tiled (we will post photos later) and the showerscreen is in. We are waiting on a new toilet from Caroma (see below) called the 'Profile Suite', which should be available in October. It has a hand-washing basin built-in on top of the cistern and uses the hand-washing water to fill the cistern, so the water is effectively used twice (go to http://www.caroma.com.au/ for more info). It costs around $500 and will be available from stores such as Bunnings. sooj says ... "my grandma and grandad have had these for 25 years in their unit in Tokyo... its about time Oz caught up..."


We are quite enjoying actually living on our property now (even though we're in a little caravan) as there's plenty of space and it's quite pleasant pottering around in the morning with lots of different birds going about their morning routines. Sooj recently discovered some Eastern rosellas nesting in a tree hollow and I've been enjoying bird-watching in my own backyard. Apparently (according to the ecological assessment guys who did the initial eco reports on this property about 5yrs ago), there is a large population of ringtail possums here, and there are also antechinus; some koalas were also seen when they did the original assessment. I plan to go spot-lighting soon to have a look for myself!


Must go and have dinner which Sooj has cooked on the barbie. Have a look at the pics below.

Bye for now,
Nettie



The carport provides a perfect shelter for our caravan (no more leaks) and fits both cars as well. When the shed is built, it will be connected to the carport on the side which is furthest to the right on this photo (northern aspect). The solar panels will sit on the north-facing side of the carport roof.
We have a nice little set-up outside the caravan, with gas barbecue (sitting alongside the outer caravan wall) and tables and chairs. There will be no more issues with mud when it rains as the floor of the carport is crushed recycled concrete.
Sally-Ann doing her book/computer work for Wyong Equine Clinic, just outside the caravan.

The new Caroma Profile Suite...see http://www.caroma.com.au/ for details.

Carport construction

Last week the carport construction was begun and Charlie finished the job this Tuesday!
Its a pretty gigantic 'carport' and it will support all 50 solar panels.
These past 2 weeks, Sally Anne has been coming to work at my place... and doing lots of washing because we need to wear fresh overalls at every call. The number of infected properties is steadily increasing so we are pretty busy all day long... the phone is driving us mad!
This is the view from the top of the scissor lift which was hired to build the carport.

Next time I'll put up photos of our new arrangement with the caravan safely underneath our new carport... hopefully no more leaks!... and just in time too because I can hear some heavy rain on the roof! The roof has also been connected to another 22000 litre tank so we now have 66000 litres of rain water capacity.

cya!

Outside the house

The balcony is now a lot safer as the balustrade is up. We had to add an extra post in between the existing posts so that the maximum distance between them was 1.5m. This is apparently required for the stainless steel wire which tends to loosen up abit and can become prised apart by adventurous little kids... but the council guy is still not happy with it. He might be happier if we raise the garden bed right around the house so that the drop is less than 1 metre, which I was already planning to do anyway.
The pic below is our back yard... the evapotranspiration area. This area is the required 700square metres but we need to have it filled (raised to the 1 in 20 flood level). This pic was taken after about 27 truck loads of topsoil from a nearby development site.. probably another 200 tonnes needed...

Update at last!

Sorry for the lack of updates! We've been having dramas with the internet link and our email address, power issues, late nights and this bloody Equine Influenza... Here's a quick update on progress.
We're about 3/4 through the first (of 3) coats of paint and filling in gaps around architraves and bumps in the walls etc. I think the preparation bit takes the longest and once this undercoat is done, the final two coats should be quicker. We are using Dulux EnvirO2 for the walls and ceilings and Aquanamel for the trims. These are low Volatile Organic Compound paints and are also carbon offset during production. The Aquanamel is a water based enamel.
Our laundry arrangement. We plug up the washig machine and the water pump to the generator and we have a couple of usable taps outside for the water. The detergent we are using is the AWARE powder which you can get at supermarkets. Its quite environmentally friendly.
The cats have been living these past 2 weeks in our guest bedroom. Its much bigger than the cage at boarding but they're a bit scared with the noise from building activities and the smells!
Nettie sanding away. Sarah (her sister) also came over a couple of weeks ago and gave us a hand with the wall sanding.
A view from the front door. The raised bed behind my car (white 4WD) is the site for the carport which is being delivered tomorrow. Charlie Britt (a horse trainer friend) is putting it up for us. The carport is 9m wide and 12m deep and its roof will be pitched at 30 degrees so we'll use its northern roof section as the site for the 50 solar panels.

What a week!

