Okay, okay! I’ve been slack updating my blog, so I should give an update of all the different tasks I’m doing and where I’m up to with them.

Tea Hedge

• After planting the tea hedge it was realised that the area gets too wet and the plants would drown.
• I’ve started building a small retaining wall around the hedge location so I can fill it with dirt and raise the tea plants above the pools of water that form.
• I have installed 3 of the 3m sections and 1 of the 1 metre sections of the retaining wall.  I still have to install 2 more 3 metre sections and a 1 metre section.
• After completing the retaining wall I will need to dig up all the tea plants and add approximately 4 or 5 cubic metres of soil.
• To complete the retaining wall I had to purchase 22 x 3 metres sleepers, 52 x 150mm screws, 60 x 75mm screws, a chainsaw (to cut the sleepers) and a post-hole digger (’m not going to manually dig 600mm into pug soil).
• I still need to adjust the over-flow pipe on my tank so It does not fill the tea hedge area.
• The wall should be completed this Saturday (although I will not have the dirt by then).

Concrete Removal

• The concrete removal hasn’t progressed much lately.
• About 1/3rd of the concrete has been removed.
• A further 1/3rd has been broken, ready to be removed.
• I hope to have this done either Sunday this week or Saturday next week.

Ensuite

• The ensuite is slowly progressing.
• The electrician, unfortunately, found full-time work in the area and has not been able to do the wiring as yet.
• After the electrician has done the wiring I will install the other half of the roof and the cement sheet walls.
• I currently have the majority of parts to do the plumbing in the ensuite, this will be started as soon as possible.
• I will begin with the waste-water pipes, then proceed to the cold water pipes.
• Hot water installation will be combined with solar hot water installation.
• Window frosting will be installed after I have painted the ensuite, which will happen after the cement sheet is installed.
• Floor tiling will happen after the painting, and then I will just have to put everything in place.

Robe

• I’ve worked out what color to do the robe.
• I need to buy the wood to build the robe next.
• I will do this after I have completed the ensuite.

Waste-water System

• The waste-water system plans are currently with the council and should be approved this week.
• The waste-water system will be installed once I have completed the backyard and ensuite.

Well I had an interesting weekend!

Dad rocked up late on Friday night so we chatted for a bit before disappearing off to our beds.

Saturday we came into Lismore, collected some stuff from the Tender Centre and had breakfast.  We then spent a bit of time doing some odd jobs around the house and relaxing before draining the last of the petrol out of my housemate’s car and then installing half the roof in the ensuite.

Dad left early on Sunday morning to fly back to Melbourne.  Later on Sunday, one of my housemates turned up and let me know that they were moving out.  I’d kinda guessed this.  So while he packed some of their stuff I mowed the lawn and then being completely exhausted and dehydrated I collapsed on the couch.

For the coming week I’m planning on cleaning the house a bit more; the electrician is due tomorrow (Tuesday) to get some of the stuff done in the ensuite and robe area and then I’ll try and get soem more of the renovations done later in the week.

As part of the renovations around the house I’m generating a lot of rubbish.  The only solution I can think of for this is to take multiple loads of rubbish to the local rubbish dump or to hire a skip bin.

I’ve tried calling around and searching the net and looking in the newspaper to find anyone that can provide skip bins to the Kyogle Council area and only one company services the area.

Here are the prices I was quoted by Richmond Waste to get a 10 cubic metre skip bin to my property:

• Delivery Charge: $450
• Waste Disposal Charge: $105/tonne
• Bin Rental (first 2 weeks free): $12/day

This means to have the bin on-site for 4 weeks and to load say 5 tonne of rubbish (I have a lot of concrete to dispose of) would cost $1143.  I’m thinking it would be cheaper to go to the local dump with a few truck/trailer loads of rubbish.

Until the rain came this weekend I’ve had a fairly productive weekend.

During the week Nathan attempted to convert his car into a submarine; unfortunately this attempt failed at the second creek crossing, the car stalled and filled with water.  This resulted in a good portion of the weekend being utilised to try and get his car functional again.

On Friday night we went to collect the car and had to remove the spark plugs to get the water out of the engine.  This went well until the battery died, so we had to borrow some jumper leads off the people in a nearby house.  Eventually we got the water out and started the car.  The 30km drive home was uneventful but the car was running rough because of the water in the fuel tank.  We put the car in the garage and Nathan started removing the interior.

