Building Progress - House slab laid!

The last two weeks has seen some rapid movement on the building of our new house.
For those that have missed the updates, feel free to have a read.

Yesterday (Tuesday 24^th June) the builders laid down the house slab.

The house shape is much easier to make out now, and is quite recognisable when it's compared against the house plan or the electrical plan (which includes the modifications to the base plan we've made).


It was absolutely freezing down in Bannockburn today and reached a whooping 12^oC maximum. Why did I mention this? Well... even though it's quick drying cement used in slab creation, it does require some heat to actually dry the slab out!

Whilst it did eventually set, it took longer than expected. You can tell how cold it is in the photos (you'll notice the builders standing around a small fire trying to get warm!).

The slab was laid around 7:30am, but the builders were still on site mid-afternoon levelling and trying to ensure it set correctly. The boxing had to be removed to help speed up the drying process.

The 'gap' on the left hand side half way down is the location of the alfresco. This will have a concrete base added after lockup and is done as a separate step to stop cracking that would be visible.

We're going to lay exposed aggregate in that area, that will match the footpaths and driveway. The benefit of exposed aggregate is that it is not as slippery as traditional concrete (and personally I think it looks better!)

If you aren't aware what exposed aggregate is all about, click on the image for a larger view. Basically it exposes the pebbles in the concrete mix, and gives it a 'worn' look.... consider it the 'acid wash of jeans' for concrete.

Once again a big thanks to my folks for heading out to Bannockburn and taking the shots. It's great to see the progress being made. We won't be able to get down their until the weekend (work committments and the like restricting a mid-week journey). Google Maps reports it's about 67.1 km – about 1 hour 4 mins one way from our current residence to the property. So it's pretty much a 2 hour round trip... just a tad too long for a lunch time visit!

All good though, and we've made it to the first milestone.

The slab will be left to settle until this time next week when the frame will go up. Hopefully the weather holds over the next few weeks until we get to the lock-up stage. It is expected to be windy the next few days, which will assist in drying out the slab even further.

Pauline has rendered a depiction of what the final house will look like... though it's changed slightly as the roof colour had to change (the colour we chose was unavailable). We went with Woodland Grey instead. We've seen this colour used on other houses and it does come up quite nicely.

FYI: The bricks aren't that large as show in the picture, it's just been done that way so we could see how the brickwork would look on the place compared to other colour selections we had made.

If all goes according to plan we should be moving in mid Sept/October. Pauline and I are a little more realistic and we will be happy if it happens prior to Christmas.