We have finally moved onto our property and have just finished unpacking into the caravan and the storage container. Now we can entertain in style so please feel welcome to pop in for a cuppa! The only hiccup at this stage is that the fridge is not working as it should. Its a 3-way fridge and we want it to be on gas the whole time but the gas is not working, so everything that we brought from our old house had to be thrown out :-( We'll try and fix the situation this week.)...actually it was at least added to the compost so won't be totally wasted ;) (Nettie)

Our caravan is quite spacious with a double bed, a full kitchen and a separate bathroom with a shower, vanity and a toilet. We are emptying the toilet canister into the porta-loo which we have had here on-site for the last 3 months for the tradesmen. But generally, number ones are in the bush and we try to use others (eg shoping centres) for number twos!! :-P

The water from the kitchen and bathroom sinks and the shower water is piped outside, where I've placed a bucket to collect is and we are using it to water the pot plants.

This is my car as discussed before. The battery is in a case (on the right) and the 1000W inverter (red box) is easily accessible from the side windows of my canopy in the car. The system is working out really well. Its powering everything is the van except the freezer which had to be disconnected because of the huge load the compressor draws when it is first starting up.
Oh yeh, this week has been quite stressful, with the house moving, caravan setting up, house building and now the Equine Influenza outbreak!!! At this stage we are quietly confident that we will get on top of things here and life can go back to usual. I hope I don't have to look this riduculous for much longer....

On the house front: the fixing out is complete and so now we have to roll up our sleeves and start painting! Outside the house this week we will HOPEFULLY get the shed and carport site excavated and the piers for the carport formed and the evapotranspiration area for the septic system can be prepared. Due to Council headaches, we now have to bring in about 200 cubic metres of good quality topsoil to create 700square metres of septic irrigation area ABOVE the 1 in 20year flood level! We're getting quite used to budget blow outs and unexpected costs.... We will also pay the deposit for the 50 panel solar system this week and get the application in for the government rebate, once that is done, it should be only about 7 weeks before we have power to the house!

cya

Semi-sustainable caravan life.

Tonight I am logged on for the first time using a Telstra USB wireless modem on the nextG network and its working surprising fast even up here on the Central Coast. I've set this up in preparation for moving on the property in 2 days where we will have no power, phone or septic for another 2 months.

As we have will not have our solar power for another 2 months ( at least) and the caravan can only be powered by 240 volt cable, we were faced with the prospect of having to run a generator every night for a couple of months to power the water pump (shower/toilet/sink), the laptop for internet access, charge the mobile phones etc etc. Even if I re-wired the van and set up a battery, the battery would have had to be charged for a few hours each day to use each night.... not only is the generator noisy, it seemed like unnecessary carbon emissions.

So, I've done what I'd always wanted to do for work... carry my own power source for Xrays, Ultrasounds etc just in case the power was unavailable at the horse. We've been meaning to do it for years, but this seemed the right excuse... I've installed a large 90amp 12V second battery into the work car with a 1000W inverter which will convert the 12V into 240V. The batteries will be wired so that as I drive around all day for work, both batteries will get charged. When I get home, I can plug the caravan directly up to the inverter in the back of the car. Although the battery won't stay charged for very long if a lot of appliances are used, if we are conservative, it should last each night and be useful for the laptop, phones, light and water. This way we will only use the generator occasionally for tools, vacuum cleaner etc. The first battery in the car will be protected so that it won't be used for the inverter and eliminate the risk of having a car with a flat battery in the morning! This option definitely eases my conscience when it comes to the amount of driving I do each day (~250km).

The Protector 1000W inverter cost about $420 and the lead acid battery was $187 (a gel battery or a fully sealed one is around $330). Add another couple hundred for the battery case and wiring by the autoelectrician. Will report on how it works next time!

Plastering Finished and Making Arrangements to Move onto Property.

This is our new arrangement: The shipping container for us to move ALL our gear into this week. And the caravan on the right which we will call home for the next 2 months (no more I hope!).
Nettie starting to move things from our old house into the container.
The plasterers finished off the walls and cornices today. We will start fixing out (thats architraves, door jambs, doors etc) and the balcony balustrades tomorrow!!
The living room...
We've bought a few bits of furniture from the Central Coast Tender Centre, which is like a gigantic garage sale where you bid on items like in a silent auction. They have some great second hand stuff and we also bought these timber slabs from there this week. These slabs will be used in the house and laundry. The narrow ones are Camphor Laurel (which is an invasive, undesirable, introduced tree) and the laundry bench will be made with the silky oak slab (we like silky oak because we already have some antique furniture which is made from them) from a private local property.