On Saturday Ren and I went into town, looked through the Tender Centre (where once again I placed way too many tenders) and did some shopping.  Included in the shopping were things such as chassis stands, oil drip trays and an oil change kit for fixing Nathan’s car; we also got about 9 Sodastream flavours.

Saturday afternoon was spent doing a few bits to Nathan’s car and generally taking it easy.

Today (Sunday) we got off to a late start, but we’re removed a large amount of wire mesh from the garden, broken a heap more concrete so it is ready for removal and removed most of the grapevine and associated wires.

The plan is for Nathan to work on his car next weekend when my Dad is here; my Dad has a reasonable amount of mechanical knowledge, so things that Nathan and I don’t know about my Dad can help with.  I’ll try and finish off the jackhammering and removal of the concrete and Ren will potter around the garden or similar.  I’m also hoping to get some more work done on the ensuite during the week so it is ready for the electrician to come and do all the wiring.

Overall I think we’re relatively on track to have things completed by the time they need to be done.  The backyard should be ready for when the waste-water system is installed; the ensuite should be ready for the electrician and then will have more work done to be ready for us to run the waste-water pipes prior to the installation of the waste-water system; assuming finances allow for it I should be able to get the rainwater collection tanks in place and connected just after the new tank arrives and I should be able to finish off my walk-through robes before my Mum gets here mid-year so she can see what I’m doing with the place.

Well after a heap of research and quotes and all the other fun stuff I have finally got the on-site waste-water management system happening.

I’ve decided to go with the Biolytix system which will fit in around the same sized hole as my current septic tank is in.

To get the system installed I have a fair bit of preparation work to do.  The system will need approximately 80 square metres of trenching (not sure on the actual depth of the trench, so i can’t quote cubic metres).  After measuring up the backyard and discussing options with one of the installers we determined that it would not fit in the space I currently have available.

The problem is caused by me wanting an area set aside to add new water tanks at a later date.  These new tanks will ultimately replace the existing tanks and will provide me with more useable space in the yard.  To allow enough space for these new tanks I have to remove some of my existing tanks for the trench to run through the area they currently occupy.

To get the system installed I now need to do the following (some bits are being done by Nathan and I, others by the installation company):

• remove all concrete/cement from the backyard;
  • Thanks to a “demolition breaker” or small jackhammer from Bunnings this is a work in progress and is a relatively easy job; the flat tyre on the wheelbarrow is making the job a bit harder though.
• cut a trench from the existing septic area to the backyard;
  • This is required to allow the new waste-water system to pump the water out to the trench.  Thankfully it doesn’t seem like it will be too hard to do this with the demolition breaker.
• install a new tank next to the existing poly tank;
  • This will be done by the installation company.
• pump the water from the existing poly tank to the new one;
  • As I already have a pump on the existing tank this is an easy process that will take a bit of time but will not be hard to do.
• raise the existing poly tank to ground level;
  • This will be done by the installation company and is required so the over-flow heights on the two tanks are level.
• pump the water from the existing metal tanks to the existing poly tank;
  • This has to be done so we can remove the metal tanks.  One tank will remain full of water to prime the waste-water system.
• remove the metal tanks;
  • A friend is wanting to steal these tanks, so that should make removal easier.
• level the backyard;
  • The entire backyard needs to be levelled so the trenches will work effectively.
• install the trenches and waste-water system.

To cope with the removal of the existing tanks and because of my future plans for the property I am currently looking to purchase 8 x 500 litre tanks.  These will be placed near each down-pipe on the house to capture the rain water.  Each small tank will then have a float pump installed and will pump the water to the tanks near the garage.  The down-pipes from the garage will be linked directly to the main tanks.

Initially I will need to install 4 tanks with pumps as some of the down-pipes will have to be removed during the installation process.  The remaining 4 tanks and pumps will be instaleld after I add the third and final tank near the garage.  This tank will be much larger than the existing one and the new one and will increase my total water-holding abilities.

My current poly tank (tank 1) is approximately 9,000 litres, the new poly tank (tank 2) will also be approximately 9,000 litres, the final tank (tank 3) will be approximately 23,000 litres, giving me a total storage capacity of 41,000 litres (10,000 gallons).

