Will we make it?

We have set a deadline for our builder that we want to be in by the weekend of 21 March. Thats in only 10 days time! The roof STILL isn't up, and there is progress every day, but reporting on a little bit of plastering here and a bit of painting there is simply not as exciting as the big stuff!

I don't really like full-on thematic decor, but i love these morroccan tiles we are setting into the sement of our stoep.

The 2nd Floor is up!

Finally the 2nd floor is up. The builders had to get two more men to help hauling the beams up in the heat. It's extremely hard and hot, not to mention dangerous, work. I climbed up before the blocks went up and had a minor height-freight freeze. Now if only we can make up our minds what windows we want upstairs...

week 8: half way?

Its week 8 now and we have only one floor to go, which means we are pretty much on schedule. Although I am told that once the 'wetwork' is done, the finishing takes quite some time.



They were plastering the ceiling, and Shafiq's cool glasses got all sement splattered.





To make a long and sad story short, the bathroom is 23 cm smaller than it should be, which is quite a disaster in an already small space. But what a nice view from my bath!

Building Blues

Yip, I’ve definitely had the building blues this week. It started so well, with the deck taking only one day to stack. But then the engineer didn’t approve the builders' beam construction, the wall went up skew, the bathroom is 23 cm smaller than on the plans and I’m still unhappy about the light the stoep lintels is cutting off from the dining room. Boo-hoo.


On the good news front I have found and ordered the sliding folding door, and the doorframe with fanlight I wanted all along.
And on Friday evening we sat on our new stoep and after a Southern Comfort and Ginger ale it all seemed OK again. Till Monday anyway...

View to a kill

Here is our new view from our new stoep...



...and the rib and block system that has made it possible.



It was a rough day at the building site juggling job responsibilities and some minor and major problems with plumbing logistics and engineering. Not much progress today, hope tomorrow will be better.

Week 5: plastering and (holding thumbs) a roof

The first of the three levels we are building is now up to roof height. We are waiting (and waiting...) for Bobcrete to deliver the rib and block system, so in the meantime the guys are starting to plaster the walls. (Actually the electricity is meant to go into the walls before they plaster, but the electrician is in Riversdale for the week... ) In the meantime im still chasing down that elusive sliding folding door from the company who has been liquidated. All in a days work i suppose... More about our bathroom fittings soon!

Owner Building: The New Frontier

Ruan with the 'bible'


Me inspecting the trenches at the frontline....



And this is our housemate Charity.

Week 4: Drain Pain

After last weeks demolition we are finally ready to start building again!... but have of course encountered a few speed bumps. Firstly we have discovered that in real life the sewage drain isn't even close to where it is meant to be on the plans (the blue block is where its meant to be, the yellow one where it actually is.) And of course this is right in front of the door. So we had to get the plumber in to advise us. Turns out it would be very costly to move the drain, but we can lower it and hopefully cover it with some paving stones.

And then of course the engineers that the builder had contracted to do the decking (floor slabs) had never done the drawings, so now we are racing against time to try to get someone who can do the drawings and deliver the rib and block system on time (next week).

And lastly, the only guys who make the folding doors in the size we want it are being liquidated. At this stage they are still taking orders, so on the one hand i feel i should put in an order quickly, and on the other hand i'm not so sure that my deposit wont disappear in the murky depths of liquidation... sigh

week 3: demolition!

wow, our bathroom has been all these colours!

Christmas Critters

The past few days have been taken up with sourcing taps, tiles, basins etc for the renovation. I only came away with about half the tap fittings for the bathroom, but I've made decisions about all the important stuff. At the moment i can't decide between two antique cabinets for the bathroom. The one is a bit small, and the other a bit... well, burnt. The dealer assures me the burnmarks add character....

We'll be taking a break from this blog untill we get back from holidays on the 3rd, be sure to check back on the 5th when the demolition commences!



I made these little guys for my youngest niece and nephew Malaika and Ethan.

Merry Christmas!

Builders Holiday and a holiday from builders

We finished stage 1 of our building project a week early, and since we don't want to start stage 2 (demolition!) over the festive season (for security reasons) we are having a wonderfull break from building untill the real madness begins on 5 Jan. We are reasonably happy with the work so far.

Shafiq the builder's report card so far:
On the plus side he runs a neat, clean and tight building site; he arrives early and is on site all day; he has met his first deadline. On the down side, he seems to try and get away with cutting any corners he can in the building process, so you have to watch him very closely, and make sure you are informed enough to spot any mistakes! Mmmmm, i'm sure i've heard people say that before about their builders, is this an industry thing? If only we had lots of money and could pay for a project manager and a big building contractor!

O well, whenever I get despondent about our renovation i like to look at the pics of the front of the house when we bought it- the horror!




...and what it looks like now:

Progress!

After some initial panicking and sweating about the builder deviating from the engineers drawings, we had the engineers in and they gave the foundations and the underpinning the thumbs up. (Underpinning, I soon found out, means excavating under an existing wall and then strenghthening and stabilising it with brick and concrete to make it strong enough, in our case, to carry the weight of three stories on top of it. You have to do this in sections to keep the wall stable.)

Hard to believe that this pic was taken 2 days ago!



And here's the start of another wall...


...and more progress on the other side

Day 4 Keep calm and carry on!

In times like these you need some extra help, sometimes in the form of a desktop or poster that has to carve itself into your subconscious, ensuring you dont commit any crimes in a moment of madness. Look no further than the classic British WW2 poster. You can make it a desktop as I have or order it from Etsy.com.

Day 2 The Great Wall part 1

Our building is 2 days down and we hear that we were supposed to notify the building inspector for our ward 3 days prior to commencement of building. So now we have to try and get hold of him and put the brakes on what is brewing under the house.



What is brewing is that the builder already seems to be doing things his own way, Shafiq style we'll call it. Well I dont care as long as it stays up and it's legal. But we might have to get in the structural engineers at a little fortune to come and give us 15 minutes of their time.

Welcome to Woodstock

This is our little green house in the suburb of Walmer Estate in the greater Woodstock area, Cape Town. It was very run down when we bought it, but with a lick of paint and a lot of TLC, its starting to look really nice now! ...except for the back of the house. This is where we want to break down the current bathroom, build a storeroom, a new dining nook, a stoep, a bathroom and an office upstairs.

It has been over 4 months now since we submitted or plans to council- and still they are coming back with changes and objections. Most recently - after spending weeks trying to get a particularly elusive neighbour to sign a letter of no objection for our renovation, my architect has advised us to also get the signatures of our local councilor and the Rate Payers Association too! Who next? Should I just get the signature of the President for good measure as well? Has anyone else had these problems?