3 Bedroom, 1 Bathroom with Large Living, Dining, Small Family Room and Laundry. The house is clad in Hardiplank with Colourbond Roof on trusses. The site is a mess!
WHAT WE NEED TO DO:
HOUSE
Re-arrrange some internal walls once DA for the modifications are approved.
Renovate and complete the bathroom.
Make a new ensuite bathroom off a new main bedroom.
Make a new Laundry.
Gyprock the ceiling and install roof insulation.
Wall insulation and all gyprocking (though we are looking into some greener alternatives for wall lining) and finishings (doorways, doors, cornice, skirting etc)
Finish flooring:
- sand and polish (there are some green options for this) old floorboards in bedroom 2 and 3 and the kitchen.
- main bedroom and living area needs a new floor (marmoleum? or ideally, bamboo florboards).
- tile entry-way, ensuite, laundry and family room.
Electricals:
- modify existing electrical wiring.
- install low-energy lighting fixtures throughout and outside the house (~$?).
- install plenty of power points so that appliances can be switched off at the wall (there is a new technology that can help shut off whole areas etc, but its a bit complicated for simpletons like us).
Do the plumbing:
- complete plumbing and allow for grey water separation and install water saving Aqualocs (Totally Green Plumbers ~$7000).
- install the water tanks (2 x 22,700 litre for the house$2000).
- install grey water recycling system ('Nubian' at this stage ~$7000).
- get solar hot water system (Apricus ~$5000).
- install metal gutter guards (~$2400 installed).
- septic system to be installed (Biolytix ~$10000 installed).
Power to be connected:
- power to be brought to the front of the property then to the house (~$18000).
- get 20 panel solar system with 2940watt inverter to be connected to the grid (~$10000 after the $8000 government rebate).
Install skylights.
Install combustion heater. We thought we would use this existing one until our massive stack of firewood was depleted, but that will probably take 5+ years. Firewood on-site has no freight or mining costs, so even though it still produces emissions, it is preferable to gas or electrical heating devices. We can't use concrete slab heating.... no slab! Hopefully we shouldn't need much extra heating.
Paint! Bugger of a job.
Windows:
- dress them.
- metal mesh insect screens required by DA.
Put up balaustrades and stainless steel wire around the whole balcony.
Build the staircases up to the verandah.
OUTSIDE
Clear the stockpiles - dead wood, topsoil, brick and building rubble, massive logs (some >1m diameter), weeds, hardwood from old shed and house and old fencing.
Get rid of the many smaller stumps (hired stumpgrinder today $170 and hard labour!).
Get rid of the large stumps such as ironwood stumps up to 2m diameter ($1000 next week).
Landscaping.
Set up fire prevention irrigation system (DA requirement) for the whole building envelope.
Put up and set up a new shed (9m x 20m).
Get DA for and build 2 large wetland systems (properly vegetated dams).
Fencing - for the dogs 'PT' and 'Daisy' and the horse 'Santa'.
Catmax enclosure outside for our spoilt cats Obi-won and Yoda.
Entrance Fence and Gate (Solar powered automatic gates).
PERMACULTURE GARDEN
Lots and lots... Annette will post information on the existing soil type and conditions and what we are doing to set it all up!
Set up chook pen and house.
Set up a bee hive... yep I've joined an apiary club!
Small pond for some water veggies and our turtle 'Buddha'.
The amount of work wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for all the red tape ( surveys, geo-tech reports, plans, designs, etc etc ) and the need to have to deal with the Local Council... I HATE GOING INTO THE COUNCIL... its such a waste of time! I'm anticipating that we'll be spending about $100K for all of the above... I've put down estimates only... there is definitely a price for going green but we all know its worth it! OK? Right! :-)
Anyway, this is our GRAND PLAN... so for those of you wondering where we are..... look no further... we'll be at home.
7 comments:
How come you want so many ponds? More mozzies!! My god you've already got enough mozzies there!!!!
I was going crazy in the car after our visit to your place! I think we brought couple of mozzies back to Sydney CBD.
Also, could you please make sure your house is child friendly, so all your lovely godchildren can spend lots of time there (without parental supervision!!!)
>Great questions!
Will definitely make the house kid friendly. We might need some tips though about all the little things we might not think about..
.. the ponds will be stocked with fish etc that'll eat the mozzie larvae... (they will also be deep enough to be swimming holes in summer) I think its better to have a decent permanent body of water (with fish) for the mozzies to lay eggs in rather than lots of puddles of stagnant water (that can't sustain any mozzie larvae predators because they dry up when there's no rain), which is where most of the problem develops. We want to reduce the run off of water from the site so that we don't get puddles in the bush adjacent to the house... thats the idea anyway... hope it works. Thanks
We've been working on the site for a couple of weeks and I've only been bitten once... aeroguard is good...BUT, the mozzies seem to only be out until the afternoon/dusk... or after rain. I think that when we went with you was on a Sunday afternoon after some rain on Friday. We'll also have to plant lots of citronella plants and have plenty of citronella candles I guess... Oterwise the godkids will return after their 'retreat' looking like they've got chicken pox :-)
G'day Sooj and Nettie,
Nice looking blog, and looks like you have your work cut out for you, but since Sooj doesn't need sleep, shouldn't be a problem! Just thought I'd swing by and say hello, so... Hello!
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