The tanks will be set-up as follows:

• Once installed the base of tank 1 and 2 will be at ground level and tank three will be installed at a lower level.
• The water-transfer pumps and the garage down-pipes will all direct water into tank 1.
• Tank 1 and tank 2 will be interconnected at the base so they keep a consistant level.
• Tank 2 will be connected to tank 3 with a one-way/non-return valve to allow water to flow from tank 2 to tank 3, but not back.
• Tank 1 will have an outlet connected to a pressure pump to supply water for gardening purposes.
• Tank 2 will have an outlet facing the road for fire-fighting purposes.
• Tank 3 will be connected to a pressure pump to supply the house with water.
• The overflow on tank 3 will connect to tank 2, the over flow on tank 2 will connect to tank 1, the overflow on tank 1 will be connected to AG-pipe and will be used to direct water to the root system of the tea hedge that we have recently planted.

This set-up has the following benefits:

• Household water is effectively drawn from all three tanks.
• Garden water and fire-fighting water is drawn from the two smaller tanks.
• Collected rain-water is used to fill tanks 1 and 2 until they are at the same level as tank 3, the rain water then fills all tanks.

I got a good phone call today confirming that the last of the inheritance from my uncle has been sorted, so once again I can afford to get more of my home renovations done.

On the shopping list for today is the following:

• 5 lengths of 6m x 100mm PVC pipe
• 1 length of 6m airvent pipe (I think this is 40mm)
• 1 airvent pipe end
• 1 right angle to connect the 100mm pipe to the airvent pipe
• 30 mounting brackets for the 100mm pipe
• 6 mouting brackets for the airvent pipe

I’m buying all this from Bunnings, so hopefully they’ll be able to assist with finding the correct parts to do what I want.

To finish the ensuite I still need the following parts, most will come from Bunnings unless otherwise documented:

• Pressure pump (to provide water pressure to the shower, vanity and toilet cistern)
  • http://www.davey.com.au or http://www.onga.com.au
• Pipes to connect the pressure pump to the water tank
• Pipes to connect the pressure pump to the shower, vanity and toilet cistern
• Taps to be floor mounted for the shower, vanity and toilet cistern inlets
• Toilet & cistern
• Floor tiles, grout, adhesive & tile sealer
  • http://shop.ebay.com.au/merchant/migsy88
• Cement sheet for the ceiling, floor and possibly for some walls
• Glass cavity sliding door for the ensuite
  • http://www.tornex.com.au
• Frosting for the windows
  • http://www.windowfrosting.co.nz
• Paint
• Electrical cabling

OMG! How slack have I been, I haven’t made a post since I bought my house.

Well heaps has happened.

I bought my house, things went fairly smoothly with no major hurdles.

I moved into the new house, again everything went smoothly and even the big fish tank made it unscathed.

Nathan and Ren moved in to my new place as well, they’re supposed to be doing the garden, but they haven’t really planned it out so it is progressing very slowly.

I’ve managed to organise a new waste-water management system, but this is yet to be installed.

I’ve started doing the building for my walk-through robes and ensuite, I will post photos of this soon.

I’ve also got a few ideas for other things I want to do to the house.

On a more personal note, over Christmas I thought I had got myself a girlfriend, but that crashed and burned pretty badly, so not much is happening on that front now.

I spent the day packing ready for my move.  Here’s some photos of the box pile so far (excuse the quality, it was taken with my phone because the camera battery is flat and I already packed the spare).

The new shower (and boxes)

The pile of boxes

Another shot of the pile of boxes

I purchased a vanity unit on eBay the other day and that should be getting shipped here from Melbourne.  It looks really cool with a glass top and a glass sink on it.  I also purchased a heated towel rail from the same seller which will be shipped at the same time.

The light/heat lamp and fan unit I purchased on eBay arrived at work the other day and looks as though it is just what I will need for the ensuite.

I am still trying to sort out the best way to get the slate I want for the floor.  I have found some slate and the seller has located a transport company that can deliver it, but they do not have a forklift to remove the slate from their truck.  I am now trying to locate a forklift in the Kyogle/Wiangaree area; although I am thinking on of the ‘Walkie Stackers” would be better as I don’t need a licence to use them.

I received a notice from my conveyancer today which was originally from Kyogle Council saying that they are in the process of getting a work order to ensure that the septic tank on the property is replaced within 6 months.

Basically, because of the area the house is in a traditional septic tank is no longer adequate and could pose a health risk.  After talking to the council they have advised that I am required to upgrade to a system that will provide secondary treatment, but they would prefer one that allows of tertiary treatment as this allows the water to be reused in the toilet.

I called BioCycle and got contact details for a local installer and I will be organising a quote during the coming week.