The new 10m x 12m carport has been ordered and it will house a mezzanine on which the power system (inverter, batteries etc) will be located. The carport is going to be next to the shed/stable... but more on that later.

An update from Nettie

You'll be pleased to know Sooj is recovering well but he still has a nasty shiner! I on the other hand have had to take the past two days off work as I'm sick again with a nasty cold.

We have bought a caravan (complete with toilet, shower, oven/stove, microwave, fridge and freezer!) which we'll be living in on-site once we move out of our home at Berkeley Vale (by the 28th August...not long to go). This is going to be interesting but we can just pretend we are camping and I think we'll be fine.

The plasterers are doing their bit this week; they started last Friday and should be finished by Thursday. Then we can start the fit-out (or Bernie the builder can) and think about starting some painting...yes we have decided to do it ourselves, since I'm working part-time and we have the time to do it as the main constraint on moving in to the house is the power, which will take a while to complete. I've been looking into some paint options, including the various biopaints (non-toxic plant-based paints). I think we will probably end up using the new semi-enviro-friendly (ie, compared to regular paints that are available) Dulux paints (EnvirO2 and Aquanamel) rather than biopaints due to the big difference in price-tag. The new Dulux paints are low-VOC (volatile organic compounds that will contribute to air-pollution in the home), have reduced solvent emissions and are 100% greenhouse gas abated through the AGO greenhouse friendly programme. The Aquanamel is more enviro-friendly than regular enamel paint as it is water-based rather than oil(petrochemical)-based. Anyway, I'm still looking into paint options so might even change my mind on this one.

We are looking at about 8-9weeks before our remote-area solar power system will be ready. The panels (I think around 60 or so) will be placed on the roof or our carport (which is yet to be built) and the plan is to put the large battery system on a mezzanine in the carport (so will be well above the required flood zone level). The other essential which seems to be taking forever to sort-out, is the waste water treatment system (Biolytix) which hopefully will be in before the power. We just need to prepare the treated water dispersal area by clearing some scrub and levelling it with good quality soil (this is an area of 690m2 by the way, which is quite massive). Anyway, the dispersal area is going to be the site for many fruit trees (which should thrive with the high nutrient water) so at least the site will be semi-prepared for planting.

We have hired a 20ft shipping container to store everything from our house, on-site, until our new home is ready. I'm not looking forward to the whole moving process but it will be nice to be able to say goodbye to our old house and not have to worry about looking after it anymore.

Until next time,

Nettie

Gutter guards

I finished installing the steel gutter guard on the house today. When it came to gutter guards there were quite a few options but since we are in a fire threat area, the choices were narrowed pretty much to steel or aluminium products. There are a couple of different brands out there. We got the gutta-arma which is a BP Colourbond steel product which is basically a sheet of metal which is perforated then stretched to produce the grid-like openings. This system is supposed to be better than the aluminum mesh... but who really knows? Any guttering system on this colourbaond verandah roof (which is actually quite flat) would collect leaves and will need a regular blow-vac.

Shopping around I found a good metal mesh-type gutter guard called Guttershield (John 0412415581) , from as little as $11.90 p/m supplied only and approx double that installed, up to the Gutta-arma which was originally quoted to me by The Leaf-Man for about $31 p/m installed and supply only at ~$23 p/m. However, I also found a wholesale building supplier on the net which was selling the same Gutta-arma for $16.58p/m (Gutta-Arma 96345509)! So, when I quizzed The Leaf-Man about this, he sold me the colour-matched Gutta-arma for $17 incl. GST delivered....hmmmm

Installation is pretty damn easy (but uncomfortable!!!) and the saving of $13.50 p/m was well worth the effort (for ~80 metres of guttering, thats $1080.00)! The actual installation took me about 8 hours (thats about 5~6 minutes per 1.2 metre sheet) but cleaning the gutters took about 6 hours (Annette did about 4 of those). It went through about 1100 little hex screws (which were spplied) and 6.5 tubes of clear gutter silicone tubes (about $7.50 each).

Owner Builder in Action!

Doh!

The ceiling went in on Friday and the insulation bags were only delivered on Friday afternoon due to a delay, so we spent an hour or so pulling up the bags into the roof cavity. Just as I was preparing to come back down, I found a quicker alternative!! I unbalanced backwards and fell backwards through the ceiling and 3m down onto the masonite floor and landed on the side of my head... my right wrist, shoulder, hip, leg and left side neck is a bit sore too. Annette took me into hospital straight away and xrays and a CT scan on my head were all clear :-)

I don't recommend it. Its not long enough to even enjoy the free-fall experience...